Kartman's 1987 Austin Mini 'WasAMayfair'

[kartman]

Thought it was about time that I got a project thread on here!

I brought my mini many moons ago when I was 15 (now I'm 23) for £600 of eBay back when you could pick up minis cheaply. It came with some toys on it including: Cobra clubman buckets, 1275 metro engine with hif44 and an awfully leaky and loud cherry bomb exhaust! I will update this later on with some pictures of when I got her once I've found them.
Slowly me and my old man set about tidying it up ready for me to drive with minimal welding, a respray and some bolt on shiny bits I was left with this:

Not bad as first cars go but not really much of a looker (we were all young once eh!) oh and I was given a 1 litre engine that I dropped in for cheap insurance for a few years along with the standard pea shooter exhaust

Since then it has gone through many new looks, some of which you can see below:

Luckily the horrible skinny wheels only stayed on about a week after it was on the road


Over time finally got the interior more like I wanted it, horrible massive buckets out classsic buckets in

Finally got rid of those horrid arches

The 1275 engine went in after a few years but on 2013 was pulled out, had a full refresh which resulted in this

New rear subframe and a few other bits tidied the back underside up no end

[s29nta]

i like your garage(2nd pic)

[Kerr]

Looks good.

I used to own a Mayfair as my first car.

People will never understand the charm, or the handling unless they've owned one.

Amazing when driving a Mini that everyone allows you to go first.

[kartman]

Originally Posted by s29nta

i like your garage(2nd pic)

Haha thanks there is not a lot of room for detailing and the lighting is poor at night and it is a bit draughty but it helps stop car park dings!

Originally Posted by Kerr

Looks good.
I used to own a Mayfair as my first car.
People will never understand the charm, or the handling unless they've owned one.
Amazing when driving a Mini that everyone allows you to go first.

This was my first car and don't think I shall ever sell it!
Went to our mini club meet tonight in my mates mini and realised how much I missed mine, such good fun and noise! Must crack on and get this rebuilt. Even if nobody let you in you can squeeze through most gaps

You'll see why it is currently being rebuilt in my next post!

[kartman]

Have updated the first post with some better sized pictures.

That brings us up to early 2013 where I was ready for lots of shows. It ran absolutely faultlessly all year doing many shows, including my first London to Brighton with a few different looks through out the year, seen below:

Lowered a bit more with my desmo on


Few parade laps round Brands hatch at the mini festival


Then I managed to win this at Waxstock in the arrive and shine. Coming 2nd is part of what made me decide to crack on and get it all perfect for this year


Here she is outside in the arrive and shine area. There are several better shots other people took but they are huge images


Here a shot somebody got of my rear wheel


Then off to my favourite show of the year, Mini in the park at Santa Pod



And finally here it all washed and ready to be tucked up for winter and its rebuild


Not a lot wrong with it you may think? The next post will show what was up with it and why it needed doing! Thanks for staying with me so far!

[enc]

A real mini and Very smart it is too ;

[kartman]

So its now the end of 2013 and my best mate asks me to be his best man and take him to the wedding in it. Of course I say yes and this spurs me on to get the work done on it so it is all mint for him.

The eagle eyed may have spotted that the sills don't look the best in some of the pics. These were what I initially set out to fix, the nightmare of an mini owner, OVER-SILLS

Supposed restored by a 'mini specialist' before I owned it the amount of bodges we were to keep on uncovering was unreal!

So into the back workshop she was moved, through the double doors was tight and up some precariously long ramps to stop it bottoming in the middle


And so the breakdown began


First thing to sort was the wiring loom, had been badly bodged by previous owner and my fog light circuit had failed since the MOT, this turned out to be one of the easier jobs! Whilst doing this I also decided that I would re-locate the loom inside of the dashboard and would tidy up the engine bay no end


Next over-sill removal started, told you they were bad! They basically peeled off like tin foil!


After one side I was left with a pile like this
The afore mentioned mini specialist had literally just welded these over the rusty original sills! This means the old one had continued to rot and the rust disease had spread, taking the inner sills, kick plate ends with it!


The two original sills were removed, swept up and only half filled a bucket


Rear subframe dropped to assess the damage to the kick plate ends


At this point I made a brace to keep all the shell lined up as it should be before I cut any more structural bits out.


One side was done at a time to minimise and shell movement. Here some holes chopped out of what was the inner sill, worryingly corroded on both side at the seatbelt mounting points! At this stage it was decided to replace the door steps as well


All the while I had been collecting more new shiny bits for its new look


Lip cut off the bonnet to convert it to mk1 style


Will uploaded the pics of it finally starting to go back together tomorrow

[kartman]

So as promised finally some shots with nice new panels being welded in. Bye bye rust.
Door step and new inner and outer sill in


Replacement sill primed, you may notice that the jacking point has been welded up, will help keep some water out and it much easier and safer to jack on the subframes


Starting to clean up the floor ready for zinc priming and some good quality stonechip


This side at least is looking more like a mini again and more importantly nice and solid


Rear corner also repaired


Onto the other side which will be receiving the same treatment. Making such a mess of the workshop dust everywhere with all the grinding, especially when cutting through all the filler that said mini specialist had decided was good enough to hold bits of sill together


Some work in progress welding the inner and outer sill on


Think this is showing the floor now in bare metal state, messiest job ever, stupid gravity


With the hidden loom lot of holes had to be welded up in the bulkhead, think there is only about 3 of them that i need to keep. Also cleaning up around wing to make sure there is no rust anywhere. A sticker under the passenger side wing found meaning it has been replaced at some point before I owned it


Engine steady bracket removed and more holes welded up. I have an ultimate engine steady on the other side


Small patch welded in near the O/S shock mount


Cleaning up all the wheel wells ready for the same treatment as the floor. Nice and solid here


When we were cleaning up the rims looking for rust we found the the drivers side wing was totally gone at the top so out came my favourite tool mr grinder and of it came. A friend of mine from my mini club kindly picked me up a new wing at London to Brighton as I didn't want to get one posted and have it arrive a crippled mess. Car was supposed to be ready for L2B whoops. Here it is with the replacement scuttle corner section welded in



And new wing on with a bit of adjustment


Looking more mini shaped again


Starting to get some zinc primer on the underside and some seam sealing done


Looking nice and solid again


As is the wheel well



New wing is a good fit


More progress over the weekend hopefully

[JMorty]

This is great! Can't wait to see more. Love a mini.When we get our big garage, I'll have a mini or MX-5 project like this.


Keep up the ace work man!

[kartman]

Originally Posted by JMorty

This is great! Can't wait to see more. Love a mini.When we get our big garage, I'll have a mini or MX-5 project like this.


Keep up the ace work man!

I don't know about the cost of mx5 parts but the availability and low cost for mini bits is great.

Thanks for the kind comments. Hopefully the welding will be finished tonight and I can concentrate on getting the underside protected, boot and interior painted and filling ready for paint at least mostly done this weekend