The Independent American Magazine for all Mini Owners
Issue link: http://mc2.epubxp.com/i/33536
mini heritage section Open Wide, Say “WOW!” T he small city of Quesnel, British Columbia, is approximately an eight- hour drive north of Vancouver, Canada. It’s not known for its hot rod Minis, or for automotive artisans hiding out in well-equipped shops full of welding and sculpting components, but at least one automotive artisan lives here. His name is Mandeep Jawanda, and by trade he’s a dentist – hardly the type of occupation \RX ZRXOG ÀJXUH IRU RQH EX\LQJ a ’79 Morris 1000, stripping it frame-bare and then re-building it into a one-off, award-winning Mini. After all, hands are part of the tools of his trade and car restoration has been known to hurt the hands. But use them he did, and over nearly three years he and his daughter, Natasha, DORQJ ZLWK IULHQGV *DUWK 3HONH\ Wayne Wright, and Martin Webber created this stunning Mini. The project stated some 15 years ago when Mandeep purchased a yellow Mini in a sad state from Vancouver Island, equipped with a Stage 3 1,380cc engine. A restoration was needed and to get the project going, Mandeep stripped it bare so that the Ready Strip team could dip it in their solvent tank to remove all paint and metallic impurities. It went back to Ready Strip many months later, for a dip of undercoating with all body mods completed at that stage. The most obvious change to this classic Mini is the installation of a new 227hp Honda VTEC engine. It’s relatively stock except for the AEN air intake, adjustable cam gears, ECU re-map, MSD ignition, and DC Sports stainless VWHHO LQWR KHDGHU WKDW ÁRZV back to dual Manifolow tips at the rear bumper. For those of you with a close eye, it’s a Japan-market, 1.8-liter Type-R engine B18C5 with custom engine harness. The 5-speed gearbox is a Houseman Motorsports with FXVWRP ÀQDO UDWLR 7KH engine management is Hondata, and was dynotuned by Garage 5 in Richmond, B.C. If you’re thinking that this by Barry Brazier Issue 32 MC2 Magazine 47 T thh a M s i i w i s onin a e a c r d ii f t p en t iy s t m i l c e.