The Register

The E-Newsletter of The Mini Register

January 2008

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New Members

We would like to extend a very warm welcome to The Mini Register to:

Philip and  Dylan Patmore, Shefford, Bedfordshire, UK

Philip calls his Mini "Big boys toys" and as a member of a number of Mini clubs there's plenty of playtime with shows and cruises. His Mini is a blue and white 1989 City E with a St George's flag on the roof. Also on the outside are a set of Sportspack arches over 13" deep-dish Minilight alloys, clear light lenses all round, chrome bullet mirrors, fuel cap and a Cooper grill. To offset this extra chrome, the front and rear bumpers have been removed.

On the inside, a walnut 3 dial dash has been fitted along with a chrome kit. A 1275 lives under the bonnet and Boxster exhaust graces the rear.

Jacky Benade, Cape Town, South Africa

Jacky's Mini is a 1983 1275 in British Racing Green with white racing stripes, "Not a original- he is built up from different mini's- my little frankenstein mini! :)

I bought him in August this year- he is my first car. Had to make him roadworthy and his radiator is now broken. He is like a sick child but I love him either way. Everybody underestimates him and they forget that he is after all a car and not a go cart. He makes people smile and he looks cheeky when he goes around corners. That's why I named him after the mischievious spirit Loki."

Pier Giorgio Cardoni,  Perugia, Umbria, Italy

Pier Giorgio's 1994 Mini 1.3i Classic 35 is one of 400 Limited Edition models built for the Italian market. Finished in Charcoal metallic grey, "Grace" features 12" Minilite style alloy wheels a Webasto electric sunroof, a walnut dashboard and magnolia leather trim which are all part of the standard package.

To this, power windows, chrome extras and 2 Wipac fog lamps have been added

Pier Giorgio also owns an Italian roadster in the form of a 1997 Fiat Barchetta 1.8i 16v.

John McGowan and Nichola Hilditch, Little Neston, Wirral, UK

John and Nichola obviously like their red 1989 Mayfair Automatic, not only have they called it Poppy, but they have also bought a 1969 Traveller to keep it company.

The Mayfair has some basic exterior mods such as chrome all round. The blue 1969 Traveller "Woody Coyote", which was just bought as a Christmas present, is standard at the moment but is about to start a major rebuild.

Harry Finn, Lytham St Annes, Lancashire, UK

Harry's black 1993 Cooper is fitted with 13" alloys and Sportspack arches, as to a name, Harry's response was "None - don't be silly"

Rudy and Diedrick Huysveld, Lochristi, Belgium

Rudy and Diedrick's smart 1987 Mini is called "t groentje", after a session on Google, I am not sure if this means Butterfly or Rookie

David Susca, Ereira, Santarem, Portugal

Another European left-hand drive Mini, this time a green and white 1991 Mini Cooper called "Bolinha". David bought the Cooper in 2000 when he lived in Luxemburg, the car originally came from Germany and with 92000Km on the clock, it has had a fresh repaint and a little bit of restoration. As David says "it's my first car and its great"

Matthew Jaroszewicz, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, UK

The "Yellow Peril" started life as a 1984 Mini 25, now, in addition to the colour change, it has been fitted with an RC40 centre exhaust (not full stage one kit), racing arches (extended), alloy wheels and electronic ignition.

"Bought as my first car to learn to drive in, and the problems that have occurred lately have MADE me learn about cars more!! Great little car to look at and drive. The Yellow Peril is a Mini Special 25, which was resprayed from silver to yellow with white roof and bumpers by previous owner. Original interior and engine."

Raymond and Ria Vorster, Oberholzer, North West Province,
South Africa

It is surprising how often Minis become family heirlooms and Raymond's is one of these, he has inherited his fathers 1966 Austin 1100 and he is busy restoring it.

John Goodrich, St Austell, Cornwall, UK

We have no details of John's Mini

Lisa and Lee Middleton, Filey, North Yorkshire, UK

"Hi, I am Lisa from Filey North Yorkshire, I have driven Minis since I was 17 and have just swapped a brand new boring Peugeot for my little red Mini which I love."

Ronny Keukeu,  Bandung, West Java, Indonesia

Ronny owns a red 1970 Mini, although he refers to it as a Mk I. Called "eneng", it is fitted with 13" alloy wheels, disc brakes, a brake booster and a 1300 A+ engine.

"I have driven my "eneng" from Bandung to Bali, 600 Km, without any problems, its a nice and cool car"

Patrice Nicolas, Port Louis, Mauritius

We have no details of Patrice's Mini

Don Racine, Nevada City, California, USA

There can be few Mini owners (classic and BMW) in the States who have not heard of Mini Mania, the California based company specialise in parts and accessories and their success may well be down to owner Don's interest in Minis.

Don races a 1967 Morris Mini Cooper S which has been modified to be a copy of the Monte Carlo Mini, the car runs as a Vintage Race Car

Juelle Mullikin, Old Town, Florida, USA

Juelle describes her as a Sewing Machine Mechanic and she owns a pepper coloured 2005 MINI Cooper S model called Baby Hester E  ( baby )

"I am a 64 year young female. I have been car crazy since 16 years old. I own a 1940 Ford Coupe since 17 years old an still have it. I also have a 1970 Chevy Elcamino since 1982 also still have it. I drove my first Mini in 1976 in London England an fell in love with the Mini. I bought my new ( 2005 ) S Model on 10-29-04. in Palm Harbor Florida I have since put 57,500 miles on it. I have driven it to the Grand Canyon, and to the Dragons Tail in the North Carolina Mountains ( three times ) and am ready to take a long trip from North Florida to L.A. California this summer. I truly love to drive my Baby. My tag is ( Me Baby ) and I have ( actual size ) on either side of rear side windows in white letters. Looking forward to your news letter."

Jonathan Gray, Yarm, Cleveland, UK

Jonathan owns a 2006 MINI ONE 1.6 in Hyper Blue to this he has fitted Spotlamps, silver bonnet stripes, a silver union jack on the roof, 16" Park Lane alloys and Cooper S side sills.

Ben Isaac, Boston, Linconshire, UK

 Ben's 1989 Mini City E is painted in the unusual colour of Matt Black

"I have been a fan of Minis for many years, having grown up listening to the stories of my Dad's Minis, so when I was 17 I decided the time had come to get my first one!!! I have many plans for the car......total strip down to eliminate rust....sportspack arches......deseaming and a re-spray..... but for now I just want it on the road to get some experience before I go to University!"

Members update

John Lieberman, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA 

Just a thought on the MINI SUV.  They're going to have a hard time calling it the Colorado for the US market, since Chevrolet already makes a mid-sized pickup truck by that name.  It's made right here in Shreveport, along side the GMC Canyon pickup and Hummer H3 SUV and (soon) H3 pickup.  They all share the same platform.

Mini Reshell

Part 2 of Rich Wignall's article on the re-shelling of a Mini

Pre-emptive strike, although there was no problem with the bulkhead engine stabiliser mounting, in this case, I decided to strengthen it with a piece of heavy-duty alloy angle, while it was so easily accessible.

Re-assembly of the refurbished components on to the bulkhead, note the alloy panel to seal the old speedo aperture, obviously this will have to be drilled for the wiring harness and speedo cable.

I generally replace the rubber mountings on this type of front subframe with a good quality solid mounting kit. Illustrated are the tower mountings for one side. Easy to do when assembling everything, but I have fitted these kits to complete cars, it’s not as daunting a job as it sounds, as the body only needs raising about half an inch from the frame, in order to slide the lower tower mount over the hollow spigot, where the very large bolt passes through. On a complete car, I slacken all the mounts and do the job on a ‘side by side’ basis, normally only the bulkhead engine stabiliser and dampers have to be disconnected. It is wise to check the tracking after fitting such a kit as the body usually sits slightly higher than with old soft mountings. (Yes, that is the local cat creeping into the photo!)

Lower bulkhead mounting fitted to the hollow spigot on the top of the subframe tower.

As this shell began life as a potential rally car, we decided to stay with the theme and the main front to rear brake pipe runs inside the car, which is quite acceptable as long as it is properly fastened, clear of any moving parts and seat belt mountings. The process was repeated with the fuel pipe and  battery cable. A word of caution, any fuel pipe running inside the car must be a one piece metal pipe where it is inside the body, any joins or rubber connecting hoses must be outside the front and rear bulkhead.

Pedal box and steering column in place, when fitting the column, always leave the rack mounting U-bolts slack until the column is secured in it’s bracket and the pinion pinch bolt is tightened, this allows the pinion Shaft to ‘centre’ and adopt the angle of the column. The same applies if fitting column lowering brackets.

While the red Hammerite was handy, I decided the floor of the car would benefit from a couple of coats, I found a small gloss paint roller, ideal for the job, and very quick.

Wirral Minis Llandudno Run

So what do you think would induce over 400 people to stand on top of a rocky outcrop, jutting out into the Irish Sea, in gale force winds with the rain coming across horizontally?

it has to be the Mini, and in this case it was the annual Wirral to Llandudno Mini Run, once again laid on by the excellent team at the Wirral Mini Club.

This looks like a very smart Cooper Sport and although that is what the badge on the boot says, it is in fact a Monza, a special edition produced for the German market. Is this the only right hand drive version ?

Not all Minis were quite as smart, you could smell this one before you could see it, following a muck-spreader too closely ?

It was the usual case of Minis everywhere when the run stopped at Rhos-on-Sea for a break.

By the time we reached Llandudno and headed for the Great Orme, the rain had set in

The dreaded bump on the way down from the top - no dislodged exhausts seen this year

You may remember Phil Lomas (also one of the run organisers) reported a while back that his black Mini 30 had been written off in a road accident, well he soon found another on EBay and is very pleased with it.

Despite the grey skies and rain, the atmosphere was fantastic as usual. The Promenade was opened up for the Minis to park as participants dispersed into the town for lunch.

Freestyle build

All four master cylinders described last month are now all plumbed in and the pipes suitably secured with P-clips to stop them flapping about.

The reservoirs have also been connected to the foot master cylinders with clear tube, this is suitable for brake fluid and has the advantage of being very flexible. A couple of brackets were fabricated to keep them in place.

All that remains to complete the brakes is to strip and re-build the calipers, fitting new seals and stainless pistons in the process.

Next on the list is the wiring, the loom will be considerably simpler than for a road going car as there are no lights, indicators, heater, etc. Simple brackets have been made to locate all the electrical components so that they are easy to get to, require short wiring runs and are protected from the weather. After drawing a wiring diagram, the next stage was to cut the wires to length, an old Mini loom was raided - more details next month.

Start of Freestyle Build

Mini Workshop - Brake and Clutch pipes

First, and most important - IF IN DOUBT - DON'T - the safe functioning of your brake is absolutely critical, if you are not confident in your ability to make your own brake pipes then buy ready-made items from your local motor factor.

The brake and clutch pipes on a standard Mini are made from 3/16" steel pipe, plated with a corrosion resistant coating. Despite the coating, they do rust and should be checked regularly.

Replacement pipe may be made from a copper/nickel alloy which, in addition to not rusting, are also a lot easier to bend to shape.

There are two types of fittings for the ends of the brake and clutch pipes; male (left) and female. The male fittings are used for master cylinders and connectors, the female for attaching flexible pipes. For earlier Minis, both these fittings had a 7/16" UNF thread, with later cars using a metric equivalent.

Each of these fitting types require a different shape pressing onto the end of the pipe, the shape provides the seat that seals the pipe to the master cylinder, T-Piece, etc, and it is therefore very important that this is formed correctly.

There are a number of tools available on the market, they all work on the same principle of using a clamp to hold the pipe firmly while a shaped die is pressed onto the pipe end, forming it into the desired shape. For a male fitting the left hand die is used, whereas a female fitting requires a two stage operation; first the left hand die is used to create the convex shape, then the right hand die is used to reform the end into the concave shape. The pipe must not be removed from the clamp between these to stages.

If the formed end does not look symmetrical, scrap it and start again, the importance of getting this bit right cannot be over emphasised.

The pipe is supplied in a coil, and the temptation is just to pull out as much as needed, and then fit the ends. This leads to very unsightly kinks in the longer runs of pipe. If you hold the pipe against a straight edge and roll the coil along, the end result is a lot more professional looking.

Pipe cutters are readily available from plumbers merchants and DIY stores, they are not expensive and are strongly recommended as they cut a square end to the pipe. It is possible to use a hack saw but if you don't get the end square, the joint will be malformed. Don't be tempted to apply too much pressure to the blade, this will tend to swage the end of the pipe which will affect the shape of the finished end.

Use the blade in the cutting tool to clean the cut end, being very careful not to get swarf into the open end. The pipe may now be clamped in the tool and the required end formed, before doing that slide the fitting over the pipe - sounds obvious but believe me, it is very frustrating to find that having created a perfectly formed end, you have to cut it off because you forgot the fitting.

With the pipe suitably terminated, it is time to bend it to shape, the copper/nickel pipes can be bent by hand, but a simple pipe bending tool makes a much neater job. If you don't have a bender, clamp a suitable diameter socket into the vice and use this as a former.

For the more intricate shapes, a length of heavy garden wire is most useful, not only can it be useful as a template for the shape, but it also provides an accurate length for the pipe to be cut to.

When the pipes are fitted, they should be clipped into place at frequent intervals to prevent them being caught and damaged or vibrating, which may in turn lead to metal fatigue.

Once again - IF IN DOUBT - DON'T

Record sales for MINI

47,661 MINIs were registered in the UK in 2007 which represents the highest number of sales since the launch in 2001. Sales were up by 25 percent over 2006.

The MINI Cooper was the most popular model with 17,173 sales and the MINI Convertible remains as the second best-selling convertible in the UK.

That's it, please let us know what is going on in your part of the world.

Keep in touch

Mike Bennett
theregister@miniregister.co.uk

The opinions expressed in The Register are those of the members and not necessarily those of The Mini Register.

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