Irish Mini Owners Club

Cleaned up the backing plates for the brakes, fronts were very rough, all bent out of shape from someone prising the drums off, but apart from that they were fine. Also cleaned up the hub flanges, have removed the short studs ready for longer ones for spaced drums. One of the drive flanges looked to...

Sent the shell off to be media blasted today, bit of a rush job getting last few bits stripped. A bit of careful maneuvering to get it from concrete pad at bottom of garden, across the grass and down side of the house to be loaded onto a trailer at the front. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/5057...

All fully cured, hopefully they won't fall off...

Stuck my 3d printed numbers onto the plates this evening, drew up a guide to help with keeping it all in-line. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50560899861_e31bc8446f_b.jpg Polyurethane adhesive on the back of printed parts, should be more than strong enough. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/5...

Seem to be getting more done to the mini than proper sleep at the moment, but unfortunately its only been an hour or so a day... Got a nice delivery from minispares, lots of suspension and subframe bits. Annoyingly its another part delivery from DHL, box 2 is supposedly "Access restricted by th...

A few posts missing between last 2 updates, 18th October Got a wee bit done today, removed all core plugs and gave the engine a going over with power hose.<br> Still a fair amount of mud coming out of water jacket, also a few clumps of metal floating about there too, maybe flakes of old core plugs.<...

post moved to correct location...

Looks like there was at least some paint left on the subframe. I've 2 broken bolts in mine so will be interesting to see how you go about sorting it. Where the flexi pipe unions hard to get off? Still have one stuck that I haven't managed to get off yet. Are you going to paint it or get it powder co...

finished stripping down the radius arms, also removed all wheel bearings and rubber cones from rear trumpets. Knuckles put up a bit of a fight but eventually came out.. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50412993692_365d8cf3ec_b.jpg Nice amount of rubbish for the bin.. https://live.staticflickr.com...

Picked up a few pieces today, Leyland grill and top and lower dash rails. Mine are beyond repair. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50408561853_6d0684ac74_b.jpg Back very rusty.. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50409421377_8564e18b6b_b.jpg Picked up the grill as I don't like the chrome one tha...

Tried the same washer with flat edges to see if I could remove the radius arm bearing and bush, worked fine, drifted out bearing first, then the plastic liner pushed out through the bush, then drifted bush out. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50394960826_71388afe4b_b.jpg What a mess that came ou...

Started stripping down the rear subframe. Was literally a fight with every nut and bolt I had to remove... Cut through the bolt holding on back box, then that went straight to the bin, full of holes. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50390668397_e699089007_b.jpg Then set about removing radius arms...

Tried to make a new pedal pivot shaft on the lathe at work over lunch break, didn't go too good. It's not setup for an sort of precision work, it's mainly used for facing off cast steel pieces so surface finish isn't important as long as it's flat. Tried to realign the headstock but was still runnin...

Only a small amount of time spent on mini this weekend, baby due in 2 weeks but could be coming earlier!!! 😬😬😬 Had started removal of rear subframe last weekend, so picked up there. Immediately ran into trouble! A patch had been welded into the boot floor, but they used 3mm sheet! They also didn't l...

Other side came out so much easier thanks to soaking it in diesel and knowing what to do

Some work done on one of the upper arms, lower shock absorber bolt removed, roller bearings removed... Bolt was total seized into the arm, even had it in a 50 Ton press and it wasn't budging! Cut off most of it, then drill out the center, then punched it out. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/5035...

On clutch housing side to the rear. Must have been engine in with subframe in shell and was a bit tight to get in...

The mounts are completely destroyed, as soon as I released the bottom steady it was almost falling over, that was before I removed the engine mount bolts!!

A few more bit done today... Moved my shed closer to the fence to give me more room to work round the car. I had left 400mm of a gap between shed and fence just to keep access for cutting the brambles that grow the other side. Didn't have anyone to help and couldn't really ask my 8 month pregnant wi...

The rusting of the window surrounds only became a problem in the nineties with the new wider rubber seal. Never noticed a rivet there before. I was expecting something like this to be honest... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50184725473_0918406c25_b.jpg Minispares crate is getting full again lol

Got a good run at things this weekend. Disassembled the gear linkage housing, was quite crusted up in gunk so took a good bit of elbow grease to get it cleaned. Will need to replace the bobbins, rubber is pretty cracked and bolts are very rusty. Also need a few new roll pins, 1 was split in half whe...

Nice one, should have brought it over with you. Shipping was way too expensive, we were saving for a house and couldn't justify it. :( Anyways...on with the show.. Engine and subframe are out... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50286088238_72546c04b6_b.jpg Had my brother out to give me a hand, h...

Hoping the result will be better than my last resto of an Aussie Mini (Clubman front end)

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Hi all, just a quick introduction... Have this a few months now, a 1983 Leyland Mini City, 998cc. Started out as a quick repair and drive, but has since turned into a full strip and rebuild task. How it was when I got it... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50033014681_a94d2fb1e0_o.jpg https://liv...