1090 replies to this topic

[sonikk4]

That's a shame about the inner arch sections. I'd never even heard of ziebart, I had to google it.

 

I've been dithering about a full boot floor panel but having looked it again, I think mine is a goner. Threads like yours make body work much less intimidating for the uninitiated like me, so thanks for writing all this up.

 

No problem  . Ziebarting without doubt has kept the rust at bay but after 41 years its snuck in under the wire. Such is life, it could have been so much worse. 

[venkman]

You really do inspire us lesser "skilled" magicians (me, more suck it and see!)

 

Where can you get the pins from and do they put a lot of pressure on, enough to do your welding or do you use mole grips??

[sonikk4]

You really do inspire us lesser "skilled" magicians (me, more suck it and see!)

 

Where can you get the pins from and do they put a lot of pressure on, enough to do your welding or do you use mole grips??

 

The pins are something i have collected over time in Aerospace and i have not seen them readily available for sale but that does not mean they are not. They do have a good clamping pressure but will pull through if tightened too much. I also use mole grips etc where i can but in the more awkward places i use my skin pins. 

[Steve8274]

Awesome work as usual.
I notice you have done most of your welding with the mini on a trolley. Do you think you can do all the welding from something like this? My mini is in a garage with not enough room for a spit or even to roll onto side.
If it can be done, I will get some pallets
Thanks

[sonikk4]

There is nothing to stop you from doing all of the external panels, boot floor and inner sills on a trolley or pallets. You may have to move the body slightly from side to side to do the inner sills although i will be doing that on my spit.

 

The actual floor pan though is a different kettle of fish. Fortunately not something i have to worry about with Paddy.

[Stu.]

I'm always impressed by you guys who do a resto without a spit. Dont know what I'd do without mine!

[sonikk4]

This will be the third resto on a spit i have done. Got another two to do waiting in the wings.

[sonikk4]

So off came the companion bins today, needs these out of the way so i can do the inner sills. Luckily they cam off without too much damage so will be reused.

 

Now plenty of access

 

And this although not clear shows the sandwich at the bottom of the B pillar. This is where the companion bin front mounting flange covers the inner sill and inner sill stiffener.

 

Something i have tried to explain to a few members on here.

[Marco1972]

Not been on for a while mate

Looking good , you have some skill getting those bins off in one piece
At least you know they will fit when you put them back on the aftermarket and even heritage bins can be a pain

Edited by Marco1972, 16 April 2015 - 02:01 PM.

[sonikk4]

Its been a scrappy few weeks working on Paddy with shift patterns and lots of overtime so progress is painfully slow. On a more upbeat note got a phone call today to saymy inner arches will be here tomorrow so happy days.

 

In the meanwhile i had time to tidy up my companion bins and modify them a little. Far too many spot welds and a lot of them were on the edges so time for some welding

 

 

so after a bit of welding we ended up with this

 

Much better, now onto the inertia reel mount. Being an older car this does not have the mount on the front of the bin so they were mounted on the side. However there is very little metal there so time for some reinforcement

and then some plug welds later

Cleaned up

[Ben_O]

Looking good Neil.

 

One of your rear bin pictures has helped me a great deal so thanks for posting

 

Ben

[evansisgreat]

Great job on sorting those bins! I assume you just built up the weld and ground it down flush? I'll need to get practicing, I'd be blowing holes everywhere. That's it, off to get some more sheet tomorrow and use up all my gas, haha!

[sonikk4]

Great job on sorting those bins! I assume you just built up the weld and ground it down flush? I'll need to get practicing, I'd be blowing holes everywhere. That's it, off to get some more sheet tomorrow and use up all my gas, haha!

I used a piece of flat copper pipe over a reaction block, laid the bin on that and welded away. Ground flush and happy days.

[sonikk4]

Looking good Neil.

 

One of your rear bin pictures has helped me a great deal so thanks for posting

 

Ben

 

No probs Ben, pictures help in so many different ways. The more the merrier.

[sonikk4]

Inner arches have arrived so its time to slave them in

 

They fit reasonably well but they are not quite the right shape so i need to slave in the quarter panel to check things out, so it was off with the remainder of the old one.

 

The waist rail looked ok but on closer inspection its crusty so it needs to go

 

So before that goes in went the bracing. Too much metal coming out now so strength needed back in