London White Wagon
BiMU
Band Wagon
Just thought I'd get involved here and copied and pasted this from another forum.
I like cars, all kinds. Currently own a classic Mini, it lives in the garage at the moment and was my daily for 5 years and slowly added my own personal touches:
Last year decided to try something Japanese and went for a Mazda MX5. I guess I love the pop up lights and the drive of it! I didn't want to spend too much money on it so just added some little bits like some Meister's, hard top and a couple of sets of wheels:
They're not perfect, they both have rust on them but I try and keep them looking clean. Last month the MX5's clutch/gearbox was starting to whine so I started to think whether it was worth repairing and keeping for another year so I bought a new clutch and was about to fit it when I saw a Wagon on eBay. Totally smitten and not thinking logically I called the next morning and viewed early that afternoon putting a deposit down. Picked it up after two weeks (as I had to wait for the V5 to come through) and have been driving it around the streets of west London for the past two weeks!
What drew me to it was that the previous, previous owner was a panel beater and had stripped the Wagon, repaired the rust and repainted the shell, the wheels were brand new, it was rocking some Meister R's, the interior was cleaned and looked factory and it only had 60,000 miles on the clock. After dealing with the Mini and Mazda I knew that what ever I got next would need to be as clean a base as possible, it just so happened that this one had all the bits that I would have slowly added over a period of time.
So after a few weeks I started playing a little:
Raised the Meister suspension so that I could clear the mountains on the way to work. The rear's hadn't been put on properly and did not have the preload set so went at it for a couple of hours raising the perches. I couldn't take the coilovers off so had to do it in situ. The fronts were fine!
Installed the Momo Corse wheel I had from the Mazda. The Wagon came with a suede OMP wheel but the suede and smoothed over and didn't really feel nice to hold so it had to go. I thought about putting on the quick release I have laying around but didn't like how near it brought the wheel forward and I like being able to reach the stalks with my fingertips.
I somehow convinced myself that I need more power so when the d16z6 head came up in the classified section for £25 I thought why not! It's in pretty good nick so it's there to start but I'm not too sure as the engine in the Wagon has only done 62,000miles and I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind!
In other news I drove to Penzance with the missus last weekend and must say that the Wagon did a pretty good job! It easily cruised at 80mph but I wanted to save fuel so was at a steady 70mph. It was great to be able to recline the seats and have a little rest nap and having the extra space is great as I'm used to driving either the Mini or the Mazda. Oh and it ate up the corners and hills like nobody's business! Thumbs up all around for sure.
It's been all good so far apart from the constant rubbing of the mudflaps on everything over 5cm in height but I can't bring myself to take them off.
Plans are:
Thanks for reading! I'll try and update as much as possible!
I like cars, all kinds. Currently own a classic Mini, it lives in the garage at the moment and was my daily for 5 years and slowly added my own personal touches:
Last year decided to try something Japanese and went for a Mazda MX5. I guess I love the pop up lights and the drive of it! I didn't want to spend too much money on it so just added some little bits like some Meister's, hard top and a couple of sets of wheels:
They're not perfect, they both have rust on them but I try and keep them looking clean. Last month the MX5's clutch/gearbox was starting to whine so I started to think whether it was worth repairing and keeping for another year so I bought a new clutch and was about to fit it when I saw a Wagon on eBay. Totally smitten and not thinking logically I called the next morning and viewed early that afternoon putting a deposit down. Picked it up after two weeks (as I had to wait for the V5 to come through) and have been driving it around the streets of west London for the past two weeks!
What drew me to it was that the previous, previous owner was a panel beater and had stripped the Wagon, repaired the rust and repainted the shell, the wheels were brand new, it was rocking some Meister R's, the interior was cleaned and looked factory and it only had 60,000 miles on the clock. After dealing with the Mini and Mazda I knew that what ever I got next would need to be as clean a base as possible, it just so happened that this one had all the bits that I would have slowly added over a period of time.
So after a few weeks I started playing a little:
Raised the Meister suspension so that I could clear the mountains on the way to work. The rear's hadn't been put on properly and did not have the preload set so went at it for a couple of hours raising the perches. I couldn't take the coilovers off so had to do it in situ. The fronts were fine!
Installed the Momo Corse wheel I had from the Mazda. The Wagon came with a suede OMP wheel but the suede and smoothed over and didn't really feel nice to hold so it had to go. I thought about putting on the quick release I have laying around but didn't like how near it brought the wheel forward and I like being able to reach the stalks with my fingertips.
I somehow convinced myself that I need more power so when the d16z6 head came up in the classified section for £25 I thought why not! It's in pretty good nick so it's there to start but I'm not too sure as the engine in the Wagon has only done 62,000miles and I guess if it ain't broke don't fix it comes to mind!
In other news I drove to Penzance with the missus last weekend and must say that the Wagon did a pretty good job! It easily cruised at 80mph but I wanted to save fuel so was at a steady 70mph. It was great to be able to recline the seats and have a little rest nap and having the extra space is great as I'm used to driving either the Mini or the Mazda. Oh and it ate up the corners and hills like nobody's business! Thumbs up all around for sure.
It's been all good so far apart from the constant rubbing of the mudflaps on everything over 5cm in height but I can't bring myself to take them off.
Plans are:
- Research a little more into the VTEC Mini Me conversion
- Sort out some rattles caused by vibrations from the speakers
- Look at putting on some winter wheels. I have a set of 15inch Watanabe split rims in the garage but they're in desperate need of a refurb, plus I need to source some decent, cheap tyres.
Thanks for reading! I'll try and update as much as possible!
Comments
I have no updates at the moment, just really loving driving it as its really solid. VTEC mini is definitely on the cards but not a priority. However I am looking at upgrading the speakers all around as I'm pretty sure I've blown two and def some window tints.
The interior is bloody clean. The previous, previous owner took the interior out, jet washed the carpets and gave the seats damn good wash!
I'll have think about the grill as it would look a lot meaner with a black grill.
Cheers dude, I pounced on it like a lion when I saw it!
Thanks Knotty! Everyone needs to drive a old classic Mini at least once in their life, it's like a go-kart on train tracks! Loving your Wagon the thread is epic.
Noooooo! 1275cc engines are getting hard to come by now, starting to pick up in price. There's still time to get a real Mini not a fakey BMW Bini!
Close up of the painted calipers and Axis OG's
Smooth booty. So tempted to sticker it up but I like the simplicity of it and the only sticker that is there is the Speedhunters one... which I love!
First thing I did was change the speakers, now it sounded pretty good but there were some connection problems and I think I may have blown one, so I decided to plump for some Hertz. They do sound great and can take a good base beating but can handle the mid range pretty well too! One slight problem I did find is now my front windows do not roll all the way down anymore so I'll have to make frames to bring the speakers out a little more.
I also got off my lazy ass and gave a quick rub down and spray of the Watanabe's I had in the garage. I'd really like to split them properly at some point but for now these will do:
Before:
After:
On the Wagon:
Last week I received an rear upper strut brace from eBay. Was a bit of a pig to fit to be honest and I wasn't thinking straight (Saturday, recover from Friday mode!) Firstly it was too wide, even with winding the ends all the way in. So for some reason I thought it was a good idea to take the ends off then grind off some metal from each end so that I could get clearance to wind the nut further into the strut. That totally didn't work and 2 hours wasted, by this time I was thinking I should've bought a proper named strut brace. In the end I figured to take off both locking nuts from each end and voila it fit!
Overall really happy with it actually I was thinking about the C-Pillar strut but the thought of constantly looking at it from the rear view mirror put me off and the fact that people would probably freak out when they take a ride in the back seat! The Wagon definitely feels tighter when giving it some beans on a bend, it doesn't flex as it did so it feels more planted. I think it's a real good purchase for the Wagon and it's extended booty!
Lastly I took these shots which are my fav so far. The knob is cold in the morning so used two Innocent Smoothy Drink wolly hats!
Then this shot from the front that shows the blue fade strip (which was the first addition). It's such a big ass window I needed some kind of shade and I thought this was the way to go. I also like the idea of putting a sticker on the top of the boot, facing forwards, posing, like a bawse...
Mini me wise I haven't bought anything new I know I do need:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvW1jZc6yG0&feature=share&list=UU-wJznClJU-xtjJRzP6L5ow
good to see you over here.
really like the video too.
And my favourite picture so far:
SSR Mk3's 14x6.5 et19 with 185/60 r14 Falkens with 10mm spacers up front. For summer I'll look into getting them refurbished, althougth I'll probably do that myself and have some 25mm hubcentric spacers on the rear.
Looks great on your wagon!
Thanks! I bought them initially for a Mazda MX5 (Eunos/Miata) and bought the tyres to suit it but I liked the look of the fat tires!
Cheers guys!
Thanks, I'm also on 4GUK.
I've never driven a VTEC before but from what it feels like... I love it. There's a few niggles - throttle cable is still a bit sticky, the exhaust has a slight rattle a clutch might be on its way out soon... but boy does it shift. Being AWD it just grips and holds so well. Daz at Endless also road mapped the P28 and even put launch control at 4000rpm for shits and giggles as well as pops and bangs! I also adore how it looks OEM, like it was always meant to be there!
I'll try and get some video footage up soon. Now I need some better brakes...
Cheers dude! I've tried about two launches one with the girlfriend and she screamed as she had no idea what was going on just pops from hitting the 4k limit. Good thing is the AWD makes it stick on launch but bad thing is I already think my clutch is on it's way out and the launching doesn't help. I'll try and get some footage this weekend!
Want to see video, because I can't imagine small Z6 vtec go like B series vtec (bwaaaaa)
I've never driven a B-Series (one day hopefully) and never even a VTEC powered car. I only drove this one as an A7, the VTEC crossover isn't as aggressive as a B-Series but it is strong and it just likes to pull through the rev range consistently. Definitely an improvement over the old standard engine. I feel this is definitely quicker than my 1.6 DOHC MX5!
Love the watas and mk3's aswell. Equip 03's are heaps nicer then the og's imo