Hey guys, basically need to know the ins and outs about buying my first mini, eg is it best to buy off ebay, from the upcoming expo at melb exhibition centre, or post up a "wanted" ad around places till I get a response?

Also what should I put my budget at for a good condition mini leyland s, or ls?

I'd love the 1.3L ofc

I'm mainly looking for a good con. car so that I don't have to deal with rust as of yet, but rather deal with the mechanical side (1 small step at a time) as this is a bit of a learning experience for me, but I hope to be able to put the turbo in with little help once i'm on my full license and can actually drive it with a turbo

Any help with the above info would be great!

Thanks,
Shaan

Have a look everywhere, see as many as you can before buying. Check your local mini club. Sometimes is best to ask around the mini circles for cars that aren't currently advertised.

Buy a car with the best condition body you can find, straight panels, minimal or no rust in the usual spots. Bring a magnet with you to check for bog etc etc.

Mechanicals as you say can be fixed one by one but a bad body is $5000 worth of headaches and best to be avoided unless you want a full restoration in a few years time. Basically you want a rolling restoration project, not one that needs a back to bare metal overhall!

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Shaan

The first thing is not to buy the first car you see. Spend time being a nuisance to the sellers by inspecting and driving heaps of them. You then get a feel for what is on the market and for what price.

Its a thirty or forty year old car and all of them will have faults plus or minus. Just get a feel for the balance of what you can handle and what you cant.

As for price - Any car you buy is going to end up costing you around $7,000. Its a matter of you deciding if you want to spend that much up front for a restored car or in installments while it sits in the garage.

Mike

Basically if you didnt know...
Roundnose minis were made between 1959 up untill 1971
Clubmans(leyland) were made between 1971 up untill 1978

It seems that the later Clubmans rusted alot worse than the Roundnoses, But then clubmans are alot cheaper as well.

Be very carefull with Ebay, a couple of members have fallen it to the trap of buying sight unseen and come back with a complete rust bucket! But there have also been great little cars bought aswell.

I dont know what will be for sale at the upcoming Mini expo, but if its anything like the last one there wont be many complete cars for sale.

When you say 1.3 do you mean a motor out of a later rover mini or a 1275 motor, out of something such as a cooper S?

And what sought of Money are you looking at spendind?

If you dont understand any of this let me know

cheers, steve

Oh and shaan,

The monthly general meeting for the Victorian Mini Club inc. is tomorow night aswell

http://www.mini.org.au/controller.php?page=Home.html

Head onto that site for more details.

If you wait a couple of months head on over to MIni show and have a chat to any and every owner you can. You may be interested in an LS but chat to morris and rover owners too, lots of us have owned more than one.

The more information you can get the better.
I've been playing with these cars for ten years and I'm still learning stuff.

whats the time frame you plan on buying in?
what do you thing you'll probably spend?
what do you want, a clubby or round nose?
is it going to be your daily ?

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PrOuDlY aSkInG qUeStIoNs FoR uR aMuEsMeNt

-Look in your local paper, on ebay and some of the other car sale websites as well, contact local clubs and keep an eye out for them out driving about and parked in front or back yards and ask the owners if they know of any for sale.
-Start looking hard now but don't plan to buy for about a month or so.
-Look at everything, scrapers and 20k ones what ever is convenient for you just so you get a really good idea of what the market is doing.
-I'd suggest buy a car that's on the road. Don't fall in love with any one until you own it and don't get blinded by bling, a good sparkly paint job could be hiding a bad body.
-When you come to actually offering cash for a car check every squarer inch of it. lift the carpets up crawl under it, look in as many nooks and crannies as you can reach, ask if you can wash (even just with plain water and a sponge) and shammy the car dry. You will always find something new on a car when you do this because you are looking at and touching every square inch so if it has a dent, scratch, paint blemish or rust bubble your more likely to find it.
-A plain old small bore mini with a 998cc (1liter) or 1098c (1.1liter) will probably be around 2k too 6k. One with a nice interior, good paint job, upgraded suspension or brakes may be around 4k too 8k.
-A 1275cc (1.3liter) in reasonable condition could be around 4k too 8k and one in great condition could reach from 6k up to 15k.
-Ls's, SS's, GT's, cooper S's or any of the special models will fetch some extra money on top of what I said earlier.
-Personally for your first mini I wouldn't go for a special model, just a simple basic model. That way you can take the cheap way out in regards to parts and looks instead of spending ten times more cash for the part just because it's a genuine item.
Hope some of this helps.

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

thanks for all the info so far guys, ill definitely have a look at the mini club, and yeah I will probably wait until the expo before I buy one.

I've been basically on ebay, carsales, carpoint, gumtree, the age, the herald sun, the for sale section on the forum, for about 1 and a half months, so I have a rough idea but the info you guys can provide is infinitely better

As for budget, looking at no more than 8k I'd say, ideally I'd like to get it registered and insured for that too, but its highly unlikely I think.

As for the models of the minis, I havn't done a great amount of research as I havnt found a complete resource for checking through them all, wikipedia is tragically vague. But I do know I'm not too interested in a morris, and sadly thats the missus' fault, she really doesnt like the dash setup, eg speedo in the middle

Plus I really like the look of the leyland clubmans

What would be the most basic version of the clubby? and what about the engine sizes of the various models? of course bigger is better but I'm not to fussed getting a 1L and later on throwing a 1275 in which I think a lot of people have done on here?

Oh and yes, will probably be a daily, although the distance and frequency I will be driving it isn't a great deal.

Thanks again for the info,

Shaan

For daily use, a mini will require regular maintenance to keep it healthy.
5000 kays is not often enough for most minis, and distance to work and type (freeway or city) could influence suggested engine size.

if your looking at around 8 k get the 1.3. basically due to the fact that you'll get one for around that price, easy i rekon.
if your do the engine swap later on in like 2-4 years....its going to be expensiveish, (compared to buying one already with one in it ). you'll save dosh man, and 1.3L is way better then a stock 1.0L or 1100.

if you swap engine later the 1.3 litre is gonna be like 1500-2000 for a runna (basically what you buy is what you get,,,, might be good if your lucky but might need a rebuild in a year or 2, another 2-3K). rebuilt one will be approx $3000 +. then you got to get disk brake s another 1K. hey then whateva labour is involved in fitting it all, another Grand there easy (unless you can do it yourself with friends).

honestly ^ stuff that. but it is up too you.

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PrOuDlY aSkInG qUeStIoNs FoR uR aMuEsMeNt

what kind of maintenance would it be? just an ordinary service?

also would it then just be best to rebuild a new engine? in terms of cost of maintenance weighted against the cost of a new engine?

is the constant maintenance a contributing factor for people who throw in other engines like the b16 n the toyota in? besides the obvious power increase

Engine conversion people are speed freaks whether they admit it or not.

A newly built A-series engine won't get you out of routine maintenance. The engine maintenance is only a small part (engine oil being most common thing to do), other things include brake adjustment, suspension greasing etc.

You have to remember the mini was designed back in '57 or something like that, and throughout it's entire life the bare bones basic design of the car remained the same.

The maintenance is really quite alright if you don't mind getting your hands dirty. Being so simple in many ways, it doesn't take long to learn what's going on.

I change my oil every 3000km, give the brakes a bit of a tweak, check the coolant, have a look around the car - that's it, really. Bring it into the mechanic every now and then to have a look at it, and he's (so far) always said it's fine.

If you like the look of clubbys, that's a bonus - they're cheaper (and you can fit much more under the bonnet!).

The most basic clubby is what I've got - a 998cc Leyland Mini. No frills. But it works. Mine is my daily drive - about 90-100km a day.

doesn't sound too bad, I really don't mind the dirty hands Was more concerned it would be an expensive form of maintenance, also as far as I can tell the clubby's run on leaded fuel? so how does that work? all I know is there is "lead replacement petrol" and its supposed to be the same price as normal petrol, but i'm hoping that wont be necessary?

Also, in terms of economical to run, and power for cost, would I be better off putting a 1275 w/ turbo in a clubby, or converting to a starlet engine or b16,etc? and would this be practical for someone who's never undertaken such a task, but is more than willing to learn, or is it too risky to be done inexperienced? eg could i damage something?

Shaan