Nearly 12 months after starting this project, I should probably start a build thread.

The story so far....

Whilst trying to figure out what to do about the terminal rust on our Rover Mini, we purchased a 1971 Mini K along with a heap of parts as a “quick project”

The car had been taken off the road nearly 15 years ago to be restored, and had been stripped and primed and some of the rust had been repaired.

The bodywork clearly needed a lot more love, but the motor and rest of the running gear seemed to be in reasonable condition and the pile of parts that care with it looked like a good deal so we leapt down the rabbit hole

A few hours of spannering got it to the point where the hand brake and steering worked well enough to roll it down a steep driveway and into a trailer.

Once we had it up on stand, we could do a proper inspection of the bean. The body wasn’t in bad condition, the front end and right hand rear quarter had clearly had some poorly repaired accident damage, and the usual rust in sills and boot floor - but otherwise pretty not so bad.





The car had been dressed up as a Cooper S over the years, including a Cooper S motor, brakes, twin tanks, etc. A new fuel pump, quickly followed by some new gaskets to stop the pressurised fuel from escaping got the motor running roughly. Fresh oil and an ignition coil got it running properly - good compression and oil pressure, happy days.

I had a friend looking for a decent engine so a deal was struck, and off it went to a new home whilst the rest of the shell was stripped for blasting.



The front end required some new panels, the rust spots in the engine bay that had come to light after blasting were dealt with. The radiator grill was swapped across to the rh inner wing, as the radiator will eventually end up on the other side.



The old sills were cut away, and some new ones were fabricated and reinforced.

The rear quarter was more challenging - the outer panel needed to be beaten out by over an inch, and the inner arch panel was cut out and replaced.



We also removed the battery box from the boot floor, lay down some interior primer and left the rear end looking a lot cleaner and straighter than it had been.

And finally time for some colour - Nice bright red with a little sparkle in it, matched with white roof and striping with a little bit of pearl.

Finally a coat of sound dealing paint inside, and under side.

Now that the shell is looking pretty, we’ve got some work to do before it can get down the steep driveway into the garage to cobble it back together again.

The plan is to get the sub frames refitted and build it up to a rolling shell, ideally with some brakes whilst it is sitting in the enclosed car trailer - then lift it off the build frame and roll it down the driveway.

The front subframe will have to come off a again for the engine and drivetrain fitment, but hopefully the rear end can stay in place.

Regardless, it’s good to finally be bolting things back together rather than taking them apart - feels like it is heading back towards being a car again.

First up is the steering rack - after a decent clean, some fresh seals and gaiters, a fill of fresh oil, some new track rod ends and is ready to go back on.



Another quick round of blasting and painting and the rear subframe is ready to be bolted back into place.



The front subframe needs a little more work yet, we’ve converted a hydro subframe to carry a bike engine which will mean that we’ll either have to fabricate some locating rings for the front springs or run coilover suspension.

Looks good. What are the bike engine details? Is that a drive reverser in the photo?

Sent from my CPH1715 using Tapatalk

rwd bike engined mini ? Looking good

Injected Yamaha 5PW from an R1

That is the reversing gearbox on the bench ready to be mounted to the front of the subframe.

Looks like you are flying through this project. Keep up the work make, it looks like it'll be great car when finished.
What are your plans for the interior?

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

Looks terrific...and it will go!

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"Show me the Mini!"

Car looks great , love the colour . What's the paint on the rear subframe or is it powder coated ?

We painted the rear subframe - not convinced by the merits of powder coating it.

Wrestled the front subframe into place today, bit of a pig of a job, especially when you know it’s going to need to come out again.

Started to rough in the front suspension and uprights

And finally some work on the rear suspension...