Refitting

The shell, having been completed was then ready for reassembly. Key aspects included the wiring loom, dash, interior, sub-frames and suspension, and the engine.

Much research went into the project, and in particular to the layout of the cockpit and dashboard. John and Brian studied many photos, files, and diagrams, some provided by Bill Price from the original BMC Works team. The dash was assembled by Brian, who had many of the original and rare components such as the Halpa tripmaster.

The dash was fitted at Minimaster along with all the other many modifications required to the cockpit to make it authentic. This included the fitting of the water bottles and heater. During the whole project, many changes were made as more information was gleaned about the original spec. of the setup - though this was difficult as the car itself was changed considerably during its three years in action. Not only was it fitted with three different engines, but was entered into different classes for different rallies, requiring many different modifications.

Rewiring

The wiring loom was custom made by Stan Chalmers, who worked at Lucas in the 60s and made the wiring for the original works minis. The painted shell was carefully transported to his workshop where Stan manufactured and installed the loom from the original specification. Proper copper wiring in cloth sheaths was used, and the whole lot carefully wrapped in more fibre sheathing. All the terminals and connectors were proper copper ones.

The loom is started in the front onside part of the vehicle, and in an S-shape is run across the front of the vehicle (connecting headlamps, lights, and auxiliary spots) and then up to the dash along the offside inner wing. Through the bulkhead, it is then threaded behind the dash connecting all the switches and main key switch and cut-off switch to the fuses at the end. A second spur is threaded down the onside part of the cockpit and into the boot, where is it hooked up to lights, lamps, fuel pumps and ultimately to the battery.

Suspension, Drive, and Fittings

The front and rear subframes were replaced with new ones, and the complete suspension was replaced and reassembled using many new original components. All brake pipes, and fuel pipes were installed and then the wheel hubs, cones, shock absorbers, brakes and other suspension components were fitted in minimaster. Finally, the drive-gear was installed and completed once the engine and gearbox was fitted.

The Swiftune-prepared 1071cc engine was then installed (more on that in Part 3), and the installation and assembly completed. Stan then came up to complete some of the wiring, and test it was all working ok. The engine feed was briefly checked, along with many of the main electrical functions, which all worked first time, much to the delight of all!

The remainder of the interior, and in particular the driver's and navigator's seats (hand-restored by Newton Commercial) were installed, and the finishing touches applied. There was also many of the exterior fittings to put on, for which again, there were many modifications to do in order to make it completely authentic.

From this point, it was all the electro-mechanical things to fit and check, including the complex twin-tank and fuel pump configuration, the engine electricals and the transmission and drive fittings to complete. Some of this turned out to be quite difficult as many of the original components were troublesome to make work. However, the team worked late into the nights to meet the deadline ready for a shake-down and final check before its first run to Goodwood, and then on to Monte Carlo!

Next Installment

In the next installment, we cover the engine, the tuning and the final shakedown as well as pictures from the Minis to Monte run.