The Register

The E-Newsletter of The Mini Register

December 2008

Merry Christmas

and a Happy New Year

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New Members

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

Jordan Shirra, Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, Scotland, UK

1982 green Mini 1000 HLE called "Oggy" is lowered and is fitted with a 1380 engine, roll cage, 13x7 alloys

"I'm 15 and live in Scotland. I have a 1982 Mini 1000 called Oggy, it has a 1380 engine and a few other modifications"

Marco and Liezel Smit, Rustenburg, Gauteng, South Africa

1967 black Mini Bakie called "dj", for the non South African's, a bakie is a pick-up

Mike Nicolson, Weisdale, Shetland, Scotland, UK

1981 Mini HL Automatic in "Mr bean" green

"Its petty much standard for now, but it will soon have a rollcage, bucket seats, big speaker install and a larger/tuned engine and manual gearbox... if I'm lucky"

"I bought it 4 years ago, when I was 11 for my birthday. I spent 1-2 years getting it road ready and then the gearbox went, I fixed that and have been using it since."

Ross Beckingham, Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand

1966 Mini Cooper S 1275 in Island Blue and Old English White

Ross' Mini is currently under restoration

John, Bexx, Adam and Lorraine Stone,  Northampton, Northants, UK

1989 red Mini City E called "Minty" - Stage 1 kit, sump guard, crystal headlights, John Cooper stripes and a white roof ... soon to be rebuilt!

1994 blue Mini Sidewalk called "Yoshi" - Ultralights, sump guard, play mini exhaust, hi lo's and angel eyes.

"Minty is a tired City E due for rebuild with new front end panels, A panels, scuttle, doors and boot lid, cool colour scheme, with hi lo's, new carpets but little else, remaining subtly standard. Yoshi is a tidy Sidewallk, which my daughter enjoys driving, which has to be a bonus!"

Rod Bance, Clacton on Sea, Essex, UK

1971 green Mini 1000 prepared as a Cooper S replica with a 1320 engine, 7 1/2" discs, Gaz shocks and Cobra seats,

Tom Grove, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, UK

1990 Storm Grey Mini Studio 2 fitted with a black Mini 30 interior and red carpets. Also on the inside are wooden Mountney wheel, gearlever knob and door trims. On the outside are twin spots, black cooper stripes and a set of 12" Revolutions 

John Cooper, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK

1980 Rose Mini 1100 Special

"Hi, I have been into Minis for a lot of years, previous cars are B reg Mini 1000, 1967 mk1, Stimson Mini Bug, Marcos, 1275e South African Mini, 1963 mk1, and now I have just acquired a 1980 1100 Special.

My ultimate dream is to own a mk1 Cooper, possibly it may happen in the next couple of years or so."

Mike Hughes and Josh Downey, St Helens, Merseyside, UK

1979 British Racing Green Clubman called "Moo".When it comes to mods, Mike and Josh just say ""Everything..........deseamed.........the lot!. Our mini has been modified in so many ways.....it's now a unique car."

Keith and Michael Lancaster, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, UK

Keith and Michael's Mini is a left hand drive model imported from Germany. At the moment they don't know the year or model and hope to determine this from the VIN number

Members update

Richard Mortlock

For your information, I have attached a couple of pics of the Woody, a January 1961 Mk1 version and one of the first built, as it was when we finally extricated it from the garage where it had been since August 1978!

The third pic is of the restoration underway and a month later when we knew the extent of the work needed. Surprisingly a lot of the panels were OK (the rust on the bonnet was only surface) and only a few new ones were needed (we couldn't get a rear floor panel as they are not available anywhere, but the welder sorted that out!). We needed new wood as the worms had got in and re-upholster the back seat as the mice were using this as a warm home!

It needed a new rear subframe but the front one was OK (the usual oil leaks I would imagine) and all bits are now purchased. Welding and painting next job, then sort the good old 848cc (0 to 60 in 48 seconds!) engine out.

Richard is looking for an authentic jack for his Mk1 Austin Seven Countryman. These jacks were not the ones that fit into a recess on the sills but had a plate on them which fits under the subframes. - Can anyone help?

Rob Walker, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, UK

Rob has sent in some photos of Dianne's Mini Sprite,

There are more on their members page

Russ Swift, Darlington, County Durham, UK

Russ has recently been involved in filming some action for extra footage to add to a 50th anniversary version DVD of the original Italian Job.  Here are a few shots to whet the appetite

The Mini Russ used was a one off produced by the factory to look like the 1959 original

The filming took place on the Isle of Man

Awi Ayu, Terengganu, Malaysia

Awi's immaculate 1275GT is the result of a 3 year restoration

Well worth the wait

Awi now plans to fit a Hi Performance 2 Core Super Radiator & 6 Blade Metal Fans to keep it cool.

What's going on down there

For those of us above the equator we are in the middle of winter, if you are enjoying a southern hemisphere spring/summer, please let us know what you are up to, it may well provide the necessary prompt to get the winter project underway ready for our spring. And it is always nice to hear of Mini activity around the world, particularly next year for its 50th birthday.

Antarctic Mini

The Mini community on the whole is aware of the success of the Mini on nearly every continent , but until now virtually nothing has been known of the Mini's foray into Antarctica . The black and white photo of the Mini-Trac on the snow with a hut in the background has long been misquoted as a photoshop creation or an Eastern European mock-up . It was being discussed again on an Australian Moke forum in February 2008 when it was recognised by a Moke owner who also happened to work for the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) .While he was able to show some more photo's of it the AAD had no information on it other than it was used by the field department of the AAD , the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions (ANARE) at Wilkes Antarctic base in 1965 . This started a search that took 9 months and resulted in my finding the designer/builder of the Mini-Trac along with people who drove it in Antarctica and others who saw it in Australia before and after it was used there. This was due to a phenomenal amount of luck as each person I spoke to remembered some tiny fact (remembered someone's name who was at Wilkes that year or someone who worked in dispatch at that time) until one former ANARE member remembered tagging along with a mate who called into a workshop in a Melbourne suburb and saw the Mini-Trac before it was sent south.

So many times along the research path people told me "you should have spoken to so and so , he was involved in the testing but he died a few years ago" , in fact the two men in the photo's have now passed away along with the driver of the Mini-Trac in the video . I urge anyone who knows anything about the history of any special or obscure Mini or part of any significant event in mini history to please record it now , talk to whoever you can about it and approach any of the mini magazines to get it published before it passes out of living memory like the Mini-Trac nearly did.

The Mini-Trac was born due to the ANARE needing smaller and cheaper tracked snow vehicles , Recar Body Works (owned and operated by Terry O'Hare) was at the time providing modified Swedish Snow-Trac and Canadian Nodwell vehicles and were approached to produce a suitable unit . The Mini-Trac was still powered by an A series engine and utilised the tracks from the Snow-Track and some very impressive engineering to mate it all together . A few were built and one was sent to Antarctica for trials in December 1965 (where it was filmed on super 8 by Mark Forecast who has very kindly allowed his footage to be seen by the Mini community) and then later in trials around the Australian ski fields . Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything of it after 1967 (though I've possibly found the remains of the one that was sent to Canada , now just the modified Mini body on a Bombardier sidewalk snow plow) yet but am still searching . The full story of the Mini-Trac (including very high res versions of the photo's included here , newspaper clippings and other photo's ) is in issue 17 of the Australian Mini magazine "The Mini Experience" which is due to hit the stands on December 19 . Copies of the magazine are available through their website , http://www.miniexperience.com.au/52.0.html .

Video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F961y5Npsv4

Ian White, Australia
Pictures copyright - Australian Antarctic Division and Australian Government Archives

Freestyle Build

Its been all pipe work this month, the electric water pump is now in place and plumbed in, the biggest challenge has been sourcing the correct size of hose. For the straight section between the pump and the block, a full metre had to be bought. The link to the radiator has been fashioned from a Nissan bottom hose and a length of aluminium tube.

Attention then moved on to the exhaust, the LCB was originally on the Frogeye and responded well to the wire brush and a couple of coats of VHT paint. I don't know if it will work, but a hot-air gun was used to try and cure the paint as it will be a while before the engine will run.

The tubular frame attached to the rear will perform two functions, it will support the silencer and also acts as a brace between the mounting points for the dummy track-rods.

New MINI Convertible

When launched in October 2006, the "Mk II" MINI (R56) featured a complete re-work with significant changes to the body, suspension and engine, these changes have now been applied to the Convertible and it will be on sale from 28 March 2009, initially in Cooper and Cooper S form.

The first-generation MINI Convertible experienced remarkable sales success in Britain and was a best seller in the UK in the small convertible segment between 2004 and 2008. Approximately 164,000 MINI Convertibles were delivered to owners around the world.

Two new colours will be introduced and be exclusive to the convertible (although we have had exclusive colours before!); Interchange Yellow and Horizon Blue. The softtop may be Black, Denim Blue or Hot Chocolate. The softtop mechanics have also received a lot of attention, with a much neater arrangement when the hood is fully open, which takes just 15 seconds (and another 15 seconds to fully close). The fixed roll-over bars behind the rear seats of the Mk I have gone, replaced with a hidden single hoop that pops up in milliseconds at the time of impact. The roof can still be partly opened as it could with the Mk I.

Probably from the same department that brought us the mood lighting in the door panels, the convertible can be ordered with an optional Openometer that records the time the car is driven with the top down, am I missing something?

The body structure, floorplan, A-pillars and side sills have all been strengthened to offer greater crash protection. This also significantly reduces "scuttle shake", whilst body stiffness is further improved over the first generation MINI Convertible. The car's weight is also reduced by 10 kilogrammes.

Clever use of space means the luggage capacity of the new car is greater than that of the first generation model. The easy-load boot compartment now has a capacity of 125 litres (up from 120) with the roof open and 170 litres with the roof closed (previously 165). With the rear seat folded down and roof closed, luggage space totals 660 litres, 55 litres more than the previous MINI Convertible.

Bike rack mountings will be included as standard, they are hidden from view and positioned behind the rear bumper and will allow multi-function carriers to be attached as and when required.

The second-generation new MINI Convertible will be built in Britain. The body shells will be pressed at MINI Plant Swindon, the engines will be built at BMW Group Hams Hall and assembly of the entire cars will take place at MINI's Plant Oxford production facility, alongside the MINI Hatch and MINI Clubman.

Mini Workshop - Front Subframe mountings

Karen's Mini, Vince, has been on the road now for ten to eleven years since the re-shell and as the engine was pulled for some remedial work, the opportunity was taken to change the front sub-frame mounts. These cannot be changed with the sub-frame in place, although you only need to drop it by about 4 inches if it is not coming out completely.

These details only apply to the later front sub-frames with the single large bolt in the top of the towers.

The teardrop shaped front mountings are fixed to the front panel with a single 5/16 UNF bolt (1/2" AF), there is also a peg lower down then engages with another hole in the front panel (it is this peg that prevents the mounting from being changed with the subframe in position.

In the middle of the mounting is another hole that lines up with the front sub-frame for a 5/16 UNF bolt and nut. The mountings consist of a rubber disc sandwiched between two pieces of metal, when the mountings were removed, the metal disc that bolts to the subframe was no longer attached to the rubber, which probably accounts for some of the funny noises coming from the front of the car

Before the subframe can be lowered from the body, the brake pipe must be disconnected, an old nut with the pipe flattened will stop the fluid dripping out.

The rear of the subframe is attached to the body by two more steel/rubber mountings, two 5/16UNF nuts/bolts hold the mounting to the subframe and another two hold the mounting to the body.

To remove the ones on the body you need either very long arms or the service of a helper to stop the bolt from turning.

With the front and rear mountings undone, the two large bolts that pass through the cross-member to the top of the sub-frame towers can be removed. you will need a 1 5/15" AF socket for this.

In standard form, the large bolt has a rubber bush between the head and the cross-member and between the cross-member and the subframe, this locates the sub-frame and reduces the transmission road and engine vibration and noise. A set of Poly Bushes were used when the car was re-shelled and look un-touched so they went back on.

With the subframe now so accessible, it seemed a shame not to give it a coat of paint.

Rather than fit the sub-frame and lower the engine in, the engine was fitted to the sub-frame, the driveshafts connected and the body then lowered into place. As soon as the body was low enough, the speedo cable was attached as it is considerably easier to do this when there is room to get a hand to the nut.

Just remembered in time to fit LCB exhaust manifold - again much easier than jiggling it into position when the engine and sub-frame are in the car.

Tech Tip - Driveshaft boot tie

Factory fitted drive shafts have the boots attached to the CV joints by metal bands. Some replacement CV joints come with new bands, others with tie-wraps. The problem with the metal bands is that it is quite difficult maintaining the tension in the band whilst the tabs are folded over, so they are often ditched in favour of tie-wraps

The problem with tie-wraps is that the fixing block protrudes and fouls the inside of the hub, causing the tie-wrap to be pulled, releasing the boot.

I am trying these flattie tie-wraps from www.cbsonline.co.uk (14"), they have a lower profile and don't foul the hub.

Events

Sunday 11th January - The excellent Wirral Minis Llandudno run along the North Wales coast, book early it is very popular.

Sunday 13th January - Mini Owners of Southern Africa will be taking part in the SAMCA Run to the Vaal event.

Sunday 18th January - AutoSolo at Demon Tweeks, Wrexham, organised by Knutsford & District Motor Club

Sunday 27th January - British Mini Fair, Bingley Hall, Stafford

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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