and yeah, the clutch was pretty much non existant... decent car but clutch and potentially gearbox was nowhere near up to driveable, just wondering what it would be worth to get a new clutch and associated bits, and potentially a recon box aswell... helps much appreciated everybody, even the girlfriend approves of them even tho todays was dissapointed, another to look at tomorrow, hope it will be better like the first two... but yes whats the clutch and maybe a box worth to replace?
Thanks again everyone
Dave

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I think i have a small 70ish car fetish?

By the sounds of it, you'll need to spend upwards of $2k to get it right, that's just on the areas mentioned.

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It may just need the clutch adjusted you know...it could still be worth another look. If you find out it does just need an adjustment, you could bargain the crap out of the car.

Is it just because the pedal goes all the way nearly to the floor before taking up, or is the clutch slipping. If it's the first it may be an easy fix.

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SooperDooperMiniCooperExpertEngineering

All garage work involves equal measures of enthusiasm, ingenuity and a fair degree of irresponsibility.

well it wouldnt engage any gear very easily, was excpetionally sloppy, yes they have a massive H to begin with but this felt like trying to find a pin sized slot in endless movement, finding gears was hit and miss, seemed odd really sometimes it was there, others 1/2 there others it was ALWAYS engaged, regardless of pedal position... a 2k fix straight up is abit rich for me, ive got a garage dweller already, dont want another, i dont think a mini would like the feeling of being inside an exploded bug anyway

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I think i have a small 70ish car fetish?

Hi mate, by the looks of the bug workload, buy a mini that needs as little work as possible. Me and my mates all owned minis or vw's years ago in ipswich. We would do convoys. We affectionatley called them The Dynamic Duo. Unfortunatley the conveys have ended due to relocations and sales. my mate ben still has his vw collection. I ran into a guy driving a yellow oval window at hungys. He offered it to me for ten grand. He had owned it for 34 years. I told him he is mad for even considering selling it. Love the vw. Hope you find that special mini. Cheers Anthony.

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Dog Food! Most kids like it more than Broccoli.

very true grey64 i want a driver not a project, and ive found one today im rather pleased with, afew concerns tho, it has 12x5s on it and disc front end im not sure what from yet, whats tyres worth for that size, preferably some good quality stuff, i wish to be able to drive the wheels off it honestly, the brakes were amazingly solid, rust has been patched already, battery box has a hole tho, i can weld so no big issue, paints pretty nice, gearbox was great, had plenty of go, dash was rough, but i can easily fix that up nicely aswell, umm... suspension was a tad on the rough side but very bearable, roads were alot rougher than the ones around the first 2 i drove so nothing to serious id say, umm... yeah, no knocks in the steering etc, syncros abit worn but i expect that... basically what could be wrong that im missing? all pretty road worthy cond, horn didnt work but would be fixed, umm yeah how does one tell where the discs are from? and whats pads seals etc worth and availability like? help would be appreciated from everyone again, im not a mini guy yet so need help thinking of potential problems, its abit far from where id take it to get a solid going over so thats not an option sadly... thanks again everyone.
Dave

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I think i have a small 70ish car fetish?

I would say that the availability of most mini parts is better than it was when minis were everywhere. Brake components are not a problem, readily available.

Buy your mini on cost of repairs basis rather than availability of bits. Virutally any mini you buy is going to need up to a $1,000 of repairs/upgrades to make "right" and be "yours". Just factor that into the initial price.

I'd say having 12inch wheels the discs would be from a Rover Mini, and they would be 8.4inch in diametre. Possibly Cooper S (or GT which are both 7.5 inch in diametre and more sought after as they fit under 10inch wheels) discs, 1275 LS discs, Metro discs (rare here usually imported for the Turbo models) modified Morris 1100 brakes, I guess the list goes on.

With 12 inch wheels in 99.9% sure they'd be 8.4inch Mini discs, quite normal really, both mini's at my house have discs, mines got 7.5s, Dad's ones got 8.4s. Both good.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

Like Slinkey says, the odds are that the brakes inside the 12" wheels will be 8.4" discs. Which is a good thing. The way to check it is to google a mini parts website and have a look at what the discs and calipers look like. Have a look at both the 8.4" and 7.5" disc setups. If either lookslike what you saw through the 12" rims, you should be happy. If they don't, well, they're a conversion. Then you need to ask a lot more questions. But the odds are stacked in favour of the 8.4" discs - they were in Mokes, 1275LS's, English Minis post 84, etc. No dearer to maintain than S discs, in fact, generally a bit cheaper, as there were a good number of cars made in England with them - about 16 years of production (although they weren't Mini's biggest selling years by a long way). Probably the biggest reasons why people still install S discs (7.5" discs) are because they don't want to fork out for 12" wheels (which is why I'll be going that way, eventually) or because they want the 10" wheel look (it could be a genuine S, or a replica, perhaps trying to run without flares... the list goes on). In fact, in the UK, some people change back from the 8.4" to the 7.5" just to get that look. But discs on a Mini is generally only a good thing. Many will tell you that the 7" Cooper discs aren't any better than drums, but, at the end of the day, even if they don't pull you up any quicker (which I'd debate!), you still don't have to adjust them after a hard drive. But the discs on the car you drove today are very unlikely to be 7" Cooper discs (which, incidentally, look pretty similar to the 7.5" discs you'll see on the websites).
I don't believe tyres are that much worse for a 12" rim than for a 10" rim - 13" tyres are the killer. There was a topic about it not long ago, might pay to try a search...