1090 replies to this topic

[sonikk4]

Well decided today to have a poke around Paddy the clubbie that we got for Scott to drive when he finally passes his test.

He is very low mileage just over 33k and all in all not bad for his age (he is 36). He's got over sills which is a bit of a downer and a bent boot floor and a bent boot hinge panel but nothing of any real consequence.

I see all of this as a challenge as i will be trying to keep the car on the road for as long as possible before he gets fully gutted. The doors have been re skinned, new wings and fresh paint although if you get up close and personal then its not the best.
The inner sills look factory fresh on the inside but when i take off the oversills i hope the rot is not bad. The interior is totally standard and apart from some over spray (come on folks its not difficult) its immaculate.

Anyway a few photos of what we have found so far
Paddy the day we got him

The interior

Manky suspension


Hole in my mini

Underseal removed

Flitch is not bad one tiny hole but the scuttle close out panel is not good plus the edge of the scuttle is crud


Part of the front panel is missing

And over sill


So really for his age he is relatively lacking in rust he just needs some TLC to keep him road legal.
It will be a long and slow rebuild until we have moved and Erm is on the road then he will get the full treatment just like Erm.

Edited by sonikk4, 19 March 2011 - 08:23 PM.

[nrwilliams]

Looks fantastic, will be watching closely!

[misfit]

paddy is looking good to start with will be watching this one good luck with the build mate

[sonikk4]

paddy is looking good to start with will be watching this one good luck with the build mate

Cheers it will be a long drawn out process with this one, we just need to keep it road worthy while i work on it so it will sprout some little nasties but once we have moved, the house is tidy (got to keep the wife happy) then he will get a new suit of clothes and a cheeky little 16 valve engine of the R1 variety.
Some very subtle mods and look totally bog stock so i can go hunt chavs in their Saxo wicked's. Happy happy days

[Shifty]

Looks good, at least there paint under the underseal and not filler!

Nice looking little car.

[sonikk4]

Looks good, at least there paint under the underseal and not filler!

Nice looking little car.

Well so far no filler Shifty although i know there is a little pug hiding in one of the rear quarters, and finding paint under the underseal does fill me with confidence we will see what's under those pesky over sills. Fingers crossed for nothing too nasty.

[sonikk4]

Took the paint off at the bottom of the flitch and removed the scuttle close out panel.
All in all not too bad although the bottom edge of the scuttle is shot but i'm hoping that once the remainder of the rusty bits are removed and the new close out panel is installed all will be well for the moment.

The upper part of the flitch is good just surface rust however around the vent is not too good so that will go along with a section of the lower flitch. The over sill welding at the front is not the best so just as well the whole thing is going.
Bottom of flitch and sill end

Close out removed and rust around vent hole

Old close out panel

Took just over an hour to do all of this and slap some Krust on then had to cook the dinner, families hate them or love them you have got to feed them.

[xBR4DLEY]

If Scotts having this one , whos having Erm?
Good luck with it though mate

[sonikk4]

If Scotts having this one , whos having Erm?
Good luck with it though mate

Lets put it this way i own over 2/3rds of this beastie and Erm is 100% Scotts so call it a loan car until Erm is fully road legal and finished. Paddy will become MY toy and i have big plans for him.

[sonikk4]

Erm is not back from paint yet so spent the afternoon attacking one of the oversills on Paddy.

Really was dreading this and it did not bode well when i found a good section of the sill to doorstep flange was not even welded together what the hell!!



Still it was less to cut off so on with the removal and quite pleasantly surprised



They had actually removed the old sill first but failed to put any protection on the inner sill and floor however the rust there is only surface. Even the jacking point is sound which for a 36 year old car is really good.





So really the only bit that needs a bit more attention is the front section where the slinging bracket is as this is toast and has affected the surrounding area.
The slinging brackets were next to come off purely to make sure there were no issues hiding under them but again only very light surface but the inside of each bracket were starting to show rust.


It would appear that somebody had paid for the car to be Ziebarted which has saved him from major rust issues. Scott will hopefully do some de corroding this week so when my M-machine bits turn up i can then start to rebuild the r/h side up. There will be some fabrication of bits to do mainly the inner sill section at the front once the slinging internal bracket is removed plus i will seam weld the seat belt mount before i refit the sill plus i will add some reinforcement pieces around the jacking point.

I won't be going too mad with all of this as when it comes to his full rebuild all of this will be removed and redone to a much higher standard.

[misfit]

looking good mate keep up the good work and the wife loves your posts as she is learning too but we both love the saxo baiting must give that a go

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

beaut wee clubman and very solid aswell and i wish my sill was put on that well, when the floor was took out the whole section from the middle jacking point thing forward wasnt welded at all and just had underseal put on it to cover it up lol

good luck with the project though

[sonikk4]

My panels turned up from M-Machine at last Hurrah!! took a week so not too impressed however the outer sills and jacking point that they make are very good. A lot better than the pattern parts from other cheaper companies.

The only down side is they do not make all of the panels so the flitch repair and scuttle closeout are from another supplier but hey ho beggars can't be chosers.

The jacking point is nicely made but for me not enough weld so a couple of minutes later it went from this

to this



The sills got a work over, opened up the cutout for the jacking point and trimmed the reinforcing plate around it then drilled 1/4" holes for the plug welds, flashed over some etch primer

and then some topcoat


Then i whipped off the old jacking point ( i was going to keep the original but decided against it) and then took out the forward slinging point as this was crusty. Now with it out i will have to replace the last 8 inches of inner sill as its really to far gone to leave it for a year or so.


The old jacking point spot welding from the factory was poor to say the least. This top section of the mount came off with the lightest of taps and there was no rust behind it to weaken it so it goes to show even the factory was not all that.

[minidream94]

WOW looks a nice little project for your boy scott, he has some very generous parents :L wish mine would buy and help me do my mini :L

Also the R1 route is full of win, will the exterior stay as it is?

[sonikk4]

WOW looks a nice little project for your boy scott, he has some very generous parents :L wish mine would buy and help me do my mini :L

Also the R1 route is full of win, will the exterior stay as it is?

Yes its going to look totally bog stock apart from the reverse S rims as i will be fitting discs later this year. Its even going to keep the pea shooter exhaust although suitably modifed and a totally standard interior.

Its still my car so i will be doing all of the work and paying for it, Scott will no doubt contribute to some of the parts but i will paying for everything else then once he gets a more reliable runabout he will be all mine to use and abuse though only once he's had a full rebuild and re spray.