V8Mini.co.uk

Doris

** Doris Story in Brief **

Doris Returns!!!

Engine Out - Starter Adapter - Garage Tidy - Engine Stuff - Shell Investigation

Making Holes - New panels - Rear Subframe - Sills - Toe panel

Flitch & A posts - Heater - Scuttle panel - Front Subframe - Seat Mounts

Flip Front - Garage Prep - Scuttle Paint - Manifolds - Radius arms

Side Scoops - Upside-Down-A-Tron - Body Paint - Roof Fix

Seat Testing

Harness Anchors - Subframes On - Door Fix - Door Paint

Flip Front - Paint finishing - Rear Screen - Side Windows

Brakes - Exhaust - Cooling Pipes

Welcome to..."The Roughest V8Mini Deathtrap In The World"*

3.5 litres of front wheel drive fun.

If RWD is your thing, then try the Pievan for Spag's mid engine van project.

Doris picture

Please follow the Facebook page for latest progress, as (because I'm cr4p/lazy) there is a bit of a delay before I can sit down and do proper updates in here!

Doris Resurrection

September 2024

Yet more stainless pipework, this time it's plumbing for the cooling system.

Cooling Pipes

June 2024

Exhaust building, more fun with stainless pipes.

Exhaust

 

May 2024

New brakes and wiggling with skinng pipes..

Brakes

 

April 2024

Side window fitting

Side windows

 

October 2023

Rear windscreen screen fitting.

Rear screen

 

September  2023

A bit of flatting and polishing to make things curiously shiny!

Paint finishing

 

August  2023

Tests with the flip front.

Flip Front

 

July 2023

Getting the doors the right colour.

Door Paint

May 2023

Rebuilding & reskinning the doors.

Door Fix

April 2023

Finally off the jig and rolling again !

SubFrames On

March 2023

Updated harness anchors.

Harness Anchors

November 2022

Testing the seat and harness with a willing volunteer on the UpsideDown-A-Tron!

Seat Testing

October/November 2022

Time to get the roof on !

Gutter & Roof

 September 2022

Painting the main bits of the shell and generally enjoying rotatory access to everything.

Body Paint 

June 2022

Upside-Down-A-Tron! Lets make a rotating jig to help with painting the shell.

Upside-Down-A-Tron

May 2022

Messing with the shell to get new side scoops fitted.

Side scoops

April 2022

Off with the rear subframe to replace the radius arm bearings.

Radius arms

November/December 2021

A bit of paint for the scuttle ends and inner wings.

Scuttle paint

Investigating front end packaging and making manifolds.

Manifolds

October 2021

The sailing season is drawing to an end, so the plan is to sort some condensation proofing in the garage and crack back on with Doris stuff into the winter !

Garage Prep

Also in line with the state of the art technology used in Doris, she now has entered the world of social media with her own page on Facebook and a bit of Youtube (steady on!)

Doris on Facebook   Doris on Youtube 

June 2021

New  flip front from ABS motorsport!

Flip Front

Quite a lot of 2021

Fairly limited activity with Doris, due to essential repairs to the garage, a new shed roof and  all the ongoing fun of helping keep Scouts and the sailig club ticking along through the fun of the pandemic.
Only minor car tinkering...

 

December 2020

Design and fit seat mounts.

Seat Mounts


Bad weather stops play!
Minor leaks in the garage roof are making the workspace a bit too damp and causing a lot of fun with condensation. Not ideal when trying to work with bare steel, and not a great environment to be trying to paint things.
Hibernation time until the spring methinks !.

 

November 2020

Front subframe overhaul, hubs and steering rack too.

Front Subframe

October 2020

Scuttle panel replacement - plus inner wing tops too.

Scuttle panel

August/September 2020

Heater renovation.

Heater

Flitch panels, A posts and bulkheady things. Lots of important structural stuff really!

Flitch & A Posts

 

July 2020

Front bulkhead / toe panel fun.

Toe panel

 

June 2020

Repair, refurb and refitting of the rear subframe.

Rear Subframe

On with the sills !

Sills

May 2020

Making more holes in the shell to get ready for the new floorpan.

Making Holes

New floor going in!

New Panels

April - 2020

Stripping, chopping and other such fun with the shell.

Shell investigation

Some checking of engine bits and engine reassembly.

Engine Stuff

 

March - 2020

Tidy of the garage making space,  moving V8 Minis and even a special 'engine running in Doris' video!

 Garage Tidy

 

2020 - Doris Ressurection !

March 2020, Covid-19 is ravaging the planet, countries are on lockdown, civilian movement is restricted, shops are low on toilet roll and self raising flour can only be sourced from very shady characters on the darkweb...
It is now 15 years since Doris left home, returning in 2016 in need of care and attention, waiting patiently for the right time. That time is now...

Basically, with the country in lockdown for C-19 there's suddenly a lot more time to spend on important DIY around Spag HQ. So, having fixed the fence, trimmed the trees and chopped the hedge down in the front garden the next job was to have a tidy in the garage, the result of which is is plenty of space to play.  It is a well known fact that when time and space are forced together anything can happen, and something frequently does, so hopefully there will be time to get something fun done during this uncertain period!

 


November - 2016

With the engine out, it seems a sensible time to look at options on beefing up the starter motor adapter plate to avoid future ring gear issues.

Starter Adapter

October - 2016

After 6 years of development, the engine removal system gets his first test.

Engine Out

 

September - 2016

DORIS RETURNS !!!!!

Yes, it's true, after 11 years away, Doris is back.

The bodywork is in need of attention as some of the paint has lifted, but considering the respray in 2004 was a a panic job over one weekend, she hasn't faired too badly.

There is a bit of reassembly needed to finish the install of new clutch & starter bits, plus a couple of boxes of goodies that Adam had been collecting, including new shocks, trumpets, arches, handles locks and sundry other bits still to be discovered :) 

Seems I have a bit of renovation and recomissioning to do!

Doris Returns

 



For a quick introduction to Doris, the yellow V8 Mini,  please have a look at Doris' Story. This way you can get an idea of the front wheel drive V8Mini project, without having to try digging through years of rambling diary!

All old diary, gallery & vids will remain in their familiar places, but general Doris antics & updates will be posted here.