Simon, now of Morspeed, had scattered some magic dust over the block which returned cleaned, bored to +060 thou, and decked to give 10:1 compression, new cam, main and big end bearings, pistons and a second hand Kent 276. I stripped and cleaned the head, and did a bit of shaping using a Dremmel. The gearbox was also stripped, and reconditioned by myself.
September 2001, both subframes were removed and the complete underside of the car, inside the wings and engine bay were schutzed. Wanting to keep the car rot free was one of the highest priorities.
On examination the rear subframe was found to be shot and the bushes in the radius arms had corroded, so the shopping list was to begin with, a new subframe with -ve camber brackets, reconditioned radius arms, tapered wheel bearings and subframe fitting kit. The original drums were retained.
The front subframe was in better shape, but all bushes and wheel bearings required renewal.
The suspension was also under scrutiny, and Hi-lo's were added to the shopping list, and a venture to the local mini-bits-centre (scrapyard) saw the acquisition of 4 good condition cones.
With the shell rolling again, this allowed better access to all areas, and with the interior now sprayed, that was next on the agenda.
Before anything was fitted a brand new MK3 Cooper S wiring loom was installed converting the electrics to -ve earth and alternator. Additional wiring was installed for speakers, auxiliary items and a rear mounted bee-sting roof aerial, all routed through the roof cavity while I had the chance.
New headlining! what a pain in the proverbial that was, first of all getting the bars in the right order, found out that later ones were colour coded, so reclaimed a set of those, but it must have taken a fortnight to get that straight. Small bulldog clips are absolutely essential for that job, and lots of them.
Carpets were then added with an adequate layer of underlay to act as soundproofing. The original seats were beyond economical repair, but the local MBC had just taken delivery of mid 70's Poo Brown Mini 1000, I stripped that of the interior, steering wheel and various other bits of trim before it had even got into the yard.
Autumn 2001. These were the dark days of the rebuild, a lot of hard work trying to get little bits right, like the headlining, and with the nights closing in, evening work was confined to what could be done in a very full garage. Little progress was made until the end of October, when a couple of weeks holiday sort of got things back on track.
The run up to Christmas saw the essential parts of the interior installed, Steering column, Speedo, Seats, door cards and glass. The seats having come from a brown mini were a light fawn colour, some of that vinyl spray from Halfords did the trick and I had a nice set of black seats with a couple of blue stripes for that 'retro racing' look.
Things were realy starting to come together, and the aim of getting Schmoo back on the road for it's 30th birthday (Feb 2002) was starting to look a real possibility. Just the mechanics to fit !
Before the engine landed in it's refurbished apartment, brakes and other ancillaries needed installing. The Brake and Clutch master cylinders were in good shape, just needed pulling apart and cleaning, new pipes throughout, nice Aeroquip flexi-hoses, and a brand spanking new servo.
The original drums has been retained all round as I wanted to keep the 10" chrome reverse S rims, these had been shod with some Yokohama A008's but during balancing found out two were rather buckled, A quick call to MiniMail, saw two more arriving the next day.
New H4 headlight conversions with plastic bowls, and all the original chrome work installed.