My Mini's 2 year evolution and BBS refurb! (pic heavy sorry)

[SimonTW]

Heres the evolution of my Mini from standard to where its at now. There are alot of pics but it gets interesting around the bit about refurbing and chopping up wheels!

April 2009 - Oulton Park - (Mille Miglia HT3 - Eibach Springs - Eibach Roll Bars)


I had always had a strong Euro influence and ideas for the Mini as my previous few cars were VAG and working for Venom Motorsport (www.venommotorsport.com) seeing stanced VW's day in day out.



In July I decided to order some Image BPS split rims as I couldn't find anything I liked off the shelf.

August 2009 - Mini In The Park - Santa Pod (JCW Brembo 4 Pots - KW V3's & Image Split Rims Added)


I then had a dabble with a 2007 Cooper for a while


Within a few months someone had bought the exact same Image splits so I decided to go a little more custom and bought some BMW 328i RC041 wheels for about £50


But being 5x120 and not being able to use adapters I had to fill and redrill so bought a lathe and made some plugs






As I was going to so much work on the inners I decided I should make the barrels wider. For this I had to cut the lips of them. I didn't have a big enough lathe so this was done by hand.


I then ordered new lips from image and set about drilling them for the new wheels.



Then I drilled the new PCD using a hubcentric spacer


And then once everything had come together I ended up with 7.75" and 8.75" BBS RC041 with staggered lips in 4x100.


I didn't get to run them for too long before winter came, plus a divorce and house sale so the car took a complete back burner.

Then a few weeks ago I picked up messing with it again and set about wrapping the car with a couple of mates.



And then put the wheels back on for summer, had the front end brought down a bit and some custom longer tuner bolts made so I could run spacers and ended up with the following, which is where its at now. Just in need of the front windows tinted and a bit more camber tweaking and wheel spacer adjusting ready for summer for track days and shows.




Here is the full spec:

Engine:
17% KMT Pulley
GRS Motorsport Intercooler
JCW Injectors
Newman Camshaft
Lohen Charger Protector
Alta Induction Cold Air Shield
Jetex Cotton Induction Kit
Powerflex Rear Engine Mount Insert
Superflex Engine Mount Insert
Milltek Performance Manifold & High Flow Cat
Jetex Stainless Steel Exhaust System (Twin 80mm Tailpipes)
Clutchmasters 6 Paddle Clutch
Clutchmasters Aluminium Flywheel

Suspension:
AP Coilovers
Eibach SPC Top Mounts (-1.5 camber)
Eibach SPC Rear Camber Arms (-2.5 camber)
Powerflex Front Wishbone Bushes
Eibach Front & Rear Anti Roll Bar Kit
Forge Strut Brace
Powerflex Rear Top Mount Bushes

Brakes:
Standard Mini Cooper S Calipers
Black Diamond Combi Brake Discs Front & Rear
EBC Yellow Stuff Front & Rear Pads
Goodridge Braided Brake Hoses (Stainless Ends – Blue Cover)
Wheels And Tyres:
Image BPS - 7.5 & 8 X18” 3 Piece Split Rims
BBS Custom RC041 - 8 & 9 X17” 3 Piece Split Rims

Exterior:
Full Wrap In RAL5012
All Chrome Trim Colour Coded RAL5012
Ocarari Scuttle Intakes
Red Tinted Rear Lights With Green Bulbs
Rear Wiper Deleted With Glass Blank Kit

Interior:
JCW Steering Wheel
Leather Trimmed Down Tubes With Matching Gear Gaiter, Handbrake Gaiter And Handbrake Grip.

If you are still reading at this point thanks for sticking with it

[Mattphi]

Nice work! Looks great.

[HEcreated487]

Wow, outstanding progression! Really intrigued by the custom wheels...

[Zic]

love the work on the wheels.

[Alexander]

Excellent work on those wheels!

[LronSigh]

Fabulous! Love that bold blue!

[Praz]

Wow, best use of 328 wheels. Excellent work. Suscribed.

[EssentialMINI]

Really like this Simon

[Mexican]

Great work!

[Jorge]

Those wheels. Amazing.

What did you do then, just cut the lip off, sand it flat? then get lips and drilled them in the same position as the face. Did you mill down the face thickness at all or anything?

[jzhang1013]

amazing.

[robcouzens]

really nice

how easy was the wrap??

[SimonTW]

Been a while since I have been on here. Busy with work and holiday etc lol. Thanks for the comments.

The wrap wasn't that easy. It's tricky work and requires attention to detail and patience.Mine's not perfect by a long way but having looked at other wraps at shows etc I haven't found one that is yet! If you have the time and are pretty good at wrapping xmas presents then you should be able to have a go though! Plus if you do screw up a panel you can always have another go.

With the wheels it was just cut off and flatten everything up to the mounting holes. Place the new rims on and drill them through. The inside section has enough of a recess to mount the barrel and lip onto the front and have them align properly.

I have been tweeking the drop and spacing slightly. I also sprayed my gold wheels gloss black and went on a few track days in it.

Currently waiting on a Wiechers clubsport cage in blue to turn up. Got a set of tidy Corbeau buckets in there now. Going for a bit of a RS theme on the inside!

[Coops90]

This is mint

[180roman]

nice work

car and wheels look sick