Hey Cosi, where in Sydney are you?
Come along to one of the Sydney mini meet ups on second Wednesday of the month or Mini car club meeting, check Sydney minis Facebook page or minicarclub.com.au website or Facebook page

_________________
1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

Refurbish is one word

_________________
"Show me the Mini!"

What I mean by half assed is what you do with said working original part. Say you have just had the car painted and engine rebuilt and you are reassembling. Some folk would say that is restored.

Example the pedal box, works ok so do you just bolt it back in or do you pull it apart, blast and repaint the pedals, replace all the pedal rubbers, maybe replace the spring before refitting if needed. Worked ok before sure, but now its like brand new again.

Speedo, do you just clean the glass or do you pull it apart, clean all the dust and crap out, maybe replace the chrome ring or polish it if it is still in usable conditon.

Wiring loom do you leave it in or do you remove it, inspect and clean it, make repairs where necessary due to 50 years of home mechanics messing with wiring replacing connections with the same bullet type connectors as factory or replace the loom entirely with a new one that you know is going to present no problems.

Every part can be cleaned, repainted, rechromed or polished to be made like new before it is refitted. Every person has their own level of what they think a restoration is, some folks just have higher standards than others when doing one.

_________________
1965 Riley Elf
1974 Ex Army Moke
1997 Rover Cooper
2002 JCW Cooper
2003 JCW Cooper S

I don't want to hijack the thread. Thats a little bit elitist and not feasible for people with less money, time and space. Work it drive it and love it.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

_________________
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=93352

If I'm carrying on like a pork-chop, I'm having a great time.

If I go very quiet there's a very good chance I broke something.

Exactly and dont call it a restoration then.

_________________
1965 Riley Elf
1974 Ex Army Moke
1997 Rover Cooper
2002 JCW Cooper
2003 JCW Cooper S

Honestly, my thoughts on cost were between 40-50k and that's with everything done.


I am in the inner-west I will keep this in mind and I might come out on my bike.


I agree with you and I am leaning towards what you've suggested only because it will be all in pieces anyway, might as well clean and paint what I can. I'll probably re-do the wiring loom as well to match up with the engine harness.


I will be doing most of the work myself. As I said, body work is not my thing. OCD and perfectionism don't mix. I try and hide it but...


Yeah I have been hearing this, I am hoping 5-10k should cover the body and paint.

I found this thread because I too am looking for someone to do the body on my Clubman GT.

There are lots of comments but no one was able to recommend anyone.

Is this not allowed on the forum or is there just no one that anyone would recommend?

Surely someone has had a good experience getting their body done and could give a recommendation. Tradesmen who do good work should get the accolades they deserve and be successful because of it.

Poor restoration
half-assed restoration
basic restoration
near-new restoration
concours restoration

they are all restorations

_________________
"Show me the Mini!"

My mini resto is the first resto on a car that I have ever attempted to under take. I like to build and fix thinks so I will under take most of the work myself. But the doors and boot have some large dents that will require some pulling and shrinking so took them done to my local panel beater that as has done all my panel work on our cars and work vehicles. The price will be $800.00 and that is just to removed dents. Which I am fine with as you get what you pay for plus he has staff that work on private job on the weekend at his shop and will paint the car in a spray booth once I have most of the prep work done. We discussed what it would have cost for him to undertake the repairs that I done to the shell and paint and his answer was you would have given me $15,000 to start with then that again half way through another $15,000 I know some cars just need a quick coat over the top of the original paint, but my car was past that. Here the shots of the when I pick up car a where I am at now with the purchase price of $4,000.00 plus panel, paint, fillers ,primer ,paint ,stripper, tape sanding blocks,orbital sander,panel working tools, respiratory,plus All the other bit and pieces would have spent 7,500.00. So I can see get the car painted is going to cost $6-$8grand with me doing most of the body work. People ask me who they should us for building work on there house and my advice is never us someone that can start tommorw because if they are any good at there trade will have many months of work in front of them.

Thanks for the response.

I have shied away from local collision repair places because they mostly cut and replace these days.

I was hoping to find someone who has experience with Minis and know the areas of potential danger.

I don't mind paying for someone who does good work.

My car has always been tatty and I would like to give it a rebirth. I've had it since 1977.

My husband just resprayed my car at home, i wanted to strip the old paint but he wouldnt. He can be somewhat stubborn. He then had many issues with paint reaction. But you could do the work yourself to strip the existing paint.

_________________
1969 Mini k
2006 Cooper S

There is no forum rule stopping anyone talking about their positive experience with a particular supplier and even recommending them to others. Of course it may be that others have not had such a positive experience with the same supplier so any recommendation should be taken in that light. Usually a one on one discussion via PM's is the best way to get an honest and open appraisal.

Negative comments about a business cannot be posted.

4. Objectionable comments about a business or company, whether it be true or not, are not allowed.

The forum rules are here - http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=24057

_________________
ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

I’m not going to lie, it is pretty frustrating trying to find a decent body shop. I’ve asked in person, asked on different groups, private messaged people, and it’s basically come to nought. Every place that’s recommended by one is negated by someone else.

_________________
1963 850 - laid up
1970 Morris mini K van - eating up the kms!

Yes...its a bit of a lucky dip in some respects, however, in defence of some of the competent, fair shops...some people have unrealistic expectations, want the job done for nothing, think they know more than the "experts" or don't understand what they really want and how much that will cost.

People can also get shops offside by constantly pestering them...this can lead to a bad experience...in some parts of the trade, these people are snidely referred to as Mary Poppins (due to the number of times they pop in)

However...none of this excuses the rip-off merchants, bodges or criminal types...

_________________
"Show me the Mini!"

One reason why I posted this:
https://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=98636&start=120

Whatever you think your budget might be, double it. As for body works, as others have said, it’s the prep that makes the difference, and a lot of that depends on what they have to work with. Anything from $5k for simple rub back and spray to $$$$$+ without skipping a beat. But finding someone is the hard part, and in my experience, none of the smash repair paint shops will touch it unless they can do a complete back to bare body job.

Transplant R1 or Hyabusa engine, blank check. What’s your planned use for the mini though? I know a guy that did an R1 conversion and sold it pretty quickly. Not much good as a road car. Honda Vtech option much better I believe. Or talk to Matt at Readspeed Brisbane for some other high HP conversion options.

Let us know how you go and what you decide.