1146 replies to this topic

[tommypope]

i read most of this thread and iv got to say!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

from your first weld to you last what a diffrence that is a pro weld there bud :)

[jagman.2003]

Looking good Hugh, great progress.

[racingenglishcars]

I guess the question is: What would you do differently if you were to do it again?

I purchased a rather small bottle for my mig. It's expensive, but it retains it's value as it is always traded for a replacement, x-ray'ed bottle upon refilling. And, then I will always be welding something, like my colleague's chairs, a tool for roof tiles, another Mini, Land Rover or something like that.

You, Hugh have after all turned into a rather decent welder. There might be a retirement profession for you if you don't look out.

[JonnyBMX]

looking really good hugh!!!

you have come a long way from the beginning of this build, will you be painting it yourself?

as for the clogging up of the paper while sanding down that filler http://www.refinishs...ultihole-Blocks
the 3M ones are expensive but you can get cheaper ones, they can be hooked up to a hoover or summin so it extracts all that dust and helps it not get clogged up, altough most of the time i use it without the extraction ahha!

looking forward to seeing this completed!

[hughJ]

minimuk - thanks again. I read your post after I returned the cylinder on Tuesday morning! I had contemplated putting another filling strip at the front but when I looked to see what would be required it would need taking the bonnet apart!! So I've decided to just keep it as it is!
Thanks Shifty - I've just taken the reacted area back to bare metal.
Graham - I've just taken the reacted paint off - a mixture of Rustoleum Combicolor and Rustoleum Hard Hat and it took some doing. I impressed myself with how well I got the paint to adhere. I've done a lot worse in the past!
Thank you tommypope!!
jagman.2003 as usual a comment from you is highly valued! Yours is a fantastic rebuild.
racingenglishcars - purchasing sounds a good idea - I never looked into that and just rented. It would be great to permanently have a gas bottle! Thanks for your very kind comment.
JonnyBMX - thank you and thanks for the help - that looks pretty good - at the moment I am cash strapped! So have bought nothing for the Mini for the past month!

Just putting on thin layers of filler and sanding back with clogged up emery paper. Also folded the lips of the A panels and sealed. And as said above took reacted paint off one side.













All very boring - just an hour to an hour and a half each day.

Creeping along

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 12 May 2012 - 08:01 PM.

[grahama]

Lloving it Hugh, loving it !!

showing me techniques for when I get to where you are. Despite your claims to be anything other than a rank amateur at this, you are doing a more and more professional job, allbeit with some set backs !!!

Keep it up,

Graham

ps is the filler over bare metal or well rubbed down e coat / paint??

[Deathrow]

Hugh, you've got to stop it! You've actually just gone past me haha.

Looking good sir! Looking forward to applyng some paint? I'm dreading mine haha.

[CobraV8]

Hi there. I have read your thread (took a couple of nights). Really cool work. I was lucky enough to buy a great shell for my project, but would like a project van one day. It is encouraging to see how well you have progressed.

One question- what is the roller paint finish like? I hope it looks good, it would seem a waste to put lumpy paint on after your hard work. Surely if you do all the prep and just pay someone to spray it wouldn't be too dare?

[ZEBERDEE]

Its getting there now cant wait to see it painted

[deebo]

crackin' on hugh! what filler is it? is it just random filler or a specialist car filler? sorry if its a nooby question, my car knowlege aminly goes around japanese race motors not minis as much yet but it will! lol

[hughJ]

Graham a big thanks. The filler is over metal when filling a bad bit. When just filling paint imperfections I just rough up the paint and slather it on!
Deathrow thanks - you are my mentor. I know you have a lot to do looking after this website. But yours is superb work - I'd love to see you finish before me yet!
CobraV8 thank you. I'm not rollering it now I would have liked to. I've moved onto a paint called Rustoleum Hard Hat and I'm rattle canning it!!! I'm a Scotsman!!
ZEBERDEE thank you.
deebo - I'm just using Isopon filler. In fact I'm using too old tins that have sat in my garage for donkeys. I also use a little knifing putty for the final filling of little scratches and bubbles.

Not much to show - still building up thin layers of filler and sanding back. It is boring painstaking work!!

Took my Mini out in the sunshine so I could give my garage a cleanout. Its first time in the fresh air for a long time!









The coachlining on the driver's side is away!

But I've had a disaster. I use the Linux operating system and am always dabbling and messing. Yep formatted my home partition. Lost all my Mini photos so great they are mostly all here though at lower resolution!! Just me!

Losing it

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 19 May 2012 - 08:50 PM.

[Carlos W]

Hugh, I hope you're proud of what you have achieved, you really should be!

I'd love to be as far on as you, and hopefully I will be by the end of the year, unfortunately I had a major set back last year, but I'm over that now!

[CLM]

Ouch! I hate when I forget to remove stuff before formatting... I feel your pain D:

And really jealous your mini is on it's wheels! Looks very good Hugh :)

Chris

[iDemonix]

Hey Hugh, I'm sure you're knowledgable tech wise but sometimes (if you haven't changed much) stuff like that is recoverable. Unless you securely formatted. If you just did a basic format then all you did was flag those files as "deleted" which means they still exist, the OS just doesn't display them. Once new files are put on your machine, these "deleted" files are overwritten as they're no longer needed. If you haven't added many files then it's possible you could recover some.

I can't offer any explicit technical help as I don't use Linux anymore, try Googling for a tool, it won't be that easy though! This is why I have automated backups

[grahama]

Hugh,

that mini looks the nuts pal, first real look at it in full, very nice indeed. You should be very pleased with yourself!! Not long to go before the refit .

I have a couple of tecky friends and will ask about the drive.

Graham