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My first mini

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:31 pm
by VariaL_
Hey my names David , I'm 17 :) from tallaght and I bought my first car a few months ago. My brother had me hooked at a very young age and when the opportunity arose I couldn't resist haha. I guess I have the bug.
It's a red 1000cc Mayfair that had been sitting in a garden for a year which I have pictures of.
Drove her back from baltinglass , started up first go no bother to her.
Then it went down hill haha. The bracket that holds the back box of the exhaust snapped.
Then she managed to overheat.. And just when we thought it couldn't get any worse the pin popped out of the cv joint so you couldn't fully lock the steering wheel when cornering but we got the little Mayfair home.
Ordered some parts a few days ago
- chrome rocker cover with tbars
- rocker cover gasket
- NGK sparks
- ht leads
- distributor cap
- new engine bushings

So the little Mayfair is getting a facelift to push her through the nct. I'll try get some pictures up soon :)

Re: My first mini

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:53 pm
by joeyfinneran
Welcome to the maddness :lol:
Have fun with the mini (best ever first car) and learn alot
Any problems wit it besure to ask here we have a huge amount of gurros that will answer and questions you got

Re: My first mini

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2012 11:58 pm
by VariaL_
Thanks joe, just trying to get her back on the road is bad enough I could just imagine how frustrating a full restoration would be haha

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:06 am
by VariaL_
Image

When I got her ^


Image

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 7:54 am
by minis24se7en
Welcome David,

Nice 1st mini. It looks well, nice and chunky with the arches and super-lights :)

Re: My first mini

Posted: Tue Oct 23, 2012 6:57 pm
by VariaL_
Image

Parts arrived :D let the fun begin

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 12:55 am
by VariaL_
It's been along time over due but I thought Id give everyone a update!
It turned out that my mini was actually knackered!
So It got quite the overhaul
- new drive shafts
- choke
- coil
- dizzy
- leads
- wheel bearings
- radiator
- all new gaskets , including getting the head gasket done!
- water pump
- engine steadys
- disks and pads
- subframe bushes
- air box (k and n was making the car run horribly)

After the majority of that we were booked in for the nct and surprise surprise it failed!
The structural integrity of the front of the car was gone! It was a death trap and the guy in the nct Center laughed at me and my brother when we said we'll be back..

So I sent my squeaky mini up to Tony in cooks town minis and classics! I believe he's new there but he knows his stuff indeed! He repaired the front , patched up the little bits including the battery box and installed new stainless steel sills Aswell as undersealing the whole car. All at a decent price , so I'd recommend him.

Sent it back in for the nct and it passed with flying colours! Just so happened that the same guy who laughed at me handed over the nct disk.. I was over the moon!

Bought a few shiny bits but I'll mention em tomorrow followed with some pictures :)

Cheers, dave

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 2:10 am
by armo
Stainless steel sills ??? That's quite a list of thing you've done . It never ends lol

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 7:09 am
by VariaL_
That's corrrect! Stainless!! He makes em from stainless sheet metal as far as I know!
Well the car is legit as of yesterday ( bought tax, hasn't been taxed in two and a half years) haha
Nct and insured... Just glad everything is done.

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 11:43 am
by woody
Never heard of stainless steel sills before. Can you weld stainless to mild steel?

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 11:52 am
by VariaL_
As far as I know tig welds work just fine.. But I haven't got a huge knowledge on how you go about it!

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 4:21 pm
by armo
I'm not sure if tig will work or not but tbh I doubt very much it was done with a tig welder great idea if they are solid and work doh ...

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 4:54 pm
by VariaL_
Well the car speaks for itself.. It's solid!

Re: My first mini

Posted: Thu May 09, 2013 10:19 pm
by flynny-8
Nice looking mini you got yourself, have you been doing the mechanical work on it yourself or what?? Ive got a mini aswell as having a daily car but being a broke college student means its a real love hate relationship haha. I wish I had to knowledge to do a lot more on my own one.

Re: My first mini

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 6:03 pm
by VariaL_
Nah man mechanical work was done by a garage up the road ( bobby doyles autos ) in newlands cross and cooks town minis and classics! Wouldn't know enough to do it myself unfortunately , but I'll learn!