Mini Sport Classic Car Restoration Part-1

After my Awesome Barn Find a few months ago, I´ve been greatly enjoying this “intimate” learning curve with my “new” Mini Sport!

My Idea is to have it fully restored just as the day it left the factory! My knowledge on Minis is not much but improving significantly every day and I´ll be publishing Hubs on a regular basis describing in detail my process of this racing classic car restoration!

Right now I´m on the phase of dismantling it! Lots of photos have already been taken for future reference! Every single item before removal is photographed in loco and again on my workbench! Then tagged and if possible restored or treated then wrapped in plastic and stored in a secure and organized location just for the vehicle!

To avoid future hassle in the assembly phase, you do not want to misplace and lose any item, not even a single screw!

As far as I know, this Mini Sport is one of the limited edition of 50 cars that were assembled (or manufactured, still investigating on this) in Portugal as a street legal racer!

This same car in the early 80´s competed in the Estoril Racetrack! So it´s got a racing history that in the near future I will put my detective hat on to find out who drove it! Maybe it was Sir Stirling Moss! Ha ha, wishful thinking!

• Engine - The heart of a car is the engine of course and this engine amazingly fired up after I treated it with WD40! It took me close to 6 weeks of treatment before firing it up with my fingers crossed and yes, it sounds almost perfect! From my experience, this Mini Sport engine will not have to be overhauled (that´s going to save me quite a lot of money)! It will have to be removed from the car eventually, have it steam cleaned and then a good heat resistant paint job!

• Gear box and transmission – Having the engine up and running, the tires inflated and making sure all fluid levels are on the full mark I took it for a slow trial spin around my place! Oops, brakes are bad!

• Windows – All there with no chips or cracks! The windshield has got some light scratches which are easily polishable to make them totally invisible!

• Chrome - Front and rear chrome bumpers need rechroming as does the right side headlight frame. Door knobs and gas cap just need a good polishing!

• Rubbers – All in good condition but need replacing if I want to give it that special look!

• Interior – All there and complete but some of the dashboard panels for some reason are dismantled! Still in good order ready for a good vinyl cleaner and polisher and them wrap them in plastic for storage.

• Exterior – As one can see by the pictures, the exterior needs quite a bit of work!

This is not the first time I ever restore a car, and to me, the process is getting easier! You do have to keep focused on what you are doing because one can always overindulge in removing bits and bobs from here and there and soon enough you have your garage floor full of parts that you can easily trip on and break, not to mention hurt yourself!

So far the bumpers have been removed, engine hood and boot lid too! Rear seats, front right seat as well removed, treated and stored away! The roll bar was just removed a couple a days ago and ready to be washed, dried then treated and eventually stored away!

Thanks for reading and keep posted on this Mini Sports Classic Car Restoration!