The Adventure of Miss Mini - '74 Mini 1000

[SoCalMiniFan]

A little back story on my love affair of British Cars and most things British. My dad was big into Austin Healey's and racing them when I was growing up, particularly his '59 Bugeye Sprite. We had his car and then a backyard with a handful of Bugeye's in various states of decay/part donators. The Bugeye was legit, I loved it. I loved it more when my dad would pick me up from school in it and even more so when he'd let me hold wrenches for him when he worked on it. I wanted nothing more then that car to become mine when I was old enough.

When I turned 16 I started dropping hints that I really wanted it, at that point it had been moved into a storage container due to lack of driving it and our acquisition of a 1927 Franklin (you can google that) which currently sits in the exact same position/condition that it did in 1992 when it arrived at my parents house. I went off to college, I lived overseas, I returned. I really wanted a Mini now after being in England and Australia for some time. Talked to my dad about the Bugeye turns out while I was away he sold it, all the extra cars, all the extra parts, and had its storage container removed from the property. He reminded me, much like he did every single time I inquired about it: It's too small, it's too fast, you're too young.

Fast-forward to my 30's.  I'll get my own stinkin' British Car. I've passively been looking at Mini's for year's.  I live in a city, I didn't always have a garage, the timing was never right. This year though my neighbor/close friend texted me late at night an ad on Craigslist with the note "This car looks like it needs some mechanical work but the body looks solid".  I secretly went with my neighbor to take a look.  I came home, I couldn't contain myself. Told my partner: I went and looked at a great Mini today, It's Blue just like you like.

I convinced my partner to buy said BLUE Mini and off we went with cash in hand and a tow-truck on call. On the car ride over I mentioned that the car might actually have more of a Purple hue to it then Blue.  As we pulled up I mentioned that it might actually not even be Blue but in-fact VERY PURPLE.

Here she is lined up for the tow truck.



Miss Mini is a '74 Mini 1000 RHD with a decent body but in need of some TLC and mechanical work. I've owned her exactly a year this month and she is about to be put on the road at the end of this week.

Appearance wise she looks pretty much the same as the did the day I brought her home. She has all her chrome work attached now and I gave her a bath and hot waxed/buffed her up. Cosmetically the only thing I've done is swap out the 12x4.5 wheels for 10x6 GB's.


Obviously when the engine is in I'll adjust her ride height, she's sitting like a 4x4 right now.

I have done all the work myself with help from the forums and You-tube. If there was something I was unsure of I asked, something I didn't have the tool for, I bought it or borrowed it. I threw myself into the local Mini Club, I've attended meet-ups, races, and knocked on strangers houses if I saw a Mini in their driveway just to ask them questions.   I know every single nut and bolt on the car and I've replaced just about everything or refurbished what I could salvage.

She has all new:
Brakes (Drums in rear, 7.5discs in front)
Hi-Lo's all around
Rubber Cones
Fuel Line
Brake Lines
Power Cables
Fuel Tank w/new sending unit
Fuel Pump
Refurbished/rebuilt Clutch/Master Cylinders
Refurbished Radius Arms (Front/Rear)
Heavy Duty Adjustable Tie-Rods
Heavy Duty Adjustable Lower Arms
Steering Rack
Kyb Shocks-(Front/Back)
Throttle Cable
Heater Control Cable
Choke Cable
Rebuilt Wiper Motor
Washer Fluid lines
Washer Fluid Bottle
Wired up a horn

All nuts and bolts were replaced. If it came off the car it was replaced with new. All things like knuckle joints and ball joints, etc. were replaced.


Today the engine arrived.

1275 A+
3.1Final Drive
HiF38 Carb
Super 2-core Radiator w/6-blade fan
123 Distributor w/Flame Throw Coil

Medium Bore LCB Exhaust Manifold
Twin-box Maniflow Side exit Exhaust

I've photographed all the work as I went so I'll backtrack and post up some of that soon.

[Willie_B]

Get it on the road and the FUN really begins. 4.gif

[MiniDave]

So, Willie B, wanna take a drive to Sandy Eggo next summer?  ;D

[Willie_B]

You know, it gets hot there in the summer. At this time I would be dis-owned if I tried. She was not real keen on my last trip.

[SoCalMiniFan]

You know, it gets hot there in the summer. At this time I would be dis-owned if I tried. She was not real keen on my last trip.

It was only 105degrees yesterday.  It's a dry heat, so it's hot but you don't feel like you're in a plastic bag.

I grew up in New York, hot and humid all summer long. On the east coast they all say "but you're so lucky out west it's a dry heat". Ya know what, 105degrees is hot no matter how you cut it. For that reason I made sure to get a 6-blade tropical fan and gave up bleeding my brakes yesterday. Too damn hot to be outside working on the Mini.

If all goes as planned MMW '16 looks to be happening in San Diego around June which will be actually be a great comfortable month here. June Gloom; grey until the Marine Layer burns off around 12noon.

[MiniDave]

Then it comes back around 2 pm!

I haven't seen 100*+ temps in Sandy Eggo......I lived there almost 20 years and only saw it over 90* a couple of times in all that time....but then I lived near the ocean, not inland. I was just east of I-5 in Bay Ho.

Where will they hold the event - in Keaney Mesa where the dealer is or somewhere in Mission Valley?

[SoCalMiniFan]

After burning the midnight oil and getting the engine painted from red to Mowog Green it was installed yesterday.  I'm missing some key parts but they're on their way and I'm using a Carburetor that is dialed in for the specific engine until a later date. My goal is to have her relatively road worthy for San Diego's British Car day which is October 11th and she literally needs to roll down hill for 2.7miles and hang a sharp left onto the waterfront Promenade area. After BCD I'll get her all tuned up with my Carburetor and finalize some things.


Getting cleaned up and prepped for paint.


Painting at night, it came our much better than I had anticipated and I didn't have to do any touch up's once daylight hit.


Installed. Still have parts to put on and stuff but the big job is out of the way.

[Armycook]

Great job! Can't wait to see this one on the road revving!!! :) congrats!!!

[Jims5543]

Love, love, love, LOVE the color!!!

That is a rad car, I also approve of the 1275 swap, you will enjoy that a lot.

Cannot wait to see out and about photos of her.

[SoCalMiniFan]

I picked up my exhaust manifold and exhaust/muffler today and installed them via headlamp after work tonight.

I have some last things to tighten up, need to sort out my fuse box, and get my fuel pump and tank sorted but if all goes well oil, coolant, and gas will go in and we might just be taking Miss Mini on her maiden voyage this Friday!

[MiniDave]

Look out Sandy Eggo!   4.gif

[Dmulder]

Exciting. How heavy would you guess that motor to be?  How hard to get in and out? 2 man job, 1 man and a hoist?

[MiniDave]

1 man and a hoist.....I've had a number of them in and out by myself......weight is about 320 lbs for the entire engine and transmission

[SoCalMiniFan]

Exciting. How heavy would you guess that motor to be?  How hard to get in and out? 2 man job, 1 man and a hoist?

To remove the old engine(998) with gearbox I had my two burly neighbors lift it out. It was a little wonky and I'd recommend a 3rd burly guy at least to be there just in case.  Being a not burly female I wasn't much help. The 1275 that went into the car was a 1 man with a hoist job.

[SoCalMiniFan]

After spending the last few days sorting out Miss Mini and finishing up at 1:45am last night(this morning) we took her for her maiden voyage. We pushed her a little bit, did some burn outs, screeched the wheels with excitement and tormented the neighborhood at 2am. She is an absolute blast to drive.  I have a few minor minor things I need sorted out and will be more confident tearing up the streets of SD in her once I make them.

Today at 8:30am after a few hours of sleep we drove her down to British Car day. Here I am with her on the grass. I can't believe I accomplished this.

[MiniDave]

Well done!   4.gif

[SoCalMiniFan]

A little video of us terrorizing the neighborhood at 2am after starting her up for the first time. Don't mind my overly excited, several beers deep better half cheering from the backseat, the tire screeching is really the highlight so volume up!

[SoCalMiniFan]

Some minor things had to be done to Miss Mini after her maiden voyage.

- I had had the wrong Lug Nuts.
  I switched them out.

- Something was leaking in the vacinity of the clutch pedal.
  It appeared my brand new master cylinder was leaking clutch fluid down the pedal shaft and making the clutch pedal slick as can be, making it awful to drive. Yesterday I took out the MC, cleaned up the area, examined the MC, and I noticed we forgot to tighten the heater hose clamp, spilling coolant in the general area of the clutch. I tightened that all up, cleaned everything up and examined it today. All looked nice and dry.

- Skim the radiator fan blades.
   The 6 blade tropical fan would not clear the Shroud. We adjusted, moved, tightened, loosened, bent, re-aligned, and nothing would get that fan to stop hitting one section so I skimmed each blade a hair and it clears beautifully now. No issues.

- Re-install the wiper motor.
   It doesn't rain much here and we don't really plan to drive in the rain much but today we wanted to drive Miss Mini and it was overcast and grey so I put it back in and hoped the wipers worked.

Everything checked out great today. We drover her about 40 miles around town, to the beach, up hills, in traffic. She purred like a kitten, an angry angry kitten being chased by a rabid coyote!


All in all I'm pretty happy with my very first Mini project. The next year will be spent saving to have her body work done and a new paint job. The interior needs some love but it's not terrible as she sits.

[Willie_B]

That does sound like a grand day.

[Mudhen]

A little video of us terrorizing the neighborhood at 2am after starting her up for the first time. Don't mind my overly excited, several beers deep better half cheering from the backseat, the tire screeching is really the highlight so volume up!

4.gif

What driving a Mini is all about!!!  Nice work!

[SoCalMiniFan]

After a many mile trip, many miles from home with the SD Mini Holiday Charity run we pulled into our last stop and Miss Mini came to a rather spectacular 3 wheel grinding halt leaving her left front wheel with enough camber to make the Honda Heads jealous.

4 guys pushed her up, we man handled the wheel into place enough to get her to a safe resting stop where I was going to call AAA and have her towed home.  The Mini Club decided that we would fix her there in the parking lot and they were VERY determined to do so.  We had a member with a newer car take me to another members house where we acquired all the parts we needed to replace the ball-joint in a parking lot.

2.5 hours later Miss Mini was back on all 4 and ready for her 42 mile journey home to South San Diego. We made it. Cruised at 70-75 the whole way and had a trailing Mini Member follow us all the way back to make sure we made it safely. The SD Mini club is really the best.

I took everything apart once home, did a once over re-tighten, greased up appropriately, etc and then drove her, a lot. Just before Christmas I was driving around the neighborhood and pop-bam, down on three wheels, same ball-joint split apart. Miss Mini got her first tow truck ride home.

I took everything apart yesterday, armed with NEW ball-joints and ready to install them.  Once everything was apart, I de-greased things to inspect them and found the following going on with my Hub.  I guess it's safe to say I'm off the road until I get a new hub.

I'm so mad, I just want to drive Miss Mini and she just wants to sit in the driveway on jack stands.

[94touring]

Well that's a bummer!!

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

I mean... my mini is buried in a snowbank right now, so I feel your pain.

[John Gervais]

YIKES!  Sorry to see that!  Glad you're ok, it could have gotten ugly.

It looks as though the ball joint seat (original part number 21A615 can be seen on the attached microfiche image) wasn't seated properly.  If the seat is still in good shape, I'd hang on to it - as far as I know, they're no longer available as a stand-alone component.  The attached .pdf shows the assembly very clearly; the microfiche .jpg images aren't quite as sharp.

Heck, I'd probably be tempted to dress the hub carrier (machine the seat for the ball seat a tad deeper), de-burr fragmented edges of the 'grease-well' and re-shim the swivel pin.

By the way - the car sounds great!  Is the HIF38 performing well?  Glad you're having fun with it!

[SoCalMiniFan]

YIKES!  Sorry to see that!  Glad you're ok, it could have gotten ugly.

It looks as though the ball joint seat (original part number 21A615 can be seen on the attached microfiche image) wasn't seated properly.  If the seat is still in good shape, I'd hang on to it - as far as I know, they're no longer available as a stand-alone component.  The attached .pdf shows the assembly very clearly; the microfiche .jpg images aren't quite as sharp.

Heck, I'd probably be tempted to dress the hub carrier (machine the seat for the ball seat a tad deeper), de-burr fragmented edges of the 'grease-well' and re-shim the swivel pin.

By the way - the car sounds great!  Is the HIF38 performing well?  Glad you're having fun with it!

From the damage to the Hub I'm going to go with what you said and say the seat wasn't seated properly.  When we repaired it in the parking lot we did so upside down, on the ground, in low-light, still attached to the car for the most part.  It probably shifted around as we tightened things up and it was good for a bit until it eventually failed. The seat looks good so I'll I'll stick that into my bits and parts bin that I have since I bought a new complete ball-joint thinking that was the issue.  I'm tempted to have the hub cleaned up and re-use it but that also makes me nervous due to the damage done.  Searching around L-side hubs aren't hard to find and buy, I just hate that I need to!

The HiF38 is working well, in the box it came in!  When I got it the plan was to build up a 998 from my original engine. In my planning stages and quest for info my current 1275 A+ came up, it had recently been gone over and rebuilt so that's what I'm running currently with a HiF44. Don't fret, I have great plans for the HiF38!