749 replies to this topic

[lawrence]

This is the long running blog I have for my Micra Mini.
This is a breakdown of what this blog entails. So you could call this the contents page sort of

Page 1- Initial strip down to highlight the areas that needed fixing
Page 2- Wiring strip down, NS sill removal, welder bought and first bit of welding on the NS inner sill
Page 3- Welding of NS floorpan, doorstep, wing removal, scuttle repair, new NS sill - inner wing made ready for new outer wing, Welding of OS floor pan, sill and inner wing - inner wing made ready for new outer wing, rear subframe removed- OS boot corner welding and deseaming of boot lip - OS heelboard repair - roof hole welded
Page 4- NS boot corner welding, NS rear bin repair, panel delivery, front end bumper lip removal, NS flitch repair, NS wing trial fit.
Page 5- NS heelboard repair, OS door skin removal, wiring new fusebox and Daewoo column stalks, OS A panel fitting, OS wing welded on, OS door step repair, OS wing sealing and paint.
Page 6- NS sill welded, boot lip repairs, half of rear valance fitting, radius arm rebound stop area repaired
Page 7- Rest of rear valance fitted, boot inside painted, boot outside painted and undersealed, inside floor painted, filling Rear end, NS wing made ready to fit, few mods to the front panel by taking off latch parts and smoothing areas,
Page 8 - NS a panel and wing fitted, sealed and painted, front end prepped for respray (that never happened
Page 9- Bonnet fit adjusted, some parts fitted back to front end, more paintwork in places, rear subframe investigated and decided to replace, modified inlet manifold and carb for better flow, repaired doors ready for skins
Page 10- More door flange repairs, new second hand subframe bought and painted, waist rails repaired both sides in and out
Page 11- Internal boot hinges made, engine bay repaint, new front rear brake line, engine bay built back up, NS rear wing welding finished, petrol tank mods for internal filler, rear subframe built up and fitted, car rolled outside for photos, lamp bar made and fitted, interior refitted with help from Lambert (RIP Puss cat), Doors fitted once painted black.
Page 11- Last bit of body welding on OS rear wing, filling and painting, waxoyling, rear window fitting, testing the lights and wiring, more petrol tank mods,
Page 12- Interior mods- auto dipping mirror, suede seats, new headliner, more waxoyling, taken for mot (failed)
Page 13- Mot PASS June 2012, roof repaint and new windscreen, head gasket blew, off the road 16th august.
15 month interlude when no work happened
Page 14-14th Dec 2013 mot fail in the morning, fixed and pass in the afternoon. She was ready for the road Christmas Day 2013, HG change New Years eve, mini went with me to Norwich from my parents to live at my rented accommodation. megajolt system fitted, roller repaint of front, Micra bought. March 2014 start of the engine change, engines both out, subframe being made,
Page 15- Engine mounts, trial fit, frame painted, inlet mani made and carbs mounted, clutch done,
Page 16- Alternator mounted, gearstick sorted, exhaust fitted, megajolt done, engine broken, engine repaired, horrible air filter made, brake lines ran, body roller painted white,
Page 17- More paint and window tinting, suspension parts fitted, brakes all bled, exhaust being made,engine fire
Page 18- More interior mods, Oct 2014 Transported home to parents, helper cat 2 Harley (RIP Puss cat), new head gasket needed to be fitted (old one was caught), fun with soldering
Page 19- Paint, cam broke, fun with brass and soldering, problem with engine, valve broken, new engine sourced and fitted on drive.
Page 20 -
The post below was what I had first posted back in September 2009, I had owned ken senior for a few weeks when I made that post.

hey guys
ive gotta mini city that doesnt seem to bad, cost 1800ish
quite like some opinions about the work that i have to undertake
will add some piccies of the problem areas [
opinions would be nice about what i can do about them
thanks
L

here are the piccies of the target area. its not actually that bad lol it think it might be worth more thn 1800
<script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/4a54ffd4/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"> </script>

<script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/e38de114/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"> </script>
<script src="safari-extension://com.ebay.safari.myebaymanager-QYHMMGCMJR/b335793f/background/helpers/prefilterHelper.js" type="text/javascript"> </script>

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Edited by lawrence, 27 August 2018 - 10:21 AM.

[Jim_Jam]

Have you got a picture of the whole car? I'd be interested ^^

To decide what the car is worth you need to take into account mileage, edition, aftermarket kit etc. aswell as the amount of rust. Those spots don't look too bad, I had a spot like the one shown in your bottom left image on my bootlid, unleashed my angle grinder on it, took it back to bare metal, applied a little hammerite on a spot I didn't want to push too far, I'll prime it later on today ready to spray and laquer. It all depends on how deep the rust has gone and how much work you want to put into getting rid of the rust spots eg.cutting and welding vs. sanding and touching up. Looks like it needs a clean aswell.

Best of luck on the work, post on your progress! and most of all enjoy driving your new city. Have you named it or is this another mini with an identity crisis?

-Jamie

Edited by Jim_Jam, 19 September 2009 - 01:11 PM.

[lawrence]

heres some of the entire car, im gunna clean it all ready for it first day at college

additions to the car (not by me)
1991 metro gta 1275 engine replacement
ken air filters
electric fuel pump
ultra lightened flywheel
turbo clutch
maniflow lcb twin box performance exhaust system
quickshift
brigstone tyres
half cooper interior
kindwood sterio
kenwood tri mode amp
halogens
lear lensed all round
cooper quick release grill
chrome handels allroand
chrome bumbers
new brake pipes and hoses
tarox drilled n grooved didsks
new back standard brakes
gaz adjustable shocks allrond
new cones
hi lows allround
2 neg camber front
adjustable tie bars
neg camber rear subframe plates

oh and minis nickname is just mini lol

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[Jim_Jam]

oh my that is a VERY nice mini. I've seen it on here before can't remember where, maybe when you just bought it? The interier looks belta too.

How much is your insurance on that? (Assuming you've declared everything?)

I dont't have too much experience with white but I think its quite an easy colour to match when respraying patches.

[lawrence]

thanks, yeh i added some pics to my joing the forum thread

erm its 1600 ahh lol. thats me on my dads insurance for it but im the driver that most uses it. kinda difficult to get insurance for just me!! and it mostly all declared accept small things

hehe i thaught it would be easy to match but i dont know they tyep of white lol! thaught there was just white but no!
L

[Jim_Jam]

Thats not a problem, look inside your engine bay and theres a plate with (I think its your vehicle ident. number?) and your colour code. For example the code for my solar yellow is 'FNH'. Have a deek. Once you have that you will have no worries getting the colour mixed. You know, £1600 isn't too bad, untill recently, I was paying £1500 which would cover half a year, once I did my pass plus that would go down to around £1100, after the six month I would get an accelerated 1 years no calims with them so it would roughly work out £2000 for 1 and a half years and atm mine is a standard 998! I searched high and low before buying insurance. I found myself a classic policy, so as soon as I pass my test (a matter of days hopefully) I'm cancelling that (I called to find out how much I would loose and its not a great deal to be honest, about the same as if I had only paid for provisional insurance) the policy will cover me third part F&T for a year, includes 35 days in europe and breakdown cover for £522!!! Thats just with me on the policy.

[lawrence]

haha its code NMH lol. whatever that means! i cnt get insure on a classic policiy becuase mini is like highly modified . but ive passed now and will be driving her form the 1st yay
L

[Ouster]

i cnt get insure on a classic policiy becuase mini is like highly modified

Yes you can.

[lawrence]

believe me ive tried all the people i could find, they either costed like 3 k or wouldnt insure me because im 17

[lawrence]

hello again people,
poor little mini (now named senior) is coming off the road from thursday due to insurance problems and wont be back till the 5th of march (my 18th, yay)

this means that i finally have some time to fix her rust spots!!

im also servicing her completely with an oil change etc and changing her ball joints during this time with possible replacements of them all, fun fun

ill be adding pictures on friday of how she looks now probably with some tears in my eyes

so have a look at the progress i make (theoretiaclly) if you want, ill try and do updates about what im doing

Lawrence

[lawrence]

hey people, this is my first actuall proper update,
she didnt come off the road in the end due to the massive cancelation fee that i had and the problem went away which is good.
i have however been attacking her slightly
these are the pictures of the damage so far, some are upside down due to the sun






i also got her some new wheels and alloys, and am worndering what people think




today ill be attacking the door and its lovely rust, thinking sanding down, krust, then primer and paint, sound ok?

Edited by lawrence, 14 May 2010 - 10:49 AM.

[lawrence]

hello again people, noones looked at this but im gunna update it anyways

due to me being only 18, have points and a modified mini i cannot afford to insure it for a decent price,

i am therofore buying a small cheap to run car and spending the money (that im saving on petrol haha) on a welder
(ill be getting taught to weld by a family member)

shes only going to be off the road untill my 19th bithday (next march) or slighly longer

much of the work is welding, however i am including my wants list too

here`s the wants and jobs list:
welding-
2 new door skins (ones bad as shown on picture, the other is on its way there)
drivers front wing (fill and paint/replace wing job)
drivers doorstep (big hole in doorstep)
drivers floor plan (crack by subframe mount)
drive flitch panel (hole bottom of inner wing and doorstep)
passengers floorpan (hole bottom of inner wing)
inner sills on both side (origional outer sill was replaced before purchase of the car however some inner sill holes have been plated over so ill do the job properly this time)
quater light rear windows (corrosion at bottoms, passengers side is worse)
front bottom of both rear arches (corrosion in both places)
small part of boot floor (picture will explain easier)
rear valance closing panels (drivers side has hole and passengers side probably also but havent poked that much)

wants-
4x spotlights (wipac possibly)
standard 998 engine and ancillerys (if you know of one let me know)
panels for welding (will most likely go with non genuine accept possibly a genuine wing if its needed)

so there we are, i should be nice and busy for the next few months, i also mostly work 8 till 12 weekday shifts and full saturday and sundays so ill be working mainly in the afternoons, i also have access to a garage which is good

i hope people will enjoy my updates of my first project, ill get some pictures tomorow of the work ive got to undertake(and what im doing with the wing so far)

Lawrence

[lawrence]

so, ive not done alot of work and noones looked at this, but heres an update anyhow

ive stripped some of the car,
this picture is of what she looked like a few months ago (after she got hit)

she now looks like this

and this is my runabout

Edited by lawrence, 09 October 2010 - 02:23 PM.

[lawrence]

2nd update
current rust problem and a few question regarding tackling them
around the passengers side rear window

DSC01828 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

can i get a panel for the back part? im not sure what its called but it look like its spot welder to the front and seam welded at the back. im not really sure how to tackle it
front of rear arch (passengers side)

DSC01829 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

back of rear arch (pasengers side)

DSC01835 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

inside door bin (passengers side)

DSC01830 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

a panel to be replaced (passengers side)

DSC01831 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

front wing possibly to be replaced (passengers side)

DSC01832 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

front view of engine with shiny pieces (i dont think the bay is that untidy)

DSC01833 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

painted wiper motor (first real work)

DSC01840 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

front wing to be replaced due to accident damage at front and rust damage at scuttle (drivers side)

DSC01834 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

inside boot (both sides)

DSC01836 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

DSC01837 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

rear window (drivers side)
DSC01838 by Lawrence Balls, on Flickr

 

feel free to make any comments and requests for pictures
ill make an update tonight or later,
hope you like

lawrence

Edited by lawrence, 03 July 2017 - 08:49 PM.

[sonikk4]

With the amount of tin worm you have got in that rear quarter you need to seriously consider replacing it. Its pretty bad plus this will enable you to get internal access to the companion box area as well. You will probably need to replace the waist rail as well this is the section where the rear quarter attaches to the car behind the side window.

If you do go down this route i would highly recommend spending a little bit more cash on Heritage quarters, they fit very well as i have just fitted a pair to Project Erm and the waist rails. Have a look at the thread and you will see what i have done in those areas.