1973 Irish Clubman Estate

[Stuie.91]

Just before christmas I bought my second mini. I found it on Donedeal I am sure some of you will recognise it.

This is it when i bought it. It was in ok condition and had been recently restored after lying up for years. ( I will add the pictures of what it was like as previous owner gave them to me. All the donkey work had been done but it needed finishing off. The interior especially was in a bad way. Original carpets were all gone and replaced by a roughly cut piece of underlay and house carpet. It was also leaking due to incorrect door rubbers.

This is it when I bought it.




With huge help from Paul and James at Minifix have gotten the rubbers sorted (They were an awful job) also there was play in the steering so they fitted a new steering rack. Santa came with four new Cooper S steelies in Old English White and new 165 tyres. They make a hell of a difference to the road holding.

So now it look like this.




And this week I finally got delivery of the new carpets from Newton Commercial which have made a hell of a difference to the interior. I also got sound deadening material off Vinny Byrnes and the it has quietened down the road noise.

Mods(These few pictures may be help for Tech section as the instructions that come with the carpets are limited to say the least.)

So this was it at the start





When I took out the seats and started taking out the carpets I discovered one of my floor grommets were letting in water as this shows



I got sealer to seal them all just to be sure. I then sparyed the floor where tiny little rust spots could be seen with primer.



I decided to give the heater a flush as it was only ever warm and not hot even after changing the heater valve in engine bay. I discovered why it was crumbling apart in my hands when I took it out.



Then I fitted Sound deadening followed by Wheel Arch carpet bits then center Crossmember and sill sections as per instructions. All need trimming so do dry runs before glueing them in.





Then fit bulkhead carpet



followed by the front and rear sections that can just drop in.





It finished





I will try to keep it updated as I continue to do bits and pieces and tidy the Clubbie up.

Thanks for looking.

[maverick]

Very nice and original.

[StanO'Toole]

Beautiful Mini you have there, and the carpets look crackin... Well wear

[joeyfinneran]

Love clubby estates i love it

Are this newton carpets ? They look to be well moulded in front of the gear stick

[woody]

Car looks great,well done, had one years ago.

[Stuie.91]

Yeah the are Newton Carpets. They were great fit everywere really with minimal trimming on the sill sections and wheel arches.

Thanks

[Stuie.91]

You can see what it looked like after sitting up for 20 years in a shed. Was in a bad way. Would'nt believe it looking at it today.

[kerryminigringo]

I brought this Clubman from Mayo to Dundalk for Johnnie to restore.Looks well with the reverse rims on and even though they are expensive Newton Carpets are worth every penny.

[Benny]

Serious restoration. Just beautiful

[minionly]

Wat A job well done I have all that ahead of me but mines being turned into a van if i cat the panels

[Stuie.91]

Hav'nt updated this in a while have done a few other things to continue to tidy the Clubman over last few weeks. TH biggest job was the headlining.



It was'nt in bad condition but it had alrady been painted and the mould/dirt was starting to come back through. I got a new one off Newton in a White colour. Goes lovely with the red so began the task of removing frame and old lining and stretching the new one in all directions to fit properly.



So removed lining was'nt to bad. Old



New






I alos got Bl Badges for the A Pillars and A Clubman Estate badge on Fleabay

[DaveC]

Looking good

[cianmini1]

came a long way from the start,looking great

[CB_Phil]

Some job, lovely looking

[kerryminigringo]

Looks great Stuart,did you purchase an Elf as well.

[Stuie.91]

Yeah the elf is a new arrival it is my Dads though, 1968 mk 3 elf. He finally caught the mini bug and wanted one of his own. It is going to b fully restored hopefully inside and out. He has already started on the dash and stuff. Will start a new project thread for it soon.

[Stuie.91]

So this has'nt really been used or touched since last years camping weekend, also other projects mainly the elf had taken priority. So if anyone was following me home after the weekend you will probably remember car was smoking like crazy, drinking oil, slipping in gear, overheating and lousing power going up hills. Made it back to Dublin though in fairness to her. The engine looked like it had'nt been touched since 1973 by the looks of it. A compression test confirmed suspicions that rings were gone.
Thanks to James and Paul for finding a new engine for me, sweet as a nut, car is a different car now.
So old engine





inside of rocker cover (worst ever seen) about an inch think I was surprised the engine was still running



New engine