mike4444244

look here Mike

lol well no one would nick it i suppose! the bulkheads already a different colour, i suppose white plus stickers to carefully 'repair' the dents would stop it looking too buildery... I actually think they look good in white as long as its not buildery looking.... hmm... its cheap too cos i can use truck paint....

Hi Nige, Not a problem, everything inside is covered by my super bling custom interior, or is relatively easy to get at with a spray gun... mike

Hi Guys I have a 110 HT 3 dr, following an extensive rebuild every panel is a different shade of white or primer, I have been trying to decide what colour to spray it for about 6 months now ... I have a 2 week window to get it done and plenty of dry (ish) workshop to paint it in so its needs doing! Problem is I dont want to make it look too nice or 'stand outy' as it will get nicked , i dont want to redo the original white because people kept shouting at me when i was waiting at roadworks , and i dont want to go down the NATO route because i want to go travelling in it and i heard it was a good idea to make it look non-military? Help! Mike

I have rangy seats in my 110 with a standard wheel and i have no leg room problems at all mike

Not really when you consider he will be costing the NHS several hundred pounds a day for 6 months while he is in traction! Mike

i'll make you one up next time i go to green lane to do the mini, mail me the drawing cos 90 ones are different to 110... alternatively paddocks have them 23.50+vat each

Nice job! A good first step to save some time is to give the local engine builder/recon place a ring, my local one is more than happy to run the bits through their industrial parts washer for me, a whole stripped rover v8 and bell housing cost a tenner and got it much better than i ever could. It will still need wire brushing etc as above though to get that level of bling B) Mike

lol i think at the moment cat is responsible for funding minisport! jen pm me your email and i'll send you what photos i have! Mike

thanks for all the above, given the design of that cage it could benefit from a bit of uprating, especially the mounts, I do tend to over engineer things normally (much to vannys disgust) and will be incorporating my own sillbars (i have to remove both sills anyway and theres space to put some tube down the length to tie front and rear mounts together), and other bits and pieces to make it mount properly. The idea is to save time and effort and get the cds cage, and order a length in then i can add bits as i install it, a fully braced cage would be ideal but it loses out in practicality as SWMBO will want to take friends shopping etc so back seat access must be kept... will hopefully get it ordered on payday then i can get on with chopping up the sills Mike

mines the same as ralphs, well it would be if i had ever fitted it, i never had a problem with it not being there! mike

thanks nige, kind of what i was thinking, just needed a gentle nudge to crowbar open the wallet mike

lol i'll let her know, I can get access to plenty of steel as I have a friend who is a welder so i'll be improving the design slightly anyway with a few more triangles and bigger feet etc, i want to get it welded in so i can cut all the grot out of the floor and sills without the shell corkscrewing, wish i'd never started the damn thing now but hey it only cost £48 Mike

Hi guys completely OT i'm afraid , I am restoring Cats mini for her, having seen the horrific results of mini crashes several times before we would like to put a cage in, this company here do cheap cages, they offer a 33.7mm CHS cage for £150 which i think is good value, and they offer the same in 48mm CDS for £550, again good value but still a sizeable chunk of cash... Is the CHS cage going to be strong 'enough'? i know its seamed but it has got 3mm wall thickness, also any roll in a mini will write it off so it hasnt got to survive multiple play days etc... given the small chance of a roll as its not being used competitively, is the extra cost of CDS justified? I think I know the answer myself but i'd like to have some other opinion... most of the mini forums i go on advise the fitting of 'show' cages mainly so you can mount your polished fire extinguisher and bling harnesses to it thanks mike

IIRC you can still get them new galved (try MTC6074 RH one £15 from JC) (LH possibly MWC4663 £49.98?????!!!). cheaper would be to get some off a breaker or possibly a series 3 as they had them galved as standard, not 100 percent certain they would fit though mike

1060 but i'm claiming touch pad handicap! mike

whereabouts are you?

welcome to the forum.... but i cant help noticing the front 2 cylinders seem to have fallen off your v8? mike

having a 16mm chuck is an advantage to look out for but not compulsory, mike

try and drive into something with crumple zones if you can! mike

just checked, it has those plates with 2 nuts fixed to them, like on my defender, probably if its different its because its a very late series 3 from 1984? TBH i'll probably just remove them and stick a nut on each bolt, its not like i regularly take the tub off Mike

my local blasters recommended running a bead of silicone sealant round the bead to stop grit getting wedged in the gap where tyre meets rim, you can peel it off after you finish mike

Hi Yup thats the plan where theres just a through hole, but for things like the captive nuts in the rear tub that the xmember bolts to, and the bolts holding the van sides to the tub etc i guess i might as well get some? Mike

Hi Before i head off to the local fixings place could anyone tell me common imperial sizes on series 3s? i like to keep a stock of bolts and set screws in and i have all lengths of M6-M12 but no imperial sizes, I'm guessing i that its all UNF? or BSF? so am i basically looking to get 1/4, 7/16, 3/8 to cover most applications? I realise that suspension axles etc will have bigger sizes but it would be very spendy to buy in a bag of them! Thanks Mike

i wish.... a little over 600 for lukes i think , a little over 500 for a 181 like mine... mike