105 replies to this topic

[l_jonez]

apparently there's a limit to the amount of pics you can upload in a single post so im going to have to do several posts

history(ignor the dates on some pics their well out)


5 years ago when taking my first car ( a Renault 19) to be scrapped before i was old enough to drive we saw a mini in one of the sheds of the scrap yard which belonged to one of the owners and he was storing it there. after a chat with him he decided to sell it and we picked it up on my birthday for the grand sum of £700 with 12months T&T

heres how it arrived




was pretty much standard but not complete, half the interior was on the back seat. but the shell was very solid.

after a cylinder head rebuild it was on the road, went for a week with no dash etc so ended up making one



thats pretty much how it stayed for a few months until this happened




whilst driving late at night i went into a hair pin bend and didnt come out, wasn't much damage just a bent wheel and wing and head light. crash was partly my fault and partly the fault of the rubbish sealed beams. so the wing was knocked out the wheel changed and the headlights replaced for halogen ones plus 4 spot lamps



roughly at the same time i added a stage one kit and new uprated shocks all round and a set of 12x5" Weller's [old vid after stage one kit]



thats pretty much how it stayed appearance wise until i finished uni altho during that time both front and rear sub frames had complete rebuilds and the fitment of megajolt

after uni i had a bit of my loan left so i spent it on the mini

first up was a fast road 998



then a fiberglass dash



then probably my worst mistake chopping off a rust free front end to replace it with a fiberglass one :





then to get all of the potential from the engine a decent exhaust, a single box maniflow with stage 2 lcb



and rebuilt brakes all round, pistons seals etc etc



thats how it was up untill last year .....

[Mini Basher]

Looks good, not a keen lover of the fibreglass front ends myself, more updates please and pictures

Andy

[l_jonez]

... this time last year i bought


which meant the flame red could come off the road. for several months it sat in my garden before i finally made a start..

started removing things





then attacked it with a wire brush to fins any rust and as expected there was a fair bit









also found for some reason the passenger rear quarter had 2mm of filler over it for no apparent reason ( no dents etc ) ???



found the lip of the rear panel rusted in a few places



so the rust was cut out and new steel shaped and welded in





passager side inner sill wasnt to bad



my panels arrived



i got to say the quality of the wings is equal if not better than the genuine ones i've had in the past ......

[l_jonez]

....welding started

found some rust on the front section of the door step so that was cut out and also some on the inner wing.
to be able to repair the area properly the A panel had to come off which i dint really want to do as it was pretty much rust free

however off it came and the rust has been cut out.




you can see in the pics the repairs i had to make to the inner sill and the new front section i welded in

sill on



and also welded in the new steel for the door step




it took a few attempts to get the steel to the right profile and i ended up doing it in 2 sections but its sorted now, just have to finish off the welds then its on to the patch for the inner wing

other side got the same treatment altho it needed the front half of the inner sill replaced



i have heard of people having problems with the panel warping but i seem to have got away with it on both sides

finally got around to a test fit of my rear arch now that there was a lip (side-sill join) to line it all up.




some nice new sills stone chipped



note the jacking point hole and the other random holes in the outer sill have been plated up from behind to help stop water getting into the sills.
the holes have no use as they where for the jigs etc in the factory and the jacking point hole i refuse to use as i always jack the mini up on the subframe


the front end thrown on and clamped together as a guide for A panel fitting



a panels going on




mocking up the removable front


inished front



I created the tabs for the wings to bolt to




inished welding in the reinforcement plates (2mm steel) ready for the engine transplant





it was a bit of a pain removing the subframe but it does mean the whole floor etc can get painted and stone chipped in one go and when it comes to the transplant all i have to do is fit the subframe+engine and not worry about welding in reinforcement plates

thats pretty much all the welding....

[l_jonez]

.... miscellaneous bits


so after a few hours work both arches where rubbed down the small amount of surface rust treated then primmer'd with zinc primer and then stone chipped



hopefully it will protect it for a few more years

got my tyres fitted so i was able to trim the wings/front panel

turns out the arches cover the wheels perfectly.







and a before and after



trying to decide if i should lower it now /


droped my cage off to to fabrication company to be welded 5pm one night, and picked it up 9am the next day for a grand total of £10

pretty happy with the final result and its fair to say theres good penetration on the welds, the steel with probably break before the weld






cage back in to spot the holes on the floor




welded up the aerial hole in the wing then got it smooth



finished triming the front panel'wing and reformed the lip



there is now plenty of clearance which means i can lower it a fair amount if i want to /

then the underside of the new front was POR15'd seam sealed and stone chipped



hopefully that will keep the rust away for a while


then on to the boring part paint prep....

garage got dust proofed



then a few coats of 2k primer




......

[l_jonez]

so that brings us up to date except for Sundays work which was
......


finally spraying it, it still needs lacquer but this is as it stands now







what y'all think?

Edited by l_jonez, 09 October 2009 - 04:06 PM.

[uksurvivor]

Loving the colour....

[Calman]

Flame Red too Bogey Green


Looks good!

[Mini Basher]

Love the work, similar colour to my choice but mines going to be darker, keep up the good work

Andy

[leaky]

WOW I love that colour. Do you mind me asking what colour it is?

[l_jonez]

WOW I love that colour. Do you mind me asking what colour it is?

no i dont mind, but im not gpnna tell you

nah only joking its called "juiced" green which is allegedly a in house colour from an on-line paint supplier, altho it looks allot like fusion green so im not totally convinced.

still looks good tho as its a metallic pearl which becomes more silvery in the sunlight (pics font show it very well)

[Cactus]

Wow, thats a fantastic colour!

Great job on the bodywork too, hopefully you won't be seeing any rust for a while

[l_jonez]

Wow, thats a fantastic colour!

Great job on the bodywork too, hopefully you won't be seeing any rust for a while

thanks

its my first attempt at spraying as well so im pretty happy with the result. i have discovered i really really hate prep work

bit of an update the following are now ready for paint

removable front end
bonnet
boot
seam strips
arches

will hopefully get done over the weekend. all thats left then is to reskin my doors as im not happy with the ones i bought which had been reskined but never used. then its put it all back together time

[dougie1142]

looking great man! my tax runs out in November, so i'm looking at all the projects getting me inspired to rebuild mine

[scotty_09]

love the colour, realy good work mate