Mini-Sport.net

My last post was on how I restored the Mini Sport seats to its former glory and shine, the oil I used has greatly re-moisturized the seats, although the driver’s seat ripped a seam a bit (as it’s the most used seat) and will soon be heading to the upholsterers shop for repair.

When the Mini Sport got to my hands and I firstly opened the driver’s side door, one thing that shocked me was the state of the interior door panels! Completely warped and with as many curves as a race track! I seriously thought I would have to get new interior door panels! I mean, that when I laid these panels on a table there would be a 20cm difference from one end to the other!

Warped Door Panel

As I have a good friend that is a professional carpenter and after showing him the one of the curvy panels, he expertly advised me on how to get those panels straight once more!

It is so simple that anyone can do it!

After removing the panels from the doors I had the vinyl cleaned with water and a cleaning agent, laid a panel at a time on my work bench, pressboard side up, but with an old bed sheet underneath then get some old thick rags, have them moistened with water and place them to cover the whole of the panel! This is an easy trick to straighten the panels! The pressboard will get moist slowly and more pliable! At this stage you feel how flexible the pressboard is and if still a bit hard, had more water to the rags and wait a couple more hours!

As soon as the panel is completely flexible without breaking or cracking when you press on them, the next stage is to remove the rags and add weights!

Weights on Door Panel

Pieces of plywood the size of the panel then the weights on top of the plywood works even better! The amount of weight needed to straighten these panels varies as with one of them that was so warped I had to use almost 20kgs!

Restored Door Panel

Drying time varies on your location and season of the year you do this, as each of my panels took 3 days to dry and are straight as an arrow and ready to be stored!

The upholstery on this Mini Sport at first sight was a very sorry one! The picture displayed here shows what over 15 years of storage on a dusty place can do to the seats!

Removing Mini Sport seats are the easiest thing! Gave them a good wash with a moist cloth, but not too wet so that the dirty water could sink in to the sponge seat! Noticed that the vinyl on all seats were kind of rough and dried up! Time after a good wash and drying them up to re-moisturize them!

How I did it? Simply applying Johnson’s baby oil!

This oil was applied with a brush in layers, the Mini Sport vinyl slowly absorbed the oil and naturally became more flexible! Special attention was given to the seams and after a few weeks you can noticeably see and feel that the vinyl is much softer and much more flexible!

All seats are now wrapped up in big plastic bags and taped for storage! The oil is still taking action.

There will come a time in the final restoration process were the seats will be replaced back in the Mini Sport! Until then, I will be in the look out for a product that will seal in the moisture and prevent the vinyl to re-dry!

As for the molded floor mat on this Mini Sport, after a good vacuum, pressure wash and vacuum again I was amazed at its next to excellent condition!

There is no doubt that the heart of a car is its engine! This Mini Sport has been stored for over 15 years and there is no way of telling in what condition the Mini Sport engine is in!

On acquiring the Mini Sport, the previous owner did mention that the car got to the barn on its own and that the Mini Sport engine was running fine and smoothly! But 15 years is a lot of time just to start the engine as is with the possibility of doing some damage! So I opted to remove the spark plugs and spray in each combustion chamber some WD40. I did notice that the champion competition spark plugs have 3 electrodes! After about two weeks I sprayed some more WD40 and left it for about another week, letting the lubricant do its job!

At this point and still with the spark plugs removed (and with fingers crossed) I got a spanner and manually turned the crankshaft! To my joy it did turn, so the engine apparently did not seize! At this stage I just manually turned it about a complete revolution and sprayed more WD40.

Mini Sport engine when found

A couple of days later and after a few hand turned revolutions of the crankshaft I thought that it was time for the next stage!

Got a new battery for the Mini Sport and installed it in the luggage compartment!

A dry run test was in my mind before firing it up! A dry run is basically starting the engine without any spark plugs! This in turn not only loosens up the engine but as well it lubricates it and builds up pressure!

I did try to dry run it, but the bendix would just not budge! So my next step was to remove the starter motor, strip it apart, lubricate it, reassembled and reinstalled!

Moved the ignition key another notch to start and the Mini Sport engine immediately started to spew out the WD40! Excellent sign! I let the Mini Sport engine do the lube job for about 30 seconds and turned the ignition off!

A bit more of the spray into the combustion chambers and planning for the next big day!

After flushing out and inspecting the fuel line and removing the gas tank and again inspecting for deposits and rust, it looked to me that all systems were GO!

Mini Sport engine after fire-up

After another short dry run, the spark plugs were fitted and again fingers crossed for the first firing up of this Mini Sport engine!

Choke up and gave the ignition a start, it turned and turned but did not fire! Again and again I tried until I got my first sign of combustion! Pedal to the metal and finally the engine is running! A bit sloppy at first but after a few light accelerations the Mini Sport engine amazingly started to run smooth!

How lucky I am that this engine sounds like and runs just perfectly! This will greatly reduce the Mini Sport restoration costs!

This Mini Sport site is intended to supply anyone that is passionate and owns a Mini with valuable information in the full and from-the-ground-up restoration process that has already begun on this particular Mini Sport with the chassis nº XL2S1N 7023121 S.

Posts will be added in a regular basis accordingly to its restoration process and phases!

About Mini Sport

The Mini was firstly introduced to the public in 1959 through the design of Alex Issigoni. Over five million Minis were produced in just a bit of over 40 years of its lifespan. One particular Mini enthusiast had the foresight to see the potential the Mini has for rallying and in doing so founded Mini Sport in 1967.

The parts supplied to Mini racers by this company were so reliable that soon enough Mini Sport saw their cars obtaining quite a few chequered flags! Since then Mini Sport has become a reference to any Mini racer that wants to obtain the best quality and most reliable spares for their Mini racer. Mini Sport also has an engineering/development department that vouches for better technical improvements for every Mini.

This company, Mini Sport, which was founded in 1967, still exists today!

Mini Sport Barn Find

A bit on how this Mini Sport was found

A Real Estate agent friend of mine was looking for some country side property for a particular client! One day coming across a potential property and wanting to inspect all corners of the same property, he came across a barn with a very rusted padlock! The owners of the property were a bit reluctant in having the padlock broken, so the inside premises could be shown! The Agent promised them a new padlock and soon enough he gave the rusted lock a good whack with a sledgehammer! After a bit of a fight opening the barn door to his amazement he saw a Mini next to a pile of bales of hay! This friend, knowing my passion for classics, immediately called me and I was there in a flash!

After talking with the owners of the farm and a final negotiation with a handshake to seal the deal, this Mini was then towed to my premises!

After some detective work

I have learnt so far in my quest in getting as much information as possible on this vehicle, so I could undertake a professional restoration, that this particular Mini Sport is 1 of the limited and special edition of only 50 that were manufactured in Portugal in 1980. All over the country, only 1 Mini Sport was allowed/supplied to a single Mini dealership!

Further with my investigations, I found out that this particular Mini Sport raced in the early 80´s in the famous Estoril Race Track!

No wonder, with a factory built in roll-cage, bucket seats, three point seat belt harness (at the time), lowered suspension, bigger brake master cylinders, 165/70/10 Dunlop soft rubber performance tires on magnesium light alloy Cosmic rims and with a 1098cc engine with a 1 ½” SU boasting 97hp, it´s a street legal racer!