I did some snooping on Facebook, and found the previous two owners of the red mini. I found out that it has a name. Mary Ann.
I worked on Mary Ann some today. I replaced the rear trailing arm and one rear control arm. I grabbed one of the wheels off of the other salvage mini, so that I could unload it off the trailer.
I drove it up and down the driveway, heard some noises from the rear end, but am hoping it was mostly just rust on the rotors.
It will definitely need aligned once I get a matching wheel to replace the broke one.
Also I was able to wiggle around the coil over when the bottom mount was unbolted is that normal?
If anyone has a cheap set of 15" 4x100 wheels that would fit this mini let me know. I would like to do a winter set up and save the extreme contacts for either the challenge or at least summer driving, as they still have plenty of good tread left.
What was the story on how it ended up in the auction? What all had the previous owner(s) done??
In reply to jfryjfry :
I didn't get the actual story but sounded like someone hit her just driving on the street.
This is from the previous, previous owner:
"I put on stainless brake lines, Tyrol sport bushings on the calipers. Upgraded solid motor mount and transmission mount under the car. The transmission mount on the drivers side is upgrade to urethane bushings. The ISC suspension is a prototype I was testing for ISC they have custom rated springs ( I forget the numbers) specific for the car and using it for autox. The reduction pulley is a craven speed 15% reduction pulley. Hotchkins rear sway bar and rear control arms. Up rated clutch and single mass flywheel. Short shifter kit. Think that is it, I should have a notebook floating around somewhere with the details."
"Oh the super charger has been serviced twice by me, with racing it I made sure that the lobes and coating were still good as well as checking the oil levels in the charger"
Great that you can get some information right from the former owner.
For the coilover I'd say you are this far, pop it out of the car and give the upper mount an inspection. It could have a radial bearing in the top mount and that is normal or there's a rubber mount that is blown apart, I can't tell from the video.
Worked on the black mini some this weekend.
Removed original subframe. Struggled with getting the steering shaft coupler off the steering rack, but ended up getting it off.
Swapped steering pump and a couple other things over to the new rack, somehow managed to leak almost all the ps fuild everywhere.
I reinstalled the new to me subframe, now just need to reconnect the tie rods and control arms and refill the ps fluid resivoir.
I was cold and didn't know where my hex key set was so I stopped for the day.
The black mini is now sold.
The red mini has an appointment set up for its salvage inspection.
After seeing all the posts from the challenge I really want to go next year.
I will try to keep a running total of costs in this thread for the red mini.
Purchase price $1,224.08-$80.08(sales tax)=$1,144 IAAI.com
Used steel trailing arm $100 for the pair FB marketplace
Bought a set of wheels $250 only need one $250/4 = $62.5 FB marketplace
Running total: $1,306.50
The red mini passed the salvage inspection today and is legally allowed to drive on the road again.
