Innehållsförteckning för May 2019 från Mini Magazine

One of John Kimmins' earliest memories is of piling into a deseamed Mini (both parents, two kids, all of their camping gear and a dog) to drive to the Isle of Man TT races. His Dad was an engineer and as a result, John was always fascinated by engines - modifying and rebuilding them from the age of 13. His parents had been into Minis for as long as he could remember. John always had the head off his Mum's MG Metro daily and was constantly playing around with it, so she barely got chance to drive it. This passion for engines has never faded, as is shown in his meticulous work. CROWD PLEASER The latest project from Specialist Components does more than simply showcase John's incredible engineering skills, it…

With Mercedes-Benz and Porsche as residents, Stuttgart in Germany already has fine credentials as a city for petrolheads. But from March 7-10, things were ramped up considerably as 90,000 visitors made their way to Messe Stuttgart exhibition centre for the 19th annual Retro Classics event. Make no mistake; this is a big deal, with over 4000 classic and collectible vehicles covering 140,000 square meters of show space – around three times the footprint of Rétromobile in Paris. As you would expect, Porsche and Mercedes featured heavily on their home ground, while Hall 4 was given a BMW theme for the first time. This included a host of motorspost cars including the first BMW racing car, and from their own collection, a 1959 Morris Mini-Minor to celebrate 60 years of the…

After announcing the Betty Richmond Trophy as a new fixture for the 77th Members’ Meeting, Goodwood has been overwhelmed with demand for race entries. Therefore, it has decided to change the format, with two heats, each with its own qualifying session, now preceding the Betty Richmond Trophy, which takes place on Sunday 7 April. The new qualifying sessions and heats will happen on Saturday 6 April. With 2019 marking the 60th anniversary of Mini, it is fitting that Goodwood will now welcome 60 Minis to the Members’ Meeting this year. These will be split into two 30-car qualifying sessions on the Saturday morning, before two 30-car heats on Saturday evening. The top 15 finishers from each heat will enter the final on Sunday afternoon. The Betty Richmond Trophy was announced…

RETIREMENT RESTO Name: John Lee Car: 1962 Austin Cooper 997 Location: Flecknoe, Warwickshire • John has owned this Surf Blue Austin Mini Cooper since 1981, and has spent the last three years since retirement lovingly restoring it back to its former glory. The car had been garaged for 25 years and virtually the whole of the lower half needed replacing. Fortunately, the engine was sound, but John decided to convert it to unleaded. He was keen to keep the car as close to the original as possible, and so has only replaced the parts that couldn’t be refurbished or cleaned up. It even has the original interior, with the exception of the front seat covers and carpets. John and his wife Jane are looking forward to taking the Mini out…

Looking at Jamie Eglington's 1992 Mayfair sparkling in the evening light, with every detail and crisp edge being picked out by the photographer's lights, it's hard to believe that it has ever been anything other than perfect. The paint shines like glass, and we know that even the bits you can't see, are in better than factory fresh condition. But as Jamie tells the story, you realise that it hasn't always been this way. And to get the Mini to this stage it has taken him a lot of heartache, time and money - a tale familiar to a lot of Mini owners... "I was 17 when I first got it," he says. "Dad was thinking about my first car and when he asked, I said I wanted a Mini,…

COST Swiftune superlight simplex timing gears - £159.60 (Swiftune 01233 850843) Piper 270 cam - from £250 (Piper 01303 245300) CST3025 Cam followers - £43.20 (CalverST 01653 691380) DIFFICULTY One of the major methods of increasing engine performance is to change the standard camshaft for a ‘lumpier’ one. A higher lift cam can bring big performance gains but only if the timing gear is correctly set and all the valve events - inlet and exhaust opening and closing - happen at the ideal moment. Manufacturers will quote the timing figure that full lift on number one cylinder intake should occur, but setting that timing figure correctly often fills people with dread. Normally with a Howto article we attempt to show an entire job from start to finish so that even…

MINI SPARES POLY UPGRADE TRACK ROD END £2.16 each Original rubber gaiters are prone to splitting and can quickly perish. Mini Spares has come up with polyurethane upgraded gaiters for all knuckle joints and most track rod ends to solve this problem. Will fit every genuine Mini suspension knuckle ball joint, but may not fit all pattern track rod ends. • 01707 607 700 • www.minispares.com MINI SPARES GLASS WINDOW RAIL SUPPORT KIT £36.32 Damaged window rails can cause glass rattle, make winding difficult and allow leaks (eventually causing rust). This replacement kit for MkIII Minis uses stainless steel for the rail supports. The kit is suitable for one door and contains a pair of drop rails plus two rubber seals to hold the glass firmly in place. • 01707…

By the time you read this, my fate will have been decided. At the time of writing, I'm in mid-panic about getting my car ready for Goodwood . Jobs: I had to get the front of the race car tidied up, which luckily my mate Mark was able to do by pulling the front straight by offering up a new bumper and moustache and re-painting it. Getting two engines built (as I didn't want the same thing happening as 10 years ago). One is a re-hash of my existing power unit by mate Oliver - the bores and pistons were dead after I cooked it last year and although it had done a turn for the last race, the block and pistons were scrap. I had a tuftrided crank and…

• In association with Clitheroe and District Motor Club, Fuchs Lubricants are supporting a new championship for classic minis. It was created to fill a void left by other championships, coordinator Chris Woodcock has devised a format with simple class structure and the highest quality asphalt rallies around the United Kingdom, for contenders to demonstrate their skills and abilities. The next round is on the 21st April on the Warcop Military Ranges in Cumbria. The second race in the championship took place on 10th March for the Tour of Epynt with the following results: 1st Jim Brindle / Sam Bould 1 hr 17:34, 2nd Rick Ford / Neil Macdonald 1hr 18:34 and 3rd Barry Stenhouse / Suzzana Whalley 1hr 32:40. Rick is currently holding top championship position after two rounds,…

Race Retro is the must attend event for all fans of historic motorsport. Staged at the end of February at the Royal Agricultural Showground at Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, its winning formula consists of the best retro race cars and associated specialists over four halls, a live rally stage and an unbeatable ability to draw the great and the good from the world of motorsport. To be greeted in the entrance hall by the bright red Ogle SX1000 of Guy Loveridge, Mini fans knew they weren’t going to be disappointed as they toured the packed halls of the show. Over 24,000 enthusiasts attended over the three days, to see an incredible mix of rally and racing cars, and special guests including British racing drivers John Watson and John Fitzpatrick along with ‘Rally…

Building your ultimate Mini takes a serious amount of commitment, and one that the Racey brothers have embraced wholeheartedly. It’s a great leap of faith considering this will be their first time behind the wheel of a classic Mini. Cambridgeshire twins Gregory and Benjamin Racey have never driven a classic Mini before yet they are putting every free minute and spare bit of cash into their own build. They are doing it all by the book - literally, a well-thumbed copy of the Haynes manual is always within reach and has given them all the instruction they need. They are buying quality new parts and taking no short cuts - working on it every day, sometimes together but often alone. When it comes to deciding how the car should look…

Back in the 1960s, BMC Australia had huge success with the Mini. It was so popular, it helped the company rack up around 1000 sales a week. The Mini’s competition triumphs boosted sales too. In 1966, a Morris Cooper S, driven by Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden, not only won at Bathurst (it wasn’t the Bathurst 1000 back then, it was the Gallaher 500), the next eight places were taken by Minis. Because of such achievements, and because the car was fundamentally so capable, the Mini continued to be a good seller right up until production ended in 1978. This was despite Australia being a market that favoured big-engined, long-legged and, crucially, sizeable cars. And Utes! Indeed, Australia’s relationship with the Mini has endured and BMC’s baby has a strong,…

Most Mini owners will have a few non-factory accessories lurking on the front parcel shelf which are crucial to their day-to-day driving pleasure. The first is a clothes peg - preferably wooden - to hold the choke pull out. And the second will be a cloth or a chamois sponge to wipe condensation from the screen on anything other than perfectly dry days. The heating and ventilation in Minis can quickly switch from adequate to useless if the heater and associated components are allowed to deteriorate. Generating enough heat to keep driver and passengers warm might be seen as a luxury that can be lived without, but the need for a fog-free windscreen and a clear view of the road certainly can’t be. On pre-injection Minis, the heater is supplied…

Progress has been excellent on the Mini City project this month. Actually it’s coming together so quickly, it might be time for a another new project! Enter an early 70’s Suzuki 750 motorbike that’s now being restored alongside. Spare parts for the classic bike are apparently quite hard to come by, with prices to match, so the Mini’s definitely got one-up there. The parts prices and availability for an early 90’s Mini have to be commended - rebuilding one of the ‘newer’ models to standard spec offers great value for money. Take the latest haul of parts from Mini Spares, with standard-spec dampers at £15 a piece and pea-shooter exhaust just over £40. Perhaps I’ve been spending too long around race Minis, with £1000 dampers and £800 exhaust systems the…

After 20 years of operating from Malton, North Yorkshire, Calver Special Tuning are moving. Damico Engines Limited owner Darren Snelling and Calver Special Tuning’s A-series and Mini specialist Keith Calver have made the decision to join forces to boost productivity. Keith was impressed by Damico’s dyno facility over a decade ago, leading to the pair working together on a regular basis. Darren was looking to boost the potential of his company, and Keith wanted to devote more time to his own Minis, including his historic GT race car. Damico Engines is situated in East Harling, Norfolk, no distance from Snetterton racing circuit and specialises in top quality and successful racing engines for all marques as well as all manner of restorations, from classics to current. Damico supplies engines for the…

• Mini Cooper Register is to play a leading part in celebrating the 60th anniversary of the iconic small car at this year’s Spring Autojumble at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu to be held over the weekend of 18/19 May. The event welcomes over 15,000 classic vehicle enthusiasts from all over the world and will, itself, be celebrating 25 years of autojumble. To add to the festivities, MCR are putting together a display of 60 cars covering the entire range of Mini production models spanning 1959 to 2000. Working with partners Mini Sports, the display will include a good selection of ex-Works Minis and some of their drivers. MCR’s birthday celebrations, which run throughout the year, started at Brooklands Mini Day on 24 March and will culminate with the…

We’ve heard the name KJB fabrications mentioned in previous features at Mini Magazine, but this is the first time Kieran Baybutt, the proprietor of that highly respected business has actually had his own car appear on these pages. The project has taken him a full five years to complete and we guess that’s probably down to him being so busy working on everyone else’s cars! Well known for their B16A2 and B18c4 Honda VTEC conversions - and as the name suggests along with the associated fabrication work involved - KJB has quickly become the go to guy in the North West when it comes to VTEC Mini transplants. Over the years, the B16 and B18 engines have proven themselves to suit the Mini well and until recently they were fairly…

BODY 1965 Cooper S. All-steel except for GRP roof. Bullet door mirror, Benelite grille with spots, standard Cooper S light units. ENGINE 1293cc, fully-balanced and lightened, MED lightweight crank pulley, Duplex timing chain, Omega pistons, ported and polished cylinder head, Piper 470 cross-drilled camshaft, Iskerdarian roller rockers, Rimflow valves, bronze guides, twin 1.5 inch SUs with open trumpets, Playmini LCB stainless steel manifold and Maniflow stainless steel megaphone. Four-row radiator, high-flow water pump and ten-row oil cooler. SUSPENSION Hydrolastic with negative camber lower arms, Mini Spares camber and toe brackets, adjustable tie rods, KAD radius arms, Kamac anti-roll bar, polybushes. TRANSMISSION Straight-cut four-speed, AP Racing clutch, remote shift. BRAKES Four-pot alloy calipers, carbon metallic pads, Minifin drums, kunifer brake pipes, Goodridge braided hoses. WHEELS AND TYRES 10x6 inch Specialist Component…

If you’ve heard of a Deep Sanderson before it was probably about the Deep Sanderson 301: the pretty, Chris Lawrence-designed miniature GT that used Mini power to drive the rear wheels. Some fourteen were built in the 1960s and they gained a bit of notoriety thanks to being entered at Le Mans twice. But Lawrence also used the groovy Deep Sanderson name for many more of his wild motoring projects. There were Formula Juniors and a string of prototypes for a big saloon. The wackiest of them all, however, was the Deep Sanderson 105. Originally, Daniel Richmond of Downton Engineering had been commissioned to build it since he’d also largely been responsible for the twin-engined and four-wheel driven Mini Cooper that nearly killed John Cooper. But due to that accident,…

NO RETURNS Q I have a problem with our 1978 Mini 1000. The clutch pedal is not returning when you change gear. I’ve bought a new spring and shaft but I’m having trouble removing the old shaft. Is there a knack to it or does it just need a bit of brute force? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Jamie A Which shaft are you referring to? The push rod at the top is held in place by a clevis pin through the top of the clutch arm. Removal of the retaining split pin should allow easy removal of the push rod. The clutch arm itself is held in place by a bigger clevis pin at its lower end, where it passes into the clutch cover. Again, removing the clevis…

There’s nothing better than a touch of automotive archaeology. Scraping away at layers of a car’s previous life, learning a little of its history on the way. If my plan to get the Elf along to Himley Hall in May is to come to anything, I need to make rapid progress with the car, and the most obvious area requiring attention is the rot in the driver’s side footwell - there’s plenty more to do but the pile of rust and debris under the pedals couldn’t be ignored and seemed as good a place as any to get going. It was a gentle start with a bit of dustpan and brush action. But once the top layers of debris had been cleared, it was obvious that if I was going…

Well a lot has happened since my last diary. With all of the metal work sorted we could finally prep for the paint shop. A few minor repairs were needed to both rear quarter panels/ rear posts, mainly due to the original pressings. The roof and rear bulkhead needed to be stripped of a few coats of old paint taking it back to bare metal. We came across some old filler and repairs which needed to be sorted to make it perfect. Once this was done it was ready to go in the oven to be given a coat of acid etch primer followed by three coats of high build 2k primer. With the Pick-up now in primer it was onto the endless seam sealing inside the cab, under floor…