So Rob, can I drop off a $500 project for you to fix up for me?
Also, how does your neighbor feel? The one that you got the car from? After seeing your work.
I've been through all 22 pages and almost all the posts and so appreciate, not only you documenting your build, but including pictures and particularly your sense of humor in the process. Not just informative but also entertaining. Here's to you living to 100 so you can finish all... some.... part of the projects that you have undertaken. Cheers!

 

Well thanks! I was hoping some would find the build thread interesting. It was actually kind of therapeutic for me. Made it feel like I wasn't doing the build alone. It was a pretty fun build to be honest but most of the process of making parts pretty was for my own amusement as almost all of them were hidden from view. One of the more rewarding parts was the rear seat delete and the roll bar, along with pulling the carpet and painting the floor, that I can see every time I get in. To be honest the Mini audience I was posting to made it what it is/was. The feedback was great from some great people. There's really not that sort of encouraging Vibe from the Hot Rod groups. Many attempts at injecting some humor either falls flat for goes unnoticed. Maybe they're all just grumpy old guys. The Mini forum was more fun, no doubt about it. I'm still pretty amazed at the 57,000 + views. That's quite humbling.
I still haven't gotten the "tune" yet as to be honest it's still plenty fast enough for me. The neighbor isn't really a "car guy" so he just sees it running up and down the driveway from time to time. I did let him drive it and he came back pretty impressed with the power output.
I'm all for the "making it to 100" as right now I'm up to my eyeballs in building a fender-less '30 Ford Model A "Banger" HotRod. [Banger is a souped-up original 4 cylinder engine] Definitely a different build from the Mini.
Anyway, I'm happy you enjoyed it and thank you again for the kind words.
robj

It cost a pretty penny to go from 40 hp to 75 hp!

 

Wow! Your garage is way to neat and clean….

That is a cool project with the “A”.

I know what you mean about getting Hp out of an old style engine. Years ago I did a similar thing with a ‘59 MGA. Went from about 75 hp to a little over 100. Not like today where you just need to get a tune to raise the boost from the turbo. Something a little more satisfying from matching cams to piston compression, port polishing, etc. Then driving and being able to say “I made that”.

I sure a lot of people are glad to hear/read your complaint of the NAM community.

Ya know, it is all in the use of the emojis….

 

So Rob, thank you for replying to this thread but, since you seem to have no interest in building me a $500 special, I have one more question. What did you retire from? It would appear that you brought much more added value to the job than a one-dimensional job description... do tell...

 

A somewhat interesting path but the short story is/was I was a private investigator for 49 years. Almost a lifetime right? I worked for another guy for a few years, then another company for a year then back to the first guy. After about 15 years I went out on my own, me a van and a video camera and after 3 or 4 years I had 6 guys, [and girls] working for me. So 35 years running my own agency. the VP has been running things for the last few years and I think we're getting close to selling to an out of state company. We were licensed in 6 states but most of our work was in Md., D.C. and Virginia.
Got up to about 15 investigators in 16-18 Dodge Caravans then settled in at 10-12 depending on clients., plus a few "inside people" doing paper investigations, statements, things like that. I always said I went from being a really good investigator to a really mediocre administrator as with business success I ended up driving a desk.

Nothing really exciting, mostly surveillance of workers comp claimants. Bad knee, bad back, poor me, give me money and in the meantime they're working somewhere else or out on their jet ski. Some were honestly hurt but by the time they came to us they had shot up enough red flags that the adjusters were usually right about the ones they thought were FOS. It wasn't the adjusters first barbecue either.

That being said I started out pumping gas and working at gas stations when that was still a thing. I was never a great student and was pretty much self educated by reading everything I could get my hands on. Starting really young. Reading "real" books in the first grade. Pretty sure I had ADHD as my youngest was diagnosed and I thought, well that makes sense. Back then that was not a thing and you just weren't "behaving".
School really wasn't my thing, all I wanted out of high school was out. Tried a few semesters at a local community collage but was bored to death. My dad was a designer and my oldest is an engineer but somehow the math gene skipped me. I was always better with people and words.

I had quite a few jobs that others made into careers but most of the time I had the job figured out too quickly and got bored shortly thereafter. I was a medic and a lab tech in the Army Reserves, [Vietnam was too hot and Canada was too cold so I joined the reserves] so I tried that sort of work but hated being stuck in one room and one place all day long. So I traded that for being stuck in the back of a van all day but at least the van was in a different place each day.
And it was the only job I never got bored doing. People are so interesting. Just when you think you have it all figured out, someone does something that makes you say "no sh*t"!

But I always loved fixing "stuff" and the problem solving involved there so I joked that I only worked to support my side habit. Did mostly motorcycles for quite a while as you could fit more of them in a given space. Mostly older European bikes, BMW's, Triumph's, MotoGuzzis. before that was dirt bikes, trials bikes, then a Jeep phase, [1951 with a blueprinted 350 SBC] then eventually back to cars. And tons of other projects. First old house back to the studs and everything inside from scratch. Second house I actually moved the steps to the second floor to where it made more sense, so always something.
And boats, power and sail. Restored a 1970 sailboat. and a '82 Chris Craft that's still a project. And back to cars. The Mini, and I did a '61 Jeep for a friend, now the '30 Tudor, and after that I have a 73 VW bus waiting, and a Cobra Mustang, and a jeep CJ5 in pieces. [there's that ADHD!].

So there you go, just about a lifetime in a few short paragraphs. Aren't you glad you asked???

Let me add, it all goes by really fast, [just turned 74] don't **** any of it away.
robj

 

Holey sheet! You're that guy! The Most Interesting Man In The World!

The circuitous routes seem to be the most entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading your memoirs.

Cheers brutha, enjoy the ride!

 

Yes, quite the ride. :thumbs up:

 

"The Most Interesting Man In The World!"
HaHaHaHa! Hardly. Don't think I've ever been accused of that!
I just never spent a lot of time watching TV. Or Sports, [watching other people do something].
I would always rather be doing something myself. And my shop, [RobsWorld] is def. my Happy Place.

robj

 

Within one’s own sphere of influence what one has done and is doing may look to be uninteresting as that is what is the norm, the usual. However, someone else looking into that sphere may see it differently. I bet you have some quite the stories from that sphere, one of which is being told right here and has not yet ended.

Please, carry on…

 

That's very true. I'm going to do my best to carry on but it kinda sucks when you're at the stage of life when you have to parse what you spend time on as you realize it's a finite commodity. I mean it is for everyone but it's begins to come into sharper focus.

It would be really nice if there were more in the hot rod on-line community that were as great as you guys. I mean some are but it just feels different. Some comments seem like veiled scoldings. Never-ever felt like that here. Maybe they're just grump old guys...
robj

 

Good to see you around and still working on stuff! All the cars are just little projects for when you need to step away from that big boat, right? Glad I got a chance to sit around with you and hear some stories over some beers! The model A looks like a fun project. Definitely a bit more simple than the Mini. A coworker has an MG Midget he fully restored himself. IIRC it has a fully built 1098cc engine that makes right around 100 HP, which about double what it originally came with.

The E46 wagon got moved along to a coworker who may or may not fix it. Still kicking myself a bit for not holding onto it, but I promised my wife if this one got totalled (and this was technically the second time it had,) I was out as this was #3. And you know what they say about a happy life...I did buy, refurbish, and sell an E46 sedan last year. Went to friend's 17 year old son. Great to see someone young excited about owning a car older than they are. (That makes me feel a little old.) Now driving something more modern and slightly less exciting, but still a BMW.

Keep on keeping on as long as you can. Took the opportunity and spent the day at the offroad park in the Jeep with my 10 year old yesterday. Have to get those days in while I can before she's a teenager who wants nothing to do with her father! Hopefully it's never that bad, and spending days together now helps fortify that relationship, I hope.