Mini

[EMD]

Anyone got some info on owning and running a mini , the older ones around about the 80s era . I know about rust and subframe rot but engine wise are they pretty robust . 

[minifreek]

Errrrrrrm yes....


I own and run a 94 1.3 SPi Mayfair.

Mini's came with the factory unoptional extra of rust and oil leaks. The engines are pretty much bullet proof and will even run on 1 cylinder...

Things to watch for are - rust - rust - rust and rust..

The rear subframes tend to rot, whereas the fronts are ALWAYS covered in oil, so tend not to..

The petrol tanks are very small (£20 to fill from empty) and will last around 180 - 200 miles but all depends how you drive it... I drive mine like I stole it TBH...

All depends what you want to pay... You wont get a road legal/road ready Mini for less than £1500 these days, if you do - be prepared to work on it...

Watch for the chancers who think that they have a Cooper and will even try to tell you that its a Cooper...

Also watch for it being re-shelled too. Not hard to do but an original Cooper (Mk1, Mk2 or Mk3) will command a high price and will be expected to be original. If its been reshelled into a more modern shell, they will still try for the higher price but it aint worth anywhere near what they ask....

Any questions, drop me a PM

[EMD]

Yes rot is the main enemy  Ive seen some that have been quoted as immaculate but upon closer inspection you can see things like the A panels bubbling and front wing corners . Good to know the engines are pretty decent though .
Id be a bit put off by a 1980s auto though .

[Bigron]

It's the same basic engine as my old Austin A30, with a lineage dating back to the Morris Minor - itself a development of the earlier sidevalve engine - so long-lived and bombproof!
The only issue that I recall giving rise to basic Anglo-Saxon was the by-pass hose beteen cylinder head and block; conceived by a son of a bachelor. Some aftermarket hoses were convoluted to help angle the b*gger onto the pipes, but in my experience they were a lot worse!
Happy days......

Ron.

[minifreek]

Yeah the bypass pipes are a bugger to change, it was the main reason the A+ was designed, and doesn't have the bypass hose... Its the same basic engine but better...

The Minor came after the Mini, but does use the same engine..

The A series engines are a tad woeful on acceleration, especially in standard form, but plenty of tuning kits available.

The 1.3 (1275) is around 60BHP which doesn't sound a lot, but is plenty for a Mini (power to weight ratio)...

Theres lots and lots of spares readily available for Mini's so don't worry about getting parts...

You might be well to join an online forum like The Mini Forum or TMF. Lots of knowledgable people on there, and they really know their stuff too...

[hercules]

i had an x reg and loved it,i put 1100 special wheels on it with spacers and made the exhaust out of a 1275gt and a saab middle section to front pipe which came out at the centre haha i thought it was cool and it cornered like it was on rails

[Nick W]

Yeah the bypass pipes are a bugger to change, it was the main reason the A+ was designed, and doesn't have the bypass hose... Its the same basic engine but better...

It's not that bad to do; I loosen the water pump and use the kevlar hose from Minispares. Considering how cheap a new pump is, it's probably worth changing that as well. Problem solved.
I'd rather do a bypass hose than a speedo drive

[minifreek]

Not had the pleasure of doing the speedo drive yet, but that'll be done when I take the engine out next year...

Mine needs lots of bodywork sorting...

I know it needs a floor on both sides, both sills need sorting, inner sills will possibly need replaceing too. The rear subframe has a crack in it, I can possibly get away with a repair piece to be welded in but I'll take a proper look next year... The entire front end needs replaceing too... but at the moment its got an MoT until next March so Im going to use it up until then, then take it off the road to repair it and change the colour too....

[Varche]

Anyone got some info on owning and running a mini , the older ones around about the 80s era . I know about rust and subframe rot but engine wise are they pretty robust . 

They are positively new!

[TheBoy]

A mate did one up for his daughter to learn to drive in, then as a first car (now sadly baked bean tins, after she rolled it on the motorway).

Once she started using it for work, it did need a fair amount of tinkering - silly things like the clutch pedal started to seize on its shaft.  And obviously, despite the restoration he'd done (and a really good job he'd done), the rust set back in once it was used as a daily.

I'd not driven one for years and years, so when I thrashed that one about testing something or other on it, I'd forgotten what fun they are.


Enginewise, as said, that A series is bombproof, with only pure engine issues being having to constantly check the oil in the carb, and the manifold gasket seems prone to failure (easy job, even in the confines of a mini engine bay).

[aaronjb]

Part of me would love one..

..the rest of me knows I'd need to be a lot handier with the MIG welder!

[TheBoy]

Part of me would love one..

..the rest of me knows I'd need to be a lot handier with the MIG welder!

Yeah, my mate was always borrowing mine

[Migv6 le Frog Fan]

Cant stand the bloody things myself, but I know a lot of people love them.
Swmbos first car was a 64 mini (in 78) and she still swears it was a far better car than any of my cars she has travelled in since. 

[Bigron]

I once was a back seat passenger in an early one, for about 50 miles........the back seat space is small and I am not! 

Ron.

[TheBoy]

I once was a back seat passenger in an early one, for about 50 miles........the back seat space is small and I am not! 

Ron.

The clue is in the name