Mini SPi back on the road
Discussion
We've owned Percy for close to 10 years.
He is a 1994 reg SPi Cooper and was purchased after a drunken day at a classic car rally. Back home onto Autotrader I found him local and for a good price £2500ono.
A year into ownership he was fully restored and we found the usual rust in sills, bulkhead where vents are were rotten through, split front subframe.
The wiring was suspect back then and despite asking for it to be done, it wasn't - advised it was ok and just drive it till it failed. Great...
That was back in 2011. Since then the car became gradually more and more unreliable so was mostly retired to small local trips. The MOT history shows just how few miles he's done pre year. The first culprit was the main relay which was fried, so replaced = car worked, then the fuel pump stopped. Tracing the wiring found a split, repaird, he was good to go.
Replaced the RC40 exhaust for a standard and that made things much more civilised too.
Roll forward to 2017. After getting him back after a lot of work for the MOT (rust again - he lives outside) this time on jacking points I was glad to have him back on the road. Brand new suspension = very comfy and composed. During the work they put on a new starter motor as the old one was chewed up.
Got home, all good. Drove to the shops = all good. Go to start, the starter just gave a horrid grrr noise. Took him back, got him fixed, same issue repeated.
This is when I decided to take things to my own hands. Why not, easy to work on yes? Replaced starter, all was good - turned out the one they had used had a different gear set so got out of sync - fortunately did not require a fly wheel.
Then the electrics went funny, flash lights = horn, then lights died, then electrics all died. Time for a new loom, not an easy prospect with the possible combinations. Due to winter the job got put on hold so over several weeks I rewired the lot and he started first turn after 6 months off. Amazed it all worked, even an indicator light on the dash now worked.
Took old dash out for a replacement of same type, everything wired in and working then the paint was flat so just finished the work today.
He's driving great (touch wood) and looking fit and dandy - just in time to be a wedding car tomorrow!
Its a love hate relationship, I'd estimate the work over the years and the parts have come to probably 7k but now we have a mint mini, on near 100k - he is a good looking honest car, not a show queen but very very clean and tidy.
Before and after pics for this year
He is a 1994 reg SPi Cooper and was purchased after a drunken day at a classic car rally. Back home onto Autotrader I found him local and for a good price £2500ono.
A year into ownership he was fully restored and we found the usual rust in sills, bulkhead where vents are were rotten through, split front subframe.
The wiring was suspect back then and despite asking for it to be done, it wasn't - advised it was ok and just drive it till it failed. Great...
That was back in 2011. Since then the car became gradually more and more unreliable so was mostly retired to small local trips. The MOT history shows just how few miles he's done pre year. The first culprit was the main relay which was fried, so replaced = car worked, then the fuel pump stopped. Tracing the wiring found a split, repaird, he was good to go.
Replaced the RC40 exhaust for a standard and that made things much more civilised too.
Roll forward to 2017. After getting him back after a lot of work for the MOT (rust again - he lives outside) this time on jacking points I was glad to have him back on the road. Brand new suspension = very comfy and composed. During the work they put on a new starter motor as the old one was chewed up.
Got home, all good. Drove to the shops = all good. Go to start, the starter just gave a horrid grrr noise. Took him back, got him fixed, same issue repeated.
This is when I decided to take things to my own hands. Why not, easy to work on yes? Replaced starter, all was good - turned out the one they had used had a different gear set so got out of sync - fortunately did not require a fly wheel.
Then the electrics went funny, flash lights = horn, then lights died, then electrics all died. Time for a new loom, not an easy prospect with the possible combinations. Due to winter the job got put on hold so over several weeks I rewired the lot and he started first turn after 6 months off. Amazed it all worked, even an indicator light on the dash now worked.
Took old dash out for a replacement of same type, everything wired in and working then the paint was flat so just finished the work today.
He's driving great (touch wood) and looking fit and dandy - just in time to be a wedding car tomorrow!
Its a love hate relationship, I'd estimate the work over the years and the parts have come to probably 7k but now we have a mint mini, on near 100k - he is a good looking honest car, not a show queen but very very clean and tidy.
Before and after pics for this year
Cheers
Just noticed drivers front is sitting lower, drives straight and true and no issues with knocks. With the suspension replacement I cannot remember if we did the top arms - something else to check and add to the ever increasing bill.
Classic cars - great way to spend money without seeing it over the years
Just noticed drivers front is sitting lower, drives straight and true and no issues with knocks. With the suspension replacement I cannot remember if we did the top arms - something else to check and add to the ever increasing bill.
Classic cars - great way to spend money without seeing it over the years
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