Ive got to sell my mini
Turbo Mini Forums

Basicaly im a student (as some of you guys know) Money is a real issue for me and I simply have to pay off dept accumulated on credit cards, as it seems like im getting no where with each monhts interest charges .

My mini stays garaged in my home town and I live in Coventry so I never even get to use the damn thing!

So the mini has to go

My reason for posting here rather than in for sale is because im not sure of exactly how to sell it. Either with the modified engine or without.

The Car is a fully restored 1989 racing green all work completed about 9 months ago including a full respray lots of new pannels etc. Fully adjustable bottom arms, tie rods, adjustable camber and tracking on the back end, 2 new subframes, 12x6 minilights with yoko tires, metty 4 pots and vented disks, Geniun w+p colour coded arches.

The engine is 1293cc, Forged 15cc omega's, Lightened balanced and shot peened con rods, 30cc Fully ported head with stainless valves 35.7 and 30mm. 1.5 Roller rockers, MED T3 camshaft with duplex vernia adjustable timing, ARP head studs, Grey Diapram with rally friction plate, standard pre verto flywheel and metro turbo crank, Tran-X 1-1 drop gears, tran-X SC gearbox, 3.44 rebuilt diff, T25 turbo on mirage manifolds

The question is should i sell them together, if so I really dont know how much to ask to be honest.

Or would it be a better choice to split them, put a standard metty turbo engine in the shell and punt that out, and sell my engine off separatly.

Which is more appealing to buyers out there? I really dont know what to do - i just reallly need to get as much money as possible.

Cheers For any input guys

The engine and shell have barely covered 1000 miles since the rebuild last year (thats what i mean by light use)

Some of the engine parts have done less... E.G the brakes, clutch and diff are brand new and have done about 50 miles!

Hey Dan,
Bad news my friend...

Will you be back into the minis later? Basically, if you were to sell up, do you think another turbo would be on the cards in a few years? If so, it might be worh keeping, say, the Mirage assembly.
If you're not so sure, chances are, it won't be happening.

Re the engine, having a turbo is a big selling point. Having a highly modified turbo doesn't seem to be a much bigger improvement than a stock 90hp unit.

I'd sit down with Ebay open, and have a search for 'completed items' with mini & metro turbo in the search box. Maybe ask Sauber what he ended up getting for his mini? (similar spec engine to yours).

Use excell, and itemise everything as if you'd pull it apart (eg, pistons on rods, block, crank, gearbox, drops, flywheel assy, head, turbo, manifolds, etc....
Add in the cost of a standard metro turbo engine (or a stock 1275 with a 'opened out' head - or maybe your old one). Now weigh up what you think it'd be worth with this setup.

If you have time to sell, advertise in minimags. Lie blatently about the power like everyone else does - or to put it another way, just say 190hp as that could be theoretically achievable on that spec.

If offering it, or any parts on ebay, open up shipping worldwide, so long as they will cover the costs - give postage examples (say to USA, France, Germany, Australia) and you'll attract more buyers. Offer to take the car to docks if you sell the whole car - anything.

Above all, take great pictures of the car / parts and use lots of exciting lingo.

Good Luck.
































ps - give ya £500 for the lot

thats ashame mate! if you wanna keep it is there no other way?

i rekon ebay has to be your best bet or miniworld.

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.

Deffo Ebay if it needs moving quick, but the mags if you want to get a better price...

Another thouht - if selling the whole thing, upload EVERY picture you have that is respective of it's current spec (engine build, turbo, brakes, underside, etc) and then take a whole load more of the interior / exterior / engine bay and upload them to a website. That way, you can just put the link in the ads. If there is no rust/bubbling on the body seams / doors (incl underside) / sills / scuttle / a-panels / etc, take a picture and prove it. Mention in the pics about the condition.

If it's not so great in some areas, just don't mention them - but if it is, shout about it!!!

Edited by turbodave16v on 25th May, 2005.

shame to see it go.
fancy a motor swap?

idiot! cant you just get a summer job as your now coming to the end of term???

work all the hours,

plus my mates at coventry and he just got his student loan through for this term-he finished last week

it would be a shame to let it all go
i would take greyprides advice if it were me and get some extra work

whatever it takes!!:cool:

if you flog it it will break your heart in the months and years to come trust me

if you do decide to daves advice is just the best.

Ive got summer work (hopefully), it will maybe clear some of the dept, but then the insurance runs out soon and we all know that isnt cheap when ure 20.

I'm still trying to work out what to do, its been on my mind allot. I belive iain bought a similar spec engine for 2k, now if i could achieve that just for the engine then i would certainly want to sell it separatly.

BUT would the expensive engine move the car value up by 2k over a standard metro item? I dont know......

BTW i have spent the whole of this year at uni slaving away friday, saturday and sunday, not to mention holidays. Its a hell of a strain on my studies and all for a car that i never get chance to drive.... kinda sucks

take the car OTR and lay it up. my mini was putting a magour financial drain on me last year, i took it off the road, got insured as a named driver on my mum's 106 so i had a car if i needed too, and got by.. this also gave me the chance to do work on the car i wouldnt normally be able to do if it was on the road! The money you would save on insurance alone would be a good whack id imagine..

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

^^ main reason i suggest this is you will NEVER see the money you invested, and in a year or so you will be hankering for another :) and beter the devel you know

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

I think you students should get to sleep earlier then you would be able to think streght.

http://www.rabdunn.co.uk/

evolution sound advice.

My advice would be lay it up as well. Either do without a car at uni, use a push bike to get about, or buy a dirt cheap runabout to use if you really need wheels. Park the Mini up and forget about it until you have finished your studies, and then it will still be there when you can afford to use it.
judging by all the work you have put into doing it, I think you would majorly regret it in a few months if you sold it now.........

Right, i think ive made my decision.

I need a standard metty turbo engine to sell my car with.

I will keep my current engine and drop it into a rusty £100 shitter!

This way i can still have a turbomini and my finances will be in much better shape!

If anyone has either a complete engine OR std turbo, exhaust and inlet manifolds please let me know

Sorry, but not sure that's the right way to go.

I've tried doing that with my 8 port engine and it didn't work out as I spent time and money on bodywork repairs, subframes, brakes, suspension...

How much is a standard turbo engine in reasonable running condition going to cost?

There may be some cheap minis about but I've not seen anything roadworthy for less than £500

Keep what you've got, buy a cheap banger, work on the debt and soon you'll have the best of all worlds.

Cheers

Neil

Im in a similar situation, im not a student but im an apprentice and the pay isn't the best in the world!

I got insured with miniworld insurance for about £350 (3rd party)not using any no claims discount and that allows you to drive any other vehicle (not owned by yourself) 3rd party.

Im using my mini as my daily runner, when its not running i have to dust the bike off n ride to work.

Living in MK there must be loads of jobs around that are in riding distance?

Cant you change your credit card balance to another card that doesn't charge interest-theres loads out there.

That way your paying off more of the balance off and less interest?

Selling your mini might seem a good idea now but you would probably regret it later on!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fusion-Fabri..._homepage_panel

www.fusionfabs.co.uk



1/4mile in 13.2sec @ 111 terminal on 15psi

indeed, the way to do it is lay it up until you finish uni, its false economy to sell it then build another

Nah - for what I want to do I would rather do to a scrappy shell.

If i get an old shell I can strip it, chop it, lighten it, race it,

I dont want to do these to my shell, its completely restored I dont want to chop it about. I'm quite looking forward to doing this now, just got to get me a standard engine

wow i'm not the only student with a turbo mini! just ripped mine to bits for the rebuild and my god do i miss it, i'd keep it, eat beans on toast everyday like a proper student and keep the mini

cant believe your guna sell the most valuable asset on your mini (IMHO) and thats a good solid shell. your nuts. its your shell, chop it about as you please! took me months and months to find a shell i was happy with. then i chopped it up as i pleased.

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

Interesting view, to me my engine is the most important asset which can be taken out and put back in to anthing.

If i sell the engine im left with a nice shell but no power - i think going back to 90bhp and a t3 would be worse than driving a scrappy car!

It is a good point really. Which takes more time effort and elbow grease, getting an old shell up to spec, or bolting shiny engine parts together? Given the choice I'd keep the solid shell ANYTIME.
If you buy a raggy old shitter you will quickly spend any money you get on welding and the usual shite (balljoints subframes etc) come MOT time..............

Plus the fact, are the suspension and brakes on aforementioned raggy old shitter really going to be up to 150bhp from your mega engine? I doubt it, and so yet more money to spend on making the rest of it cope with the power. If I were you, I would take the motor out and sell it to recoup the cash you need, and then spend £500 MAX on a diesel runabout to use to get back and forth until the time where you have the cash to build another motor for your Minto shell with all the proper brakes and suspension etc.

Edited by Tom Fenton on 27th May, 2005.

I agree with evolution, a solid shell is the thing to have. No good (and not safe) having a powerful engine if the shell is rotten

It must be quicker and easier to build an engine than make a £100 shell solid and safe (Tom being the exception to this :p)