Hi again, havent been on the forum for a long time now and my mini is still just standing in the garage as she's been for the past 16 years. With this I am not including the once in a while start and driving up and down the road. the engine is realy in good shape. Oh and as a maintenance engineer I must mention that dont just start her up and go before I havent done a quick prestart inspection.
Okay so I have been thinking about this for a while now but I dont have time to do a proper restoration and thus I have some questions or need some opinions.
1. With the body and engine being in very good nic, would it be better to return her to original or rather just go all out and make it a nice looking mini. (I mean stock standard they aren't that good to look at.) and by nice looking i mean just a new complete paint job complete interior reupholster, wheel arches and mags which is not standard.
2. If I were to do the back to standard restoration what would she be worth, I mean I know I will have to respray as there as some dents and the paint is dull, but I dont want to restore it and spend 30k on the car if afterwards its only going to be worth the same amount.
3. As far as I could remeber its a '84 model. I dont think they are very colletable are they? Thus is it worth spending time and money on it.
Lastly, I have been thinking of just selling it as it is taking up space, but what would she be worth. Obviously all you okes on the forum would like to pick it up for a bargain price but the money I'll get wont mean anything to me as it has a lot of sentimental value to me. anyway, what would you guys be willing to pay for it.
Here is some honest detail on the car's background and condition.
The car is as far as I know rustfree as I live in Kathu (kalahari) so it basically hasn't seen any moisture.
The interoir is still 100% original and in good condition (seats) but all carpets are gone,
Also on the interior side, the paint on the doors on both driver and passenger side is chipped and has a lot of scratches.
The dash has a crack or two and the original rear window panel ( where people usaualy put the speakers) is missing (we made a new one from presswood.)
Its missing a few cosmetic parts like the dash ash tray, cabin light (bulb and cover), rear ash tray and the fan/heater pipe
The body has a few minor dents but really nothing major.
Engine:
As previously mentioned it has 54k km on the odo now.
My dad and I opened the engine about 1k km ago (10 years ago) and fitted new pistons, rings (10 thou oversize, block also bored) and cam chain tensioner and complete engine gaskets and seals.
So heres the other thing on the engine, when my dad fitted the new pistons, it appeared to be the wrong ones. The pistons did not come flush to the top of the block when at TDC as the original pistons did. They came about 3-5mm short. So from living in the middle of nowhere and not having the time or money at that time we just did a backyard mechanic job to solve the problem asap. we took the block to a local machinist and ground the excess block down. This seemed to be a fast and easy fix but then when we assembled the engine the pushrods were too long...hahaha. well so we just grinded that shorter as well. We also gave the engine a nice spraypaint job which at the time looked really good, but we quickly learnt that heat resistant spray cans doesn't last and most paint came off after the first pressure washer attempt...hahah I know, idiots arent we. Anyway the engine runs like a little beast even with all our mods. I once took her up to 160km/h (yes past its marked down 140 mark but my buddy was driving behind me in his car and thats what his speedo was showing.)
So as also mentioned previously, the main reason for the car just standing in the garage is because of its brakes, and we tried everything to our limited knowledge to try and fix it but never had any luck.
Now you know basically everything about the car so what would it be worth if I decide to sell it?
regards
Deon
o and here is a photo of the engine. all photos posted are as the car is now.
Okay so I have been thinking about this for a while now but I dont have time to do a proper restoration and thus I have some questions or need some opinions.
1. With the body and engine being in very good nic, would it be better to return her to original or rather just go all out and make it a nice looking mini. (I mean stock standard they aren't that good to look at.) and by nice looking i mean just a new complete paint job complete interior reupholster, wheel arches and mags which is not standard.
2. If I were to do the back to standard restoration what would she be worth, I mean I know I will have to respray as there as some dents and the paint is dull, but I dont want to restore it and spend 30k on the car if afterwards its only going to be worth the same amount.
3. As far as I could remeber its a '84 model. I dont think they are very colletable are they? Thus is it worth spending time and money on it.
Lastly, I have been thinking of just selling it as it is taking up space, but what would she be worth. Obviously all you okes on the forum would like to pick it up for a bargain price but the money I'll get wont mean anything to me as it has a lot of sentimental value to me. anyway, what would you guys be willing to pay for it.
Here is some honest detail on the car's background and condition.
The car is as far as I know rustfree as I live in Kathu (kalahari) so it basically hasn't seen any moisture.
The interoir is still 100% original and in good condition (seats) but all carpets are gone,
Also on the interior side, the paint on the doors on both driver and passenger side is chipped and has a lot of scratches.
The dash has a crack or two and the original rear window panel ( where people usaualy put the speakers) is missing (we made a new one from presswood.)
Its missing a few cosmetic parts like the dash ash tray, cabin light (bulb and cover), rear ash tray and the fan/heater pipe
The body has a few minor dents but really nothing major.
Engine:
As previously mentioned it has 54k km on the odo now.
My dad and I opened the engine about 1k km ago (10 years ago) and fitted new pistons, rings (10 thou oversize, block also bored) and cam chain tensioner and complete engine gaskets and seals.
So heres the other thing on the engine, when my dad fitted the new pistons, it appeared to be the wrong ones. The pistons did not come flush to the top of the block when at TDC as the original pistons did. They came about 3-5mm short. So from living in the middle of nowhere and not having the time or money at that time we just did a backyard mechanic job to solve the problem asap. we took the block to a local machinist and ground the excess block down. This seemed to be a fast and easy fix but then when we assembled the engine the pushrods were too long...hahaha. well so we just grinded that shorter as well. We also gave the engine a nice spraypaint job which at the time looked really good, but we quickly learnt that heat resistant spray cans doesn't last and most paint came off after the first pressure washer attempt...hahah I know, idiots arent we. Anyway the engine runs like a little beast even with all our mods. I once took her up to 160km/h (yes past its marked down 140 mark but my buddy was driving behind me in his car and thats what his speedo was showing.)
So as also mentioned previously, the main reason for the car just standing in the garage is because of its brakes, and we tried everything to our limited knowledge to try and fix it but never had any luck.
Now you know basically everything about the car so what would it be worth if I decide to sell it?
regards
Deon
o and here is a photo of the engine. all photos posted are as the car is now.
![[-]](https://samini.co.za/images/collapse.png)