Boot2Bonnet Restoration

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United States
Woodland, CA
Boot2Bonnet Restoration

Boot2Bonnet Restoration opened for business in 2010, and is owned and operated by Nicholas Upton. We Service, Repair, and Restore Classic Minis

We offer high quality paint and body restoratio.

09/18/2026

The right suspension parts are only part of the equation—we install, adjust, and test the same parts we sell.

With the new suspension springs installed, we’re setting the ride height and putting this Mini on our four-wheel scales to corner weight the car. When taking our readings, we always simulate the driver’s weight in the car, so we’re setting up the suspension for the conditions it will actually see on the road.

From there, we can make precise ride-height adjustments and balance the corner weights for predictable handling and proper suspension operation.

That hands-on experience matters when you’re choosing parts for your own Mini. We don’t just pull parts off a shelf—we install them, adjust them, test them, and know how they perform.

Building or upgrading your Classic Mini suspension? Buy your parts from people who actually use them.

👉 Shop Classic Mini parts at Boot2bonnet.com — and if you’re not sure which components are right for your setup, contact us. We’ll help you choose a combination that works together.

09/17/2026

Three Minis. One dyno. A full day of making A-Series engines perform the way they should.

It’s Dyno Day at Boot2bonnet, with three Classic Minis on the rolling road for testing and tuning—including our latest 1275 build.

After initial break-in, heat cycles, head retorque, valve adjustment, and a complete inspection, this 1275 is ready for controlled load testing and final tuning.

An engine is a combination of parts—not just a collection of individual upgrades. Camshaft, cylinder head, compression ratio, carburetion, ignition, and exhaust all need to work together. The dyno lets us optimize fueling and ignition under controlled conditions while verifying that the components we selected are working together to their maximum potential.

No guessing. Real data, real testing, and a properly tuned combination.

Build it. Break it in. Check it. Tune it. Prove it.

09/16/2026

Not every shop does things the same way.

Drive past some restoration shops after hours and you’ll see customer cars sitting outside. You won’t see that at Boot2bonnet.

Every customer Mini in our care stays inside our building, every night.

It takes valuable shop space, but protecting your Mini from weather, theft, vandalism, and unnecessary exposure is simply part of the job.

Whether it’s here for a service, an engine install, or a full restoration—your Mini sleeps inside.

You trusted us with your car. We treat it accordingly.

09/12/2026

🔥 **First startup for this freshly rebuilt 1275!**

With the initial run complete, it’s time to let everything cool down before we retorque the cylinder head, adjust the valves, and give the engine one final check.

Then it’s onto our chassis dyno—better known in the UK as a **rolling road**—for final tuning and testing before this 1275 is ready to get back on the road.

At Boot2bonnet, a rebuild isn’t finished just because the engine runs. We make sure the complete package is properly set up, tuned, and proven before it leaves the shop.

09/11/2026

Out with the 850, in with a little more power! 🔧🏁

We’re pulling the original 850 power unit from this Classic Mini and replacing it with one of our Boot2bonnet rebuilt 1275 power units.

The 850 has plenty of charm, but the 1275 brings a noticeable improvement in torque, drivability, and overall performance while keeping the character that makes a Classic Mini so much fun to drive.

Our 1275 power units are rebuilt in-house, allowing us to control the entire process and make sure they’re ready for many more miles of Mini motoring.

More power. More torque. Same Mini character.

08/28/2026

🏁 **The Rolling Road Is Back!** 🏁

Our chassis dyno— or as the British call it, a **rolling road** — is back together and ready to put some Minis through their paces!

At Boot2bonnet, we don’t believe in guessing when it comes to performance. The rolling road allows us to test the **complete car under controlled conditions**, so we can make sure every engine combination is properly optimized.

🔧 Dial in fueling and ignition
🔍 Find problems that may be difficult to diagnose on the road
📊 Measure the results of changes and upgrades
🏁 Make sure the entire package works together as it should

Most importantly, it allows us to **prove that the upgrades we recommend actually work**.

Whether it’s a standard road-going 998, a warmed-over 1275, or a serious performance build, the goal is the same: make the combination work as well as possible.

We sell the same parts we install, test, and use every day in our shop. Having an in-house rolling road gives us another tool to understand what works—and what doesn’t—before we recommend it to our customers.

**Built. Tested. Proven.**

🔧 Classic Mini parts, service & performance
🌐 boot2bonnet.com

08/26/2026

Apparently the Parts Department has a new manager 🐶💤

We’ve recently expanded our inventory, with lots more Classic Mini parts in stock, on the shelves, and ready to ship.

All that extra inventory has also created more places for the shop dog to sleep. 😂

Her current responsibilities include:

📦 Inventory control
🔍 Parts inspection
🧪 Lab testing
🐾 Security
🦴 Quality control
😴 Sleeping directly in the middle of everything
🥓 Mandatory snack breaks

The Lab testing department seems to spend most of its time testing the floor for comfort. So far, every section has passed. 😂

🐾 Lots of parts in stock
📦 Ready to ship
🔧 The same parts we use in our shop
😴 Management currently unavailable

Shop Classic Mini parts at Boot2bonnet.com

08/14/2026

A rollover can do a lot more than just damage the panels you can see.

This Classic Mini is on our Celette frame bench after being rolled over, allowing us to accurately measure, locate, and correct damage to the body structure using the proper Mini-specific setup.

Because a Classic Mini is a unibody vehicle, the body is the structure. There isn’t a separate chassis underneath that can simply be straightened independently. Damage from an accident, rollover, or bad rust repairs, can travel through the floors, sills, bulkheads, suspension mounting points, and other structural areas—even when everything looks reasonably straight from the outside.

That’s why proper equipment matters. Before replacing panels or making cosmetic repairs, the shell needs to be checked against known dimensions and corrected so the suspension, subframes, doors, panels, and drivetrain all end up where they were designed to be.

At Boot2bonnet, our Celette bench and Mini-specific fixtures allow us to approach structural repairs the right way: Measure first, correct the structure, then repair the body.

The right repair starts with the right equipment.

🔧 Classic Mini Service • Restoration • Parts

🌐 boot2bonnet.com

08/07/2026

One photo. Three stages. One professional result.

From **left to right**:
➡️ Dirty, oxidized gearbox case
➡️ Low-pressure glass bead blasted
➡️ Finished in our vibratory finishing system

While glass bead blasting does an excellent job of cleaning the surface, our vibratory finishing process takes it a step further. It smooths the blasted surface, evens out the finish, removes remaining discoloration, and leaves the aluminum with a clean, factory-style satin appearance that’s much easier to keep looking good.

This isn’t just about making parts shine—it’s about producing a gearbox that’s finished to the same standard as the precision components inside it.

Every gearbox we build receives the same attention to detail because we believe the outside should reflect the quality of the work within.

And the best part? The same high-quality parts we trust in our own workshop are available through our parts department for your next Classic Mini project.

🌐 Boot2bonnet.com

MiniRestoration TransmissionRebuild Boot2bonnet

07/23/2026

⚙️ Fresh build. Proven parts. Ready for the road.

This freshly rebuilt **5-speed rod-change gearbox** is headed under a customer’s fresh 1275 engine build. 💪

We upgraded it with a **cross-pin differential** for added strength and reliability, then finished the case with a vibratory polish for a clean factory-inspired look.

At **Boot2bonnet**, we don’t just sell parts—we install them every day in our own workshop. The bearings, seals, gears, differentials, and components we recommend are the exact same parts we trust in our customer builds.

That means when you order from us, you’re getting parts that have been proven in real-world restorations and performance builds—not just pulled off a shelf.

Whether you’re tackling your own gearbox rebuild or a complete restoration, we’ve got the parts and the experience to help you get it right the first time.

🛒 Visit **Boot2bonnet.com** to browse our growing inventory of Classic Mini parts.

👇 What’s your dream Mini transmission setup?
4-speed • 5-speed • Straight-cut • Dog box?

Address

325 Harter Avenue
Woodland, CA
95695

Telephone

+15303836213

Website

http://boot2bonnet.com/

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