393 replies to this topic

[minimuk]

nice repair again Scott, are you an inventor, well you should be on the mini repair side of things, clever gadgets......

[hughJ]

Wow Scott. These gutter repairs are so difficult anyway. Always impressed. Your door shames me when I think what I am doing. Maybe someday later! I haven't looked for a while and there is amazing progress. I love reading up on what you are doing.
Hugh

[minifcd]

Thanks minimuk, cheers Hugh, well here's some more reading for you! This is what I got done yesterday.

These are possibly the final parts to make and be welded to the shell. They're home made, 3 point, inertia reel, seatbelt mounts as fitted to later minis. They are made to approximate sizes, I'm not sure if they were exactly like these from the factory as I have no measurements to go off, but I made a pair exactly the same as these for my first mini 4 or 5 years ago and they worked very well.

Template drawn out on 2mm Zintec steel.


All folded in my new vice mounted metal folder. Much easier and quicker than when I made the last ones years ago using a block of wood and a hammer!


The finished piece.


Then there were two! Mirror image of the other. The large lip goes against the companion box.


The big drilled hole is 11mm diameter with a square 7/16 UNF weld nut, MIG welded to the back. 7/16 UNF being the thread of the seatbelt bolts.


That was the easy part! Now comes the dissection, unfortunately, as the reels need to be vertical and the wheel arches are curved. Two slots cut.


Curved to fit wheel arch and gaps welded back up.


Ground down and ready to fit.


The finished pair.


I'll try and get these fitted next weekend and post pics of the spacer/belt guide bracket when i've finished making the second one.

Thanks.

[SAL 821X]

Wow just had a google of those vice mounted metal folders they looks really good.

Might have to get me some of those.

Cracking work on the brackets.

[afrance94]

love this thread, love the metal work involved and in all these other build you see people not grinding welds down flush. good attention to detail

[minifcd]

Thanks guys. The metal folder is very simple but does a great job of folding small pieces of metal quickly and acurately. The folder has magnets to attach to vice jaws and removeable blade sections for smaller confined folds. Fast delivery and they do all sorts of other tools also.

http://www.stakesys...._metal_folders/

[minimuk]

Cheers Scott, just ordered one, just what I need

[minifcd]

Finished off the belt guides/spacers today. There are two reasons for these, to space the reel from the mounting bracket so that the belt does not chafe and to support the belt at the top to prevent the plastic swivel guide on the reel from breaking.

Guide made up from 6mm round bar, welded to one of the spacers that comes in the seat belt kit.


A piece of 3mm bar welded to the back to make up the thickness.


Welded and holes redrilled.


And this is how it will be assembled.








Just need to get them welded in now.

Thanks.

Edited by minifcd, 06 October 2012 - 09:40 PM.

[Brams96]

Thats a bloody good idea

Edited by Brams96, 07 October 2012 - 02:43 AM.

[minifcd]

Thanks Brams. The shell is nearing the end of the welding now. Only a few small bits to tidy up and a good look around the whole shell to make sure I'm happy before it goes for paint at some point.
Got the brackets welded in on the arches now.


Then set to work sorting the driver's side door gaps. The gap at the top was a bit large and didn't follow the rear quarter.


Built up with weld at this point on the door.


Then cleaned down carefully with the grinder, then various files and the DA sander.


The front of the door had to have a similar job done, but this time I had to take some metal off of the door and reweld. Then add weld to the top of the A panel to get the gap about right.


Then applied a smear of filler to the A piller to scuttle repair.


And thats as far as I got. Thanks.

[grahama]

Great work as usual !

[afrance94]

any updates?

[minimuk]

nice one, nice to see you door-fettling, reminds me on MUK's doors........as always attention to detail....

[okc78]

Hi, fantastic build, very inspirational. I was wondering when you made the slinging brackets inside the sill area front and back can you remember what size thread the captive welded nuts were that you used, I'm considering adding these to my car but have no idea of the size.
Cheers, Ollie

[minifcd]

Thanks for the interest guys. Not had time to update recently, and not much to show anyway. Can't believe its been nearly 2 months since my last update! I'll try and get some more photos up soon if anyone is interested.

Ollie, I just had a look at the thread size I used and they're 5/16 UNF. To be honest, you would probably never screw anything into them anyway, as they were only used in the factory, but that was the thread size on the old rotten ones I removed, so thats what I used again on the new brackets. I think i'm a bit of a perfectionist! You could however screw a nice stainless bolt into each one when the shell is painted, 5/16 UNF x 1/2 inch with a small stainless washer would finish it off nicely!