16v K1380 mini, I just couldn't resist ripping it apart again.

jayme

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Ive heard of another fella from Ballymena Hi, that was building one. Was curious as it would be nice to speak to another local man with one.
 

jayme

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Been another frustrating month with this project, still haven't my shell home. Long story short, the paint code for the roof is an old color that is usually mixed in 2k paint, so when we asked for base coat which is 1k paint the only mix they found was the mix for aerosol tins and they mixed us it isntead of the mix for base coat. Few days afte the clear went on the roof reacted and we ended up bare metaling it. that was 3 weeks ago and it seems not much progress has been made at that end since. I have been told its ready this week.......

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Engine went to powermax to rectify the issue with the tracking, turned out the pulleys where near 5mm of the plane which belt drift. He also modified the belt tensioner as it was making the belt to tight.
With this all done its ready to drop in, I decided to pipe all the breather pipes as its easier to be neat with them when the engines out. First is done, just waiting on the rest to do it an evening this week.

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Next on the list was to finish my mk1 side window conversion. This was something I decided the car had to have with the rest f it being mk1 inspired, turned out a royal pain in the hole to get to work right with alot of chopping and hammer and dollying.

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when at that i decided to fit some older style bullet mirrors to continue the theme. Doors will be dropped of to get painted with the boot and bonnet when I collect the shell.

Hopefully the next update will have a picture of the engine in the bay which I honestly cant wait to see come together.

Cheers for looking

Jayme
 

jayme

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Update Time

First up found tyres that I just had to have and got a pair ordered to check out.

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Next at long last I have it home, honesty over the moon with the finish, it’s exactly what I wanted. If I was being picky I’d do the engine bay again but that’s just me being a tad pedantic to be honest.

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With the shell Home I called in the troops and was able to finally get the engine in after months of waiting.

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All went in and fitted remarkably easily which was a nice change compared to it fighting us every step of the way.

For now I’m just happy to be able to push on and get it closer to the finish.

Thanks for looking

Jayme
 

jayme

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Been working away with the car the last few weeks doing a log of discreet tidying out of it all here is whats worth talking about

First up was to try and get some protection to the bulkhead from manifold heat, I wanted to get the whole thing ceramic coated but I also dont plan on running this manifold long term so I saw it as wasted money right now. I wrapped the parts that are in close contact to the bulkhead hoping between wrap and the gold foil my nice paint should be protected

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Next up Brookfab modified some trumpets with some mounting plates I had drawn up, these where mainly to be able to run an ITG foam filter for road use. On this conversion space is very tight so you can see where I modified the front slam panel for extra clearance. Pete had the trumpets and back plate ceramic coated for me, personally i love the finish.

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You can also see where I have made a start on the fuel lines, All lines will be an-6 with black fittings and ptfe line. Big part of this is I want them to looked thought about and not just fired in and looking untidy.

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Starting to really come together at this stage which is nice after almost 4 years of planning and work, standing back its turning out better than I could have hoped.

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Apart from a radiator and pluming, starter and a breather tank for the rocker that pretty much the engine bay finished bar a few wires. All in there are a few details left to finish like get some bolts for the rocker that match and replace a few others with cap heads for neatness. Im waiting on my custom rad this week which I had made to be as big as I could possibly get into the front without a flip front or butchering my grill.

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All being well It will be here this week, ive some mounts to make for it but they should be easy compared to the rest of the build, last head ache there will be sneaking the coolant pipe around the cam belt.

Cheers for looking

Jayme
 

Todd

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Great progress, it must feel great getting so close to completion. I'm sure you've mentioned it in the thread, but will this be at Dubshed? Would love a closer look.
 

Neil_M

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Excellent work as always. Love the neat cable runs.

I used a specific "kit" for my AN fuel lines.... They are about ten feet too long and the wrong angle of fittings too.

Just like you I want them to look right, so time to make my own! Unfortunately I have to wait quite some time on them arriving :worried:
 

jayme

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Great progress, it must feel great getting so close to completion. I'm sure you've mentioned it in the thread, but will this be at Dubshed? Would love a closer look.

it had been discussed yea, and at my end I was for making it and bringing it up. But right now im sitting waiting on my boot, doors, bonnet and arches which I was ment to get 2 weeks ago but as of yet they havent materialised. Tbh im not game in rushing it just to display it 80% finished at this stage, theres lots of wee details i had planned that i would rather take another month and finish. I should be road going by end of july all being well.

Looks amazing mate. Keep at it, would love a run when it’s done. (y)

Haha you will be high up the list buddy, wont be as quick as your used to but should entertain. Ive another wee job id like you look at if you can, its just the logo you you done for me and worked into some flank stripes like the old cooper car co race cars. Few lines and a bitta text.

Excellent work as always. Love the neat cable runs.

I used a specific "kit" for my AN fuel lines.... They are about ten feet too long and the wrong angle of fittings too.

Just like you I want them to look right, so time to make my own! Unfortunately I have to wait quite some time on them arriving :worried:


Id also recommend Torques Uk or powermax engineering.
 

jayme

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Having a quiet night so here are some up to date pictures

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I've made progress, its slow waiting for the small parts but it all seems to take time. I'm at the stage now where I am fed up chasing people so as long as it makes the port at the ed of the summer I will be happy

As can be saw above the radiator is mounted, I had planned on painting it but I quite like the polished look through the grill. Actually was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. Made some brackets and bolted them up to some riv nuts in the front frame

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Also drew up a bracket which bolts to the clutch case to hold it at the top for extra security. Waiting on it from the laser cutter atm.

Fitted my mk1 style windows, I will be the first to say they are going to be the most dis functional not needed thing to live with but... they look cool and it will stop me going through the mcds drive through, the doors also got attacked with a grinder so there is no going back now anyway

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And that is all I got for today, need to start wiring it but the thought scares me.

Cheers for looking

Jayme
 

jayme

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Just some photos to keep the thread alive because im bored.

Bays near done, waiting on a water tank from brookfab and a few other minor things.

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when you look back its come a long way from this

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And the security team doing his job, Hes called Cooper, Actually had another one called mini until last year aswell, always got a laugh when you told people they where called Mini and Cooper

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Cheers for looking
Jayme
 

S2K-Aaron

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I love this thing! Nice one mate and good job your holding out for the right parts etc. Be all worth it in the end
 

jayme

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It’s been a quiet few months on the mini front, if I’m being honest I’ve fallen out of love with it but in saying that I won’t be one to give up. It will be finished.

Pete at brookfab done another sterling job knocking me out my water tank, as with most stuff of the shelf wasn’t good enough as it didn’t leave a neat route for water pipes and didn’t have the look which to me is as important as function.
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It all bolted up as planned and like most parts got finished satin black

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Next head ache was the front suspension, all built up it sat about an inch to high for my liking, another area I didn’t like was how hard it was to adjust. I pulled the adjusters out and took them to a local machine shop to have them milled down, this then left the centre bolt bottoming out on the inside of the suspension cone which resulted in them being lathed down accordingly, last detail was to have a 12mm hex milled through the middle which allows me to adjust the bolt by turning it with a large piece of hexagonal tool steel through the tower bolts. The car will now set the front wings on the tyre, I will be able to set the clearance at the bump stop now which will stop the shocks bottoming out and hopefully save the arch extension.

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Next on the list was get my steering column in and fixed so I could build the rest of it, some nice billet blocks with 3/4 bearings where got from Owens fabrications in wales and of course some nice laser cut mounts where drawn and cut to hold it all up, the jubile clips helped mock the shaft up in the correct place.

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The mounts will also act as a fixing location for the digi dash later down the line.

With the nice weather I took the opportunity to roll it outside and wipe the dust of it, have to say this is turning out even better than I had ever imagined.

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Lastly for this update I thought I’d show you the new daily, have always had an itch for one of these. To me they seemed like a brilliant daily and always had a certain drug dealer yoke look about them (which for some apparent reason I love, I blame the love for 90’s hip hop) picked this up local at start of July, it’s one of the Bi-tdi versions (313bhp) , 8 speed zf box with the S-Line black trim etc miles have only turned over 40k and it was in immaculate condition with all the luxuries. Perfect 26th birthday present to myself.

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Honestly never thought I’d love a diesel car like this, for its size it’s hilariously sharp and the noise makes you smile from ear to ear. I don’t think il be able to get away without a few tweaks while it’s in my ownership, want to keep it the oem look but I really want to stick some good quality Coilovers in it and drop it down to kill the arch gap, part of me would also love to map it.

Thanks for looking

Jayme
 

veedubnoodle

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Mini is looking awesome Jayme, keep up the hard work.

Also the new A7 is beaut! H&R springs make these sit perfect in my opinion and are very comfortable, maybe worth looking at before going to the expense of quality coilovers.
 

Simon998

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Your mini is a dream for many, an inspiration for others. Keep at it man, it'll be a gem when it's finished.
 

jayme

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Mini is looking awesome Jayme, keep up the hard work.

Also the new A7 is beaut! H&R springs make these sit perfect in my opinion and are very comfortable, maybe worth looking at before going to the expense of quality coilovers.


I have saw top gear ni fitting quite a few with H&R, only think I dislike is the rear always sits 10mm higher than the front. I may throw a set in to see.

Your mini is a dream for many, an inspiration for others. Keep at it man, it'll be a gem when it's finished.


Cheers man, that def was a nice comment to read.

When I set out to build it I always said I want to build a mini with all the best bits but finish it how a mk2 golf or an mk2 escort would be built. The Vw shows in England made me realise how poorly some top minis had been built with so many lacking the final detail, il always love an original car or one on 10’s and small arches but this was my only chance to go a bit mad with something before I had to think about other things in life.
 

jayme

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Over 6 months since I posted last.... so car must be finished right?????? well, naaaaaa.

Since then ive barely looked a it, just got to the point where the shear frustration of not being able to send anything out to get done without drama had me needing to walk away from the whole thing. With that being said it gave me time to take a step back and put some think time into upcoming tasks and how im going to go about them.

Since July ive put 18k miles on my A7, its been absolutely brilliant. Goes well, sounds perfect for a daily, returns approx 30-40mpg and is like driving your living room sofa. Plan was to sell it in July but honestly id struggle to replace it, only thing that would get me excited is maybe an e92 M3 but with the mileage I do it would mean a fuel bill of around £800 quid a month and to me there is no justifying that. Ultimately in the next 12 months id love to be able to cut my mileage to around 10-15k a year and then potentially something with more grunt could be realistic.

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Over the Christmas period I helped my brother a bit with his project. I used to own this car back in 2014, back then it was on a stage 1 map, and dropped on some 17" ch's. Its nice to see something happening with it that id have loved to do back then. Currently looks a bit funny with multi colored panels but I can see his end vision and I think its going to be a bit of a winner, with the engine work done recently I can also confirm that it absolutely rips. This wee car is going to leave many many many red faces when its gaping what should be much faster opposition.

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Onto the mini I started back working on it over the last week, when you roll it out and see how it looks definitely gives you a sense of achievement.

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For Christmas my Girlfriend treated me to some alloy rear shocks, These are the shortest protech do so should hopefully help with the much lower than standard ride height. They have the correct bump stop to suit the shock travel and ontop of this I got my some help with working out a spring rate, My gut instinct is that it will be rather stiff down the line im going to turret the rear and add additional cage to brace it all in. for now it will get me on the road to allow some testing.

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Another item she got me for Christmas was a coil/ ignition kit, comes with a ford style ignition coil with a billet (because yeno billet everything) bracket and the right leads to work with the spark plugs.

Today I made a start fitting up the exhaust system which i thought would be a straight fit, unfortunately not..... From a quick measure the manifold needs 2" chopped of the end of it and the tail kicked back up into the floor, in my eyes the exhaust should be above the floor pan. Even the link pipe which is a direct fit item could do with a remake.

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Youll also notice its now got a rear bumper which i thought as scrap, 3 hours polishing left it as good as new so its been thrown on until I can get a 2 new genuine ones.

Another item thats been on the cards for a long time is both driveshafts fully rebuild, The joints where donated by Cian at CC minis again, honestly the help that man has given has been unreal throughout the project. A bit of inner cv grease and a gentle tap into the drive pots and that will be them ready for action.

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Hopefully plan to just keep knocking jobs of the list that are small but need doing, been saving away for grown up stuff recently but Ive also been able to put some away for the dear parts to finish this Ecu being one. Once i get the a7 insured for another year and 2 tyres on it I will be back to this full swing.

Thanks for looking
 

chrisd1

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Great work dude, glad to see another update. The detail and passion involved is awesome. Can't wait to see it finished and out tearing up the road
 

jayme

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Thought id share some pics of the door cards im currently designing and having custom made. Couldn't find anything that fitted my style of build so I got on to Brian at the short shift, Cant speak highly enough of the fella, such a helpful guy.

Started measuring up the original cards and making some fixing points in the door using the original clip holes. Then drew it up on Autocad, Green outline is what is laser cut, the pink lines are then etched on with the laser to leave lines. The pattern is influenced by early mk1 cars which had the door car in the door as opposed to a physical card clipped on the inner skin .

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Then the test one to check I measured up correctly

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Need to make a few adjustments, 2 holes appear to be upwards of the rest. These are going to be cut in satin black, also tempted by getting the inside of where the etch would be made up in a grey tweed to match the cage and roof, and ofcourse had to take it a small step further and get the branding on somewhere haha its going to be stitched on beside the door release. Another detail im going to go with is billet door handles, I just cant help myself myself.

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Last dry day we got I had to get her rolled out beside the the A7.

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If we can get another dry day I could get it out to do some more work on it, garage is a bit cramped atm with patio furniture so its pretty hard to get any decent room around the car.

Cheers for looking again

Jayme
 

jayme

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This lock down crack isn't all bad, put more hours into this in the last 7 days than I had in last 12 months,

1st on the list was get all the mocked up struts out and it running on its own suspension, rear fought be a bit with the OD of the spring causing fitment issues. Bit of the work with the dremel and that issue was resolved. Though saying this it has added another item to the development log in the form of some escort style turrets, reason I didn't go this route was to keep the fuel tank standard.

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Fronts also caused some issues which ive traced back to the front frame being raised into the shell, no real way around this without serious fab and geometry rework, hard to see but the shock body is close to the frame. All moves and compresses so not a big issue, just plays on my ocd and the "id do that differently" mentality.

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Next on the list was fitting the new starter, had to fork out and get a power lite item for radiator clearance, below you can see how much of a challenge the packaging has been on this.

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With the front rad all stripped out it gave the opportunity to knock up a 2nd alternator bracket, Ive been dreading this as ive no gas for the welder, nor a press to fold sheet steel. Took some inspiration from my daytime work and decided to use some steel angle, some creative cutting left me with a straight up bolt on mount that will add much needed support to the 1st mount.

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Next up was fitting additional engine steadies, these will be critical with clearances so tight under the throttles

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With all that done, I measured up for the crank sensor, and ordered some appropriate angle to do the job. That is on the cards for next week I think.

With a bit of hunger regained I decided to tackle something ive been waiting for for a very long time, After making numerous attempts to get my arches back I just gave up and ordered a new set, this was something I really wanted to avoid so that the risk of damaging the paint by trimming a new set to fit wasn't something I had to worry about....... 5 hours of work later this is where I've got to.

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Back needs the toe set and the front corner of the arch fixed in place, need a longer bolt for that. Overall im pretty happy with them. Few repairs needed where I trimmed to much around the body seam once that is done im going to paint them myself with satin black . I can see these maybe needing replaced from time to time due to the tire potentially rubbing.


And that is us for another update. Next week I might also have a go at running the battery cable to the starter and see how that goes from there, I've been watching videos on wiring and potentially I might start on a simple fuse box and relay arrangement for the chassis. Wont lie the thought terrifies me but It can be done fairly inexpensively so is worth an attempt, if anything I might learn something.

Cheers for looking

Jayme
 

big_pete

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Are you not busting to put the windscreen in 🤣 would be such a thing to add the finished look to it for all the 20mins it takes to fit lol

Properly awesome wee car, build of dreams
 
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