Evening Viewers,
Due to popular demand, I have decided to start a thread dedicated to my Mini build.
Hopefully, through these pages, I can impart some tried and tested or trial and error method that I have used to get to the finished product, and the finish line!!
El Gato - thats Spanish for 'The Cat'. Why The Cat? Because I wanted my Mini not to have heaps of balls to the wall horsepower, but to be a nimble as a cat in the handling department. Hence the name. Hopefully, El Gato will live up to its name.
It all started three years ago when a mate owed me some money, he in turn was owed some money by a guy who couldnt pay, but instead wanted to give him a Mini as payment. Reluctantly, it was passed on to me.
The Mini in question was a '77 Clubman S with a very tired and smoky 998cc A-series.
The guy who originally owned it had ideas of restoring it for his daughter, but ran out of money and interest. And it was rusty. Front guards, inner and outer sills, boot floor and one front seam. But it was complete, and I guess the price was right at $450.
Once I got it home, it stayed in the shed for a good 6 months, before anything at all happened, as I was deliberating exactly what I was going to do with it. A mate of mine, Tony, suggested getting a bombed 1340cc A-series in it, as this was what was going in his Clubman (thats the aqua coloured one called 'Barbie'). But, the more I looked at the A-series, the less I liked. Unreliable, expensive to build, 4-speed, thirsty just to name a few.
So, then came the idea of a complete motor/gearbox transplant. I checked out all the forums going around (as you do), like 16V Mini etc and was keen on a Daihatsu CB70 (1 litre, 3-lunger). Shortly after, I found Con Torrisi's swift GTi mini in the local mini mag. It looked great and went hard. I even took a trip down to Alstonville wreckers to meet the two guys who did the conversion in Con's Mini. I was now dedicated to a conversion, and it looked like a swift Gti was on the cards. Only now, I had to find one.
It was then that I came across Brad Mackay's mini build - using a Toyota Starlet engine!!! Brad's conversion was in full swing by this time, so a couple of emails later sealed the deal - Starlet it was (thanks Brad). The Starlet engine was easier to source, more hp, and not as old as the Swift Gti, and also came turbo'd as standard - yes sir!
So, after some ringing around and a month of procrastination, I found a half-cut at Rolins Automotive on the Gold Coast - price $1800. And it had a Viscous LSD. Sold!!
Someone had knocked off the air filter box, and the steering wheel, so I got it for $1700!
It is a '94 model EP82, with the later dial-type boost gauge:
This is what a TRD viscous LSD looks like for those who are interested:
From end on:
So, on the 10th November 2003, the Starlet half-cut began a new life as a donor. And for the next 15 months all I managed to do was strip the Mini and put the half-cut on a movable stand - absolutely pathetic!! (however, I had finished building my pool, deck and shed, seen the my first born arrive, and changed jobs three times in this period!)
This was the Mini as at March 2005:
So, how was I to going to get motivated? It was about this time that I met a really nice bloke down in Canberra whom I had emailed a couple of times - his name was Matt Power!!
Next installment - The Power Factor and a Striped '63