Hi all, I’ve been over in the beginners mig section getting some great advice so thought I’d start a build thread.
A couple of weeks ago I picked up a 1960 Austin seven, the lower 6 inches are pretty rotten
I’ve stripped most of it out including the engine.
Have braced the shell and
Ordered a fair amount of panels and have started cutting out the drivers side floor.
I wanted to get most of the floors in and some repairs here and there as it’s not structurally sound enough to get up on the roll over jig yet. anyway a couple of pics to start.
Take care
Jay.
Bet it’s not the original engine? For the first year or eighteen months of production the Mini had an oil feed through the crank for lubricating the primary gear , there was an extra oil seal inside the flywheel in an unsuccessful attempt to stop oil reaching the clutch, there was a modified primary gear with self lubricating bushes and a tapered pin to block off the oil feed. This was called the Deva bush conversion. Later engines from around 61 this became standard until around 64 when the crankshaft nose diameter was increased and a diaphragm clutch fitted .The cooling fan was 4 bladed with the fan housing being a one piece item making water pump replacement an engine out job , the fan was changed along with the housing around 61 . The original gear lever didn’t have the bend near the top either? Other things on early cars were the hand brake quadrants on the radius arms were originally a conduit , the front floor pan to bulkhead joint was constructed so that water ingress was guaranteed , later changed so the floor pan fitted on top of the bulkhead flange . the door sills were originally filled with foam on very early cars
At least you don't have to carry the rust far to the bins! I used to rally a 1965 grey mini van with 1340cc MG engine, minifins, welded sandwich plate twix engine and gearchange housing, proper S head, single large SU, used it for work as a mobile mechanic every day, great fun but doubt I would fit these days!
Wow that was some van!
Lol you’re correct... the bottom 6”s of this car will end up in the bins!
MB, that all sounds horribly familar..
Thanks for the info, very interesting.
I’m still doing some research, but I may have had some luck with the engine. It’s not the original, the engine plate has long gone, when I removed the engine I had access to the numbers on the block and gearbox. Also took the cover off the cam to read the head casting. It seems very likely to be 997 cooper mated to a cooper s gearbox. I won’t know for sure until I strip it and get some measurements. Of course it needs a full rebuild. That will be last on the very long list.
You bet! Drove my first Mini in '64.Showing your age as well?