Irish Mini Owners Club

Anyone fancy a nice pickup? Check out this one on ebay uk. The listing is titled "MORRIS MINI PICK UP 1961 MK1 COMPLETE RESTORATION PROJECT BARN FIND" and the item number is 321729982727, finishing in less than 24hrs. It could do with a bit of a polish I reckon....

The advice for buying a compressor is simple. Buy the biggest you can afford. The bigger the tank the bigger the reserve of air, but thats not the full picture. What you need to watch is the advertised output. Some manufacturers/suppliers quote the theoretical capacity of the compressor which is a b...

The vin plate stamped on the car matches the logbook , Theres ink all over the logbook and Theres 1971 stamps on it even though its supposedly 76 , then there's another vin plate to match up with uk plates , shell looks like a 90s shell solid enough bad floors though. There looks to be a good €4000...

I've used Derby Plating in, you've guessed it, Derby. They say on their website that their reputation is "Expensive, but good", and thats how I found them. They were pricey, but they did an absolutely beautiful job. If you have any pitting on your parts to be chromed, you need to get them ...

Soda blasting will remove paint but it will not remove rust. You will need to have the rust blasted with an abrasive media in order to get rid of that. You need an experienced operator to sand blast the thin sheet material that a car body is made of if you want to avoid distorting it. If the air pre...

Met this problem of intermittant charging on another car some time ago, sometimes it would be charging and sometimes it wouldn't. I changed the alternator and it sorted the problem.

Doesn't Des Golden Services have a rolling road? I think the CIT also have one.

Let us know how you get on. A friend of mine has a Stage 1 kit fitted and that will need setting up properly whenever he gets off his backside and gets the bodywork finished so the car can actually go back on the road...!

Well said. And another thing that a surprising amount of advertisers of classic cars (ie not just Mini's) don't seem to know is what the lower rate of tax actually is, which I suppose means they never taxed the vehicle they are selling...!! The yearly rate is currently €56 and I've noticed a fair fe...

Hi Folks, Just got the latest issue of Irish Vintage Scene and they make a lot of reference to the Road Safety Authority launching a consultation on vehicle modifications, with the closing date for submissions being tomorrow, 20th March. The proposal is to police modifications/upgrades carried out o...

I have used a couple of different companies in the past. The one I've had the best results with is Derby Plating in Derby in the UK. They state on their website that their reputation is "expensive but good" and that is exactly how I found them. If your original items are pitted in any way,...

On a normal car suspension imbalance is usually sorted by changing the shock absorbers as thats what they are really testing. Not sure on the Mini rubber cone setup though. As suggested, get a 2nd reading done.

MIG is generally better for general car repairs and easier to learn. Buy the best machine you can afford. As for gas, I would use the Hobbyweld cylinders where you don't have to pay rental, just pay for the gas when you need a refill. I have no idea who's the agent for them in your area. The small d...

Can't comment on the kits you have highlighted, just want to clarify a common misconception about soda blasting. Please be aware that soda blasting does NOT remove rust. It is good at gently removing paint etc, but it will leave the rust behind. You will need an abrasive media of some form to remove...

Not wanting to hijack a thread, but I was on my hols in the UK last week and in the Lakeland Motor Museum in Cumbria they have a RSP Cooper with 8 miles on it. Nice to see a "new" Mini after years of seeing ones with scabs and scars and dents etc!!

There's no such thing! Good and cheap don't go together with spray painting unfortunately. The best finish requires careful preparation, which takes a considerable amount of time, and as we all know, time is money, especially if is professional labour! Add quality paint materials in the right quanti...

All it needs is a large V8 and some chrome side pipes.....

When you have gone so far with the exterior, would you not take the seats and carpets to some professional valeter to get cleaned? They mightn't charge an arm and a leg when the bits are already out of the vehicle making their job a whole lot easier? Just a thought....

Where in Ballincollig is he Billy? I don't know him and he sounds like the type of guy I would like to know..!

Make it a large garage, because one Mini is never enough :D Thats sound advice!!! Amazing how extra Mini's just follow you home and sneak into the garage behind your back.... :lol: The advice earlier in the thread of "you get what you pay for" stands true for paintwork. The key to a prope...

Stickercentral should have them, they have loads of Mini related graphics, (although they are not in Cork, they are in the UK somewhere). I think the stripes have a slight curve outwards in them at the ends to follow the sides of the bonnet at the front edge, so its not a case of getting two straigh...

Very very very nice collection. All it takes is time and money....!! Just one question.... did you buy the last one, the 99 red Sportspack, from Ger O'Leary in Cork? He had one like that for sale last year (or even the year before).

Any motor factors should have matt black paint (and satin black as well as gloss black) in an aerosol can. Prefer satin finish myself, but each to their own! Not sure what you mean by "matt black lacquer" though, lacquer is a clear coat, usually applied over a metallic basecoat.

Best advice on welders and compressors is to buy the biggest and most powerful machines you can afford. If you buy a small machine, you will most likely end up buying a bigger one in the future (guess how I know that...). As for air tools, anything that runs continuously like grinders, sanders or dr...

Probably stuck with a film of rust on the pivot shaft where they, umm, pivot. No doubt you will spend some happy moments upside-down under the dash trying to free them off.

Did you pick that up from near Fermoy from guy by the man of John (or maybe it was Sean) who had two other Mini's a green one and a white one? I looked at a car that colour for a friend of mine over a year ago, it was in pretty good nick, recently resprayed to a good standard in fairness, but when t...