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THE EIGHTH WONDER

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SHORT CIRCUIT

SHORT CIRCUIT

Ever get the feeling that someone’s watching you?

finally concluded that enough was enough and it was time to do right by the forlorn and beleaguered Mini. “I decided it had been far too long, and it was time to give the Mini a whole new lease of life,” he smiles. “Even though the family had given up any hopes of me ever getting it back on the road! Also, there was now another generation of Mini enthusiasts, my children, for me to hand it down to eventually, and this played a big role in my motivation to complete it.”

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SECOND CHANCE

And so plans were drawn up to reinvent the Cooper Sport – and what plans they

“The family had given up any hopes of me getting it back on the road”

were! With the car being rather far gone by this point, Dane gave himself carte blanche to really go to town on the car and reimagine it in a custom style that was appropriate to its 1990s roots; a full juicy revamp and modernisation, while also celebrating the modding style of the old-school. The most eye-catching element at first glance has to be that Zeemax kit – and who doesn’t love a Zeemax? – while the bespoke details start to come thick and fast as you lean in for a closer look. The paint shade is actually from a new-wave BMW palette, being metallic Lime Rock Grey, with the roof also a Bavarian f lavour of Fire Orange. The Mini’s back catalogue has been intelligently plundered to cherrypick a sort of greatest-hits of styles, including the Mk2 taillights (now coloured all-red), Mk1 grille and Mk1style fibreglass bonnet. Perhaps the most radical change here is the steel f lipfront, and this houses one of the more

Flip-front doesn’t just allow easy access - it lets Dane show off the incredible underbonnet detail

All the cams, all the valves, all the fun “The 1.4-litre CGA3 bottom end is mated to a 1.3 CG13 head”

R X-8 seats if you peer through the side windows, although the JDM f lair runs far deeper than that. Flipping forward the front end of the car, we find a surprising heart-and-lungs transplant: the 1.4-litre twin-cam 16v engine from a K11-generation Nissan Micra. Naturally this kind of exchange doesn’t just drop in and plug-and-play, there’s quite an extensive amount of custom work required to get it all singing from the same hymn sheet, and this extended to fabricating a custom subframe as well as having some custom driveshafts made up among much else. And given the in-depth nature of the endeavour, it was perfectly understandable that Dane would make a few tweaks to the formula as he went along. Might as well, right? No point going this far and then not going further. So the 1.4-litre CGA3 bottom end now finds itself mated to the head from a 1.3-litre CG13 motor, which has been ported, skimmed, and crammed with a set of more aggressive Matt Humphries 774 camshafts.

UNIQUE BLEND

Further ingenuity can be found in the modified inlet manifold – which came from a Ford Escort XR3i, of all things – and Dane’s own custom home-made

How good does that look when it squats under acceleration?

TECH SPEC

switches and controls, it now has a modern-looking f locked dash with custom heater controls, hand-made indicator and wiper stalks, gearknob and handbrake lever.” The Safety Devices rollcage has been customised with door bars and gussets before being painted in Fire Orange to match the roof, and there have been some clever mods to aid everyday usability too, including retrofitting the MPi heater box with a Ford Transit heater resistor and controls to provide a 3-speed heater. Sounds are also clearly something of a priority: Dane deleted the rear bench and in its place we now find a custom speaker enclosure housing two Vibe Slick 6x9s and a pair of 6.5” component speakers. It’s running off a Sony DSXA500 DAB head unit and a Vibe 4- channel amp, with a further pair of 6.5” components in the rear shelf.

“Almost all of the work has been done by myself,” Dane assures us. “All the hard work is now paying off too; since completing the car, it placed 3rd in the show-and-shine at Mini Action Day at Castle Combe, and more recently at this year’s Riviera Run it won 1st-in-class for the show-and-shine – and also won the Car of the Show!”

Justly and richly deserved, you’ll no doubt agree. What Dane’s achieved with this Mini is something properly special. As compelling as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, as mysterious as Stonehenge, as intricately detailed as the Taj Mahal… he’s taken a beloved but sidelined member of the family and breathed new life into it, pushing it to front-and-centre in all of their affections. Truly this is a thing of wonder.

BODY BMW Lime Rock Grey metallic paint, BMW Fire Orange roof, Zeemax bodykit, steel flip-front, rear arches tubbed, fibreglass Mk1-style bonnet, Mk1 grille, Monza fuel cap, Mk2 rear lights – coloured all-red, Mk1 flat glass front indicator lenses, LED headlights ENGINE K11 Nissan Micra twin-cam 16v engine on home-made front subframe, CGA3 (1 .4) bottom end, CG13 (1 .3) head - ported and skimmed 1mm, Matt Humphries 774 camshafts, modified Ford Escort XR3i inlet manifold, custom home-made 4-branch exhaust manifold into 2” stainless system with hidden tip, 200-cell sport cat, Fletcher high-flow radiator with MPi fan, Ramair air filter, MPi fuel tank and fuel pump, standard Micra fuel injection and engine management, power: c.110bhp SUSPENSION Protech front coilovers on custom home-made mounts, Huddersfield Mini Spares rear beam axle, GAZ rear coilovers, heavy-duty front tie bars, polybushed throughout TR ANSMISSION Nissan Micra 1 .0 5-speed manual, lightened flywheel, custom driveshafts BR AKES Sto ck M Pi front an d rear b rake s , s to ck M Pi se r vo an d mas te r c ylin de r – cus tom-mounte d sideways to allow ro om for inlet manifold WHEELS AND T YRES 7x13” Superlight alloys, 175/50 Nankang tyres INTERIOR Mazda R X-8 seats on custom mounts, Safety Devices rollcage with customised door bars and gussets – painted BMW Fire Orange, alloy door furniture, alloy clutch and brake pedal cover, alloy switches in dash, Kode suede steering wheel, fibreglass dash and centre console – flocked in black and grey, MPi magnolia dials and 3-clock set, MPi heater box with Ford Transit heater resistor and controls custom-fitted (giving a 3-speed heater), rear seat and storage bins deleted, Sony DSXA500 DAB head unit, custom speaker pod in place of rear seat base – housing 2x Vibe Slick 6x9s and 2x 6.5” Vibe Slick component speakers, 2x 6.5” components in parcel shelf, Vibe Slick A1 4-channel amp, custom alloy gearknob and alloy handbrake lever, custom throttle pedal in style of winged badge, custom alloy indicator and wiper stalks, custom alloy heater control dials

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