Continuing on from my post about finally getting my rear subframe assembled for my Mini, ready for the big “fit”, this weekend saw a small amount of struggle in getting it fitted! As far as fitting rear subframes go, this went quite well.

Those horrible rear subframe mounts are a nightmare, but this time around they didn’t cause too many issues. Without going into too much detail, but if you’re attempting this job soon then literally the only method is … “poke and hope!!”

Its a near impossibility to see the bolt hole and to line the mounts up with them, so its just a case of attempting to screw the bolts into their correct positions and “hoping” its right. Just make sure you don’t cross-thread them!

Anyway, here’s some photos

You can clearly see the rear subframe with the rear valance removed, and I think it looks awesome! It also makes fitting the furthest back rear subframe mounts so much easier too!

Next up - time for removing and stripping the front subframe!

At long last, my rear subframe on my Mini is now fully assembled and ready for fitment. Its been delayed on a number of things which has been bugging for a while, but last night my girlfriend and me finally managed to get the subby all together.

First of all, last week my order from the nice blokes at KAD came which included a super-sexy internal gear linkage kit (photos coming soon!) and a pair of rear camber and tracking brackets which support the outer-side of the radius arms. Without them, I can’t really assemble much!

The main problem we had when trying to assemble this is the fact that the radius arm just didn’t sit correctly - when trying to fit the camber bracket the bolt holes did not line up, no matter what order or what we did. If you’re reading this and this is a job you’re going to undertake anytime soon, then you’ll notice you must fit a rubber o-ring over each end of the radius arm, along with a large thick washer to prevent dust getting into the radius arm shaft.

However, these little buggers of rubbers caused all my nightmares. At last I figured out that the radius arm wasn’t being pushed down as far as it needed to be because of these o-ring rubbers, so instead of trying to attach the rubbers onto each end of the radius arm first, I instead fitted the rubbers onto the outside of the washer, then fitted the o-ring & washer onto the end of the arm. That’ll be it then!

Anyway, without further ado, some photos!

And a quick photo of my current working environment!

I haven’t posted anything on this blog in a very long time with anything regarding my Mini, but I think that should change - after all this blog is a blog about things I like!

So, for those of you who don’t know, I own a 1983 Mini City E,  I’ve owned her for about 3 years and her name is… “The Mig”. However, almost 2 of those years has been spent in my garage in a state of re-build. She was a 998cc rally replica before I stripped her to bare shell and began the rebuild process. I’m converting her into a screaming race replica, Mini Miglia look-a-like which should be pretty nippy!

Here’s what she looks like at the moment…

For now though, I’m concentrating on getting her back on the road with a standard-ish 1275cc 8 valve A+ Mini engine, but with the brakes, suspension & general rest-of-car to near race-spec.

Over this weekend I’ve just done the job of removing my rear valance. I’ve been to a lot of Mini Miglia race meetings and I have a lot of photos of Mini Mig’s, and I notice almost all of them have their rear valance removed - perhaps for even less weight, or perhaps because the rear valance acts as a giant air-scoop which would slow down the car. Regardless of the reasons, mine is now gone! … But I did find a pretty large hole of rust after removing it. Bad times!

Not to worry too much - I have my own Mig welder and I’ve been saying to myself for months now that I will learn how to weld. I have metal, gas and a mask. And I have a hole to weld… watch this space!