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Austin Mini Van Bare Metal Rebuild


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#166 SAL 821X

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 07:24 PM

I'm aiming for london the brighton in June Chris..... hopefully as the deadline keeps getting put back :(

Got a couple hours yesterday and finished off the repairs to the rear door.

Its a bit messy but it will do.

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Still not fully got my head round fabricating new sections from sheet metal but I'm getting there slowly.

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Offered up the new skin and I can now fully see the mistake I made when cutting the old skin off. The new panel is a couple of 3 mill out in a 2 places on the right side. I will have to address this some how when I come to weld it up. I know remember the saying "measure twice, cut once" though!

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I've now ran out of welding wire though and need some C Clamps, ordered them today but wont come till mid week. I'm going to take a snow day tomorrow as the roads are dangerous around me at the moment, should give me some time to cut the heel board panels hopefully.

#167 ryan22_lgm

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 07:35 PM

i need to repair my rear doors ! i think mine are worse than yours :(. So you think i would be better off with 40grit on the DA? keep up the good work!

#168 SAL 821X

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Posted 20 January 2013 - 08:12 PM

This is the worse door on the rear. I've had to replace most of the top edge inner and outer skin, small section on the lip around the glass and all of the bottem quarter. So I think it was pretty bad this one.

I've took both doors back to metal with a 40 grit flap disc.

#169 SAL 821X

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Posted 27 January 2013 - 02:21 PM

Small progress report as ive hit a bit of s problem.

Ive now got some clamps so made use of them by clamping the skin to the frame.

However the window surround is not lining up right as you can see.

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Would the best course of action be to bend and shape the skin to match the rest of the surround?

Just want to check before going ahead.

Cheers

matt

#170 SAL 821X

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Posted 29 January 2013 - 08:45 AM

Hit a pretty major stumbling block last night..... :(

Managed to bend the window piece into place, did a bit more shaping to get the fit better, clamped it all up ready to start welding it up....

BLOODY WELDERS BORKED!!!!!!!

Only managed 3 spot welds round the window before it started playing up. I recently added a new real of wire, it would seem that the motor wheel is unable to pull the wire through the gun, its very stop start and not coming out the gun in a smooth action as it should?

I've tried swapping over to the 0.6 side of the wheel to see if that gives a better contact on the wire but the wheels still not gripping the wire.

So at the moment I'm at a bit of a loss what to do with it and unable to carry on any more work.

:( :cry: :xxx:

#171 ryan22_lgm

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Posted 29 January 2013 - 06:10 PM

I have just had the same problem! My wire wouldn't feed and it turns out the liner was damaged so I'm waiting on a new one :( right in between welding the crossmember in :(

#172 minimikej

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Posted 29 January 2013 - 07:40 PM

Hit a pretty major stumbling block last night..... :(

Managed to bend the window piece into place, did a bit more shaping to get the fit better, clamped it all up ready to start welding it up....

BLOODY WELDERS BORKED!!!!!!!

Only managed 3 spot welds round the window before it started playing up. I recently added a new real of wire, it would seem that the motor wheel is unable to pull the wire through the gun, its very stop start and not coming out the gun in a smooth action as it should?

I've tried swapping over to the 0.6 side of the wheel to see if that gives a better contact on the wire but the wheels still not gripping the wire.

So at the moment I'm at a bit of a loss what to do with it and unable to carry on any more work.

:( :cry: :xxx:

You definitely got the right wire for the tip? Granny, eggs etc but I made that mistake. Assumed old gasless wire was 0.9mm, bought new reel, same problem. Turned out original wire was 0.8. Doh.

#173 SAL 821X

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Posted 30 January 2013 - 09:07 AM

Minimikej - I'm using the copper tip that came with the 0.8 reel I bought so I assume that they gave me the right tip! I've got a couple others so will try that see if it makes it better.

Ryan - It's gutting aint it! I spoke to my mate last night that's a welder by trade and he mentioned that it could also be liner damage. He said to take the torch off and see if the wire feeds threw smoothly.

I'm going to take the welder and some new tips down to him tonight to have a look at it for me.

Watching a couple of ebay welders also just in case. Think its time I moved over to a gas from gasless, just need to convince my mother its safe to have a oxy bottle in the garage... :)

#174 ChrisCityE

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Posted 30 January 2013 - 09:18 AM

Think its time I moved over to a gas from gasless, just need to convince my mother its safe to have a oxy bottle in the garage... :)


Quick little story:

In 2005 my Dad was out in the garage and it was pretty cold but my Dad had been warming the garage to spray a couple of bits. He put a tin on top of the 2kw Halogen light/heater thing to warm it up for a minute... Promptly forgot about it and being an aerosol it expanded and blew up, lifting the roof off and blowing all the panels out of the doors.

He has had all the Gas welding equipment in the garage for years and never had a problem, and managed to do more damage with an aerosol can, so your Mum should be more worried about spray cans that welding gear ;)

Edited by ChrisCityE, 30 January 2013 - 09:18 AM.


#175 SAL 821X

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Posted 31 January 2013 - 09:48 AM

Well after all that, I managed to fix the welder last night with the most simplest of things and it took me 30 seconds. Thought I'd use minimikej's suggestion first and changed the tip out for a 1.0 instead of the 0.8 I got with the real. Screwed the new tip on, pulled the trigger, about poked myself in the eye with the wire :D . Coming out lovely and smooth now, although I still can't weld very well! :lol: hahaha.

Got one side welded and ground back. Will probably need a bit of filler but its good enough for me.

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Moving onto the other side tonight. Although that's the side with the massive gap as I cut the frame wrong. :goaway:

#176 mini danny

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Posted 02 February 2013 - 08:40 AM

looking good keep up the hard work !!!!

#177 SAL 821X

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Posted 02 February 2013 - 09:51 AM

Cheers Danny.

#178 mini-luke

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Posted 02 February 2013 - 10:02 AM


Think its time I moved over to a gas from gasless, just need to convince my mother its safe to have a oxy bottle in the garage... :)


Quick little story:

In 2005 my Dad was out in the garage and it was pretty cold but my Dad had been warming the garage to spray a couple of bits. He put a tin on top of the 2kw Halogen light/heater thing to warm it up for a minute... Promptly forgot about it and being an aerosol it expanded and blew up, lifting the roof off and blowing all the panels out of the doors.

He has had all the Gas welding equipment in the garage for years and never had a problem, and managed to do more damage with an aerosol can, so your Mum should be more worried about spray cans that welding gear ;)


Welding gas is mostly inert bar a little oxygen, much less than is in the air. It's not like a bottle of acetylene where you'd end up with half the neighbourhood missing if it went up!

#179 ChrisCityE

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Posted 02 February 2013 - 05:09 PM


Welding gas is mostly inert bar a little oxygen, much less than is in the air. It's not like a bottle of acetylene where you'd end up with half the neighbourhood missing if it went up!


Not blown the acetylene up yet, although the neighbours did tell all their friends that the welding bottles were the cause.

#180 Gadgets

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Posted 03 February 2013 - 08:46 AM

Great project, well done, keep going. I know the feeling of one step forward and 2 back. I am coming near the end of my van resto, recaro seats, seat belts went in yesterday and roof lining. Went to fit carpets and dug around a bit to much and now have 2 holes in heel board...




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