1991 Mini - Project Trig

[Matth3w]

Holy shit, this is awsome.

[BlueJ_Fish]

The mini coming out great, i always wanted a old mini, but hard to find around here in texas, anyway nice work!

[RayBoogs]

Nice man!
Looking good, seen this on the miniforum as well.

Are those mk1 golf headlights your using? that'll look sick. Need to get my rust bucket up here.

[Mini 360]

Fantastic build so far, I can't wait to see more! Much respect for taking on such a project.

Wow didn't look as bad in the first picture, amazing work

This looks great! Keep up the good work im watching!

Awesome mini!

Thanks guys! Labour of love!

I say cut this down the middle make it a good 6 inches wider and a lot lower, good start and looks good either way

Thats an awesome idea but alas I think VOSA would have something to say about modifying it to that sort of extremes

yet another awesome build. thank you for sharing. i'm going to show this to my dad

Holy rusttttttttttttt

I love this

Holy shit, this is awsome.

The mini coming out great, i always wanted a old mini, but hard to find around here in texas, anyway nice work!

Again, thanks guys!

Nice man!
Looking good, seen this on the miniforum as well.

Are those mk1 golf headlights your using? that'll look sick. Need to get my rust bucket up here.

Apparently MK2 golf headlights? Probably same size as MK1 though. They fit Mini bowls thankfully, only thing I'm not decided on them i the glass is flat....may have to buy a cheap Mini set and change the glass over to the curved shape instead. We shall see

[Mini 360]

Little backwards update. Got the photos off my camera and since I just got a new laptop onto them for editing!

First some paint booth shots...


IMG_1782 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr


IMG_1787 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Phil putting on the layers


IMG_1810 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

In the operating theatre!


IMG_1826 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

The paint prep area! Epic space that I'm sure could tell a few tales....


IMG_1861 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Primer dried


IMG_1880 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr


IMG_1898 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Milk bottle crates have their uses!


IMG_1901 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Then back onto the shop floor ready for next stage


IMG_1927 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

So that was up until today. But todays work was mainly engine pay sanding so no pics of that as it pretty boring but Phil did get the seam sealing and stone chip of the floor done! Looks and works great!



And that brings it up to date again! Only bit I now have to prep is the boot and then its ready for top coat! Can't wait!



I also came home from the body shop to find a package from MiniSpares again! Todays was seam strips for the body, lowered suspension shock mounts, handbrake cable bits and my favourite bit, Goodridge braided brake lines and clutch line.

[EACruise]

Love it!. What colour you going to paint this?
had a mini for my first car. little b reg 1L, best car i owned unless it was cold dark or raining then, heater took ages to warm up, lights are like candles and no point having wipers as there useless lol. Unfortunately mine aquaplaned at a roundabout and wrote it off

Keep up the good work, ill be watching this project!

[Mini 360]

Love it!. What colour you going to paint this?
had a mini for my first car. little b reg 1L, best car i owned unless it was cold dark or raining then, heater took ages to warm up, lights are like candles and no point having wipers as there useless lol. Unfortunately mine aquaplaned at a roundabout and wrote it off

Keep up the good work, ill be watching this project!

Thanks man! No better car to have as a first car!

Paint wise its staying the same as the photo at the top of the thread. rover Cranberry Red (non metallic original factory colour) with Rover Quicksilver roof and bonnet stripes.

The colour is very very rare. I have only found one other Mini in this colour in the UK and yet to set eyes on the actual car.

Mine is a 998cc too. Got a 1275cc awaiting rebuild (although it does run...) to 1310cc and supercharger

My heater warmed in no time, I replaced the lights with halogen replacements and heavy duty wipers so acted just like a modern car! Mine aquaplanes in the wet too.....7" wide rubber is bad in the wet.....

[RayBoogs]

The headlights should fit man, Seen a couple of guys fit mk1 crosshairs so shouldn't be too hard to make mk2's fit.

coming along nicely, is this staying the same colour?

[Mini 360]

The headlights should fit man, Seen a couple of guys fit mk1 crosshairs so shouldn't be too hard to make mk2's fit.

coming along nicely, is this staying the same colour?

Aye there's a how to on The Mini Forum thankfully!

And check above comment

[RayBoogs]

Haha, yeah just seen, whoops. Glad your keeping it this colour.

[Mini 360]

Another day another set of photos:lol:

These are from yesterday but forgot to upload them. Morning spent at the body shop and we got the roof prepped and painted in primer. Will need a rub down in a few areas, especially the back as it reacted weird with the old silver paint. Nothing too bad.







Monday is boot prep and final body prep

[Mike G]

Wow, that is some dedication you put into that thing.

[BurningAlive409]

Love all the builds popping up in aberdeenshire area now, cant wait to see this done!

[gorillaR56s]

great work... mini rocks!!

[Mini 360]

SO! After 4 months, 12 days (11,577,600 seconds, 192,960 minutes, 3216 hours, 134 days, 19 weeks) or however else you want to measure the time, Trig is painted and looking amazing!

We masked the car up late Tuesday night ready for painting first thing Wednesday morning and left it in the booth.

Next morning Phil phones me saying the lacquers not going to arrive until 11.....so instead of heading straight to Banchory he sent me to Aberdeen to Dingbro to pick up the supplies the head out. Saved us a couple of hours which let us get on with the painting! Dedication from the both of us!


IMG_2053 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

And a fancy shot in the booth before the painting began


IMG_2054 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

After Phil left me in charge of cleaning the surface ready to paint it (wasn't expecting that to be left to me, being such a crucial stage!) he got on with the main show!


IMG_2073 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

I took more video than stills as he painted, for the final video, but thats neither here nor there as this is what the car looked like after the colour coat!


IMG_2089 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

And to give you an idea of the gloss factor on it.......this is unpolished 'straight off the gun' before any lacquer went near it. Its even shinier now and just flatting and polishing to go! You can't tell there used to be the filler neck there at all!


IMG_2160 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Kyle on the left, Phil on the right and me behind the lens.


IMG_2155 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Then Phil shot a few coats of some modern 'anti scratch' lacquer onto it!


IMG_2169 by Andrew Forbes Photography, on Flickr

Didn't get out to work on it today as I had to service the Polo and give it its 6 monthly wash (no exaggeration.....) but Phil did text me saying the roof was painted in silver too! So thats something to lok forward to tomorrow!



Its really satisfying to get to this stage. After owning the car for almost 8 years now I never thought I would ever be in the position to get the car to this standard. After hundreds of hours at home and at Kirkton the results make it all worth while

Next stage is the tricky bit......putting the giant jigsaw all back together.