I found the Minis for sale on MiniMania.com It was a two-car package and what a great deal it was! As we live in the San Francisco Bay Area, finding a "less than perfect" mini for sale is not a common occurance. Anyway, we ended up driving the (MKIII) home on the freeway which was about an hour or so drive with no problems. So far the only thing we've done to it is replace a few cosmetic things and "cleaned it up" althought there's only so much you can do to clean up a car with such a paint job ;-). It obviously would proove to be a very presentable Mini if it was prepped and painted, seeing as it has only minor body damage (if any) or rust. We've got many things planned for our first Mini but as for now, take a look at the photos...(Link Below)
That is a photo of the Blue Mini's latest injury (aside from a couple new dents). It shows the head of the #7 exhaust valve broken off and shoved upside-down into the #4 piston. Luckily the cylinder wall was unscathed and the rod was not damaged. The head was sent to the machine shop (still there) to have the exhaust valves replaced and the valve seats redone. As far as the hole in the middle of the piston; we're going to take it to a professional (United Airlines) welder and cross our fingers. If it doesn't work, or doesn't look like it will hold we'll take the engine apart and have to replace the piston. I'll post more photos of the head when we recieve it and the piston. For now, click on the "Holy Piston" link below for photos that were taken as soon as we pulled the head...
