Happy New Year

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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!