1146 replies to this topic

[hughJ]

Hi Rob, welcome and delighted to find a Chemist on the forum. Chemistry is the subject. Where would us Mini enthusiasts be without the development of methods to extract metals from ores, and the development of alloys? Where would we be without the refining of crude oil to produce the fuel our Mini's run on? Where would we be without the production of plastics that so many Mini parts are made from? What about paint? Better get off my high horse!! I've been involved with the subject for years and am still passionate about it - probably over 40 years since I started school Chemistry.
Rob just get stuck in with the welding. I'm old, you're young - you will pick it up quickly.

Graham - if its at the lip or seam welded on to the panel - I did little grinding - I kept the speed of welding high to avoid over penetrating with weld.

Minimuk, I think it will still be a rush getting to Edinburgh, then helping clean up a students flat - you know what that can be like!! Woops, sorry Rob!

Hugh

[BenH]

Brilliant rebuild so far Hugh, I did what you did and took the plunge deciding to do all my own welding from scratch, at first i couldnt do anything apart from blow huge holes everywhere but now im making all sorts of things in and outside of the house/garage you want to see my curtain pole i made for the bay window we have! Im sure once the minis finished you could imagine just how much you may have paid to have it done by someone else as the hours add up so quickly for what sometimes looks like so little. Anyway nice to see this project and look forward to seeing more hard work, keep it up itl be worth it once its finished.

Ben

Edited by BenH, 09 September 2011 - 10:24 AM.

[CLM]

Love the updates Hugh, makes me wish I could get more done on my... fleet? The shop building is interfearing with it though, but it is ALMOST done structurally

Chris

[mini_hobnob]

Hi Rob, welcome and delighted to find a Chemist on the forum. Chemistry is the subject. Where would us Mini enthusiasts be without the development of methods to extract metals from ores, and the development of alloys? Where would we be without the refining of crude oil to produce the fuel our Mini's run on? Where would we be without the production of plastics that so many Mini parts are made from? What about paint? Better get off my high horse!! I've been involved with the subject for years and am still passionate about it - probably over 40 years since I started school Chemistry.
Rob just get stuck in with the welding. I'm old, you're young - you will pick it up quickly.

Graham - if its at the lip or seam welded on to the panel - I did little grinding - I kept the speed of welding high to avoid over penetrating with weld.

Minimuk, I think it will still be a rush getting to Edinburgh, then helping clean up a students flat - you know what that can be like!! Woops, sorry Rob!

Hugh

It's great to find someone as passionate about the subject as me, but understanding the formation of rust doesn't make it any more bearable haha. Yes I'm going to get stuck in to my renovation, although you've had a bigger challenge than me!

Oh, and yes I know all too well what student houses can be like haha

[iDemonix]

Glad to see good progress Hugh. I don't check this forum THAT often but when I do this is the first thread I always come to find! Keep soldiering on and you're going to have a lovely solid mini at the end of this.

[hughJ]

I've taken a week out. You do get a bit sick of the constant having to keep going. We put our daughter to Edinburgh and cleaned the flat - it needed it. I would hardly wash a pig in the shower as it was. But our house is awfully quiet with no children around.

iDemonix, thank you and I am flattered. Good for you Rob just try and keep a wee bit going every so often. Always good to hear from you Chris. May I dare to make a suggestion - do one Mini at a time!!! Its bad enough doing one! I agree Ben. It is a skill worth having which I put off for too many years. I always put my welding to my friend, Willie. He didn't charge much but I think I would tackle replacing sills or wings now and doing wee patches. Still can't weld upsides down.

I gave the garage a sweep and my good lady helped me get the Mini on its side.



It gave me a chance to look at my welding over the past couple of months from behind and I am more than pleased with the penetration. You do wonder!



But rust has started on some of the steel.







So its time to tackle this. I've put it off for a while. The car is on its side but I've photographed it portrait and left the photos - so it looks the right way up!



This is actually what was cut out!



I thought I'd put a stepwise set of photos of making up the replacement part. I used Cornflake packets to make templates. I can't bend the part so made it in two. This gets the curvature as near as perfect as I can do! So cut out these two bits out of the old quarter panel! I have 8mm sheet steel but I'm sure the quarter panel is just a little thicker. I researched the forum when I ordered steel but I notice Neil (sonikk4) says its 9mm.



And tacked. You get a great chance to bend and align the bits at this stage!



And welded.



Fairly quick welding to avoid too much penetration - should have been a tad faster but no one will really see it!



And cleaned up



Check the fit so it can be scribed around to work out what to cut out.



And cut out the right shape and clamp in place.



And weld it in.



And dress it up with a flap wheel, grinding disk and a cutting disc to get right into the corners.



And prime to protect it



And another bit of grot gone. A lot of photos but maybe it might help someone following.

I have these welds still to do

1. wee tabs in the boot to retain the wiring loom

2. the tank bracket

3. some of the guttering round the roof - dread that one.

4. once its back on its wheels - apex panels, front panel and wings - again dread as the whole look of the Mini depends on them.

The things to do is getting less.

Creeping along

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 17 September 2011 - 06:02 PM.

[sonikk4]

Hugh nice fab work there. If you want to grind right into the heel of the repair section you have made i would recommend using either a grinding burr the oval type or very carefully with a 1mm cutting disc and carefully use that on the weld.

[grahama]

Hugh,

your welding is really getting nice, can't seem to improve mine but think it is the welder not me, not enough variations on the settings front !! Am about with you position wise, sills and valance closers and then front end. Agree scary bit as it is the look of the mini and get it wrong and it will never look quite right.

Steel does indeed rust up quickly, I have a section like yours too, keep forgetting to treat it though. Great work, keep the progress coming.

Graham

[CLM]

Excellent repair there Hugh! Looking very good! And your welding is looking excellent!

Chris

[Carlos W]

Hugh, Your thread makes me embarressed!

I must get on and get my shell solid!

[Deathrow]

Hugh, have you got a photograph of the welding of the inner sill close up? Like the image above, from the inside. Just the photo maybe makes the weld penetration look a bit shallow in places.

That repair looks lovely as usual. I wish I'd done something elegant like that rather than my messy patchwork quilt style repairs on the rear panel. Again though, the welding on that corner looks a bit shallow in places.

If I'm being picky, give me a slap .

[minimuk]

nice one hugh, great repair job, get yr primer on everything for now, rust started and won't stop as gettin colder and damper.

[hughJ]

Today - A poor repair but I never expected it to be good.

Neil, Graham, Chris, Carlos, Deathrow and minimuk thanks again - you guys have been a real encouragement and help. Deathrow I didn't get round to getting close-ups of the welds. It requires a bit of gymnastics to get into the shell and I'm not quite as flexible as I used to be.

I decided to tackle one of the repairs I've put off - a bit of rust in the gutter - we are viewing the car upsides down!



Cut it out



And this is to replace it - always cut oversize and cut back after - I've found it helps get the heat away.





To give this - the wee extra bit is the lip on the roof panel and I'm welding in in one go instead of two separate bits. Its just so hard to weld onto the gutters.



Welded on one side and cut back to size - need to get the welding torch in at the other side (the top).



Cleaned up



And awful welding from the other (top) side. It is incredibly difficult to get the torch near the weld and just as hard to see the weld. I'm afraid this is guess welding!!



And cleaned up a bit - there are one or two holes but I'm not going to manage to get it any better. I'll use filler or seam sealant to cover and fill. The purists on the forum will not be happy, but a year ago I could quite happily have done it with a fibreglass and filler patch!



I do not like taking the weld so thin but the roof has to look reasonable and big blobs and ridges of weld would not do. So a bit of primer for the time being





I didn't enjoy doing it. I'm not happy with it. Its the best I can manage. I've got 1 or 2 more like that still to do!! I knew it would be hard from my experience when I put the windscreen surround panel in.

Bodging along

Hugh

[087dave]

Hi hugh good work again, but i have had the same problem with small holes like that in your weld
you are better off tacking it again because if you leave holes and put filler or seam sealer you run the risk of
rain water going in

sorry just trying to help
Dave

[hughJ]

Oh no Dave !! Please don't make me. Thanks for the help.

Hugh