852 replies to this topic

[JonnyAlpha]

So its time to tackle the LH Flitch (The last big piece of rotten bodywork ) YIPPEEE

 

I located and hit the Spot Welds along the Inner Wing and hit them with a Centre Punch and the tackled them with a Spot Weld Drill recently sharpened on my Bench Grinder.

 

 

These slugs of weld at the top where the Inner Wing meets the Scuttle and at the bottom where it meets the front. This one I hit with a standard 7.5mm drill bit. 

 

 

 

Its this area that is probably the hardest to split:

 

 

 

Where the wing meets the Scuttle is fine as it shouldn't be welded:

 

 

I drilled through the Inner Wing in a couple of places but with a bit of luck I managed to separate the Wing from the Inner Wing:

 

 

Didn't have enough time to finish and was having a hard time separating the wing an the front so i'll leave that for another day.

 

 

[JonnyAlpha]

 

 

Great work. 2 things:

1.I think the 2 extra holes for the indicator are supposed to be there as mine have them in the same place.

2. get the bonnet hinge nut and bolt, put the bolt through and tighten the nut on (nut on nearer the outside) and weld the nut on, makes the job of fitting and removing the hinges a lot easier.

 

Ref the indicator - no worries.

 

Ref the hinge - so with nut welded on (which I guess can only be done with the Scuttle off) then the bolt can be inserted from the engine compartment on the inner side of the hinge?

 

Yep, Just saves trying to get 2 spanners in. Not a great pic of it,

 

 

That's a sweet DIY repair panel, what size metal, mine was a little thick a Bi@$£ to shape

[JonnyAlpha]

 

 

Cracking along with this, just done all of this bar the top part of the flitch. Thats next weeks project.

 

The one thing i would do though is weld that small gap up where the top return of the wing finishes.

 

Do you mean the gap marked with the arrow on the left or right or both?

 

 

 

The arrow on the left.

 

 

Thanks

[alex-95]

 

 

 

Great work. 2 things:

1.I think the 2 extra holes for the indicator are supposed to be there as mine have them in the same place.

2. get the bonnet hinge nut and bolt, put the bolt through and tighten the nut on (nut on nearer the outside) and weld the nut on, makes the job of fitting and removing the hinges a lot easier.

 

Ref the indicator - no worries.

 

Ref the hinge - so with nut welded on (which I guess can only be done with the Scuttle off) then the bolt can be inserted from the engine compartment on the inner side of the hinge?

 

Yep, Just saves trying to get 2 spanners in. Not a great pic of it,

 

 

 

That's a sweet DIY repair panel, what size metal, mine was a little thick a Bi@$£ to shape

 

Cheers , 0.9mm Bent pretty easy from what I remember, I think had to make one cut on the 90degree lip .

[JonnyAlpha]

Made a little progress over the weekend, basically managed to cut away most of the rot from the LH Flitch and Inner Wing ready to start making any repair patches as required.

 

Awkward going but by drilling out the spot welds as best I could and using a hacksaw I managed to get the Wing off:

 

 

As with the other side it will need some patching up:

 

 

Once the wing was off the true extent of the dodgy repairs to the Air Vent area were revealed. Body filler all around but even then they had left gaps above for the water to get in!!

 

 

In behind the dash you can see whats hidden behind the plate that was welded over the area at the front - completely rotten!!

 

 

So I carefully cut around the old repair:

 

 

To reveal the original rotten Flitch behind!!

 

 

The scuttle closing panel basically fell off and the rot to the upper Inner Wing was pretty bad.

 

 

I had considered trying to salvage the Scuttle, but in the end decided it had to come off in order to do a proper repair:

So first I located and centre punched the spot welds, followed by drilling a pilot using a 5mm drill:

 

 

Next I opened up the holes with a spot weld drill and after marking where the repair panel would cover I cut the scuttle slightly shorter. 

I also started to separate the seams and go through the remnants of the spot welds with a trusty old wallpaper scraper.

 

 

 

And off it came:

 

 

I noticed that the wiring loom to the rear of the car runs through the door surround, this will be an issue when I weld on the new panel??

 

 

I had to cut the vent out because all of the screws were completely corroded, any tips on removing these without destroying the vent?

 

 

Next I cleaned up the area with a twisted knot wire brush then marked and cut where new metal would be required. I also used the new Flitch Panel to help to mark where the new Flitch would cover:

 

  

 

 

I also cut off the remnants of the old patch repair.

 

 

The A Post will need less repairs that the RH side did but the top of the Inner Wing is slightly more rotten, but repairable.

 

Whilst cutting all of this out I found a few old mementos from previous owners, a Poppy, Pen Knife and a Pen (still worked!!):

 

 

Coming together slowly, new target for completion is Beaulieu National Mini Cooper Day next June  

 

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

shame about all that rot but at least when you are done, you will know it is done properly and will last well.

[JonnyAlpha]

A bit of an update from the last week or so, not a lot but hey ho.

 

Ordered a few fuel related bits, fuel pipe, tank neck grommet, overflow pipe, pipe clamps etc, also ordered a 10 inch male to male fuel line and a connector to connect the fuel line to the subframe. If you recall it was to short!!

 

 

So the first job was to connect up the fuel line but whilst I was under the car I noticed that when we fitted the subframe the Exhaust Bracket was wedged up against a part of the boot floor, no wonder we struggled!!

 

 

So I loosened off the bracket and bent the intrusion free.

 

 

Next using an old piece of fuel line to get the shape correct I bent up the new fuel line using a broom handle and connected up the the subframe. to be honest I wish I had renewed the hole front to rear as I spotted that the rear of the thread on the male connector at the end of the fuel line that sits outside of the join is a tad rusty :-( (add it to the list for follow on jobs).

 

Whilst I was underneath I was admiring my refurbished subframe so too a photo, it's a shame but you can't see all the hard work from the outside of the car :-(

 

 

So here's a shot of the car showing the repairs left to do on the front end:

 

 

I cleaned up the areas of rot on on the inner wing and removed the Windscreen Wiper Motor to get at the inside. I then contemplated how to tackle them?

 

Outside:

 

Inside:

 

After a short think and a Cup of Tea, I made some marks and the cut out what I thought I should:

 

 

Then I started on the A Post, I removed the light switch (this pic is more for reference than anything:

 

 

Removed the bung and wiring:

 

 

The only piece of the A Post left to repair at the top was the outer edge of the Door Stop Recess, so I mesured up and made a filler piece:

 

 

Cleaned up and clamped in with some copper backing to spread the heat:

 

 

Couple of tacks:

 

 

Welded in:

 

 

Finally cleaned up and trimmed down:

 

 

Next up I repaired a couple of spot weld drill holes that were close to the edge of the A Post, again using a copper backing which helps limit the weld on the reverse side:

 

 

There are two repairs in this pic:

 

 

And all cleaned up with a Grinding Wheel, 60 / 80 and 120 Grit Flap Disk:

 

 

Next I spent quite a while standing and thinking (doing a lot of that lately), trying to decide what order to do next. Before I weld in the A Post Stiffener the inside of the A Post needs cleaning, de-rusting and painting with Epoxy Primer (as I did to the other side). I always seem to mix up too much so I was trying to work out what else to prep for painting? Also time was pressing and I didn't really have time to De-Rust the area with Deox Gel and paint it, so all I ended up doing I did was do some mechanical rust removal.

 

  

 

 

Also bought a Silverline Fiilament Brush attachment for getting into the knooks and cranys of the A Post, as recommended by Ben_O

 

 

 

[JonnyAlpha]

The wife was away on a Hen afternoon so I put the time to good use and welded in the two patches that I had made and also spent all the afternoon de-rusting the inside of he A Post.

 

Made a couple of templates for the patches that I needed:

 

 

Sorry no pics of the stages but here they are welded in:

 

 

It took ages to de-rust the inside of the A Post but there was no point leaving any rust lurking in there so after two or three goes on the worst areas I had it all clean. Then I put some weld through primer on the flanges:

 

 

Then after it was dry I mixed up some Epoxy, I had contemplated whacking on some Etch Primer and making do as time was not on my side (it never is), but after taking the effort to de-rust it Epoxy was the best solid method.

 

 

I also ground down the welds on the patches and splashed some Epoxy on these as well.

 

 

 

Not a brilliant last pic but now its ready for the A Post Stiffener so next job will be to fit the Door and weld in the stiffener.

 

 

[Rocket.]

Coming along nicely

[JonnyAlpha]

Coming along nicely

Thanks Rocket.

[JonnyAlpha]

Well work and family have taken priority of late but in between things I managed to get a little done late this afternoon.

 

In between doing the Mini I was also preparing two Raspberry Pis for a demo I am giving at school this week

While doing the RH Flitch I had a look at the RH side, which is not yet finished, and wondered if I had done, it correctly? Here is the RH side, should the triangular piece underneath have been inserted into / behind the Sill? Or folded over the Sill and seam welded on to the Sill? Or cut off in line with the front edge of the Sill and the gap welded up?

 

  

Also should the top of the Flitch get welded to the A Post?

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

You could have folded the triangle bit back behind the outer sill but you could do what i did and chop it off and seam weld it

 

 

 

As for the top where the A panel goes. Just leave it until you have fitted the A panel then you can seam weld and shape the top of the a panel in

[JonnyAlpha]

Thanks Ben, I think i'll chop and seam weld.

[Minidarren83]

Same as Ben I cut it off and seam welded both front and rear edge of my sills and as Ben says leave the top it sits under the a panel anyhow

[JonnyAlpha]

Before welding in the A Post Stiffener I fitted the door and propped it in place using some copper bar:

 

The gap seems about the same as the RH side:

 

 

And the profile seems OK

 

 

With the usual massivo gap at the top:

 

 

Once it seemed OK I put it a couple of tacks:

 

 

 

I removed the door and cleaned up the rest of the areas to be welded and started to plug weld.

 

I then

 

 

 

Didn't have time to grind down so I splashed some etch through on it to prevent it rusting until I can get at it.

 

Edited by JonnyAlpha, 29 December 2015 - 05:40 PM.