|
|
 Author |
 RT M2 1191 reborn (currently 654 views) |
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 10:15:54
 Attachment: haldane2.jpg - 141.12 KB (5474 views) |
  |
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
Well I thought that I owed you all a great big THANK YOU for all your support and encouragement during my 6 year project of refurbishing my brother-in-law's Jem. I will, over the coming weeks, post some details of my trials and tribulations encountered on the way.
It all started way back in the early 70's when he and I both built kit cars, which were all the rage at the time before rust prevention. He built the 1100cc Jem and I opted for a 2lt Pinto engined Healey 100 replica, a Haldane 100 (now residing in Germany I believe).
The Jem had a minor front end bump and was taken off the road for 'upgrading' and spent the next 40 years or so languishing in the drive under tarps.
Approaching retirement, I was looking for a project and asked if he'd like to see the Jem back on the road. He said "yes" and gave it to me, lock stock and barrel.
Well it's just had it's first MOT and is 99% finished (they're never 100% are they?).
I'll attach some before and after pics. |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 10:18:06
Attachment: dsc01934.jpg - 90.29 KB (5454 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| OOPS! that was the Haldane |
 |
|
|
|
 |
Reply: 1 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 10:19:18
Attachment: apr171.jpg - 121.83 KB (5459 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| After |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 2 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 10:19:40
Attachment: dsc01933.jpg - 94.32 KB (5460 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| Before |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 3 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 10:19:59
Attachment: apr173.jpg - 204.03 KB (5448 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| After |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 4 - 68 |
|
|
| Goff_Allen |
| Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 15:43:33 |
|
|
Big Member
Location: Maltby ,South Yorkshire
Posts: 399
|
|
| Nice to see you got on the road , I like the cut out for the number plate and the back lights . |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 5 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
| Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 17:27:15 |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| Thanks Goff, the thin strip under the plate is an LED array and acts as the reverse light. I kept to the original where I could but gave in to some modern updates when tempted. I modelled the back end on a classic Alfa (can't remember its name). |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 6 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
| Posted on: June 6th, 2017, 17:34:24 |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
Alfa 33 Stradale (I had to go and look it up).
Surely there's a vague similarity? (No not in price!, in looks). |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 7 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 7th, 2017, 08:57:19
Attachment: dsc02057.jpg - 162.43 KB (5453 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| Well the downside was I had to go up to Yorkshire to fetch it back to Norwich on a trailer. Amazingly, the ancient tyres held 20 psi and she rolled easily. However having got it home, a few weeks later, whilst sitting watching telly one evening with my wife, we heard a loud gunshot behind the house. Being a hero, I rushed out to confront the gunman to complain about the antisocial noise at that time of night, but he'd rushed off in fear at my approach. This was what I discovered the next day............. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 8 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 7th, 2017, 09:22:16
Attachment: dsc01937.jpg - 184.17 KB (5444 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| From my earlier experience with kit cars I knew the vital question to ask myself about the standard of restoration was "How long do I expect each component to last?" i.e. where between quick bodge and showroom standard do I want to finish up? Well I decided to go the "daily driver with the odd bit of tinkering" route. I am not flush with funds and a tiny two seater project car doesn't figure highly in my accountant's (wife's) list of priorities. It was 100% complete, engine turned over fine (by hand), bit of minor front end damage, so what's the problem? So, minimal spend, over time from my monthly budget, topped up with some judicious eBay trading was the aim way back in 2011. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 9 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 8th, 2017, 09:24:49
Attachment: dsc02000.jpg - 66.78 KB (5450 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| Well here were my initial discoveries. Engine was OK but leaded so would need unleaded conversion (or those little bags of 'lead' balls that you dropped in your tank, remember?). Bodywork had every fibreglass problem known to man, stress cracks, breaks, holes, osmosis spots, you name it, and bodywork is my least developed skill. Interior was completely trashed but subframes looked not too bad at this stage. I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible, if for no other reason than to keep costs down, so refurbish where I could. So that was the plan. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 10 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 8th, 2017, 09:25:50
Attachment: dsc01995.jpg - 99.29 KB (5469 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| and more |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 11 - 68 |
|
|
| Simon Robinson |
| Posted on: June 8th, 2017, 21:04:06 |
|
|
Big Member
Location: Northampton
Posts: 338
|
|
| John - an alternative to unleaded conversion is using Castrol Valvemaster - liquid added to the tank every time you fill up. A lot cheaper than converting the head, especially if you're doing limited mileage. Costs about £12 a bottle and that will treat 250 litres of fuel. |
D&H Mk IV 8313, KGV 215V (aka George) - 75,000 miles and counting since restoration in 2011. |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 12 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 9th, 2017, 09:04:39
Attachment: dsc02166.jpg - 156.87 KB (5449 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| My thoughts turned to that engine. If I strip it and recondition it and get the valve guides 'unleaded' it would probably set me back as much as getting a 2nd hand 'runner'. So my quest began. If you have no rush, on eBay, and bide your time, you can often drop on some great bargains, and so it happened for me. After many months of looking, local to me, a garage had posted a 1992 Mini Cooper 1275, 64k, MOT failure with good mechanics but dire bodywork. I posted a speculative bid and managed to win it for just £500 and got them to throw in MiniLite alloys with new tyres - result. So I now had my new donor for the kit. It ran well and selected all gears easily with the additional bonus of having all the ancillaries that had perished on the Jem. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 13 - 68 |
|
|
| John_Campbell |
Posted on: June 9th, 2017, 09:26:37
Attachment: dsc02480.jpg - 152.19 KB (5473 views) |
|
|
Minimum Member
Posts: 94
|
|
| Moving forward a year or so and I'd sold the original 1100cc engine to a restorer in Scotland (£160), stripped the donor using what I needed and reselling the rest, getting £350 for the rolling shell from a very grateful Mini lover and topping up my Jem fund substantially. Hang on, at this rate I'll be making money out of this build, which got me thinking (what do you mean 'that's unusual'?)............ Using eBay could be a big help in funding the project, so I sold everything I could lay my hands on and made a small fortune (well more than £1000 anyway). My piece de resistance was stripping down a broken £200 GTech vacuum cleaner into its component parts and selling them for a total of £223.07. |
 |
|
|
|
| |
Reply: 14 - 68 |
|
|
|
Mini Marcos Forum > General Boards > Mini Jem > RT M2 1191 reborn
Logged