dan.. let hope he is in canada.. and NOT in the USA.. the re vin police with SPANK will be all over him. like white on rice . later bc

afluis24: it all depends on where you live. This is an international discussion forum, so we have members from northern Europe to sou8theren Australia and back again. You have to say where you are.
If you live in North America, our host MiniMania is a supplier of just about any Mini part. If inside the USA, then no problem. If in Canada or Mexico, you have to consider import duties, taxes and dollar exchange rate. Note it would be poor form for us to recommend another vendor competing in the US market with our host.

I have a 95 mini rover can you tell me where to find parts ? Thanks 

As Minibitz says....the North Island of Hokaido is mountainous, so they use salt in the winter, hence Corrosion like UK rustbuckets. Bought a White 1999 a few years back and it was absolutely rotten. 

Cars can still be rusty if sourced from the north of Japan. i had one from up that way and it was riddled with rot in the sills etc, much like a UK car. Ended up stripping for parts as the numbers didn't work out for a fix up. As previously mentioned most suffer from door rot, a couple of random spots under the door rubbers which I've seen on nearly every one we have had and the worst place which is under the front screen seal. These seals are a wider profile with the intention of preventing leaks. Only trouble is they also trap water. I would suggest replacing for the earlier type seal.

 

I also brought in a condition R car with light front crash damage. Looked good for parts but turned out to be so nice I fixed it up and has been my wife's daily runner for the last four years. 

Good points Gromit. The the biggest wear items i have found on them seem to be all the rubber parts that dry out presumably with the heat and apparently garage parking is a premium so the paint usually suffers but these problems are a small price to pay for a good body and subframes imo. AFAIK the R12 freon was replaced with the R134 around 92/3 and most if not all SPI's and definitely MPI's have R134 freon.

I have built a mess of these. They are indeed solid little cars and lots of fun. Note that most importers lie or are missinformed about the condition. When I was building and inspecting them I was hearing "by law these are meticulously maintained blah blah blah... no they are not. Most of them required multiple cooling system flushes and lots of little repairs, like you find on a 15 year old car. A lot of these have been driven hard or neglected so be prepared, its really no different than buying a 15 year old car here..  That said, you are starting with a solid car with exceptional brakes and terrific body.  Most of the interiors have been good as well, and many of the cars had little customizing touches that would be well sought after.  Be carefull as well as a couple of the "Coopers" I did were 998 Minis with automatics.

The autos are problematic, but I have driven a few and found them reasonably enjoyable, you just have to maintain them meticulously.  The a/c is the old type that is now not legal in some placed (R-12)  but there are recharge kits or conversions. The A/C we redid in one (I removed it from mine) blew cold like a meat locker. It was awesome.

A good number of these are modded as well, I had no problem getting most parts from my local Mini Guy, but on occaision I found the wrong distributor, or such. about half the ones I did had hi-los in them too.

One issue I have seen is guys making them comply who don't cars about minis. I had one in my shop where the jackass importing it used rectangular trailer lights for the front side markers so they complied.  looked horrid, made my dog vomit. I am happy to assist in compliance methods if anyone asks. (until recently I was a CVSE vehicle inspector.. I know what I am doing

Good Luck! and have fun. I know I would buy one again if I had the chance.

Not so with the Jap spec cars as they do not suffer the bad weather the UK ones do. The most rust i have seen on Jap spec cars amounts to some in the lower part of the doors where the two panels are sandwiched together and hold moisture.

one more thought about late model minis ('90s era) is how little paint they got on them when building (underneath and inside), so they tend to rust much faster than earlier era cars...

Norm

I am presuming you are in Canada by the flag and KM reference so you can legally register or import any Jap spec Mini with the older than 15 years rule, the USA is over 25 years. The SPI's 1991 through 1996 are reliable and still used a distributor so if you did have any troubles with the spi you could convert to carburettor although there is not too much that goes wrong with them. The later MPI's late 1996 through 2000 are also just as reliable but do not run a distributor so a little harder to convert if you have issues. There seems to be a lot more choice with the SPI's when looking, also the later MPI's demand a lot more money in Japan. One of the biggest weakenesses on all 90's Mini's is second gear synchromesh, it will grind into gear especially on the downshift if it is weak.

I would go with an SPI Jap spec as parts are available and they run well.

Dido that.. do NOT buy mini with an auto tranny PERIOD..  and try www.ebay.jp   you can buy dirt cheap direct from Japan.   Good way to get BURNT is using a broker.. only buy DIRECT..   the vancouver mini club site is great source of Jap speck minis...www.vancouverminiclub.ca 

Stay far away from the automatic trans cars.

We have a 95 JDM Rover Mini. Love the a/c, SPI engine and generally more refined finished product. I have had 4 non-JDM Minis in the past so do have a bit of experience. If you need access to parts, pm me for some contacts. They are different in several ways and you need to make sure the parts you buy will fit. 

What country are you in?

I was hoping some of you can give me advice on buying Japanese Rover Mini Cooper.

 

I want this car as my summer car and preferably want AC. I will be driving it no more than 8,000km a year. I would like it as new as possible originally thinking that newer meant more reliable and easier to find parts for. However, I have read on some sites that the this may not be true. Some say the 1997-2000 models have very unique parts compared to the pre 1997 models. Can anyone shed some light on this? How much difficult is it to find partd fit the 97'd and up?

 

I plan to keep this car for a long time, and hence want parts to still be available in a long time. Can anyone give me some advice? I am currently working with a broker and am ready to start making bids as soon as I find the right one!

 

Thanks,

B.