Team BMC - Shitbox Rally 2013 - 69 Mini Van - We did it!

[bnicho]

The now-annual Shitbox Rally requires participants to drive a long distance through the outback in a sub-$1000 car and raise a mimimum of $4000 in sponsorship and donations for the Cancer Council.

I completed Shitbox Rally 2012 from Melbourne to Cairns in a 1979 Fiat 131 Supermirafiori.

Immediately on arriving in Cairns I decided I would apply again for 2013 when the rally would travel from Adelaide north to Uluru and then west through the desert to Fremantle near Perth.

I decided I wanted a car closer to my heart for 2013. Something even sillier than a pink Fiat. It could only be a Mini, a Moke or at least a Morris 1100. The cars I have tinkered with, loved and cursed all my driving life.

It takes a special kind of masochist to consider a massive journey in a Mini on rough outback roads. There was only one person I knew who was mad enough to consider it. A mate named Craig Watson (aka Watto) who happens to be editor of The BMC Experience Magazine. I sent him an e-mail and literally ten minutes later he replied with a very enthusiastic "Yes". Team BMC - "Break, Mend, Continue" - was formed.

So, now we needed a car. We drove 400km to look at a promising sounding Morris 1100, but it wasn't very good at all. We considered a Marina and an Austin 1800. But we really wanted a Mini.

So we put the word out that we were looking for a very cheap Mini.

Ian Mitchell of the Vic Mini Club Inc. very generously donated us this 1969 Mini Van. That's right, for free.













This van needs new front floors, both sills, both front wings and a small patch on a rear wing. More that I've ever had to deal with before, but I suppose not bad by UK standards.

Craig and I though we were going to look at a shell, but Ian threw in all the doors, the bonnet, usable door and window seals, an instrument cluster, loom and even some stock rims with good tyres.

So we dragged it home to my place and named it project "Desert Assault Van" or "DAV" for short.





I have a good 1100 and remote box from a Clubman I stripped years ago that should be a suitable power unit.

Or first task will be fix stuff that is hard to get at once the motor is in. Then we put the motor in and get it running as a bit of a morale boost.

Then will come the weld-athon and pretty bits.

If you are interested in helping Team BMC to raise money for Cancer research, the easiest way to donate is via our fundraising website.

http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/team_bmc

We would be delighted to hear from businesses who wish to sponsor us in return for a logo on the car and honourable mention in The BMC Experience magazine. Although it's circulation is mainly in Australia.

For regular updates, you can "LIKE" our Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/TeamBMC2013

You can also contact us directly for further information via PM'ing me,

or email us at: team.bmc.2013@gmail.com

Cheers,
Brett.

[Grumpy Northener]

Brett -Well firstly good luck - It's nice that you had the van donated - currently in the UK early minis (anything pre 70's) are fetching very strong prices even in the condition of the one that you have been donated) where as a couple of years ago you could pick them up for very little money - up and together minivans (soild sides) are being touted in the the trade at £10k plus UK sterling - there is currently a trader over here that is claiming that he has the worlds oldest production minivan - for which he asking mega bucks !!

[bnicho]

Yes, we are very fortunate to have a van donated. They are not easy to find Aus anymore and normally even ones this rough change hands for $AU 500+

When we set out to find a Mini for the rally we thought a van would be the ultimate car to use, but figured the best we could probably find would be a Clubman sedan. So we are elated to have a van.

The plan has changed slightly. The floor and sills do not have much structure left, so we have decided to do all those sections while the subframe is out, leaving only the upper body bits for later.

I've done a fair bit of arc welding before, but I'm a real novice with a MIG. After forcing myself to play with the MIG welder on scrap steel until I got it right, I managed to gain some usable skills. Three patches in the drivers side toe-board area were welded in last night. I checked the same area on the passenger side and didn't find any holes there. Result! We are hopefully picking up some good used floor pans from a donor car next week. I already have new inner and outer sills to fit.

Meanwhile I have rebuilt the front brakes with reshimmed ball joints, re-rubbered wheel cylinders, bearings, shoes and pads. I've also procured a reconditioned steering rack at a heavily discounted price. Rebuilding a Mini front subframe is easy. The hard part is keeping the spending low. We'd love to fit disk brakes, but the cost of the bits is too prohibitive.

Cheers,

[bnicho]

I've been quiet for a while because we have been busy trying to turn rust into a car.

This is the sort of stuff we found:







Old front floor. More like rusty lace.



Craig hard at work.



Donated floor pans going in. Notice the big hole in the kick panel on the right.



We kept finding more rust, so we tipped it on it's side on an old caravan mattress and a couple of tyres.



At least we are getting a lot of MIG practice.

Cheers,

[TerryG]

That looks like a massive weldathon! If you find much more rot you will have to chat with John and see how it compares to the jag
Is there going to be more than 50% of the original shell left?

[bnicho]

I reckon there will be more than 50% left. It's not as bad as John Simpson's red Mini was.

So far we have replaced both front floors, both outer sills and most of the inner sills. Sections of the rear lower floor and seat cross member have also been patched. We still have both A-panels, a front wing and patches of rear quarter and toe board to do.

Weirdly the roof, load floor and rear valance is perfect. I reckon this car must have spent some time partially submerged, as this is way beyond the sort of rust we normally see here. I've scrapped better Minis than this!

But our only hope of making the $1000AU budget is to keep going. There is no chance of finding a better van cheap enough. Some of the repair sections were donated and our labour comes free. (But our wives are not happy!)

Cheers,

[SirTainleyBarking]

And I thought Australia was the land of rust free classics......

Well that ones busted then.

That said I've seen much worse restored over here....

BEst of luck with the weld-a-thon

[bnicho]

DAV is back on wheels and has made an appearance at both the Geelong Revival and the BMC Experience Grand Day Out events.







We still have a long way to go with the rust repairs, but it least DAV actually looks like a car again.

Thanks to our sponsors Cooper S Imports http://www.coopersimports.com for numerous suspension and brake parts. Also for a set of new H4 headlights at the Grand Day Out.

Thanks to Classic British Car Sales in Perth for the donation of six new light truck tyres. http://www.britishcarsales.com.au/artic ... c=SHOWROOM

Thanks to the classic car community getting behind us, we raised $267 at Geelong Revival and $116 at the Grand Day Out.

We have now cracked $2KAU, which is half our minimum before the start. That still leaves us at least $2K to go. So please keep those donations coming.

http://fundraise.shitboxrally.com.au/team_bmc

Cheers,

[Topaz]

Forget the car - tell us more about the young ladies - you never get attractions like that at UK car shows

Mike

PS - tha vans not bad either

[bnicho]

Hi,

It's fairly common to see promo girls at Aussie car shows and motorsport events. In this case the girls were promoting "Just Cars" magazine - a monthly classifieds for selling Classic Cars and a major sponsor of the event. Unlike some promo girls, their outfits were quite tasteful. The girls were quite enthusiastic about the Mini. One asked if they could pile on the car for a photo, so how could we refuse?

There are plenty more photos on the event Facebook site:

http://www.facebook.com/geelongrevival

Cheers,
Brett