majority of those guys with the mini's at auto x often kills....i wouldn't mine one....i think it's nice and like what Josh said it has it's history....

 

Oh...and check *this* out.

http://www.zcars.org.uk/mini/civic.htm

The kit costs around $8,000 US. Converts your Mini to a Mid engined, rear wheel drive layout with double wishbone suspension up front and keeps the trailing arm in the rear...but you add the Honda K20 series engines. Muhahahahha. Now *that* would be a sleeper. Stock nose length and everything.

They have a few videos on the site of the bike engined cars, but I'm just a little nervous to ever have anything chain driven after seeing 4,000,000 episodes of Junkyard Wars where it always snapped!

Maybe someday I can afford the kit. Right now it's school, school, school.

 

That is a MkII you are selling right?

 

Mk III. MkII had external door hinges and the "big" square lights. MK III is internal hinges and square lights

 

Ah, im still learning. So, has it stranded you anywhere yet or forced you to spend countless hours chasing down an unknown electrical gremlin yet? Someone at work told me that those 2 things are things that will absolutely happen to you with a british car. He said he has a love/hate relationship with his MG and Opel.

Oh, and you selling that Mini is reason #5356 in the "I wish i was still in Hawaii" list. If i was still there and still earning the BAH and Cola i get there that Mini would already be sold. I would have bought it the minute i saw that you were selling it. I took a HUGE *** pay cut when i transfered to Cali. Yes, im still pissed about that among other things.

 

No worries. I've had the car for 4 years now and I'm still learning

I've had to tow it home 3 times. Thankfully none of the times I was too far. One time the fuel pump died over at Fatboys in Kailua....that was the most serious one. I kinda figured it out when I got out and looked under the rear of the car and saw a big puddle of gas.

No electrical gremlins. It's not *that* bad It does have Lucas parts on it though. Lucas, the prince of darkness. I mean...it's a pushrod 4 cyl car with a carburettor on it. Not that much stuff *can* go wrong! The later Single and Multipoint fuel injection cars - now there's where you are going to have some wacky problems. Motorola I think at one point said that the ECU they developed for Rover was the most difficult one they'd ever done at that point.

 

So whats some advice for someone new to these cars? Things to look for when shopping? Good boards and material to check out before taking the plunge?

 

Some advice...

Board to check out: www.minimania.com <--- long time classic Mini board. There are others, but that's pretty much the primary one in the US.

Things to look for - well, it depends on what you want and how much you want to spend. Minis can really run the gamut here in the US from a few thousand dollars to well over $20k. You can get everything from a running car with bucket fulls of rust to a decent driver to a show car.

Over on the west coast you might be able to find a decent car for around $5,000. More than likely that's going to come with rust. ...we are talking about cars that are around 30 years old! My car is here in the Islands already. It's not perfect, but with a little work it can be really really nice. Many people tell me it's already nice, but I'm pretty hard on myself for things like that, so I'm not satisfied yet.

They came with a myriad of engines.... an 850cc (don't bother - like 30hp), a 998 (that's what one of my cars has - around 40hp), and a 1275cc (around 65 or 70hp). Yes, there were others... a 997, 1071, and 1275cc "Cooper S" engine. All are pretty pricey and rare these days.

...same thing for brakes. You had the single shoe drums, twin leading shoe drums, 7" Cooper brakes (crap), 7.5" Cooper S disc brakes (very good), and the 8.4" later style discs. From the factory you got a two piston caliper on the discs. There was a limited edition Mini turbo that came with 4 piston calipers, but those were from the MG Metro Turbo. Aftermarket calipers are available in 4 and 6 piston calipers (crazy for the wheel sizes, eh?). They even make a disc brake conversion for the rear end of the car, but that's mainly for show. Well, it does reduce unsprung weight, but it's very pricey.

My advice to you if you're really lookin' for a car is to find someone near you that has one or several and just kinda get to know them. Go for a drive or two, check 'em out - learn where all the likely rust spots are. (The windsheild (or windscreen) panel, a panels, door sils, battery box, etc, etc, etc.

More than likely you'd want a car with a 1275cc engine and disc brakes. From there you can modify the suspension and the engine quite a bit. ...and the interior...and the exterior.

Minis are a blast. What other car do you know that's 10 feet long and weighs like 1500lbs? ...and if you're giving me a smartass answer... and was produced en masse like the Mini. :P

There are turbo conversions, superchargers, cross-flow heads with twin Weber DCOE carbs, 16v head conversions (ka-ching), Honda B series conversions, Honda K series (MR conversion), etc, etc, etc. People have stuffed V6s in them, V8s, and one dude stuffed the motor out of a Ford GT-40 in the back of his Mini pickup. No ****! People have made them rear wheel drive, all wheel drive... you name it.

Check out the Minimania site. From what I remember under the articles section there's a buyer's guide. You can always e-mail me or PM me with questions also. Too bad you're not in Hawaii or I'd have you come check out the cars.

 

Sweet Rolle . Nice