What Car Do You Drive ?

[Brisa]

Prawn, that is amazing! I like the bumperless front, a local guy has one like that, in white but has a little sump guard going just up and shpowing at the front. adds to the look. Will try to get a picture for you.

Would really like a mini and if i can find a half decent quote (N.Ireland) I will have one as a project.

Ack well for now ill stick with the skoda :">

[Dan Campbell]

Cough* What about my GTi?? you like...i like :P  Cough*

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Yea I do like, but its not exactly ordinary now is it, looks like a little work has gone into it :ermm:"

As much as I would like a GTI I think my insurance company would just laugh at me.

Dan

[dirtbiker]

Your mini looks great Prawn, some really cool little touches.

Could you take a pic of the interior and the engine bay?

Also, where did you get your rear number plate light from, its pretty trick. :ermm:

Finally, i think the front end would look better with clear indicators... :P

Edit: Shouldn't a car of that age have side repeaters on the wings (it looks weird with the cutouts on the arches) :P"

Edited January 29, 2005 by dirtbiker

[Rob_P]

Hey knickers your mini is looking mintage!!! Looks perfect, I love the mini beast! When you come to barny or we come down I love goin for a drive! Just like a go-kart!! Goes like sh*t as well! Nice one! I see greenachers metro 4.1 GTS in the second pic as well :ermm:

Cheers Rob :P :P :P

[Prawny Baby]

yea danny it is a jack up and adjust job really, but the problem is, as u lower the front the geometry changes a fair bit, which would make it handle a touch on the funny side! on the back u can just wind it up and down all u like, i frequently do (like if im going on a trip with loads of kit and bikes on the roof i wind it up)

but due to the tie bars u cant do that at the front unless u have a laser tracking machine! which i obviously dont!

its also ALMOST running on the bumpstops up front as it is :ermm: so im not sure how much lower it can go, we will see, maybe ill get an inch, that would be enough!

the 1380 will be a HUGE difference to the 1275, loads more power, and even more importantly bags more torque!

im building it to a 'sensible' spec for a quick everyday car

1380 offset bored metro turbo block with centre main strap

wedged and crossdrilled turbo crank

cooper s steel rods

kent 286 scatter cam (with lightened and polished steel duplex timing gear)

ultralight steel flywheel and backplate (orange diaphram)

stage 3 unleaded head

1.5:1 roller tip rockers

straight cut 1:1 drop gears driving a rebuild helical box with a X-pin diff and a 3.2:1 final drive.

should produce ABOUT 105bhp ish, hoping for at least 90 at the wheels.

will go like shit but isnt a silly spec so itll still be driveable on the street!

dirtbiker.... ive got clear indicatros, i always used to have them, but some untC smashed one so i had to buy a new set, ive just not bothered to fit them yet :P

the rear plate light is a genuine mk1 item (not cheap chrome looking plastic) i got it from minispares-if uw ant to fit one theres a fair bit of filling and smoothing to cover up the huge hole the old light has.

and yes it SHOULD have repeaters in the wings, but they would just be annoying to dissconnet every time i take the front off (its a carbon fibre front remember) so i remounted them in the wings....its a personal touch :P the arches are SHITE anyway, when i get round to it im getting new ones and smoothing the tops off

Brisa: a sumpguard is actually pretty far up my list of things to get next, as im not keen on taking the bottom off it, especially when i get my new gearbox in (i did once get it air born and scrape the bottoms off the gearbox fins upon landing-scary!)

heres a terrible pic of the interior taken on my phone, the seats have sinse been lowered 3'' and moved back 4'', and the steering columb has been dropped just over 2'' so its all a much better position

engine bay looks GASH, its the lsat thing on my list, i stuck the 1275 in to give it a bit more go, but ive not sprayed up the engine bay yet, all the subframes are comming off in summer to be powder coated along with every suspension part, its also having new sills and floorpans and a respray underneath.

the blue engine is a 1293 i had in for a few days (until it blew up)

the red engine is my current one, but ages ago before i flip fronted the car (looks terrible i know)

[Bigman]

oh my god prawn, i am loving it, without the front bumper looks well hardcore :P

HAHA, that bule engine didn't last long at all did it prawn, hehe was it 3 hours i think, when i towed u back to your place with my car. The engine in it now is loverly, me and the crustation fitted it back last year and has been going REALY well, can't wait for summer when we can fit the UBER 1380 engine, i realy will shit my pants when i ride with u in it then :ermm:

[traptorle]

a guy at my work got a 1340 turboed mini putting out about 190bhp but not on road atm due to re-spray and now needs to re-built her. :ermm:

Edited January 29, 2005 by traptorle

[Trebor]

Good work Prawn, that is an absolute beast, I know nothing about cars but I still lurve that, how long until it's all finished do you think?

Thems are some proper bucket seats, haha.

[Tom Booth]

actually, in that pic they look like the standard rover 'minilight style' rose petal alloys, which are 4.5x12'', unless u have converted to 7.5'' s discs or similar, tehy are DEFINATELY not 10's, and there really would be little point to be honest, unless u REALLY prefered 10's. plus the fact that theyre running on 145 tyres would suggest its the standard rover wheels, because u would have to be BEYOND stupid to convert to 10's and fit 145 tyres.... so lets just agree that theyre 12's  :P

DONT fit sportspack arches with 5.5x12's, have u got ANY IDEA of how stupid it will be? the wheels will oversail the arches by about 2'', and look terrible!

ive got 6x12 deep dish wheels from MWS, which as far as i know have a greater offset than any other 6x12 mini rim, and tehy ONLY just fill the rear sportspacks, it still looks iffy in some pics, although its fine up close and personal.

ps: the mexico is AWESOME, ive got a 72 mk1 1300 Gia im intending to restore one day.... lovely cars

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Sorry all, just realised my mistake, the mini came with 12"'s on and the geeza gave us some 10"'s with the car. my mistake, prawn have you had to modify the inner arch for the 6x12's? i really want deep dish wheels but not to the extent of huge inner arch modification.also where did you get the sports pack arches from? (trying to get a good set for cheap :P" ) instead of genuin rover ones :ermm:

VERY nice mini prawn,what made you de-bumper the front? because IMO the front de-bumperage of some minis look GOD awfull, but in some way that looks rather nice :P

Keep on mini'ing :P

Tom

[MrMonkey]

Out of interest what do all you mini drivers pay on insurance?? Especially the younger out of you who've recently passed your tests :ermm: Thanks.

[Bigman]

VERY nice mini prawn,what made you de-bumper the front? because IMO the front de-bumperage of some minis look GOD awfull, but in some way that looks rather nice 

Nick has taken the bumper off because he now has a full carbon flip front, drilling holes in the front of it would mean that it would not be a flip front any more, so it is easier just to leave it off, I know what u mean about it lookig god awful, when i first saw it i was not a fan, but now i have seen some better pics it is deffiantly growing on me.

[Tom Booth]

yeah,some people that do it for the 'racing look :ermm: ) also have huge vents ect n it takes them 10 seconds to de-bumper it,but if you take time on a job it can look very nice, sorry didnt realise it was a flip front (didnt read spec,had no time :"> ) very nice prawn, would be better if it had a 160bhp engine in the back done by z-cars :P or 2 160bhp hyabusa engines in :P

Tom

[Prawny Baby]

hey boovey, when i fitted my 6x12's with a steel front on, i simply got the jig saw out and took 1'' off the arch the whole way round.

u cant see it when the arches are on, and the arch cutting takes less than 10 mins to do, if u want to be really proper u can also bend a lip back into it to add strength.

really, for the sake of borrowing a jog saw and 20mins work, id go with 6x12's everytime, they are SO smart, and there arnt many deep dish 6x12's around yet, due to the dish they have the look of 13's without the gay handling, which cant be a bad thing!

no front bumper because the carbon front has no bumer lip! i could make up some brackets to fit one, but i personally love the look of it like that.

theres a fairly good chance the back is going to be de-bumpered as well, because the bumper lip is really shitty,and i cant stop the rust and i dont want it to spread into the panel, so i might just grind it off and smooth it out :D

as for insurance....

if ur 17, just passed with pass plus, norwich union will quote u around 500quid on a bog standard 998cc mini.

start modifying it and its a whole different story.... :D

minis rock!!!!! (just out to ride then im in for a polishing session!)

[Tom Booth]

yeah,i like 6x12's, but the mini might not be staying for very long :D make abit of money off of the little beast :D . possibly buying a mini with poor bodywork but sound running gear and then taking the whole kit off of the mini and putting it in a mini pick up fiberglass shell :D

Then i will try and get 13x7's on it :D

Tom

[Trials mama]

WOW prawny, ur mini is lookin better then ever, its finnally out of the garage, uve done ur self prowd boyo. I can remember when it was in bits, with a bit of stress relieve on old body parts. well i think we know whos car,cough prawnys mini cough , has won. well if not the car at least the loverly carbon front

wel ive said my bit, nice work

matty

[RicH_87]

naa i prefer the old escort.

the mini kicks serious ass but nothing beats an old ford.

EDIT: off topic but, has there always been a spell check when you post a reply? or it is new?

Edited January 30, 2005 by RicH_87

[Prawny Baby]

cheers lads

boovey, the sportspacks copies ive got are from minispares, and cost me 50quid

but if im honest mate, DONT BOTHER

i really do regret buying these, i had genuine rover ones on before, and the fit was perfect, but these just dont fit right, tehy dont fit tight to the body work, and the finish is awful! you can see where the studs are moulded in on the arch surface, up close the are poo!" they are also WAY more flexible than genuine arches

id suggest you try one of the other copies from someone like P&L minis, they ahve a good rep!

a fibreglass shell would be awesome! can u get a fibreglass pickup? ive not seen one.

just for u matty, heres a pic of the car towards the end of november.... in its prime

(or not as the case may have been)

[Danny]

cheers lads

boovey, the sportspacks copies ive got are from minispares, and cost me 50quid

but if im honest mate, DONT BOTHER

i really do regret buying these, i had genuine rover ones on before, and the fit was perfect, but these just dont fit right, tehy dont fit tight to the body work, and the finish is awful! you can see where the studs are moulded in on the arch surface, up close the are poo!" they are also WAY more flexible than genuine arches

id suggest you try one of the other copies from someone like P&L minis, they ahve a good rep!

a fibreglass shell would be awesome! can u get a fibreglass pickup? ive not seen one.

just for u matty, heres a pic of the car towards the end of november.... in its prime

(or not as the case may have been)

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My genuine rover ones were a terrible fit :D They were like someone has sat a heavy box on top of them warping them out of shape. One of em is so bad i gotta buy another :P (aka buy another and send back the dodgey one in its place :()

[Luke Williams!]

naa i prefer the old escort.

the mini kicks serious ass but nothing beats an old ford.

EDIT: off topic but, has there always been a spell check when you post a reply? or it is new?

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spell check hahah this forum is gettin hardcore now lol

[Tom Booth]

a fibreglass shell would be awesome! can u get a fibreglass pickup? ive not seen one.

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Yeah the pick up shell is avaliable from www.rallysprtreplicas.co.uk but the only problem is its £4000 (Y) (Y) so i wouldnt mind trying to p p p p p pick up a pick up on ebay :o some decnt stuff on there,its like agros,but more exciting :o

[dirtbiker]

Try This link and you might have more luck... (Y)

[endofreak]

My humble wagon.

[Stephen Morris]

I'm currently looking for an automobile. I have £3500 right here in front of me and another £1500 in the bank for insurance. Anybody got any ideas as to what I should get?

People who say mini's go straight onto my ignore list. I was thinking of a Peugeot 306, T or V reg maybe, but I know nothing about cars though so if you have any better ideas then let me know.

It has to be 1.4 maximum (because of insurance costs), it needs to be a hatchback so I can get the bikes in easily. It can't be red or white.

Cheers, Stephen.

[MrMonkey]

I'm currently looking for an automobile. I have £3500 right here in front of me and another £1500 in the bank for insurance. Anybody got any ideas as to what I should get?

People who say mini's go straight onto my ignore list. I was thinking of a Peugeot 306, T or V reg maybe, but I know nothing about cars though so if you have any better ideas then let me know.

It has to be 1.4 maximum (because of insurance costs), it needs to be a hatchback so I can get the bikes in easily. It can't be red or white.

Cheers, Stephen.

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Ford Mustang. Go on make my day I've seen a 2.4 litre on ebay that's the smallest I could find though. But it would be on classic car insurance I think. (Y)

Edited February 3, 2005 by MrMonkey

[James]

I'm currently looking for an automobile. I have £3500 right here in front of me and another £1500 in the bank for insurance. Anybody got any ideas as to what I should get?

People who say mini's go straight onto my ignore list. I was thinking of a Peugeot 306, T or V reg maybe, but I know nothing about cars though so if you have any better ideas then let me know.

It has to be 1.4 maximum (because of insurance costs), it needs to be a hatchback so I can get the bikes in easily. It can't be red or white.

Cheers, Stephen.

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citroen saxo 1.0i or a 106 or somethin. 306's are quite high insurance groups arnt they, things like saxo's, 106's and corsa are around group 3 or 4. £1500 is about as cheap as ur gonne get it, if ur a teenage boy im assuming. newish driveR?