Anyone know anything about Minis?

Neeek · 27-02-2006, 02:14 PM

My boss is keen on one. He checked it out at the weekend and it's been restored and by all accounts sounds like a good 'un. Goes like the clappers (mild 1100 in it) and handles like a go-kart as all Minis should.

Two concerns:

1. Brakes are a bit iffy. Needs a good shove to stop. Has drums all 'round, but was apparently a little frightening, especially considering that it's had everything replaced recently (wheel cylinders, pads, master cylinder...). He's used to driving modern cars, though...

2. Gear lever has a HUGE amount of slack in it. Doesn't jump out of gear. Again, compared with a modern I'd expect there to be a lot of slack by comparison.

The Mini's a 1977 model. My take on point 1 is that if everything has been replaced and it's still doing it, something's not right and it'll need fixing. Point 2 I assume would be worn/poorly adjusted linkages, which ought to be an easy fix. The fact that it's easy to engage when you actually have the lever in the right spot is a plus. It's just finding the right spot that's troublseome.

I haven't driven it myself, so if anyone knows anything about these little go-karts, please share your thoughts here.

Gammaboy · 27-02-2006, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neeek

My boss is keen on one. He checked it out at the weekend and it's been restored and by all accounts sounds like a good 'un. Goes like the clappers (mild 1100 in it) and handles like a go-kart as all Minis should.

Two concerns:

1. Brakes are a bit iffy. Needs a good shove to stop. Has drums all 'round, but was apparently a little frightening, especially considering that it's had everything replaced recently (wheel cylinders, pads, master cylinder...). He's used to driving modern cars, though...

2. Gear lever has a HUGE amount of slack in it. Doesn't jump out of gear. Again, compared with a modern I'd expect there to be a lot of slack by comparison.

The Mini's a 1977 model. My take on point 1 is that if everything has been replaced and it's still doing it, something's not right and it'll need fixing. Point 2 I assume would be worn/poorly adjusted linkages, which ought to be an easy fix. The fact that it's easy to engage when you actually have the lever in the right spot is a plus. It's just finding the right spot that's troublseome.

I haven't driven it myself, so if anyone knows anything about these little go-karts, please share your thoughts here.

The 4 wheel drums are Marginal at the best of times on them. Solution, source a disc setup from a Clubman S or similar.
From memorey theres 2 types of shifter for minis ("Magic wand" and remote?), ones better than the other, but yeah, i'd suspect worn bushes.

outback_ute · 27-02-2006, 03:43 PM

Unboosted 4 wheel drums are a huge culture shock after coming from "normal" brakes. Gear lever should respond as you say. The most important thing though is to ensure the bodyshell is solid!

new2ford · 27-02-2006, 03:44 PM

At nearly 30 years old there's going to be a bit of looseness even though underneath they were very very tough little cars. As a Clubman (I presume) it is going to have the remote shifter. Look at the linkages. The Mini's drum brakes were good at the time considering it is a small light car. Also had a pressure limiting valve on the rear brakes to prevent lock-up (something Aussie cars waited a long time to get - remember Holdens and Falcons ran on drum brakes then, they just didn't stop!!!). A disc setup might be better if he's planning on driving it like a Mini! There's plenty who do but he should remember he's moving into the 'vintage' car world which means handle with a bit more care than a new car. Suggest he connect up with one of the very active Mini clubs and there's also an excellent local magazine out every 3 months (The Mini Experience). Do a bit of research and enquiry first rather than jump at the first one he sees.

There's a guy at Brookvale who rebuilds them virtually to new but they cost about $15 grand, but if your mate wants something that's going to do what the one in my avatar does he'll need to pay for it to be that sound. I was lucky enough to own a couple when they were newer, also worked on the production line building them in the 1960s. There's nothing like them before or since. My last wish is to drive one again before I die!

Strange though it might seem, one thing that attracted me to my present Ford Territory was that it reminded me of the Mini in its handling, relatively speaking. The Territory is to today's SUVs what the Mini was to small cars - a dynamic revolution.

new2ford · 27-02-2006, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by outback_ute

Unboosted 4 wheel drums are a huge culture shock after coming from "normal" brakes. Gear lever should respond as you say. The most important thing though is to ensure the bodyshell is solid!

Thanks outback_ute: yes check any rust has been properly dealt with and bodyshell is sound.

As someone who started off in the smaller BMC cars (where such things as boosted discs and rack and pinion steering were standard on the Coopers, 1100 and 1800 from the early 1960s and later the P76 of course) I can tell you it was a culture shock to me stepping into Falcons and Holdens in the 1970s! They were terrifying cars to drive, no steering, no brakes. When I was living in Melbourne a flatmate's boyfriend wanted to impress me and let me have a drive in his luxury version Ford (Galaxy or Fairlane, I can't quite recall). I started fanging round the corners in it like I did in my car but with lots of nice squashy body roll and squealing tyres. After a couple fo corners I looked at him and he was white in the face. He said 'slow down, you're driving it like a BMC car.'

People had lots of digs at BMC cars in those days but 30 or so years later I see that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Just a pity it took some so long to catch up (e.g. Falcon, but catch up it has I'm pleased to say).

rapidxr6 · 27-02-2006, 10:27 PM

Mini's do not like low cut pine tree stumps.
Well me and 4 mates were rallying in a pine forest in a mates mum's mini that he had just resprayed. Doing somewhere between 50-60 MPH through tight pine break tracks, front passneger on the handbrake to help get around corners, got a a ripping right hander that we were going waaay to quick for, decided to take the "new" track that was just put through from a harvester doing a 3rd thinnings, problem was the saw dust from the machine cut was thrown over the face of the stump we were travelling...needless to say AIR-BORN for a good 10 feet, landed on her side and sild her roof into a standing tree. 3 in the back not injured..driver 8 stiches to his right eye brow from steering wheel..front passenger 5 stiches to his lip from the dash and a busted nose, cracked front teeth. And the poor little mini...dead... Picked a few pieces of sump out of the stump.. the front floot pan was pushed up so far when u sat in the front seat your knees are litteraly on ur chin more so than before.. the head rests on the front seats were touching..really buckled the the mini's belly. Also the front end looked more like a VW combi than a mini afterwards... it was a good day for it

: even if our mates mum didn't think so. :newangel:

everyones got a good mini mishap..

:

Falcon_Phill · 27-02-2006, 10:52 PM

gf's got 2 minis. sold the mini s last week.

new2ford · 27-02-2006, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rapidxr6

Mini's do not like low cut pine tree stumps.

Ouch. But nothing would like a pine stump I don't think. I used my first Mini on lots of bush tracks out in the Riverina as well as an Austin 1800 which had a huge sump guard like armourplate - great for grading off the hump in the track; also underwater through a creek in a friend's Moke, didn't miss a beat. They were built like battleships. I love my Territory but its a pansy in the underbody department. I thought I'd be reliving the Mini experience when I bought a Barina but it was a POS that fell apart. I thought automotive design was supposed to progress, not regress.

nb_351 · 27-02-2006, 11:41 PM

would love to own one, but cant fit in them properly... loved driving it though... was a cooper... mad little car...

RSgerry · 28-02-2006, 12:37 AM

i have a 1995 Cooper with 1.3 fuel injected motor. it isnt the fastest car in the world in a straight line, but ask anyone who drives one and they will tell you that corners and roundabouts are what they are made for. No body roll and stops like nothing else. also, those 'slow points' that councils install are the most fun. just change down a gear and nail it :-)

GRNKPR · 28-02-2006, 12:51 AM

i used to hang crap on them till i drove a cooper s dont know what it was either being so close to the ground or the handling but shure was an awsome drive there OK

AC · 28-02-2006, 01:58 AM

I know you can put a Swift GTi motor in them, then they haul ***

Rev28K · 28-02-2006, 09:23 AM

My first ride in a “hot” car was in my bosses Cooper S. We went up to Winton in it – so loud and noisy, lots of revs on the highway. Even though the clutch was going on it it still beat a lot of the other mini’s up there. I couldn’t believe the acceleration the thing had. In the right gear sat the right speed it was good and the braking and handling was far superior to what I was used to in Dad’s family car. Since that day I have always valued cornering and braking over simple straight line grunt.

Eventually the guy moved on to an Appendix J Mini which he built from the ground up, megadollar A-series engine. Set a lap record at Bathurst, appeared at the Adelaide GP support race and was beating Mustangs at Phillip Island (a real horsepower circuit he was on the nominal redline halfway down the front straight and just used to rev the nuts off it and hope that it would hang together (and hold off the V8’s that were gaining in the mirror) until the corners)).

Another guy at work bought a done up Cooper S and he too loved it until he started having kids.

Don’t the old ones look so small when they are next to the new (BMW) minis?

There are kits for putting Honda VTEC 1.6 and 1.8 engines in to the square nosed clubmans……….

Neeek · 28-02-2006, 01:41 PM

Thanks for all the comments. We're off to see it together on Friday. He's taking a bankers draft with him so we might be coming back to his place with a go-kart. Keep you posted.

vino3o2 · 28-02-2006, 06:05 PM

Just do me one favour....MAKE SURE THAT THE BATTERY IS STRAPPED DOWN AND SECURE!!!!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough...12 years ago i rolled a 1967 mkI cooper S, the battery was not secure, car landed on roof, petrol poored everywhere,battery sparked cause it was loose...ill let you guess what happened!!

GRNKPR · 28-02-2006, 07:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vino3o2

Just do me one favour....MAKE SURE THAT THE BATTERY IS STRAPPED DOWN AND SECURE!!!!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough...12 years ago i rolled a 1967 mkI cooper S, the battery was not secure, car landed on roof, petrol poored everywhere,battery sparked cause it was loose...ill let you guess what happened!!

:

: It wouldnt start ??????

:

vino3o2 · 28-02-2006, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GRNKPR

:

: It wouldnt start ??????

:

Good guess...no, I nearly got burnt to death....but thanks for the humor

:

64compact · 28-02-2006, 09:26 PM

here is a MINI i built it has a E1500 nissan engine in it,5 speed g/box and 4w disc brakes, it is lowered by 4" so low that your foot won't fit under it. has 13 x 8 wheels 2x 2 barrel downdraft webbers flowing 635cfm. reves to 11,000rpm and makes just over 140hp. it won the QLD under 2 ltr sports sedan hillclimb Championship in 1999. took 8 months to build and cost under $4,000.oo on the track, it was the last race car in AU to be race registered with an alloy roll cage, It now runs a Turbo and EFI.

XAGSV8 · 28-02-2006, 09:39 PM

Got drum brakes on the mini I am restoring at the moment. They have been fully rebuilt and I can tell you they are not that special. The gear stick sounds normal as well. Check out my sig if you want to see it.

new2ford · 28-02-2006, 09:39 PM

What about a V8 then? See the V8 Clubman in my image at http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=12190

vino3o2 how the hell did you roll a Mini? That's almost impossible - you must have tripped over something. Glad you came out alive. The battery should be secured in any car.

Gammaboy · 28-02-2006, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 64compact

here is a MINI i built it has a E1500 nissan engine in it,5 speed g/box and 4w disc brakes, it is lowered by 4" so low that your foot won't fit under it. has 13 x 8 wheels 2x 2 barrel downdraft webbers flowing 635cfm. reves to 11,000rpm and makes just over 140hp. it won the QLD under 2 ltr sports sedan hillclimb Championship in 1999. took 8 months to build and cost under $4,000.oo on the track, it was the last race car in AU to be race registered with an alloy roll cage, It now runs a Turbo and EFI.

11,000rpm! Croikey! what was the engine spec?

OLDFORDNUT · 28-02-2006, 11:08 PM

you can always fit an old VH44 remote power booster.then you will have good brakes

64compact · 11-03-2006, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gammaboy

11,000rpm! Croikey! what was the engine spec?

the E1500 had a nodular iron crank and hd rods out of a turbo. it run A14 pistons that brought the compression ratio up to 12.5-1 the inlet ports are the same internal diamenter as a 4.1 xf falcon and I made the inlet manufold using xf efi runners and used the xf carbies x 2 mounted on the origional bases off the xf. carbie manifold. it sounds hard but it was real easy to do. and the engine and g/box is 100kg lighter than a mini combo. the radiator is a ford laser that sits behind the grill. For the brakes I fitted a pedel box and booster out of a L300 mitsubishi van up under the dash, it fits real good and you hardly have to change too much and with the nissan 5 sp gearbox as it is cable clutch the L300 is also cable so it worked well. the front disc's were nissan Pulsar and the rear were toyota corolla front disc's made up to fit on the rear. it was easy to do. i fitted Moke rear arms to keep compliance and so i could fit the 13" x 8 wheels. anyhow if you need anything else ask i was very proud of how it finished up as i had thought about doing it for years and then got a body and it just all fell in to place.

TotalDriver · 11-03-2006, 11:52 PM

I remember when I first got my licence about a thousand years ago I had a Mini for a while. We had to hack a huge hole in the firewall to fit the Webber carby on!

Sounded good from inside the car too! Got scary when she backfired though.

Roasted Nuts anyone????

070mstg · 12-03-2006, 03:21 PM

4 wheel drums..you get used to them...just stomp harder.the drums on my '51 clevo mustang are actually surprisingly good and have saved me from some tricky situations.but really not nice in wet weather.

joshf2 · 12-03-2006, 06:11 PM

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...2732953&q=mini

surely this one hasnt got drums up front

watch till the end for the stoppie ;)

Mk II · 12-03-2006, 07:20 PM

thats an insane piece of driving. How good is that guy at controlling the car

Gilesie · 12-03-2006, 07:39 PM

Anyone know anything about Minis?
yes I do
Never Ever Try To TakeOne Around A 15 KPH corner at 80 MPH!

vino3o2 · 13-03-2006, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by new2ford

What about a V8 then? See the V8 Clubman in my image at http://www.fordforums.com.au/showthread.php?t=12190

vino3o2 how the hell did you roll a Mini? That's almost impossible - you must have tripped over something. Glad you came out alive. The battery should be secured in any car.

Man it was a terrible day, on my way to play some rugby at finals match with a mate in the car, was in a 80kph zone doing about 80-90kph when this corner all of the suden turned to dirt!! (apparently from construction truck leaving loose gravel when they were exiting an industriual site) Hit the dirt, understeered straight into an embankment which fliped the car end over end about 5 times...Landed on roof, traped then poof!!! fire engulfed the rear seat of the car, my mate (thank God) got out straight away but i was trapped due to my side of the car having the roof crushed on me..I gave up tryn to get out when suddenly my mate grabed my legs and draged me out!! We both ran and, just like in the movies it exploded!! I recieved 18% burns to my body and spent 2 long weeks in hospital....Lucky to be here thanks to my mate Ad's.....So from now on i cringe every time i see a damn Mini!!