Mighty Mini Build

[LeeP86]

Its been a while since my last car project which a few of you may remember http://www.cliosport.net/threads/cup-racer-project-finally-finished.272673/

Ive always been into the classic mini and have had quite a few and after seeing the Mighty Minis race at Cadwell a little while ago it looked like great fun so that would be my next project. The car used must be a Mini Cooper Spi and Finding a donor car wasnt to difficult and i ended up with the green car below.

It was going to need a lot of new panels and welding to get it in shape for racing and while i was formulating a plan of attack a crash damaged Super Might Mini came up for sale only 5 miles down the road. It was definitely worth a look even though it doesnt have the correct engine. As it turns out someone had been to view it a couple of hours before me who was just after the engine. Between the owner, the chap that wanted the engine and me a deal was done. I collected the car took the engine out with the help of the guy that bought the engine and brought home the rest.

I now had to decide whether to repair the yellow car or restore the green one, I went with the yellow as there was no rust.
There were still parts i needed from the green one like the engine, subframe and other parts that were damaged on the yellow one. So i set about cannibalising it.

The green one is now up for sale and when that goes i can get the yellow one in to strip it so it can go to get the shell sorted.

 

[Daz.]

Oooo this'll be a good one!

I was only looking the other day at a modern cooper that had all the bits ti make it look like an early 60s car, minus the rust!

 

[Scrooge]

Its been a while since my last car project which a few of you may remember http://www.cliosport.net/threads/cup-racer-project-finally-finished.272673/

Ive always been into the classic mini and have had quite a few and after seeing the Mighty Minis race at Cadwell a little while ago it looked like great fun so that would be my next project. The car used must be a Mini Cooper Spi and Finding a donor car wasnt to difficult and i ended up with the green car below.


It was going to need a lot of new panels and welding to get it in shape for racing and while i was formulating a plan of attack a crash damaged Super Might Mini came up for sale only 5 miles down the road. It was definitely worth a look even though it doesnt have the correct engine. As it turns out someone had been to view it a couple of hours before me who was just after the engine. Between the owner, the chap that wanted the engine and me a deal was done. I collected the car took the engine out with the help of the guy that bought the engine and brought home the rest.

I now had to decide whether to repair the yellow car or restore the green one, I went with the yellow as there was no rust.
There were still parts i needed from the green one like the engine, subframe and other parts that were damaged on the yellow one. So i set about cannibalising it.

The green one is now up for sale and when that goes i can get the yellow one in to strip it so it can go to get the shell sorted.

More details on the green one mate?

 

[Ian_182]

I used to have a little mini cooper years ago, it was a lot of fun.
J935 ELG was the reg.

 

[LeeP86]

More details on the green one mate?

Needs alot of work mate, looking for £500

 

[Mr R.]

90's mini are the worst for rot.

 

[Scrooge]

Needs alot of work mate, looking for £500

Can you get a quick list of what panels are gone as far as you can see also can you get me more pictures over mate?

 

[LeeP86]

Stripped more of the green car to keep for spares for "unintentional contact" and have got a potential buyer for it so with any luck that will be gone by the end of the week and i can start stripping the yellow one.

 

[LeeP86]

Had a rare free weekend last week so a mate of mine came over and we attacked the yellow mini to get it ready to go over to Bristol to get straightened out.
Would still like to try and get out in it this year but with work getting busier and potential expansion of the business it will more than likely be 2017.

 

[LeeP86]

So been a while since ive updated this. Have been really busy with work so haven't progressed as much as i would have like up until now.
I managed to get the shell over to Bristol to get jigged and the new panels fitted.
While its been there i have stripped the engine and gearbox ready to be rebuilt and have had the front subframe powder coated and i have now rebuilt this ready to go back in.
I had a delivery over near Exeter earlier in the week and had an empty trailer all the way home so swung by Bristol and collected the now straight shell.
Took it straight to a mate who restores classic Fords, he will be spraying the engine bay, interior and boot for me. I spent today doing the prep work for this and will pop back tomorrow to mask it up. Im leaving the outside until pretty much everything else is done. I will be wrapping it rather than painting as i can do this at home so will save some money also not sure on outside colour yet as waiting on an answer from a sponsor.

 

[Alex H]

Looking good Lee - see if you can get Eddie Jordan to sponsor you, he was a fan of black and yellow..

 

[Advikaz]

Looking good so far mate

A family friend of ours Bill has raced these for donkeys years ! Good little series

 

[LeeP86]

Looking good Lee - see if you can get Eddie Jordan to sponsor you, he was a fan of black and yellow..

It wont be yellow by the time it hits the track mate, im going to wait until ive done everything else and then wrap it right at the end. Still under decided about colour

Got the interior sprayed and the eagle eyed amongst you pay recognise the colour

 

[LeeP86]

Have done quite alot since the last update. gearbox is all rebuilt now and hopefully assembling the rest of the engine later this week
First race is end of march so have still got alot to do.

 

[Mattty]

Looking good. Cracking job done on that front end. Definitely a lot to do by march though, following.

 

[Sam]

Just found this when it was linked in the other thread. Any more progress ? Looks awesome.

 

[Tarmac Adam]

Brilliant series always been tempted buy mighty minis my self looks like ya doing a top job mate any progress

 

[LeeP86]

So been a while since ive updated this. Been really busy with work over the past few months but managed to get it pretty much finished. Hopefully will be out for the Mini Festival at Brands Hatch second week of July.
I havent really kept up with an kind of write up so hopefully the below pictures will explain the progress.

 

[LeeP86]

 

[Sam]

Love the colours. Car looks awesome.

 

[m&l172ph1]

Love it! Did you wrap it yourself?
We have a track day mini at work!

 

[NorthloopCup]

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That looks great mate!

 

[LeeP86]

Love it! Did you wrap it yourself?
We have a track day mini at work!

Yes i did, done a few bits in the past but first time ive done a whole car

 

[m&l172ph1]

Yes i did, done a few bits in the past but first time ive done a whole car

Like it a lot, saves getting it painted!

 

[LeeP86]

Got the engine turning over yesterday but battery gave out before i could get oil pressure up. Waiting for a new battery from tweeks to turn up so will hopefully have it running in the next few days. if all goes well i will be doing a trackday at Donny to run engine in and make sure nothing falls off then first race will be at Brands on 8th and 9th July.

 

[LeeP86]

So this happened today.

 

[Waitey]

Yes i did, done a few bits in the past but first time ive done a whole car

How easy/hard was it?

 

[Christopher]

So awesome.

 

[LeeP86]

How easy/hard was it?

Pmd

 

[Alex H]

Love it!

 

[LeeP86]

So the car is finished apart from a couple of tweaks, got a track day at Donington tomorrow to run in engine and do some set up.

 

[LeeP86]

Donington was very mixed yesterday. Had some clutch issues which we didn't get sorted out until about 2:30 so only got a few laps in before the end of the day. As I only did about 10 laps the organisers aloud me onto the eve session too so managed to get a good session in until the front right wheel bearing collapsed going down the craners which was interesting.
So got a few bits to do before first race at brands in 2 weeks.

 

[LeeP86]

Haven't updated this for ages!
last year was full of ups and downs, I did four rounds and managed to get 4 mid pack finishes 2 1st's and 2 DNF's. I learnt alot with regards to set up but suffered oil pressure issues in the last four races.
In the winter break i took the engine out to sort an oil leak, the oil pressure problem and fix the fact it wouldnt stay in second gear. The low oil pressure problem scored the crank so that had to be sorted and the engine was rebuilt. Did a rolling road session and a quick shakedown at Castle Combe and low and behold the oil pressure problem was still there. After a bit of research i found people had been having problems with the oil i was using and that sometimes the oil pressure relief valve sometimes sticks. So after changing those i managed to get onto Bedford during a Palmersport lunch break but the problem was still there which was very frustrating! by this point it was a week before the first race at Silverstone! I made the decision to take the engine back out and apart and take it to Bristol to a specialist who found that one of the cam bearings wasnt fitted correctly so the oil pump was seeping oil to the low pressure side. With that sorted and with fingers crossed that that was the cause to the problem I put the engine back in and sent my entry off.
Thankfully the car performed faultlessly in qualifying and i finished 1 second quicker than anyone in my class.
I then managed to convert that pole into wins in both race 1 and 2 leaving me leading the championship.
Rockingham is in a couple of weeks so hope fully i can recreate Silverstones success.
In the mean time i will also be getting another car ready for The Scumrun charity rally and if anyone needs any stickers made please let me know as all profits will be going to Action Medical Research for Children
https://www.cliosport.net/threads/d...kers-making-all-profits-go-to-charity.817379/
Few pics below from last year and Silverstone this year.

 

[Jonnio]

Well done!

 

[LeeP86]

We are supporting Britcar this weekend at Rockingham so if anyone is coming along pop over and say hi.

 

[LeeP86]

Struggled a little bit this weekend at Rockingham, through the infield i was just as quick if not quicker than the other guys but just couldnt get any grip coming out the last corner so i lost about 4 car lengths each lap.
Still finished 3rd in both races and got fastest lap in the second so still solid points but means i think i have dropped to second in the championship but plenty of races left yet.