Wildly off topic: Minis - enlighten me

[TLDV8]

As my random fad for the moment, I've been carried away on a wave of nostalgia for those nifty little cars known as "Mini's" . My cousin had one back in my school days and as it was a hoot to drive, skid and generally be young idiots in.
However, it been a while since then, so as I'm thinking of maybe possibly getting one for my daily 50km commute, I'd be keen to hear from those who've had one such pearls of wisdom as :

1) What do they go like? (yes I realise its only a 1000cc/1100cc )

My first car (in 1976) was a Cooper. and had a Clubman in 1981.

I still remember in the late 1970's or early 80's (old age ) seeing a 1310cc (i think) Mini with a cross flow head (Croxley or something like that with twin side draft Weber's sticking out of the front of the bonnet) making a V8 Holden ute look very average (on the Puke club circuit,until the ute lost it coming around the stables corner and hit what looked like a mint Austin Cambridge parked in the middle of the grass area)

In their time they were a great car performance wise and did well worldwide including Bathurst/Australia as giant killers with their cornering ability.


Some specs here.

Not forgetting the Mini is close to 50 years old being first released in the late 1950's.
Hotting then up is little different to modern cars,if you remove the cylinder head and intake off a modern car short blocks have changed little. ??


http://drcwww.uvt.nl/~bogaard/compare2.htm





Notice the wheel camber and body roll (or lack of) on the Mini then think about a Falcon/Mustang etc from the era and how much spring and sway bar they need to try and stop the inside wheel tipping and loosing traction.

[inlinefour]

As my random fad for the moment, I've been carried away on a wave of nostalgia for those nifty little cars known as "Mini's" . My cousin had one back in my school days and as it was a hoot to drive, skid and generally be young idiots in.
However, it been a while since then, so as I'm thinking of maybe possibly getting one for my daily 50km commute, I'd be keen to hear from those who've had one such pearls of wisdom as :

1) What do they go like? (yes I realise its only a 1000cc/1100cc )
2) Maintenance issues that you only find out about too late?
3) Issues to watch for on particular models?
4) Servicing-how much, how often?
5) Top speeds?
6) Availability of parts?
7) Do you have to slow to 1st gear for any hill higher than 2 inches?
8) Are there any good clubs to meet other likeminded folk?
9) Do they blow ring with a passenger or two/load of tools?
10) Anything else you think I should know

Thanks for the help

Friend of mine growing up had 2. One was an old legal shitter and the other was fully worked from top to bottom. The shitter we used to use and abuse, was cool to do reverse donuts in. That was until I got a 1.6L misti mirage and it made the mini look like a POS. The hotted up one was based on the original race motor (I think called Van Demon???) and was supposed to be able to do 140 mpr and I was told it was tested up to 120 mph and not pushed further. Was a damn sight faster than a standard mini, but my friend put so much money into it. I lost all interest in it when I went for a drive in another friend's standard mitsi mirage turbo. Although when it came time to choose a car to restore I ended up with the cordia gsr turbo, which went a shitload faster. Basically my theory is that minis are cool, but with cars like the standard misti turbos, you'd have to be wasted to bother with one. The standard mirage run on fumes compared to a mini and if you could stop the foot going down hard and blasting the turbo (the novelty did run out) the cordia was cheap to run too. Although if you look at what I drive now and figure out what it is, you'll laugh and realise that things have not changed much.

[moT]

They made great rally cars back in the day they won international evvents

[scracha]

9) Do they blow ring with a passenger or two/load of tools?

Well I "passengered" in one for just over a year and my ring never got blown . ......

[Jorja]

These are a modern car that look like the old style mini a bit. Have a picture here for you to look at. If you are looking at one purely for the look it is an alternative.
1000cc with air bags and abs brakes.

[Storm]

Well I "passengered" in one for just over a year and my ring never got blown . ......

I was refering to the car engine, not your arse end!!

[Dave Lobster]

Oh, and subframes. When they're rotten, it's a day's job to change it. When you do, you'll find all sorts of other things wrong too. If it's done wrong, the car will crab. Amusing for everyone else to see..

However, when a mini is running properly, they're fecking wicked.

As someone else has said.. other, more modern cars are far less effort. Easier to drive (you don't need to be 'on one' all the time), comfier, etc.

[aroberts]

1. Minis or any small car could easi be classed as cool. For me I would class the Japanese, Hondas frist big production car the N360 as the mint one.

Or then you could go for the n600, one on trademe right now, but a bit on the expensive side in my opinion.

I had one of those (N360) in the 80's. Heck $7.5k. I sold mine for $300. Wasn't mint but it was tidy and running well. Maybe I should have kept it.

[Ocean1]

Good fun if you're a bit handy, you'll struggle to find a good one now so if you want to do it right be prepared to completely strip one and rebuild it from the ground up.

Had a few over the years and done right they can fookin' fly. Always wanted to build me one of these: http://www.mibv.com/Mini/Misc/TwiniMini/TwiniminiP1.jpg

[JATZ]

Ahh, mini's, had one of the 850cc models back when I was a youngster, racing red, sliding windows and a button on the floor to start it. Slow as a wet week but bloody good fun, went surprisingly good of road too.
Would love to own one again, but it wouldn't be an everyday driver.
Cool, definitly cool

[Storm]

Cheers for the info, keep it coming

[Mikkel]

The original Mini is an awesome icon. Pretty much the original modern car

why get a mini when A Reliant is so much cooler? lol

And the Reliant Robin is/were one of the fastest cars on/off the planet:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb8t40iXtZw[/youtube]

[avgas]

Awesome little vehicles that you can mod the crap out of.
Old man had one when i was a baby. I wish he kept it.
1275 with a bore kit (dunno what to)
extremely mild cams (only went smooth above 3K), 1600rpm idle.
moved firewall to accommodate massive dual SU? carbs
6" wide fronts and 8" wide rears standard 'widened' rims.
Dual cobys out the back.
Fancy cassette deck with splits in the doors and big speakers in the back.
Chopped rubber cones? or something to do with suspension.
It was the only thing to shut up a screaming baby.
He had far to many of those 'modify your mini' books.
Engine got rebuilt twice when it blew up the 3rd time they bought the Ford Thames.

[Bullitt]

extremely mild cams (only went smooth above 3K), 1600rpm idle.

Dont think extremely mild is quite the phrase you were after

moved firewall to accommodate massive dual SU? carbs

You dont need to modify the firewall to fit any SU's. Potentially you may do depending on what airfilters you ran on them but itd be easier to fit a different filter.
Do have to modify if for Dellortos/Webbers etc

[Dave Lobster]

You dont need to modify the firewall to fit any SU's.

Yeah, you do, if you have a turbo on it..