1146 replies to this topic

[MINI-TURBO]

great progress mate, looks like your getting stuck in

[fabdabcab]

Hello - Dan - good to hear from you again - thank you.

I got the passenger side floor welded in today. And it fought me.

Made up a wee clip to hold the fuel line - you will see why I know about this in a wee minute



And plug welded it to the underside of the floor panel. Me being me forgot to put the gas on and had to redo one of the welds. Will I ever learn?



And here's how I know how to put that on



Yes! I went merrily through the fuel line with the grinder when removing the old steel on Saturday. What a wally. I knew the battery cable and the brake lines went down the right side so was careful cutting through the drivers side. But I just merrily ground away.

Well I tacked the panel in. You can see on the front left that I had cut too much off the replacement panel. I just never learn.



And welded it up



Look at the mess at the left front where I had to put in patches and extra pieces to join it all up. It's really horrible. Thank goodness for carpet!



Somehow its less offensive when covered in primer





And this warms my heart - despite all the disasters, ugly mistakes, etc - I have the floors at the front and the flitch panels all sorted out!!



So I move back a bit now. I'll put the sills on later.

I'm shattered!!

Hugh

hugh you should be proud off your work so far! trust me you are not the only one that gets carried away with the grinder i too have spent most of my time repairing what i have butchered, and forgetting to turn gas on ect...........but we all learn from mistakes keep up the good work!

[grahama]

Fantastic work Hugh. What do you prime the bare metal in, etch from a can or painted on?? Great progress as usual, keep at it, when we are all done we will have to meet up if they run lol.

Graham

[sonikk4]

Hugh you could take a grinder to those welds just to knock them back a bit. Then they will look a lot better plus as you are only taking the tops off there will be no loss in strength.

Good progress though, don't work about forgetting the gas we all do that so its no big deal.

[JonnyBMX]

excellet progress.. will subscribe to this, and good luck!

[hughJ]

Great to have the May day holiday. With the garden starting up and lots of other jobs it is getting hard to find the time. Thanks again for the comments - it really helps keep you going. So thanks jagman.2003, Deathrow, MINI-TURBO, Wayne, Graham, Neil, and JonnyBMX. It means an awful lot when you experienced guys think the work is OK.

I did three small repairs today. They were all done together - as paint was drying I worked on another bit, etc.

So tackled the passenger side shock mount - just the same as the driver's side. This time I took my time and got all four bolts out without shearing any of them.



You hope it might be OK but once you wire brush it the truth reveals



So cut it out and made up one single thickness, thicker plate



And welded it in



Then tackled a perforated piece on the passenger door step at the front and the driver's door step about the middle





Made up small plates





And welded in







That's all, I'm afraid. I haven't dressed the welds or primed - I'm out of primer. I answered your question Graham about primer of your own post - in case anyone thinks I'm being rude to Graham.

I've got the new passenger side quarter panel. I'm waiting on the retainer panel but that's where I'll go next.

Welding along

Hugh

[grahama]

Got it thanks Hugh. Thats about all I have to do on my passenger side doorstep, you make it look very easy !! Blimey, we are nearly master fabricators now, lol !!

Graham

[hughJ]

This post is just to show I haven't given up and am still keeping my restoration going, though slowly! I said this already on Graham's post (grahama) that I'm struggling to find time. There's always a lame excuse! Anne and I bought our house 28 years ago (or should I say took out a mortgage) and in the enthusiasm of youth bought one with an acre of garden! So last week I took down a tree, cut it up for firewood, dug over where it had been keeping out the sunlight and seeded a lawn there - so didn't feel like Mini restoration!
Graham - thanks as always for your comment. Oh to be a master fabricator!!
By the by - there used to be a really nice bloke called Chris (CLM) on the forum. He gave me helpful advice early on and was a great encourager. I haven't heard from him for a while. Checking his profile - he hasn't been on the forum since 29th January. Hope Chris your OK! If anyone can shed light let me know!

I've just come in from the garage - going to tackle the passenger side rear quarter. There is quite bad corrosion on it - this is from the outside



and the retainer panel from inside



and at the bottom - I had cut into it some time ago in my exploratory cuts



This is to fit these panels



So cut out the retaining panel - what a sorry mess



And trial fitting of the new panel from M-Machine



I have drilled it for plug welds and have primed the back - so hopefully put it in tomorrow and start cutting out the quarter panel. Then see what damage it hides.

Grinding along

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 09 May 2011 - 08:04 PM.

[hughJ]

Managed to get a bit more done tonight

Welded in retainer panel - just a couple of tacks at the rear till I see how everything lines up. Also cut out most of the rear quarter



And from inside the car



And the boots perspective



I think I am going to get away with small plates or patches round here. The wheel arch seems sound and so does the bottom of the companion bins. I'll know better once I get the wire brush on it. I still need to clean off the welds round the cut area. There is another roller weld round the wheel arch. I hate removing roller welds. It was bad enough doing the top of the windscreen surround.

Grind on

Hugh

[tino]

You have more confidence than me!!

I don't think I would be able to do that to mine, would be to worried about the shell warping.

Not that there is any chance of that happening mind, paranoia is a weird thing!

Looking good so far tho!!

Edited by tino, 10 May 2011 - 08:20 PM.

[Carlos W]

Where did you get the waist panel from Hugh? You're doing great mate, really good for me to see someone else do the tasks that I need to do on mine!

[vincent300]

very nice thread, keep up the good work bud

[087dave]

Great work been done here, could i just ask what settings do you have your welder at when doing skin work
by the look of your handle its a clarke welder
thanks and keep it up

[hughJ]

Thank you for the comments tino and vincent300.

Carlos I got the panel from M-machine - they are quite excellent. You can download their parts catalogue though some prices in it are dated. It is on page 9 and is described as a Quarter Panel Liner Retainer left hand Mk3-5. I think it was £11.50 I paid for mine.

087dave I have a Clarke MIG Welder 135TE (Turbo) which I am more than pleased with. For my thin sheet butt welds I use the lowest power - 1 and min and a wire speed of 6. For plug welds I use 2 and min and a wire speed of 7. I used this as well when doing the thicker plate behind the shock mount. Neil (sonikk4) seems to use a higher setting than this but he is very experienced. If I tried this I would melt the whole universe in the vicinity of my welding torch. For the butt welds you just want to hold the weld down for a second or two. As the red colour dies out move a bit, hit the edge of the red and do it again. In this way you can weld the thin sheet without a disaster happening. It takes an awful lot of practice on pieces of thin steel. You do start to get a feel for it.

Hugh

[Carlos W]

Hugh, that panel is £35 quid from mini spares!

Thanks mate!