some of you may know that we "resurected" my mums old station wagon
while dad was in the nursing home
well, it was running a really old "ReadSpeed delivery van" 1415cc stroker
it was an old dunger & need a refresh

altho we cut a whole pile of rust out & straightened up a few bent panels &
overhauled nearly all the suspension
fitting coil springs & hi-los & adj arms & new bushes etc

we did go on a few "retro cruizes" & a few trips to Byron bay

we "almost" went to John`s "Minikingdon online weekend
but decided it might have been a bit much for the old girl
so we went to byron instead

anyways, as it turns out, the gearbox recently decided to not bother with selecting
1st or 2nd gears

so,,, figuring it must be the 1st/2nd fork grub screw (which it was)
we ripped the donk out & started planning a full overhaul on the engine & gearbox

so,,, we had previously ported a BMW K1000 *v cyl head, had a pair of cams "Made" for it by Dean Tighe in conjunction with our good mate Garry Stewart

& now we have the block modified to fit the bimmer head on
the pistons machined , the crank is out being made nice again
bathing & honing the block currently

so,,, soon,,, we should have a little 1415cc stroker, 8valve, twin cam, fitted into
a cleaned & stripped out & re-painted engine bay in my mums old wagon.

BUT!!!,,, what we are doing is, setting up an inlet manifold for a single 1&3/4 SU carby

once that`s sorted we will make a jig for it & make maybe another 5x manifolds to start
we have another batch of our twin-cam extractors being made now, & will send them all off to be ceramic coated

stay tuned & i`ll post some pics of it`s progression shortly

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Can't wait for the pics of the mini & engine.

Brad

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During the day I work on English designed cars & on my own time I work on English designed cars....

Block-> 73mm bore, all modified for Bimmer Twinky already



pistons-> (Jp 73mm stroker) brand new, ready to have the tops lopped off 2.5mm for valve clearance & comp ratio to suit 11.5:1



crank->, an old stroker crank from one of our old readspeed delivery vans from years ago, needs a quick linish & should be good to go


Cyl head, 8v bimmer K1000, been modified to fit mini block, ported & hot-road cams made to suit


Ports done, ready to go


car it`s all going into->

the one on the left, (red/white/blue ReadSpeed delivery wagon

more coming after all the machining is done & all dummy-d up to make sure it all is good to go

carby manifold is started, but once the engine is in the car , we`ll take the whole package to our manifold maker & we`ll probly fire it up from there & drive it home

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

some of our delivery cars from back in the day



ReadSpeed lives again Bigger & better than ever (well sort of)

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

looking good, going to keep the patina, or will you be going will a sparkly fresh paint jobo?

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Nick

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=86675

In your spare time (ha), you could write a book on all this stuff Matt. That yard is loaded in history. Even a photographic history would be a great read (sic). I reckon I saw that mini van when it was brand newish about 50 years ago. Is it the same one ?. A real retro, it looks great just as it is.

what does your conversion kit run to these days Matt?

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

love that Head

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1968 Morris Mini Cooper S

yeah thanks guys, we actually had 5 delivery vans & 2 delivery stn wagons (one was mums car)
plus the moke ute Plus the Kimberly ute Plus the old mini ambulance

mums wagon is the only survivor from that lot, the rest went to the rusty gods in heaven (or hell)

& yes i`ll be keeping the outer looking just the way it is now, shows all the history of the car
the floor has had major rust repairs , as in 2 new floor panels & a few ptches done, all new coil-spring conversion with Hi-los & adjustable arms, new brake lines/pipes shoes, cyls, front pads, suspension bushes all done etc etc etc

now the donk is getting a full going over so i can`t wait for it all to come back from engine reco shop
so we can stuff it all together & make it go veroom

Once the new single carb manifold is made & tested we will make a jig for it so people can get into a Bimmer Twinky cheap & easy
stick the manifold on, shove a dizzy in, swap 2 leads & fire it up
saves mucking around with injection stuff to start with & anyone can save up for injection conversion at a later date

Bimmer Twinky conversion kits are $1550 plus a cyl head plus a pile or work to make it all work

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

cleaned & wizz-banged (sanded) the entire engine bay today, found a few cracks here-n-there so Archie`s seen here playing with the welder, grinding back & strapping stuff up so it`s all tough as tits again


Now we have a fairly tidy , clean & welded & sanded engine bay ready for new paint to be splashed (sprayed) on
first a big wash down with prep-wash, then a few coats of etch primer, then some coats of race red


engine steady braket drivers side was cracked (typical for an oldy)
body cracked around passengers side engine steady bracket (also typical for such an old beast)
& subframe tower cracked on passengers side, we just take all the load off, (wind down the hi-low, jack the car up by the frame) then weld it back together , grind it back & then weld a big strap over the top of the tower & down the side,,, won`t crack again with the strap, but it would if it wasn`t strapped.

more coming soon as i need this car out of here & get back onto customers cars
still waiting for engine stuff to come back from machining,,, can`t wait, hanging

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

I see that is the arse end (sic) of the car !

Loving this quick build! Awesome work, so glad you're keeping the original exterior and fitting a crazy engine


Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

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Build thread for Supercharged 1275 1967 Deluxe Resto
Build thread for Mini ute conversion 998cc Turbo

engine bay painted

now to mask & paint the subframe
this is just a quick tidy-up,,, not a full resto, so i`m not fussed about it being concours or anything like that
the car is a bit of a pig & will be used as our delivery wagon so it will be punished & abused & i`m sure it will see plenty of trips to Byron surfing & getting banged about delivering parts & maybe even an Autocross (or 20)


altho it should come up looking pretty good under the bonnet
i have a bit of an idea for painting the engine so we`ll see what it turns out like after it`s done
i wish all my engine bits were back from the machine shop tho

i`m off to Grafton Hillclimb tomorow with the buggy so more progress reports & pics for you all on monday hopefully

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Do you have any of the blanking plates in front of the speedo?

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"Beware the lollipop of mediocrity: lick it once and you'll suck forever" Brian Wilson

we "may" have one Clive, i`m on the look-out during our days here so i`ll let you know if i spot one
cheers mate
matt

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.