Austin Mini Project for my 8 year old son (he's 9 already lol)
 

My 8 year old sons car lol

His first project, I did say in the image thread before I'd start a thread but that was when I just had a shell so didn't start one.

Got hold of another car for him as the shell idea seemed to be a pain in the arse buying parts as they're rare now and people ask silly money.

Got him a Neon 998cc yesterday that has been sta in a garage for 13 years!

Here she is - collected yesterday...

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I didn't come with any keys as they have lost them due to it being 13 years lol

So I changed the door locks and bot lock and also have a new steering column and barrel to fit tomorrow.

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It's never been abused and only has 65K on the clock... good base for a project and pretty solid too.

A panels are rotten and door skins too but I am fitting fibreglass front and possibly doors too depending on what cage goes in so possibly no welding to be done.

But the best bit... I checked oil, topped up water and then chucked a battery in it from my van lol

Fired up after a little fettle with carb!



My lads loves it!


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Updates soon, haven't washed it yet lol

That's pretty cool mate. Well done for getting your lad into something at an early age too!

Thanks James, he loves this but he isn't sure if he wants round nose or Clubman yet, I want him to go Clubman lol

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Nice little project there.
Clubby reminds me of paul wiffins turbo mini in the 90"s cool car..

well done ,great little project love the classic minis

Cool little project.Well chuffed that it started after all them years.

Lucky! That was a good'n then. Not pink :cry:

Any parts you need let us know, I know a guy who gets panels at a huuuuuge discount price ;-)

I've just replaced my heelboard repair panels, it's a pita. Had a poke round at it yet?

Sweet project! Your son will be the envy of all of his mates having project at such a young age, many plans for it?

:top:

:top:

He's over the moon with it:king:

Yeah it runs well mate :king:

Will do mate but it's fibreglass panels I need, round shape front as he's changed his mind now lol and doors etc.

I have arranged for it to go in and have a cage fitted to but will be over Christmas.

I got my son cleaning it today, came up mint.

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:top:

she looks good are sub frames in good nick ?

thats a cracking looking Mini as I strongly believe everyone should have owned a classic mini at some point in their life as they are simply a grin factor car :king: maybe one day it will end up like scarnys cossie mini

My god that's in mint condition! And yeah, if you ever need any steel panels, give us a shout!

think so from what I can see, will have it up on stands in a few weeks and take um off to check and seal if up if OK.

Same bud, had 100's of um years ago and love um.

It'll be staying so god knows what it'll turn in to but I got to remember it's my sons not mine :cry:

May need 2 A panels soon depending on what front end I get for it.

leave shape as is and go for the cooper look ;-)

Who's is the brown clubman in some photos?

Fibreglass front with some miglia arches I think and some 13x7's as the 8's are rocking horse shit these days.

My friends looking after it for custom mini's.

This is my mates Mini, you may like it Smiler?

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^^waste of alloy cats lol ,coll project I used to do landrovers with my brother at that age I was painting at 12 lol good luck with it

That's scarnnys off the 16v forum isn't it? Looks wicked :DD:

Duno what his user names are, it's my mate Matt aka Skiddy in real life.

It now has clubman front and Vaux 16V red top on carbs.

i have had a few minis always fancied space frame with 2 litre must be well quick;-)

he's just had to bolt in a Quaife diff as just span up on wheel all the time.

200+BHP iirc.

Looks really good after a clean! That black one on alleycats up there looks awesome, I deffo need a mini in my life one day, think its a must own for any car enthusiast.

I am selling a shell with fibreglass roof if anyone is interested?

Has doors, boot, windows and tank with it.

Started on the old girl and my head's taken a few knocks because of it lol

Was a teenager last time I stripped a mini with an A-series, had V-tec one in my twenties and that was much simpler to work on, loads I can't remember lol

Some pics...

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Glad I didn't use engine much as all water ways are clogged up and engine needs strip and rebuild... so many pipes and fittings old and snapped off to the touch, even wires just snap when touched.

Rear beam doesn't look to bad, will see when removed but looking at after market rear beams and the price, I may make up my own tbh.

More pics as I go.

May go to Mini Fest this weekend try and pick up a fibreglass front end.

well... heres my new BBQ!!! :cry::cry::cry:

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As you can see the front is removed, and uncovered a bit of rust lol

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All in not to bad tbh to say it sat for so long...

Panel under windscreen inner and outer needs changing, hinge panels and A-Panels as I knew, may go to Mini fest now see if I can get some cheap panels the weekend and excuse to enjoy a Mini show lol


More soon.

Nothing worse than the common areas by the look of it, probably need some floor repairs and inner and outer sills as well if you do a little digging, here's a few pics of mine as just finished all welding and got it in primer, they are great cars to practice repairs on as panels are cheap and easy to fit
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Thanks yeah I going to drop both subframes off too have a good look at chassis/tub of it.

Loads of my friends have still got minis so easy enough to get advice on where to get good panels from.

Yours looks great bud.

Good luck with it kev any help you need you no my number

Could be much worse iv got a mini in for repairs new panels it needs are, full floor, full boot floor, new inner and outer sills, new rear q's on both sides, door steps, new bulkhead, new bonnet doors wings and cross member, and thats just to get it to a shell, pannels come in at under 500 basicly car was a good set of subframes and a good roof and boot

Great project!

Really good to see you getting your lad involved too, especially at a young age!

It is a touch crusty, not too bad though.

thanks mate, may need some advise from you regards the welding mate.

Yeah I am not to upset with the rust tbh.

He loves it, getting him some overalls etc to where and I am doing it on the drive so he can work on it with me of an evening and just seeing it there he gets excited.

Yeah rust isn't to bad mate, but I have been stripping it and in the engine bay so many wires and pipes and clips have snapped of to the touch.

Door hinges snapped when undoing, engine mount bolts snapped too so I am really glad I stripped it and didn't do what some recommended and just tried tarting it up, if my sons gona drive this I need to know it's as safe as can be :top:

Bit more today, engines out...

I am getting old though :cry: I hurt my back yesterday under the mini smashing the pin that holds the gear selector on, stubborn thing, well it has been in 22 years lol

I managed to lift the engine out myself and onto the floor, but that finished my back off for today, so I got a pal round to help me trolley it into the back patio where it'll stay for a while.

Couple of pics...

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Though my son may get a bit gutted seeing me chop up the car but he loves it and says he knows it'll be good when done.

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Next is to clean off front end a bit then buy new panels and start cutting and fitting...

And still to remove rear sub frame to check it all out.

That gear lever pin is a ***** lol. Nice progress

I was tempted after an hour of hitting it to put a grinder through it :cry:

Just giving you the heads up kev the bolts in the rear sub frame will more likely snap off so try getting a lot of wd40 on them to see if they will come out with out snapping off

Thanks for that mate! I shall start soaking them this weekend and leave it a good while then before I attempt removing it :king:

Yeah, I spent about half a day removing that pin :cry:

And how solid are the sills? Or are they over sills?