The Register

The E-Newsletter of The Mini Register

July 2008

home 

New Members

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

Chris Price, Frinton-On-Sea, Essex, UK

A lot of hard work went into turning Libby into the very tidy pearl white Mini you see here, it started life as a 1991 Cooper and required a new front end to replace the rusted original. As well as the extended arches covering the 13 inch Revolutions, the Mini also features a new straight through twin pipe exhaust, bucket seats and a new dash. Chris would like to thank his long suffering girlfriend and her family who have helped make Libby make a Mini again.

"One day we plan to stop her leaking oil!!!!!!!!!!!! Libby is the car you love to hate lol. :)"

Charlie and  Rosalind Hughes, Waterlooville, Hampshire, UK

Charlie and Rosalind's Mini is another car that is being given a new lease of life, they were given the green 1973 Mini 1000 but it was in a terrible state , they are now restoring it to its former glory

Tim Gubbels, Limburg, Netherlands

Six months ago, Tim bought a Mini that had been in storage for 30 years, the  in storage, Tim body number and chassis plate are still intact, and using these, Tim has been able to get a Heritage Certificate from which he has learnt that it is an Austin Mini Cooper 997 manufactured in October 1961. The car is Fiesta Yellow with an Old English White roof but is in need of a full restoration that Tim has started.

Louis and Craig Prouting, Beach Haven, Auckland, New Zealand

Louis and Craig's Mini is a 1976 Austin 1000 LE in red/orange. It has been fitted with arm rests and a boot chain but is waiting the arrival of a new bonnet and flares.

Mike Steddy, Milton, Ontario, Canada

Mike's Burgundy 1969 Mini Mk II has fulfilled a long time wish to own a Mini, he has wanted one for years since he owned one back in England. He tells us that he is a lawn care contractor and loves meeting new people, with a Mini, particularly a rare Mk II, that shouldn't be a problem

Henk Botes, Boksburg, Geutang, South Africa

The Mini Vanden Plas was  South African special produced in 1978, Henk has recently bought one and is planning to restore it, he would really appreciate any help with photos and information. Ryno Verster, historian of MOSCA, has kindly offered to contact Henk. We would be very interested to hear how the rebuild goes.

Jonathan Megraw, Ebbw Vale Wales, UK

Jonathan's Mini has had the Zeemax treatment with the body kit covering a set of wide wheels. The green and white 1985 Mk III was first stripped and the 998cc engine painted before the body kit and spoiler were added.

The shell is very solid and has never been welded. The sound on the outside was catered for with a large bore exhaust and the inside was treated to a CD player and a boom box where the rear seat used to be.

Jason Byrne, Warrington, Cheshire, UK

1999  Mini Cooper called "Beast"

"I have always loved the thought of owning a mini but thought like everybody else it was just a fad and not practical. But I crashed my motorbike in Wales in 2007 and 2 months later crashed my old Saxo on a wet road. Now don't get the wrong idea I'm 30 and I haven't crashed a car or bike before, in fact I have never had any points on my license. So I decided to buy a car I wouldn't crash and something that may be kinder on the fuel/insurance and tax and so I went out in search of a nice little runner (classic mini). Once I started looking I was hooked. I could have done with selling it a few months back to finish my housing project off but I just couldn't part with him! so he stays ;) in fact I am now planning on saving and buying a second Mini for nicer days and possible shows. I am also looking to free time up to learn more about working on them because I have not the slightest idea about the inner workings of a car let alone a Mini ha ha... so in a nut shell I'm hooked (I may have also got my girlfriend hooked too)"

Dennis  Cook,  Noordhoek, Western Cape, South Africa

Denis has a pair of very smart Minis, the 1964 Austin Cooper 998 in BRG ha a modified 1275 GTS motor. The car was assembled in Rhodesia and is one of only a few known

The 1967 Mini Pickup doubles up as an advertisement for his holiday cottage business and features a customised Interior with a GTS dash. The engine is a modified 1275 GTS motor and the car runs on a set of 13inch Minilites

David Fearn and David Watt, Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, UK

The David's have a 1987 Mini Mayfair in Sky Blue

"I bought the car from my sister who has had it since 2005. She had her driving lessons and passed her test in it. At the moment my Dad and I are starting a restoration job - needs work at the front end!! I plan to pass my test in her too."

Chris and Willie and Herman van Wyk Smit, Rustenburg,  North-west, South Africa

This is the second South African specific Mini under restoration this month. Chris and Willie have a black 1980 Clubman 1275 E which they call Sharky. They bought the shell as scrap and are now busy with the restoration.

Jackie Westwood, Ashford, Kent, UK

Jackie has two Minis 1979 and obviously considers them to be works of art as she has named them Gilbert and George.

Gilbert is a green Clubman Estate and George is a Burgundy Mini Thirty

Liam Andrew, Doncster, South Yorkshire, UK

Liam's 1998 Mini Racing Green, "Mr Green" is in very good condition and as far as Liam knows is 100 percent original.

Kirsten Neal, Northampton, UK

Kirsten has a standard British Racing Green 1991 Mini Cooper Sport

"Just bought my very first Mini – which of course needs a little TLC to restore it back to its best! I am loving pootling around in it so far but am looking forward to fixing the leak first of all! Especially with the typical English summer looming ahead of us..."

Steve and Rachel Taylor, Wardley, Tyne and Wear, UK

Registered in the last year of Mini production (13/3/2000) Steve and Rachel Cooper Sports is painted in the classic Almond Green with an Old English White roof. The interior is black leather

Robert and Diana Fraser, Deception Bay, Queensland, Australia

"I have just brought a 1968 Morris Mini , From what I can gather its a 998 Deluxe But if anyone can help me to find out more Please email me at robert.fraser20@bigpond.com. I need to do a rewire from the dash to the front and a full rebuild .So once again I ask if anyone can help PLEASE PLEASE DO. Cheers Rob"

Daniel Smith, St Austell, Cornwall, UK

Racing Greens are popular this month, Daniel's goes by the name of Milly

Alma Robbins, South Molton, Devon, UK

Alma has a blue 1997 Rover Mini 1300 called Thumper. The engine is standard but it has a white roof and Cooper stripes now.

"I am fifty something and live in North Devon and I'm a bit nutty about my car and my dog. I have always liked Minis and Thumper is the fourth. I try to take good care of him and he's in use every day, but his bodywork is showing a few signs or rust ( horror). Love to hear from any other mini enthusiasts out there!"

David  Greener, Bordon, Hampshire, UK

David has a pair of Minis, a Cherry Red Mini Thirty (1989) called "Naughty Sporty" fitted with a Maniflow stage one exhaust and K & N air filter. And a red 1992 1275 Mini Mayfair called "Gazza" which has a stage 1 kit and K & N air filter

Members Updates

Rob Harrison, Leicester, UK

I don't know if you would be interested, but my mini has come on a lot since we joined the mini register. A major motivational factor being invited to take "Launa" to an Italian job advertising photo shoot. Unfortunately she wasn't ready for that but it certainly made me "get my finger out", here are a couple of photo's of her ready for the dreaded MOT!

Jim Biscoe, Bolton, Ontario, Canada

Frank van der Meer, Pretoria, South Africa

The Mini Owner's Club of Southern Africa had a stand at the 2008 Castrol Extreme Auto Show, held at the Coca-Cola Dome. Franks beautiful '59 was on the stand. It is the oldest surviving Mini in South Africa.

Chris Lee, Warrington, UK

"This is the Cooper at this years National Mini cooper Day at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu.

We were invited as a 'modified RSP and put in the main display ring.

We traveled down on the Saturday through Welsh border country and attended the show on the Sunday. Monday saw us drive over to Royal Tunbridge Wells for me to do some work and then we moved to Clacton-On-Sea on the Wednesday.

I went up to Norwich for work on the Thursday and back to Clacton. Sunday saw our return to Warrington. Not a hitch apart from the tanker drivers strike. That could be why we managed somewhere over 45mpg for the trip. Not bad compared to the 22mpg when acting as course car on events.

Comfort and noise weren't an issue owing to the modifications that got us invited to the show. I tend not to think of the car as modified more like 'enhanced'.

All the best."

Yaks

You may have noticed that we have a number of Yak owners in the Mini Register membership. Well Craig Scarborough, a Yak owner himself, has started tracking down examples of this Mini based kit from the late 60's and early 70's and we will be having a Yak section on the Mini Register web site.

Craig is also trying to find a Yak tailgate to take a mould from. He has already managed to track down a bonnet and grill from which moulds will be taken

Mini in the Park

Not long now to Mini in the Park at Santa Pod (August 17th). The Mini Register will have a stand as usual and all the tickets have now been allocated. Pop along and say hello if you are there.

How many survive?

Can you tell me how many survive from that year?

I think that it is a very rare type of Mini, it's one of the thousand Miní Coopers that made for the homologation to take part of the British Touring Car Championship.

I'm looking forward to hearing something.
 
Regards Tim Gubbels, Nederlands

Useful Link

Thanks to Chris Lee for this link http://www.smithmaps.fsnet.co.uk/worksmini.htm it is a fountain of info on the Works Minis and the BMC Competitions Department.

Freestyle Build

Just when it was going so well - rather slowly, but well - it was time to check the engine over. I was pretty confident that it would just need a quick inspection and some new shells and clutch plate. The first indication of trouble came with the removal of the head, some time over the last few years, water has got into number 1 bore and the rust has eaten into the cylinder walls. As the block is already bored out to the maximum of 73.5mm (1380cc), the block is scrap.

Moving on, the flywheel had to be removed so that the block could be separated from the block - problem number 2. After all the tricks had been tried including application of heat, penetrating fluid and large applications of hammer, it would not shift. Even leaving the puller on over night and trying again had no effect. So it was out with the angle grinder, cutting through the flywheel and hub as close to the crank as possible without actually touching it.

Any hopes that the heat from the cutting disc might dislodge it were in vain and it still wouldn't budge even when the slot went from centre to the outer edge. So another slot was cut on the other side and then some judicious levering finally induced metal fatigue in the thin strip left next to the crank. At last, nearly 5 hours later, the reason for the problem was found. The flywheel has been chattering on the taper of the crank and the heat generated has caused the two to weld themselves together, the crank is scrap as well.

At this point I should point out that the engine has done about 25 years of top level autotesting with only a change of head gasket about 10 years in. In that time it took me to class wins in the BTRDA National Autotest Championship and MSA British Autotest Championship as well as a place on the English A team for international events for a number of years. So although disappointed with the findings, I cannot complain. The engine was originally built by MED so it was an easy call to use their services again, this time in the form of a 1380 short motor kit. I had been planning to fit a Kent MD266 cam as it seamed the logical progression from the Kent 500 that had worked so well, the emphasis in autotesting is low down torque. MED's Steve however recommended the Piper HT ??? as a significant improvement, particularly when fitted with the 1.5 rockers. Thanks to friend Ian's assistance the build went very smoothly.

, the gearbox and the new power unit is ready to be installed.

Events

1st to 3rd August - Southern Mini Days at the Hop Farm near Tonbridge, Kent

Sunday 17th August - Mini in the Park - Santa Pod raceway, Northampton

5th to 7th of September - REME Mini Magical Mystery Tour - Based in San Francisco on the weekend of , the Redwood Empire Mini Enthusiasts are organising a tremendous Mini event which will cater for both Mini and MINI enthusiasts.

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.

When transmitted as an e-mail, this newsletter is sent to registered members of The Mini Register. If you receive such an e-mail when not a Mini Register member and if you would like to stop further editions being sent, the please reply with "stop" in the subject.