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 Introducing me and my Marcos (currently 5,419 views) |
| Herb |
Posted on: February 17th, 2005, 18:21:58
 Attachment: marcosfront.jpg - 22.44 KB (4521 views) |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
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Hi, I'm Herb and I'm a lazy sod!
Bought my Marcos as a long term project way back in 1995ish (so long I can't be sure of the year!)
I didn't begin work on it immediately, but once I did I got most of the work done, bodywork being the biggest job. Then I discovered PCs, beer and other expensive pastimes and work ground to a halt. That was about 4 years ago.
I still love it though, and a friends recent purchase and progress of a Lotus project spurred me into action once more.
The car is a Mk3, 1970 C/N 7151. VTR 510H (although previously TRD ***H - presumably rebuilt on a different donor)
Looked as if the original colour was a light metallic blue, but had been hand painted red - horribly.
Its yellow now and looking much happier than when I got it - see below.
I know nothing of its history except the last registered keeper was in Suffolk, and its last MOT was 1991 (hard to believe if you saw the state of it in 95!)
I've got so many techie questions its untrue and will be rejoining the club soon to feel a part of the community once more.
I've spotted a couple of familiar names on the forum already. Volker and Ed I know from the world of Grand Prix Legends. I knew Volker had a Marcos and Ed liked his Minis - have you got one too now Ed?
Anyways, greetings one and all and please forgive my stupid questions - there will be many I'm sure  |
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| Neil KilBane |
| Posted on: February 17th, 2005, 18:27:12 |
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Maximum Member2
just a little fine tuning left to do.
Location: Newtown Forbes, Ireland
Posts: 1,416
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Hi Herb and welcome to the forum, nice to see that the restoration is progressing, I seem to look at my Marcos a lot and have restored it 100 times in my head.
Love the colour.
Shall we say you hope to have it on the road by the end of the summer!!
That covers me most years. |
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| Herb |
| Posted on: February 17th, 2005, 18:32:50 |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
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Heheh, I know the feeling Neil. I've decided not to put a timescale on it, but realisticly next summer is probable (money and time will get in the way).
The dream scenario would be to drive it down to Goodwood for the revival this September, its something to aim for anyway.
Gets embaressing when I see old friends from years back and they ask if I've still got it..."Yeah, but its not done yet" Cue laughing |
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| Richard Porter |
| Posted on: February 17th, 2005, 22:52:57 |
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Medium Member
You can't have Windows without pains.
Location: Maidenhead, UK
Posts: 127
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| Hi Herb, Welcome to the forum. The car's coming along nicely. I'll pull those photos off for the members' cars section shortly. Love the colour - I think Mini Marcoses and Jems should be nice and bright. It suits their perky nature |
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| Herb |
| Posted on: February 18th, 2005, 00:41:49 |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
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Have the club got any info on the history of this one Richard, or does it only date back to me joining the club in the mid-90s?
I'd love to know how it came to be in the state it was.
I have the impression it was either never really well built, or that the first owner did a decent job then it fell into the wrong hands
I think I counted about 60 holes that shouldn't have been there, mostly in the floorpans and nose area.
The rusted metal inserts where the front subframe front mounts are were the nastiest though, the steel had rusted and swelled the fibreglass. Pretty scary hacking it all away to replace...hoping I've made the right measurements so the subframe fits again.
Someone had also began to modify the bulkhead to fit a weber I presume, leaving an unsightly hole which I glassed up leaving a dip for the later metro type carb.
Perhaps the most dangerous "modification" it came with was the almost complete absense of a nearside inner wing. Obviously to help cooling 
The less said about the state of the bonnet the better - suffice to say I saved it, but it weighs about 20lbs more than the standard item due to major glassing and filler for shape.
There was plenty of other body work defects, although no signs of any major accident damage, and the filler that masked the moulding lines was like chalk! All had to come out and be redone, kudos goes to my Lotus owning friend, whos a dab hand with that sort of thing - he kept the shape nicely.
The engine in it at the moment is a MG Metro lump I grabbed from a £50 scrapper some years ago - I had planned to use the brakes too, but decided to go for late Mini brakes after hearing bad things. Picked up a nice period Osselli inlet and LCB at autojumbles so it should be fun
In due course I plan to build up a mildly tuned lump to make it a bit more lively.
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| Neil KilBane |
| Posted on: February 18th, 2005, 10:09:41 |
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Maximum Member2
just a little fine tuning left to do.
Location: Newtown Forbes, Ireland
Posts: 1,416
Reputation: 0 (tot: ) |
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Quoted Text |
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Perhaps the most dangerous "modification" it came with was the almost complete absense of a nearside inner wing. Obviously to help cooling
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Mine has part of the inner wing missing, just the angled part where the front inner wing tapers to the nose section on the passenger side. Should I glass in the section or does it actually help cooling, I don't know yet wheather I will run a long or short bonnet, but either way I wil be fitting Richards idea of an aluminium heat sheild mounted 1 to 2 mm away from the bulkhead behind the exhaust. |
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Reply: 5 - 16 |
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| Herb |
| Posted on: February 18th, 2005, 20:48:02 |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
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Running a front mounted rad I would guess it would be no problem Neil, on my car a previous owner had fitted a side mounted rad and presumably hacked away the inner wing as an afterthought when it boiled up.
It was vitually the whole lot too - the metal inserts for the shock mountings were visible (and beginning to corrode)
It could out that I need some way to let out the hot air thats passed through the rad though. Thats something I've yet to tackle. I'm not even sure if the rad I've fitted will provide enough cooling. Its from a Fiesta Mk1 1100 (brand new) as it seemed a good fit and reasonably priced. I'm happy to wire the fan up so it runs all the time if it does the trick. My memory isn't up to coping with a manual switch
Re the heatshield, I noticed how close the exhaust runs too - a little worrying and probably ok with a standard manifold, but those tubular ones take up a lot more space.
I've made a small aluminium heatshield which bolts to the carb backplate, but I might have to look at improving this. Anyone tried that asbestos lagging for manifolds? |
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| brian stewart |
| Posted on: February 18th, 2005, 21:02:42 |
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Baby Member
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 12
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Hello herb,I also bought my marcos around the same time.The plan was to do a quick rebuild as the previous owner(a friend) used it as daily transport,but i got the racing bug(minimotos dont laugh and sidecars).Now i have given up racing and plan to get the car ready for the summer.Was hoping to take it to the IMM,but funds wont allow me to finish it in time.
I have got to finish plumbing in the fuel line and the cooling system,adjust the front suspension,tidy up some wiring,fit wind up windows and mini door locks,prep the body to be painted and a few other odd jobs which i cant remember at the moment.Will try and post some pictures and keep everyone with my progress.
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Reply: 7 - 16 |
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| Herb |
| Posted on: February 18th, 2005, 22:01:10 |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
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Sounds like you're at a very similar stage to me Brian. Off the top of my head, in order of scariness, I've got to:
Fit windows, fit doors and make winders work somehow - dreading that bit, messed around with some metro ones and pieces of angle steel a while back and it nearly drove me mad!
Make the wiring work properly - rear half of the loom is shot I think - all the lights at the front are great, back lights look like a disco!
Make a dashboard - I've got all the dials, but need to learn about regulators and get the speedo recalibrated.
Interior trim. I won't bother doing anything on this front 'till I'm MOTed and driving it daily. I need to find the leaks, after all.
Brake bias will need sorting, as its piped 50/50 at the moment - anyone know of a good solution to this?
Seat belts too.
Roll cage of some sort too I suppose  Could be bad, cos I'm on the tall side and I don't want to bang me head all the time I may have to drop the floorpan yet (not too worried about that as I enjoy working with glass)
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| admin |
| Posted on: February 18th, 2005, 22:17:25 |
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 Administrator
Location: Maidenhead, UK
Posts: 2,377
Reputation: 1 (tot: 1) |
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Herb, if you fill all the holes in the floor you'll find out why some of them are there - to let the rainwater out  I haven't got any 'previous' on this car before you owned it.
The nearside inner wing is originally slotted for a side rad and it's pretty flimsy. I'd glass it in just to keep road muck out of the engine bay, but it doesn't do much. Just make sure the upper damper mounts are sound.
Pull out the rusted steel inserts and put plenty of fibreglass on, preferably woven rovings. It's stronger weight for weight than steel anyway. Just use large washers or plates externally to spread the load. It's only really a problem if there's a tearing force which isnt't the case with the subframes. However you do need to reinforce the engine bulkhead cross-member so you can tighten down the main subframe tower bolts properly. |
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Reply: 9 - 16 |
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| brian stewart |
| Posted on: February 22nd, 2005, 20:44:44 |
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Baby Member
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 12
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| Herb,i am hoping to use the whole inner door panel which i cut off a rotten door.This will hopefully mean i can use all the window winder and locking assembles from a mini.I have only looked at doing it this way briefly,but will let you know how it goes(i am hoping to start this job within the next 2 weeks-weather permitting). |
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| Herb |
| Posted on: February 22nd, 2005, 21:37:36 |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
Reputation: 0 (tot: ) |
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Just noticed your post Brian - should have checked this thread before starting another one Ah well.
Sounds like a practical solution. Looking forward to hearing how you get on - good luck. |
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Reply: 11 - 16 |
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| admin |
| Posted on: February 22nd, 2005, 23:08:30 |
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Administrator
Location: Maidenhead, UK
Posts: 2,377
Reputation: 1 (tot: 1) |
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Quoted from Herb, posted February 17th, 2005, 18:23:16 at here |
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How she (he? it?) looks now (4 year old pics...hangs head in shame!)
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I've put the pics in the members' cars section: http://www.minimarcos.org.uk/memcars/7151/ . I'll delete them from this thread to save downloading them every time.
Richard |
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| Herb |
| Posted on: February 22nd, 2005, 23:57:06 |
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Baby Member
Location: Norwich, UK
Posts: 35
Reputation: 0 (tot: ) |
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Yeah noticed that, cheers Richard.
Its nice to see another part of the jigsaw of the history of this remarkable little car fall into place.
Did the Mk3 chassis run from 7000 onwards consectutively?
If so theres a lot of cars still not known to the club by the looks of things.
Obviously theres going to be a fair number that got destroyed on the road or the track, but it would be a suprise if at least half the produced number aren't still out there somewhere - they don't rust away to nothing like minis after all.
Makes me wonder how many there are still out there buried in barns and garages in the same sort of state mine was.
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| admin |
| Posted on: February 23rd, 2005, 10:48:02 |
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Administrator
Location: Maidenhead, UK
Posts: 2,377
Reputation: 1 (tot: 1) |
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| Quite a lot I guess. Yes, the body numbers were issued consecutively but obviously with a gap between the end of 6000s and 7000 etc. so on that basis we reckon about 1350 MM shells were produced. We don't accurately know how many were made in Ireland, South Africa and Australia. |
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