First post; please be gentle

[ChristiaanV]

Good morning from a sunny Cape Town!

I'll try to keep this short; Recently I had a car (1996 Fiat Uno Fire, my dad's) stolen while visiting a mate in Rondebosh last month, so I've been looking around at alternatives and through the many years of my dad's stories I'm also looking at getting a Mini as my first car.

Now I am fortunate enough to have a few project builds being scrapped in the Western Cape that I'm looking into getting my hands on, and I don't shy away from grease up to my elbows, but with this all said I'm hoping for some quick advice I didn't get searching the forums (Guess I'm just blind but I'll keep looking).

1. Who do I stay away from when looking for mechanical parts? (tell me your best and worst experiences with things like filters, seals, radiator pipes, window glass, etc)
2. I do plan to have conversion kits installed i.e. the best brakes I can afford, a Weber carb kit, maybe a MP3 radio system someday. Where do you source your mods from?
3. Chances are its a long term plan, but I intend to convert to a metal-free petrol engine by having hard seat inserts for the valves inserted, I read that it is expensive but it keeps the valves from wearing out faster. Would anyone recommend this, or should I just keep buying LRP while I can?
4. What did you learn with your Mini that you wished someone would have told you about? I take a lot of information in my head for granted because I forget not everything about cars are common knowledge.

Lekker dag verder!
Christiaan Venter

[GTSPhil]

Hi Christiaan

Good luck finding a nice mini in our country.

First off you only need 3 things to make a classic mini reliable enough to be used as a daily driver.

Electronic ignition kit.
Disc brakes in front, depending on wheels you run
7.5 inch Cooper S brakes for 10 inch wheels
8.4 inch GTS brakes for 12 inch wheels
VW golf conversion for 13 inch wheels
Upgrade the cooling system either with new 3 core radiator, Minispares hi-flow 2 core or if needed and budget allows all alloy radiator.

The obvious thing many new buyers miss is that the numbers on the papers, must match the numbers in the car (engine and VIN number).

Budget depending the rest is done in stages:

Nice power upgrade that is not too costly Stage 1 kit which will consist of:

Ported and polished head, either a "new" one already done or have this mod done to the current head.
Nice LCB with free flow exhaust.
Depending on carb a proper inlet manifold.  If you use SU that came with the car, that can be modded too.  This will need change in needle.
Some performance air filter with ram tubes (K&N the obvious choice or else pipercross or the like)

Next up lighten the flywheel and backplate assembly.
Opt for either a nice cam (if the engine is going to be opened up) or 1.5 ratio rockers any brand/make will suffice.

If you are going so far, close ratio box with a change in diff IF NEEDED.

As far as pricing goes that will vary upon either new or used items and if sourced from where (a specialist or private seller).

Cheers

PS the more modded and tuned the engine the more braking and cooling power will be needed and then the discussion starts for reliability.....

[Vinay-RS]

Welcome to the forum, Christiaan! Sorry to hear that your car was stolen There usually are a few decent Minis for sale in Cape Town. If you're not already a member, there are a few facebook groups worth joining as well.

CTMOC (Cape Town Mini Owners Club) - https://www.facebook.com/groups/cptminiclub/
Classic Mini SA - https://www.facebook.com/groups/ClassicMiniSA/

In Cape Town, there are a few highly rated Mini specialists:
- Dennis Nathan (based at Killarney Race track) - 082 360 1217
- Roy Hilton (based in Athlone) - 060 380 3275
- Oom Boy (based in the Northern Suburbs) - 082 637 7064

Good luck on the hunt for a classic Mini.

[Jared Mk3]

Welcome