Innocenti Mini

Interior Design

2011-01-24T13:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some reference shots from the internet that I'm using as reference as I work on my own interior design...

Trunk Space - Part 3

2011-01-23T08:28:00.001-08:00

Lately, I managed to free up some money to break down and buy the rear suspension system from MiniTec in Royston, GA (http://www.superfastminis.com). I know I sound regretful, but I had some stickershock earlier on when looking at this item. Bottom line is, you're paying for the engineering that went into making this finish product bolt right in without any issues, and at this point in time in this project for me (almost 4 years and counting now)... it's worth every penny spent.

Once I received the subframe, I was able to quickly line it up to the body (pictured below) and bolt it in place...

Upon bolting it in, I was able to see some slight modifications that were going to need to be done to the wheel wells in order to allow for proper clearance to the shock once the full assembly was in place.

As you can see from the picture below, I took a nice 4lb. hammer and "releaved" the rear half of the wall behind the shock in order for it to clear the metal once installed. Not the prettiest of treatments I know, but once this is rubber-coated later, none of this should matter.

Once the sheetmetal was modified to properly fit the shocks, I was able to bore out the shockmount hole at the top of the tower area to fit the new bracket, thus allowing me to mount the shock at both ends without interference.

Within a few minutes, I was able to dry-fit the new hubs in place, insert the new discs and spacers, and fit those beautiful 13x7 wheels in place for the first time.

At the time of the image, I had the body as if it were a dolly, rolling around on its own back wheels... a very exciting accomplishment.

Not wanting to stop there, I decided to try to line-up the body to the front subframe.

Doing this allowed me to see that I need to do a few more modifications to the metal at the front to avoid interference with the alternator. However, I did manage to take this snapshot of what the car will look like once both frames are mounted up properly... sort of a "glimpse ahead".

Upholstery

2011-01-23T07:08:00.001-08:00

So a while back I managed to pick up a pair of Recaro seats out of an 80s Porsche 911 for around $45. Needless to say, they were in pretty rough shape. Knowing that I didn't want a black interior, and knowing I would have to re-upholster anything that I bought anyway, this was an excellent find! thank you Craigslist!

Once I got the seats home, I checked them to the interior to make sure there weren't any surprises (these seats are nearly identical to the Miata-style seats. Nothing to note, so we should be good to go!

In September of 2010, I ended up taking an upholstery class through a local technical college. I wanted to just learn the basics in order to hopefully be able to construct some of the more simple panels once I start doing the interior. After taking the class, I fully realize the art and experience that is involved in doing automotive upholstery, and will be paying (hopefully not dearly) on my seats to be done when I get to that point. For the class however, I had to work on one of the seats, so here is a 2 minute summary and some photos documenting that process as I went through it for the seat bottom.

Step 1: Disassembly - Carefully take off the seats glides, and remove all of the hog-ties that you can see. Carefully remove the covering from the foam and framework with special care not to tear any of the material. The covering of course later will be used for patterning for the new material.

Below is a shot of just the foam insert for the bottom of the seat. You can see the deep seams that make this look like 3 pieces of foam. Its these seams that will later allow you to pull the material down nice and tight along the center section (where your butt goes) in order to really define the side bolsters. The diagonal light spot you see pictured is actually where the seat heater element was layed in. At this point in time, I'm not sure about finding a replacement for my worn out element.

Step 2: Patterning - Using a seam-ripper and whatever other means, carefully go through all of the seams, and remove the stitching. This will free up each of the individual pieces that make up the specific design for your seat. From there you'll be able to layout flat all of these pieces, and transfer the shapes to your new fabric and begin re-assembling them in reverse order. NOTE: old covering material will have stretched quite a bit over time, this is where the experience in using specific materials comes into play in estimating how to allow for that stretch when transferring your patterns!

Step 3: Restoration - It's at this time that you have everything disassembled you can take time to re-finish the framework, and whatever parts will be visible later to make sure you have a nice end product. I took the time to sandblast, and repaint my frames/springs to make sure that they'll last another 20 years without rotting out, after all you dont want to fall through the seat and hit the floor when your going 120mph, right?!?

Step 4: Construction - So you've transferred your patterns, cut out all of your shapes, now on to the sewing machine!

Pictured below you'll see the center seat area that I began with, you can build depth into your pieces by using foam inserted as needed. NOTE: not all sewing machines can handle passing leather/vinyl + foam through the feed dogs, so check first if your machine can handle it before even starting your project!

After completing the seat bottom, I attached the sides, and so on in order to be able to re-wrap the foam... Here pictured is the seat and bolster tops laid in place prior to stitching the sides/front to the top.

So for the project, I also used a low-cost vinyl that I found at a local fabric shop. No use in using a high-cost leather to learn on right? Although, in terms of color, this was what I was initially thinking of going with as I begin looking at the color palette for the interior design.

Pictured Below is the final product at the end of the class (total 16 hours over 8 weeks). Overall the class I feel was a success in that I wanted to learn the techniques. I feel that my seat cover was a failure, just because I think it looks like crap! hahaha

This project was what taught me a ton about the material stretch and proper tolerancing of the material as you cut your patterns and leave seam allowances. Thank you Aresa for all of your time through the class, I learned a whole lot, especially in terms of the respect for the trade of Upholstery, it truly truly IS an art to be appreciated.

Floor Panels - Tunnel Construction

2011-01-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

Forgive me Father, its been nearly one year since my last posting...

In that year though, my wife and I had our first child, and for as amazing experience that has been in my life... nearly no construction has occurred on the car.

I HAVE been working on a bunch of initiatives in the meantime however(upholstery/interiors research/rear suspension), so I'll try to capture them in the coming days in order to update the blog. So now, back to work...

I purchased some more sheet metal a couple of months ago, and finally managed to spend some time working out what I needed in order to create a tunnel. Once welded in place, I'll only need a few internal fillers/stabilizers (some shown in the picture below) to knit up the floor pans, and move on to the trunk area to wrap up fabrication.

So I told myself that I would not cut out the old tunnel until I was holding my new replacement part in my hands in order to not mess up by removing too much material (how I got myself to this point in the first place when doing the floorpans!). Now that I have the tunnel ready to be fit in, I'm cutting out the old material, and then trimming off excess in order to have a nice tight fit prior to welding (shown below).

So with the hole in the floor now, I can begin inserting the new metal into place. I've left myself approx 1" on each side of the length of the part (shown in the overlap of the main cross member) for flanges to be bent so I can overlap the old metal and weld.

Next steps are to massage the cutouts at each end of the tunnel (going from a rounded tunnel to a trapezoid shape), get a tight fit, and tack the pieces in place before all of the seams are welded shut for a good seal.

Pedals

2009-03-23T05:53:00.000-07:00

I've managed to pull together from Ebay again a set of Tilton Racing Pedels along with Tilton Cylinders in order to once again keep costs down. This set new from Tilton would run somewhere in the vacinity of $600, using Ebay, I managed to get the pedal assembly for $150 with cylinders from another user for $20.

One really nice thing about this system vs the old stock system is that this whole pedal assembly (including cylinders) fits within the car. This takes away the need for routing lines to the cylinders through the firewall, making the system much cleaner in the engine bay. This will require a little bit of modification on the dashboard sheet metal to fit the new componentry, and I'll try to post updated picks as I get to that portion.

Wheels and Tires

2009-03-20T08:45:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for the right wheels and tires (a good deal) for about a year now. I managed to finally find a set of 13x7 Magnesium Superlights out of Florida (Thanks Rod). Now that I'm going to a 7" wide tire, I'm needing to get a fit-up in place in order to properly determine what width spacer I'm going to need to run for proper clearances. Below are some images of the wheels purchased.

Steering

2009-02-13T11:13:00.001-08:00

What your looking at below here is the Driver's side front without the steering arm attached. On the bottom of the image, you can see the Steering Rack linkage that is due to be cleaned up/repainted/reassembled for use.

Here is a close-up of the rack linkage. You can see its withstood the test of time with the amount of rust on it. Upon disassembly, the balljoints seem to be in sound condition for re-use. I think with some TLC, some aesthetic cleanup, I think these parts will be roadworthy very soon.Here is a shot while I was cleaning up the rack and pinion for re-assembly. In the upper corner, you can see the very delicate brass gaskets that surround the bearing. I'm in process now of creating digital information to have new gaskets laser-cut locally as I dont think you can find these for purchase anymore.Here is a more detailed shot of a cleaned up ball-joint vs. not clean. You can see the distance in looks that this goes with just a little bit of Thinner and a Sandblaster. Add a fresh-coat a paint to protect it for the future, and Rock-n-Roll!Here's yet another detail showing the Steering Column Bearing. Although I think this bearing has seen better days, I think it will be fine just being cleaned up and a little more grease added. Once I can investigate a little more on sizing, etc.. I may try to find a new replacement if at all possible. Upon completion, you can see what a nice fresh coat of paint will do for ya! These parts look like I just bought them new. Online I can pick up new rubber Gaters to replace the old rubber boots, this rack should be good as new.

Floor Pans

2009-02-04T14:35:00.001-08:00

Thanks to a great friend in my area, I managed to have brand new floor pans created in order to replace all of the old, tired metal in the bottom of my car.

Hopefully in the next days to couple weeks, I'll have an opporitunity to get these put in, then its on to the undercoating...

I've managed to attach the panels with self-tapping screws, this will allow me to have them held in place to ensure proper welding with the panels secured.

After Undercoating, we'll start talking about first fit-up with Engine to Body.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T14:22:00.001-08:00

Due to the house taking priority lately (small renovations, fixes) I've been pulled away from the car for quite some time. So I started off the year telling myself that I needed to hurry up and get a move on. I decided that in order for this to happen, I needed to just take a leap of faith and start getting some major things accomplished. Top of the list was getting the hood and front end separated from the main body of the vehicle. Because this car will have a flip-lid in the end, I took out the 'ole Sawzall and went to town cutting.

Here you can see some of the floor board in the back corner has been cut away. I recently purchased sheet material from a nearby steel yard, and enlisted some help locally in order to get some new floor pans fabricated. I'm hoping in the next few days/weeks to get these new pans installed. The addition of these new pans will surely help ensure that this body will be solid enough for the 400% power increase.

Pictured below is the hood/front end sitting on the floor next to the body of the car. I'll need to next fit these two pieces together with proper spacers, etc. Then have them welded into one piece vs. two that they are now. Later in the process, I can begin fitting up the brackets for the hinges, structural supports, flares, etc...

Trunk Space - Part 2

2008-12-31T21:39:00.000-08:00

In doing a ton of research for ways to modernize suspension, I've learned quite a bit in terms of dealing with the rear end of the car. I've found this site called carbibles.com that has a very good description/explanation for many aspects of vehicle design, so I've taken some notes of what I've learned and of course am trying to update accordingly in order to balance the car for the amount of HP I'm adding to it while still maintaining it as a daily driver.

Currently, Minis were outfitted with a suspension system similar to this Hydrolastic setup;

Additionally, here is some reference from the Haynes Manual for Alignment of the subframes onto the body of the car.

Here is a sample image of some photos of a rear subframe I pulled off the net from someone else working on a resto.

While this setup allows this small car to have a very short suspension setup in the back, and comfortable riding at near any speed, the responsiveness for more aggressive driving really suffers. I'm looking at what mods will need to be done in order to achieve something more like a 4-bar shown below.

Modern racers have this typical setup due to the adjustability and stiffness of the setup. My design problem at hand will be figuring out how to eliminate the axel thru the center, and build more of a framed unit with fuel cell, battery, etc. all residing in the same real estate.

There is an outfit in England using motorcycle engines vs. Honda motors... this company makes this below framework to house the motor in the rear of the car, and still has a flat coilover system in order to reduce height of the suspension system. I'm thinking that there may be a possibility of building a similar framework, without the need for the motor, but substituting the motor for the fuel cell and battery location in my application.

Lately, SuperFastMinis has come out with a Rear Subframe Kit (approx $1000.00) that takes all of the existing parts and pieces, and replaces them with a fabricated sheet replica in order to incorporate a coilover suspension system in the rear of the vehicle. Below are some images from superfastminis.com of the product.

While this setup is awesome, my budget is really tight, so I'm going to try to utilize as many of the original parts as possible in order to cobble up a similar setup. Below you'll see some imagery of what will be needed to be done to the rear wells in order to make a shock tower. What's not shown here is that because we're going to a 7" wide tire, I'm going to need to widen the well prior to adding the tower. If I dont do this, 1. the wheel will sit out way too far. 2. The whole car will look 'jack'd up' in the back end, and I want my car to sit relatively flat with minimal rake.

Licensing Ideas

2008-12-20T15:02:00.000-08:00

I've been looking into what different kinds of license plates I can get in South Carolina due to this being a historic vehicle. I'm very happy to report that because my car is technically a 1972 vehicle, I'm allowed to register the car WITH a '72 plate! This is great news considering the following...

Here is a picture of today's 2009 South Carolina Plate:

Here is a picture of the 1972 South Carolina Plate:

As you can see, this plate is going to look a ton better on a white car vs. the one above.

First Coats of Primer

2008-09-03T20:09:00.001-07:00

Here is the car on its way to my friends to get a coating of Epoxy Primer. Funny thing to notice here is the tiny trailer I can fit this thing on...lol.

Here is the Master Joe Campbell laying on a fresh coating of Epoxy Primer... without a mask... in a garage... with poor ventilation... grass roots resto at its best! lol Joe ended up paying for that one later in the day. Folks, you always have to take necessary precautions when dealing with these chemicals. This primer causes nerve damage if left to prolonged exposure, dont take chances... do like your daddy told you and "wear your safety gear"!

Here is the car drying after Joe was finished. It was pretty nice to see the car with a nice even coat on it... like a light towards the end of a tunnel.

Now the car is back in my garage, and ready for the next stages to begin... more updates to come as I begin the cutting and patching!!!

Take care for now...

Blast-off!

2008-09-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

Well, another week or so gone by... and I'm finally getting my car back from the media blaster. Due to the recent Hurricanes coming through, we've been getting a lot of rain causing me to keep the body locked up from the elements in order to not allow rust to begin again.

You can see here in this image the light vs. dark grey areas of the body. What your seeing in the dark areas is the effect of soda blasting. Baking Soda allows you to strip the metal of all paint/coatings while still maintaining good protection from rust. The light areas you see are from Sand. Sand is much more harsh to the metal as you can see... the abrasiveness of the sand removed much more, but the metal must immediately be coated once this is done.

Here is another image showing the underside of the front end. This is an extremely critical area due to this being a main mount point for the new VTech Subframe. The previous owner put in new floor pans, however, when doing so did not completely remove the bad metal. Instead, they double-paned the area by overlapping the new panel to the old. This could have all worked out, except that they didnt remove the front subframe when doing so, so in turn they encapsulated the bolts in place. I found all of this out of course when I was trying to locate the bolts in order to remove the frame weeks ago. Once I cut the bolts free I was fine... now will be the time to go back and fix this while all is visible to me.

The last two photos show more of the bottom of the car. This area of course has the most issues due to moisture, etc. What I'm deciding to do in this case is glass the whole bottom of the car vs. going in and re-welding all new panels in place. I've removed all signs of rust at this point, and by glassing the bottom I can ensure moisture will no longer be a problem, and the fiber-glass will actually end up being more stable than the sheet metal when all is said and done. Some of the other panels that look like swiss cheese I will replace accordingly.

Next thing to do is to have the body coated in Epoxy Primer. Regular Primer allows moisture to pass through the coating, Epoxy Primer will properly seal the surface giving me the time needed to complete all the body modifications and repair.

Trunk Space - Part 1

2008-08-11T06:08:00.002-07:00

The silver car pictured here is your typical Classic Mini, which you'd probably find 90% of the time full of junk thrown back there being the only space to have storage in the vehicle. On the driver side, you'll see the 8 gallon tank, centered (in a well) is the spare, and working to the far right side, you'll see the battery is in a pocketed area as well.

The red car shown is more suited to my thoughts on wanting to balance the car a little more, while also keeping things straight forward in terms of function. What I would do along with the fuel cell would be to add a race battery in order to cut down on the space needed, as well as keeping in tune with not adding too much additional weight.

These cars also use a typical front and rear subframe to hold all of the suspension componentry. My rear subframe is in serious need of a replacement due to rust/deterioration. I started giving this a little more thought, and am starting to research alternative options to the rear suspension rather than just buying a new frame and utilizing old technology. I'm starting to reference F1 technology/engineering on how they compact the suspension into the smallest of spaces while maintaining firm ride control.

More updates and photos to explain what I'm talking about to come later...

Exterior Options

2008-08-11T06:08:00.001-07:00

So up until now, I was under the impression of doing a 'raced-out' mini that I could drive on the street everyday, and tear up near anything I come across if I so pleased.

In thinking about color options for this thing, I'm beginning to lean away from bold racing colors, and thinking that a more subtle approach to the thing might be the way to go.

I'm beginning to reference Cadillac a little bit, and what they're doing in the direction of Pearl White. I've gone through the PPG books, looking for color combinations, and look to be settling on Fiat "Bianco Perla Mica" with possible a Peugeot "Gris Futura Metallic" silver compliment color for the top/stripes/etc.. These two colors in some angles are very close to one another, then when "flopped" the contrast makes the two pop pretty nicely. I think that by doing this, I'll be able to have some fun with graphics if I choose to, but not be overwhelmed with them after a month. This treatment could be looked at as something like 'ghost-flames' on a hot-rod...

I'm thinking about first visualizing this in Photoshop first to plan what the cars going to look like, when I do so, I'll be sure to post something along...

Special Delivery!

2008-08-11T06:08:00.000-07:00

Well, last week I received the call from MiniTec that my order was complete. So I went over and picked up the unit, brought it home, and set is aside for when final assembly finally gets here.

Currently the car is without any part attached to the main bodyshell. I'm due to bring the shell in to be media blasted next weekend to remove any rust/paint/undercoating/etc... once this process is done, I'll use a Catalyzed Primer to seal the body which I do surface work to get ready for paint.

The Honda motor comes with the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) valve cover (Red cover only available in Japan). I'm having some internal debate at the moment of having a small side project in order to make a custom cover just for this motor.

From this...

To something like this...

Engine Removal

2008-07-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

With the Front Subframe now completely detached from the Body, I can now begin prepping the body for paint.

Here is a shot of the Front Subframe and Motor/Trans which was detached from the car.

Mini VTEC @ Nürburgring

2008-06-30T14:58:00.001-07:00

Here is a video that actually represents what my car will be like upon completion.
This car is an actual Innocenti Mini (can tell from the dashboard gauge layout). This car is fitted with a 1.6 Liter Honda B16 Motor as well.
This footage takes place on the infamous Nürburgring in Germany. Although my car will never see this track in person, I will be tearing up the American roads in similar fashion.
Enjoy...

1st Anniversary

2008-06-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

Well, its now a year that has passed... and much to my surprise, I find myself spinning my tires on what's getting done on this car. I've managed however late last week to overcome a serious hurdle, which will allow me to move this thing in the right direction.

Today I'm placing an order for an MTB2 Kit from MiniTec. This kit essentially has all that I need from a drivetrain standpoint in order to get the car in motion. Here are the contents of this kit;

Honda B16/B18 VTEC Engine/Transmission Complete

MTB2 Frame Kit

B2 Aluminum Radiator Kit

Poly Engine Mount Kit

Superbrake Kit

Swivels Hubs

Drive Flanges

B2 Axle Upgrade

S Coil-Over Shock Kit

B16 Chipped ECU

B Wiring Harness

Bump Stops for front end flip front

Shifter

This kit takes approx 3 weeks to arrive, so I should have something near the end of July '08. Here's to hoping that the conversion of the body and paint doesnt take a lifetime, I could be driving this car by end of summer!

Innocenti Mini Restoration - R & D

2007-12-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

I know I've taken some time since my last posting. As things always turn out, life takes a hold and some things take priority from the things we like to do best.

As of late, I've relocated the car to my new home. At least now I'll be able to have the car close instead of traveling to it everytime I need to work on it... As I get settled in, I'll photograph the garage setup in order to show what's new with all of this.

On a separate note... I've recently stumbled across http://www.superfastminis.com/ . Minitec, located in Royston, GA (20 minutes from me) outfits classic minis with Honda motors.

Shown here, you can see that they've taken the entire front end of the car, and turned it into the hood...this would allow full access to the motor which trust me makes things a whole lot easier!

You might be asking "Why?"

A standard A-Series runs you at about 60bhp, on a good day. A Honda motor tends to start in the vicinity of 140bhp and goes way up from there (up to 240-280ish) with modifications/additions that are far more 'off the shelf' in terms of availability vs what is avail today with the British A-Series motor. Coupling this with the reliabilty of a Honda Motor, this has the makings of being a pocket-rocket-daily-driver with a power to weight that blows the doors off of most anything you can run into on the streets.

Yes, this would compromise entirely the concept of restoring the vintage vehicle to its prime condition... so, I'm going to need to check the financial ups and downs in order to see if there is value in bringing the '72 back from the grave, or going towards this modern solution.

Images Copyright of superfastminis.com, Minitec LLC.

Disassembly - Week 2

2007-05-24T07:00:00.001-07:00

What a difference a week makes... total hours on the car at this point is roughly 15 hours.
Taking things apart is always easy of course....its putting things back together later that will prove how well things go.

You'll notice I bagged and tagged all the small parts, fasteners, things of that sort...

Hopefully later this should come in handle when re-working old parts and pieces to restore them all to better quality and having all of the hardware right there to put it back on.

Disassembly - Week 1

2007-05-24T06:15:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the target... an 1972 Innocenti Mini, with a 998cc motor... preparing for a full strip-down restoration...

Here is the 998cc A-series motor.

Thoughts at this point for the resto will be to hopefully bore this baby out...from my research, I'm finding they can be bored to roughly 1430cc leading to a "full-race" application.