Kamike

The better half really wants a mini as her dad had one before he passed away when she was younger. Anyhow im going to get her one for her birthday in April but wondered if any one could answer a couple of quick questions.

Im looking to spend 3k plus another 1K so she can have the deep dish style mini alloys and a few other little mods. Is that a reasonable budget or will it bag me a rot box?

Im 6" 2 will I have any problems driving the thing?

Can anyone recommend a good website/owners club that isnt full of purists who are way to far up there own arses to offer and good advice?

Thanks

RichieST

iTrader: (2)

I am just over 6'3 and I had difficulty driving one, however you can get seat extenders which move the drivers seat backwards for the taller person!

I would love to have one now, need to learn to weld first tho

AlexF

I'm happy to help

Seats can be moved back on brackets - what sort of year/spec are you after?

Alex

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like a sensible budget to me.

To be honest though, they drive a lot nicer on the 12" diameter narrower wheels than they do on the "sportspack" or any aftermarket wide 13" wheels.

But that isnt an issue if the reason for the wheels is it looks good rather than it drives good, which without being too sexist, is what most girls into minis want anyway, lol

Kamike

Winner

Well I have had a quick look through Mini world mag and have been looking at modles registered in or around 93-95. Seems I can get a nice looking one on my budget (3K) and still have around 1K to spend on the mods she wants.

Does that sound reasonable?

Kamike

LOL yeah dont I know it. She wants black deep dish alloys called trax or somthing similar and she has also seen a stage 3 conversion (Ł800) which according to her will give 100-110 BHP.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

She's wrong on the stage 3 conversion thing with the power figures quoted, it costs a lot more than 800 quid including labour to get a mini up to a genuine 100bhp+
90bhp is pretty easily got though

PGT

don't need to spend 3k unless you want a more recent one an with mini's the age does not necarsarily reflect condition.

mine's an 84 BRG with a new 1380 engine / fully rebuilt box + complete rebuild of entire suspension / brakes / body etc. cooper s brakes and entirely rust free. paid Ł2.2k 2 years ago but never get the time to use it. probably get more use if it was red instead of green

Kamike

Well I planned to spend that amount to make sure I get a good one, dont want to be chasing rust. Im a complete novice when it comes to the Mini lol still trying to work out how many different modles there are and which one to look for.

PGT

chasing rust on a mini is like painting the forth bridge!

Kamike

Hopefully i can get a good one and then do some work to help prevent it in futre like waxoil the underside etc

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Personally I would go for a mini RSP, I believe that of the modern minis these are the best available, but I would want to keep it visually standard if I did so.

Failing that, any pre 94 (thats when they started getting bloated with catalytic convertor airbag etc) cooper is a good bet.

As per above, buy it on condition, not anything else, the single most important thing is the bodyshell, minis rust a LOT, some were getting rust repairs done under their 3 year warranty, even stuff like new sills!

PGT

when they were built they moved the shells across the road to the paint shop!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Indeed, and birmingham isnt famed for its clear sunny year round skies

Kamike

What about the engine what should I look for there

~nomad~

iTrader: (4)

All good advice above, most of the SPI (1994 - 1997ish) Coopers don't have the airbags etc, mine is a 95 and doesn't. They all rot like buggery sadly and everywhere. Mine looked mint when bought a year ago, has now got rot showing on both front wings and a panels, and a small hole underneath near rear subframe, also needs one sill doing! Defo make sure you get the mintest shell you can find. I would be inclined to get a cooper, if you want the big wheels then I would go for a spotspack or one with the arches done, the wheels look silly without the arches tbh.
They are not cheap cars to own and you will be forever working on them, but really good fun when they are working!

www.theminiforum.co.uk is a good place for info

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Providing it doesnt smoke, and doesnt make any nasty noises, and pulls cleanly up through the revs, not really much you need to check mate, the engines are the one bit that (if serviced properly and not badly modified) dont tend to give any problems.

The wide wheel cars tend to much the diff pin, but its not very easy to check that, as its an engine out job to look at it properly!

~nomad~

iTrader: (4)

Engines are fairly good really, but oil leak from underneath is likely to be the oil seal on the gearlinkage, you can get a fix kit for it which is easy to fit. On the SPIs and the MPIs ecu and relay pack issues are fairly common, the relay packs are Ł100 new. The fuseboxes go all the time too, but they are only about Ł15, you can upgrade to blade fuses rather than the crap glass ones. Make sure any car you look at has the watersheild fitted, it comes off the rockercover and covers the dizzy, leads and plugs etc.

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Loads of people put the aftermarket cooper grills on which DOESNT have a built in shield (they should have a seperate one) onto cars that dony have a sepeate shiled and wonder why it stops in the rain, no drama though ever so easy to sort, hell even a rubber glove works, but its amazing how many people dont realise this and keep braking down with water ingress

Kamike

SPI & MPI what does that mean sorry?

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Single Point Injection
Multi Point Injection

TBH although on every other car in the world MPi is a big advantage, due to the 5 port cylinder head design on a mini, the same isnt really true.

The SPi is actually a very good setup IMHO for these cars.

Kamike

TBH when she said she wanted a mini i was dreading getting one but the more I look at them and read some of the feature cars in the magazine I got the more excited im getting about getting one lol. Might have to be a joint birthday present now as she was born two days after me.

adam.d

Me and my mate have just had to search high and low for an old austin mini, there like hens teeth to find, well in his price range anyway!. He wanted an old 1 as he's at college and aparently there all the rage now! We ended up getting 1 that had just had a full restoration but had been stolen and crashed at the bottom of the blokes street . We give Ł1500 but we've spent another Ł300/Ł400 replacing panels and lights. His dad is 6' 6" and has drove it, although he said it wasn't the most comfortable experience of his life! he is 6' 2" and can drive it.

AlexF

Good budget - but not for 100bhp!

For that money get a SPi and fit a stage 1 kit - anything else is lots of time and effort (well for most people anyway as I am getting lots of tuning work for these atm!)

13" can be made to handle well - but you will be stuck with heavy steering.

Alex

PGT

proper mini's have 10 inch wheels

XRdodgybird

12"....... nah.... for the ultimate in mini driving experiences... it needs to be on 10s!!!!

Chip

iTrader: (3)

I ran my trackday mini on 10" split rims, and that handled very well, but TBH they still drive more or less the same on 12" rims providing you have the right tyres.

Ive had 10/12/13/14 inch wheels on various minis I have owned, and its only when going to 13 that you really notice a big difference.

The key thing with the 12" is to be on 165 wide tyres and to keep the profile to a 60 at most

Offset of course is also key!

AlexF

10s do not handle best LOL

13s offer more mechanical grip BUT you need to change the suspension geometry to work them!!!

Alex

lead_foot

iTrader: (1)

True, the lower the offset the better IMHO

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Only on very smooth tarmac, anything else, you want a bit of give in the sidewall and the 13s are too low profile.

AlexF

The height of the sidewalls on 10s are not that much bigger than on 13s....

Stu.750

Youllget bitten by the Bug mate im telling you

i still miss the noise the doors make when they shut

the way that you can drive them without using the brakes

and that fact you can make them into anythin you want

Chip

iTrader: (3)

175 * .50 = 87.5
165 * .70 = 117.6

= increase of 30.1 mm

= 34% incrase in sidewall

madmack99

good budget you should be able to get her a goodun

jammerrs

me mates got a yellow one to tune for when he can drive and it is amazing

no brakes and full throttle is the only way to drive them

IAIN ABZ

Sounds like a good budget but it won't buy a fire breather. Like was said above purchase on bodywork condition alone! Check for rust in all the usual places including the rear valance corners, roof gutters and where the scuttle panel and wings meet, also the front grill surround...basically everywhere.

Ignore all the talk of 10" wheels, they are great but require either original 7" cooper or 7 1/2" Cooper 'S' discs - and they are very expensiveand are not a straight fit as you also will need different drive shafts and outputs.

For an everyday car thats nice go for a good bodied 12" or 13" wheel (with discs- usually 8" IIRC?) running basic car, you can always tune it later! The parts are very cheap for minis but the actual cars are quite expensive.

The 12" will give you lighter steering and the 13" will be a bit heavier, in a mini its not all about grip, but balance....(If it has aftermarket 13" wheels, make sure the offset is right or steering can be very heavy!)

The seats and interior are easy to modify to accomodate a different height of driver, and you will be amazed how comfortable they are.

Basically they are great fun and a fantastic car to hone basic driving skills in, 30MPH never felt so fast!

Above all have fun with it Good Luck!

AlexF

Brakes wise you do not want 7" brakes they are lethal and worse than drums! 7.5" (cooper S) brakes are ok. But you can get 10" that clear 8.4" disks

Its all easy to sort out as the same basic car was in production from 1959 till 2001!!!

Alex

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Im SO going to put one of my minis back on the road, im properly missing having one to drive about in after this thread!

XRdodgybird

Awww do two and give one to me.....

Chip

iTrader: (3)

If im going to give you one, can I see some pictures of what you look like?