who do people recommend for quality parts, Minimania or mini spares ?

not looking to hear of negative comments (you can PM me) but general concensus

There are lots of local retailers too that can be cheaper than importing from england or USA. And there are loads of retailers in the UK that you have missed.

I do it on a case by case basis, add to cart, work out postage, go the cheapest option. Most times it's local retailers.

minis.com.au
miniport.com.au
mgspareparts.com.au
karcraft << over the phone but great prices
spriteparts.com.au << has common parts

Overseas:
Minisport.co.uk
dellorto.co.uk


Just to name a few...

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

im after just little niggly bits that are mostly only for rovers which is why i chose overseas suppliers

If you are buying from overseas remember that most Mini stuff originates in England so when it is bought from the States (MiniMania) it has freight and taxes and import duties added to the English price and can be dearer. Also freight from US to Oz is a little dearer than UK to Oz

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

i havnt looked at postage for things yet, but thanks for the info

There is a commercial connection between Mini Spares and Minimania.

The parts will be cheaper from Mini Spares but I hate to say watch the quality on some of their stuff.

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MY experience is that

In Australia the best I have dealt with online is Minisport SA (www.minisport.com.au).

Andrew always gave good service and prompt delivery, often being able to get parts to me in Sydney quicker and cheaper than anyone else, he never sent the wrong part or quantity. Basically he does everything absolutely right in my book.


In England the best I have dealt with is Somerford Mini (www.somerford-mini.co.uk).

Again always good service and prompt delivery, however if you want something quick you have to ring them to work out the transport costs because their online system does not automatically do it for outside UK. Having said that, their transport costs have been lower than some other UK companies to Netherlands anyway, so the minor bit of hassle to wait for the transport costs to be worked out is not a problem for me. The Somerford online catalogue is the best you will see anywhere. They have taken the exploded parts directory and built their parts catalogue behind it. So if you know what the part looks like and where it is located, you can easily find it without having to work out the obscure name for it. They do specialise in restoration parts rather than new performance parts, but you can get a lot of the performance parts from them, sometimes needing to call them to see if they have it.

cheers
michael

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

Remember some Mini parts are Oz car specific, and you won't get them overseas.
Examples- windscreen wiper escutcheons for Oz Minis 1968>
Oz Mini windup door quarter vent rubbers
Oz wiper motors 1969>

etc

I've had good results with minis.com.au, minisport.com.au and also importing from minispares.com.
But I buy most stuff locally from karcraft.co.au. They are closest to me and are major importers for engine parts and Mini stuff.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

Many of the local retailers will sell rover parts. Here's Minis.com.au's rover parts for example, quite substantial really, 35 parts found:

http://www.minis.com.au/minis/catalog/a ... f7f5c1aaf1

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

The tricky part is when to stop looking/price matching - , there's probably about 20 in the UK that do reasonable amounts of Rover parts. Then there's the locals, a lot of which who aren't online yet, especially for Rover bits - a back and forth phone call to each of them and you've just spent another couple of hours.

For Rover bits I automatically get the order cued up at Minispares and then depending on how much time i have, i'll then price match 1 or 2 other places (usually 1 in & 1 in Aus) before completing checkout.

Inevtiably i'm buying one unique part that only minispares have and end up ordering the whole lot of other things from there at the same time to piggy back on the postage.

I've never found MiniMania prices to be worthwhile, they are the US distributor for minispares so have all the same stuff.

Just an example of some UK mini places for Rover bits
minispares
minisport
minispeed
PL Minis
Somerford
M&Ms mini-metro
Huddersfield MIni Spares
Moss Europe
Min Its
Rimmer Bros

(NB Haven't used them all but have all had stuff i've needed at some point)

Don't forget for Rover parts there are a couple of places that are still bringing in half cuts from Japan and parting them out - miniimports is the main one that comes to mind now - so if a 'pre-owned' part is OK, check them out.

Mini King in Sydney has a huge range and often has parts I haven't expected them to have
Karcraft again stock a good range of Rover bits but as with MIni King aren't online for ordering. There was a thread last week where someone posted Karcraft's PDF price list - which actually makes things much easier (I think they'll send it to you on request as well)
For finding Rover bits online or from Karcraft etc - I try to get the part number from a couple of UK sites to corroborate that it's the right part and then get that checked locally.

Annoyingly right now, with the exchange rate so good, it's cheaper for me to buy 3 bumpers (as i have just done) with oversize UPS postage from the UK than it is to buy them locally as the local suppliers probably bought their stock 2 years ago (or whatever) and have prices to match!

And for another good local supplier, don't forget Josh at Mini Imports..............

0419 396 877

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all i can say is when someone charges you ten bux for a door handle screw, and youve spent near three grand with them, you tend to start thinking about spending your money in other places.

ill still buy stuff with them, but ill look around first without just picking up the phone first time.

no names mentioned.

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Aussie Leyland, Aussie Factory, Aussie Mini S.

I have had different experiences with them.

I've had good dealings with minisport in SA, and average with minisport UK. Andrew at SA was always very prompt with his replies and was very helpful, and the part were delivered as described and on time.

Minisport SA... well, it wasn't especially bad, but they forgot to include some parts and decided to remove my carpet from my order. They also sent a different receipt to the one I received after the initial order, so I had to chase them up to see if they had charged me for my carpet.