Tom Kidd's Mini Tahiti has been realisation of a dream to build a "mint" mini. After seeing gradual degredation of it, the time came to make a decision to either sell it or rebuild it. But selling wasn't an option. He'd rather spend money on his car with so much character rather than buy a newer euro autobox.

Tom stripped down his car and delivered it to Minimaster for some body work. On first looks, there didn't seem to be much to do as it was so clean and obviously well looked after. However, on closer inspection, there were the tell-tale signs of rot, and sadly it was everywhere.

Tom wanted it done right, and so off came the front end, and repairs done to inner wings, new wings, A-panels and scuttle. The inner and outer sills were also replaced, as was the rear vallence and the door skins. Essentially, everything but the bulkhead and floor was done: a major investment, but the most sensible thing to do.

The car was then loaded up and taken to our top paint shop to be resprayed in its original Tahiti blue. When it was returned, it looked superb. The body was given the obligatory waxoiling, and it was prepared for picking up, as Tom was putting it back together himself. He was also installing his new MED 1380 road competition engine with K&N filter, Maniflow LCB, RC40 and 1¾ SU carb.

Tom took it away, and did the work on it, and then brought it back to get the engine set up on the rolling road. Tom did a fair job at doing an initial configuration, but John worked his magic, and made it far more driveable. The needle was changed to be a bit richer, but suggested to Tom to change the fuel pump and gave him George's large bore inlet manifold to try. Dad says that there's still a lot more to come from it!

Tom's mini looked so good that it attracted the attention of Mini Magazine, who did an article on it (yet to be published).

The dream mini then came back to us for a full redo on the suspension and handling. Hi-los were fitted, and negative camber and tracking rear brackets fitted. Group-A tie rods and polymer bushes were added, as were 4-pot calipers to stop the new ultra-lite alloy wheels. Alloy subframe mounts abd polyflex bushes were also fitted - they'd made a huge difference to the handling on the S-works. The result: a staggering improvement in handling after John had set up the suspension, tracking and camber.

As it had been featured, Tom's mini was in the member's area at MITP as was his brother's, which had also been to Minimaster for a tune up. Tom was gracious enough to put a little plate in the car denoting Minimaster's assistance in doing the body work, which my Dad found rather flattering, so we invited them all for some lunch as a thankyou.

Dad and Tom are still working on the engine, making minor tweaks here and there to make it really go. We shall be featuring the tune-up in our up-and-coming Performance On-line section.