Mini Project?

UK|AL

UK|AL

UK|AL

Associate
Joined
21 Aug 2008
Posts
252
I was thinking about doing up a classic mini as a project, since the such nice cars and quite simple, and I want learn how to restore cars.

I don't want to be welding sills and stuff like that because I never been taught to weld. I'll just pay someone for that.

I don't have that much mechanical experience, apart from helping my dad restoring a scrapped Triumph gt6 but that was a long time ago, and sadly my dad isn't here anymore, so he can't help. But I want learn so I don't want it to be dead simple.

So how much would I be looking at with a mini in my skills range?
 
I think if this is a legit thread you'll be lucky to get any replies due to some recent threads.
 
It depends how much you want to learn, but as this thread shows (bar the comments about Yantorsen) it could cost any amount really. Depends on what you buy really, from what I understand, classic minis are really quite expensive to buy (for what they are).
 
Im restoring a '66 mini currently. Im doing my own welding and spraying. Even so, i'm looking at around £1000+ in heritage panels, and £200 in paint. And I paid a fair bit for a rusty shell in the first place. If you then want to rebuild an early model to factory spec, be aware some people are willing to pay BIG money for even the smallest early parts, especially anything with the name Cooper attached to it.

If you have a garage where you can work on a car, pick up a cheap gas mig welder and practice on some scrap metal. Its easy enough to pick up, and with not much practice you should be able to create untidy but solid welds that will look fine once dressed. 1980's rolling shells go for a couple of hundred pounds. If you are willing to do work yourself, you can get one through an mot on the good side of a grand. There are lots of minis to be had cheap that have been laid up in a garage since an MOT fail/expiration, and need minimal body and mechanical work to get back on the road.

If you want to restore a mini by sending it off for someone else to do the work, remember it'll be gone for several months, during which time you will be paying garage fees and probably a storage fee. Welding and spraying are still expensive to outsource, so the more you can do yourself, especially paint prep, the better. Look in the back of a miniworld mag and you will find cars for sale with 20k+ receipts for outsourced work.

If you are serious about doing it, head over to theminiforum. I picked up a hell of a lot of information and inspiration from there, and you can see a lot of people doing ground up restorations in a rented council garage and basic kit. I'm also always happy to talk about mini projects :D Mini's are certainly good cars to start off with in terms of restoration, due to the huge fan base, and the extensive availability of parts, particularly for the mk4 onward models. Minis are also quiet addictive, so picking up tools and skills the first time around is likely to come in handy when the bug bites again!

Hopefully that's somewhat informative!
 
Hi,
Having worked with a mate to restore a 1984 mini mayfair , i can only really echo the above, when you add up the little bits it really starts to cost! Any questions welcome :)
 
So far i've got about 5000 to spare.

If you go on piston heads, you can mini that look in good condition for about 3000 but obvously I can't tell without looking at the windscreen suround and other common places for rust.

But obvously I don't want it to be in perfect condition for a project, so hopefully i can get something a bit cheaper which is in need of a bit of tlc.

You can get aluminium panels with the obvious advantage of no more rust on the panels, anyone got any thoughts about that?

I was also thinking about Hi-lo suspension? but I think I should just restore it to it's orignal spec.

I also can't decide if I should do a cooper mainly because of the higher prices.
 
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My only advice is - do your homework before you do anything.

£5k could probably buy you a lovely early Mini now with the way the car market is going.
 
Unless you enjoy working on them as much as driving them, I'd follow commited's advice and buy one where someone else has done all the hard work.

In terms of panels, steel is nice and easy to work with. If rust wasn't your sworn enemy, it wouldn't be a mini :p
 
I already own a car, the point of buying the mini is to tinker with it.

I can sort out the rust, but I just rather it didn't come back as rust spreads fast if you leave some on the car.

Anyway thoughts on using the Hi-Lo's? and the alu panels?
 
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one thing i would add. make sure you get an early mini, none of this 1994 stuff. old school. 60's 70's or 80's :) mk1 ideally! :D
 
I got my 66 for a few hundred. They are about. You could invest into a late car too, its easy to make a mini your own. It depends a lot on what style etc you'd like. Unfortunately don't expect anything Rover put out to be any less rusty than something Morris did! I've seen last production year rovers in worse condition than my mkI. The advatage of a late model is parts are easier and cheaper to get hold of, and you wont be so frowned upon if you take a route away from original than if you did it with a '59!

I'd go with steel panels and a good paint job, with loads of waxoyl. My mkI has hilos just because its what I have spare in the garage. They will be at standard height however.
 
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