I think I have found the colour...

Saw a new (BMW) Mini yesterday in a new colour (Horizon Blue) - would be great for Vanman, so I used the configurator on www.mini.com.au to see how it would look... couldn't do the white wheels but could get something close to white on the roof - looking pretty kewl...

Choosing a colour

OK so now it's time to select a colour and it's really hard to do. I'm tempted to keep it classic, but I'd also like to make it something special that looks amazing (and unique).

I've narrowed it down to two options either:
- black with a white roof (and maybe white bonnet stripes) see the second picture below for one with the same white wheels & hubcaps as vanman (except vanman would have a back window).
- bowling ball red (like my guitar)- the photo below looks a bit orange but in real life it's a deep red colour.

There is a good colour site here (although it's 97 onwards).

Pulling the engine out

With the rear subframe in place again we took the engine out last weekend in order to start working on it...

A friends hoist came in very handy...

Lucky we had some good helpers

Uncle Neil helped up transport it before the strip down & rebuild.

Rear subframe going in

We got the whole rear subframe back onto the body recently - here's the before & after shots...

Another shot of the new subframe... note the awesome wheels - we had them bead-blasted and powder coated by a guy in Jardine St Fairy Meadow, then had Beaurepairs W'Gong fit some nice new 10" tyres.

The boys with the subframe before it went in...

Subframe all painted & prepared

The subframe and components were stripped and are now painted - we just need to reassemble the whole thing and we will be able to put it back onto the car.

We removed the back subframe during the July school holidays and gave the rear of the body a good blast with the pressure cleaner.

We took all of the wheels off and had the tyres removed so we can clean up the wheels for painting (or powder coating). We also took everything off the subframe and cleaned it up in preparation for painting.

Check out the first startup on youtube (last weekend)!

Mini AUnitied 2009

We went to Harold Park Paceway in Sydney during May 2009 to help celebrate 50 years of mini - a great experience, but Vanman wasn't ready. More shots here... http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=mini+aunited

Some more shots of vanman...

Made some progress and took some shots in July 2008...


Very little rust underneath, but lots of dirt...

The tray in the back looks good...

Dash needs some work!