Update 3/06
In the last few months, I've made some decent progress on upgrading Cecil (named after the turtle in Bugs Bunny cartoons). I replaced the peeling chrome bumpers with stainless oem Rover ones. I aimed the headlamps as best I could for driving on the 'other' side of the road now. I installed the 8.4" disc brake set, which requires 12" or larger wheels instead of the 10" most Minis come equipped with. I was fortunate to buy a set of new GB Minilite replica wheels (5) for a good price shortly after I bought the car. The tires were another story...proper sizes for Minis are not easy to come by in the USA and are expensive from the few vendors who sell them. Thanks to Ebay, I found another Mini owner who was going to 13" and wanted to part with (unbelievably) 5 nearly new Yokohama A510 165/60-12 tires. I wound up paying (with shipping) the price of 4 new tires from a regular vendor, and got the spare essentially for free.
Finally equipped with proper wheels, I removed the front drum brakes. I was a bit torn in doing this, as I really like the look of the 10" wheels, but I wanted disc brakes. The only other alternative that is a bolt-on is Cooper S brakes which are 7.5", but these are very sought after and therefore ridiculously expensive. With the short sidewall tires, the 12s don't look that much bigger, so I'm happy enough with the result. I joke that now I don't have to slow down at all for turns; I simply crank the wheel and the car goes around nearly any bend.
The 8.4 discs were used from a newer Mini. I rebuilt the calipers, which was surprisingly easy (there is an excellent how-to in the April/May 2006 issue of Classic Motorsports). I checked the wheel bearings and CV joints for wear, but all appeared good. I replaced the outer seals (2 per wheel) and the inner seals for the axles at the transmission. Naturally, I replaced both outer CV boots as well. Now, a few notes for those who may do this--when the Mini went to 'proper' inner CV joints instead of U-joints, they never enlarged the subframe opening for the axle. Therefore, to remove the axle to do the brake swap, you must take apart the inner joint to extract the axle. Very aggravating and messy. In addition, the replacement boot kits usually come with a nylon zip tie. They won't work! The spindle that the axle passes through does not have sufficient clearance for the 'head' of the zip tie. You must use a metal clamp specifically for the purpose. I used 'Band-It' brand, which I got from a Mini friend but I'm told is sold at NAPA.
After the usual joy of bleeding the system, the end result was vastly superior braking. While the drums are adequate, they simply do not inspire confidence like the disc conversion does. I find the brakes very easy to use without a booster.
With the addition of the new tire and wheel package, the wheels now stuck out past the fenders giving the car a rather ridiculous look. I anticipated this, and purchased a set of Wood & Pickett fiberglass flares. These do not have exposed screws or rivets. After buying them, I wasn't pleased with them all that much. Quality was okay, but they had to be painted which was an added expense, and I didn't feel the fit was superior to the oem 'City' plastic flares commonly sold. I sold them to another Mini owner and bought the less expensive City arches shown in the photo. Only 4 screws attach each one, and they fit perfectly (assuming your one front wing isn't bodged like mine). I like the plain black plastic look on a white car. If I wanted body color ones, then I'd suggest sticking with the W&P's.
After adding the driving lights, the car has taken on a much more serious look than it's previous Grandma Grocery Getter appearance. The lights easily install with Mini specific brackets (get stainless) in the front valance. I bought Ring brand lights (made in the UK) instead of the Wipac brand commonly seen as I was told the Wipac's aren't stellar quality. I've used Ring lights before on my cars and find they are good quality at a fair price. The covers are a bit cheap, but Hella covers fit them should these break.
Update 3/08
My gosh, 2 years have passed already. I haven't done much more than just drive it, which may be surprising. I have to confess it's been virtually trouble-free. Maybe it's the low miles, or just my staying on top of things, but I haven't had any major problems with the car since I've bought it.
I'm sure I've just jinxed myself.
Last season I did get the replacement seats installed, which made it a thousand times more comfortable to drive for any distance. The minimalist stock seats in the early cars may be light, but they sure aren't comfortable. One of my friends was parting out a Suzuki Swift GTi, and the seats were the right color and in nice shape, so a deal was made.
I didn't want to butcher the car to install these in case I didn't like them, so more compromises and some challenges met the bracket making. Unfortunately, I couldn't use the fore/aft ratchet sliders on the Suzuki seats. They made everything sit too tall. When it comes to safety items like seats I tend err on the side of heavy duty with things like the brackets. I used some heavy plate steel bolted to the seat bottom pan. I had to take the seats completely apart, foam and all, to do this. I made angle brackets for the front pivot and welded them to the steel lengths attached to the seat. Getting the proper spacing here is a bit of a challenge, but the 'Zuki seats actually line up with holes in useful places. The solution to the rear came in the form of something I found at my local hardware store. They are adjustable 'feet' for furniture or appliances. Since they weren't long enough on their own I used the threaded sleeves as extenders which also add some strength to the threaded portion. These also help in getting both sides of the seat level on the rear floor, since the floopan has various recesses stamped in it. Though it's not the nicest aesthetically (with the seat down you can't see them much), they have proven to do the job so far. I will confess I've obtained a squeak from one of these somewhere that I haven't tracked down yet. Got a better design? I'd love to see it. Other than welding up the plates and making the angle brackets it's pretty much a hardware store inventory job.
Still to come: I still hate the exhaust, loathe the carpet and have a 3 clock dash to install if I can figure out a solution for the perpetually saggy and overpriced dash cards. Then there's the 1098cc lump sitting in the garage awaiting a rebuild...
