I have recently
restored and modified an Austin Mini Mayfair and, although I have never developed a web
site before, thought it would be a good idea to publish a guide to the processes involved
on the Internet..
 
 Click this
link to visit a site dedicated to the Mini, which contains links to many interesting and
useful sites.
This is the Mini
City Register site by Hazel Case well worth a visit http://pages.zdnet.com/duckbyte/minicitymagazine
 
THE STORY SO FAR
Due to financial constraints being only 17
years old my Son bought a Mini Advantage, which he proceeded to write off a few months
later. He really loved his little Mini and was devastated to have all but killed it, so he
bought another, a City this time, into which we put the far better Advantage engine out of
the write-off.
Since my son bought his first Mini I have been
pleasantly surprised by their economy and shear endearment, so much so that In February
1999 I decided to breath some life into a tired little Mini for my Wife, well, her Nova
was now feeling the strain.
I acquired some MG Metro seats, steering
wheel, 4 pot caliper brakes, hubs and ventilated disks and a fully rebuilt MG Metro
Engine, now to source a suitable Mini. In the local daily paper I found a Mini Mayfair,
cheap and in need of some TLC.
Picture 1 below shows the original condition
of C603 DUG 'Duggy'.
At first Duggy didn't appear to be in too bad
a shape, until I started the modifications, the deeper I went the worse it got. An easy
job turned into a major rebuild.
BEFORE
RESTORATION |
The bits I had obtained so far
turned out to be only a small part of what I would eventually need to complete the job.
However In June 1999 and £2150 later (part of which was to buy the equipment needed) the
deed was done, and worth every penny.
When finished, as intended,
I gave Duggy to Julie, my Wife, for her Birthday and used her Nova on the last day of it's
M.O.T. and tax to enter a Huddersfield Motor Club Autotest at Ready Mix on Leeds Road,
where, for 3 hours my Son, his mate and I thrashed the Nova to within an inch of it's
life, bloody good fun. It stood up really well to the beating it got but afterwards I had
to scrap it, I got £25 and an MG Metro electronic distributor for my Son's Mini.
I have only been able to
drive Duggy a few times since, to give the engine a good clear out, but Julie isn't keen
on letting me loose with her pride & joy, she really loves her little Mini.
Picture 2 below shows Duggy now,
a very fast, snazzy looking Mini.
That's the story so far, click
the links here or below to take you to the PROCESS page
with photos and detailed explanations of the restoration process, including as many
of the various problems and oversights encountered as I can remember, and their remedies,
or the DIZZY page with a detailed drawing of the wiring
to fit a Metro electronic distributor.
