156 replies to this topic

[Lilly Mini]

Great project very helpful photos of the boot repair, will come in handy when i start doing mine, Subscribed to this thread.

[rich2]

Good work! I have used both types of spot weld cutting drill bits and I find the spring type ones work better if you drill a shallow 2mm pilot hole to locate the spike into. Otherwise, as you say, its really difficult to stop it sliding all over the place and breaking teeth off.

[grahama]

Liking the progress, very speedy. How much are you doing, is it a joint project with your Dad or are you solo ??

The solid spot weld drill bits are good, but don't use them very fast as they can chip and become useless, I have buggered a couple up like that !!!

I must say that that epoxy stuff looks the mutts, is it just a primer or is it like stone chip, either way it looks brilliant, will be doing a little painting underneath shortly myself !!

Your fabrication skills are great aswell, well done so far, keep the updates comming and lots of pics !!

Graham

[miniBrain]

Hugh, Lilly Mini and Rich2 - thanks for looking and commenting - much appreciated!

Graham, appreciate the compliments! I'm the wrong side of 50 to have a dad help out with this lark. I'm doing it on my own with occasional help - I work freelance, so I can prioritise my own time and the Mini just seems to be getting top priority at the mo.

The epoxy mastic can be used on its own or as a primer - it has a glossy finish so I guess will need to be keyed before a further coat. I'm using it as a primer followed by stone chip and body colour.

Bob

[grahama]

Sorry Bob, got this thread confused with a 14 yr old's thread. Oh to be 14 again !!! Great work at any age tho !!

[miniBrain]

Hope your'e watching Simon!

While I was waiting for the correct front panel I did a few more refurb jobs on various bits:

Derusted, cleaned and painted the steel parts of the steering rack and gave it a new pair of boots and some fresh oil:



Stripped, cleaned, checked and rebuilt the carb with a new seal from the float chamber to the jet. Would like to have changed the Waxstat jet for a non-Waxstat type but might do it later:



Right, got the new front panel so now I could get on with the bodywork. Firstly I mounted all the front-end panels with screws to check the fit prior to welding. It took a whole day of fettling to get all the panels fitting to an acceptable standard. There were numerous burrs, ragged edges and untidy folds to sort out before the new panels would “slot” together. Even then, the fit between the heritage panels ain't that brilliant. I also had to trim the lip that the A-panel folds around to get the door gap as neat as possible. Eventually I got to this stage:

LH bonnet gap:



RH bonnet gap:



The gap between the bonnet and scuttle opens up a bit in the middle (this photo also shows a lovely rust scab on the bonnet that needs sorting). I'm going to live with this:



RH door gap:



LH door gap:



Relatively happy with the overall fit:



Next was to strip it all off again except for the scuttle. I left the scuttle in place so that I could fit the scuttle closers. Once these were welded in, I removed the scuttle and painted and sealed them up:



Then I could replace the scuttle on top of a (hopefully) sealed closing panel. I'm not welding the wing to the closing panel as I thought it would be better to avoid burning off any paint/sealer in this area:



And the scuttle welded in at last:



Then I tacked in all the remaining front-end panels – using just a single tack weld at each “corner”. Then I put the bonnet back on and rechecked again. I had to remove the LH wing and re-fit it to get an even gap between the scuttle and wing. Otherwise all looked fine so I tacked the panels in permanently.

I now started the bit I was dreading – folding in the A-panel lip. I followed exactly the procedure described over in the tech section – mole grips, block of wood, etc. It was hard to get it going, but once started it seemed to fold over quite nicely. Here's the RH panel partially folded – will fold it completely flat when I get some sealer behind it – just wanted to re-fit the doors to check the door fit:



Driver's door back on to check:



And the passenger door (there's some shimming in between the hinges and door post that I could remove to tighten this gap up a bit):



One of the worst problems I'm left with is the sticky-out lower quarter on the passenger door. I'm not sure if it was like this when I started or if I've let it drift out during the build:



Will need to address this when I replace the door skin by increasing the curve along the lower frame. The driver's side is fine though:



This is the front mostly welded (I ran out of gas before I could finish) with the bonnet fitted to the hinges:





At last the end of the welding is in sight. Just need to fit a new lower dash rail and refurbish the passenger door and bonnet, then I can get on with prepping for paint.

Thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 02:09 PM.

[miniBrain]

Hi Folks,

Nice to see everybody's projects restored after the hacker attack and well done to the TMF team for getting the site back on line.

Progress update: The front subframe got a coat of epoxy mastic then a coat of black Hammerite:






I've finally finished all the welding on the front end:



After painting all the joints I applied some UPOL brush-on seam sealer:



Primed the floors with epoxy mastic (this is excellent stuff – really tough but expensive):





Sealed wing gaps with Tiger Seal. Also dug out the old sealant at the roof joint in the gutter and replaced this with Tiger Seal as well as the joints inside the door post:



The underside got a coat of anti-stone chip (from Wayside Adhesives). Took 3 litres to cover the underside and toe-board:



Used a Shutz gun to apply the anti-stone chip but had to play around to get the texture right. The photo below shows the first attempt – a bit too coarse.



I tried increasing the pressure from 50 to 75psi but didn't make much difference. Eventually got a good texture by putting the anti-stone chip paint in a bucket of hot water for 10 mins – it seemed to flow better once heated:



Now for some colour. I'm using 1K basecoat with clearcoat. This is the basecoat (Pageant Blue) – its normally quite dull on its own but should achieve a higher gloss once the clearcoat is applied. The basecoat was applied directly to the anti-stone chip without primer. The rear valance was primed though:





Quite pleased with the finish out of the gun so far. I'm using a cheap compressor from Aldi and one of the cheaper De Vilbiss guns (FLG5). However, I spent a good bit more on a decent air filter set-up – Norgren regulator/coarse filter and a De Vilbiss coalescing filter.

All dings and dents were filled using UPOL Fantastic and Top Stop and sanded back. Then the body was sanded and degreased then etch-primed all over:







Next is 2 or 3 of coats of filler-primer which will be thoroughly flatted before applying basecoat. Once all the basecoat is applied I can then apply a couple of coats of clearcoat all over. After that I can install the pipework underneath then the subframes and then get the car off the jig for good.

Thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 02:11 PM.

[chrisj]

Simply Fantastic work, really impressed with the quality of your work and the speed in which your progressing.

You should be really proud of what you've achieved with this project so far!

The epoxy mastic and anti stone chip you have used look very impressive.

Chris

[skoughi]

Great work! I can't wait to get to the same stage as you with my clubby. I'm repairing the front bulkhead of mine just now, it had a bodged weber box installed which I've very easily removed! I'm now filling the hole thats left with a patch but I've got to cut the egg shaped hole in the patch. I've got a template of the hole but I'm unsure of the angle of the hole and its position so I was wondering if you could post up a photo of your bulkhead so I would have something for reference. There's also lots of holes and I'm not sure what ones I can leave and what ones could be welded up. I would be most gratefull if you could help, cheers!

[miniBrain]

chrisj & skoughi - thanks for the kind comments, very much appreciated!

skoughi, Here's a picture taken of the bulkhead almost bang on the centre line. Let me know if this is useful. If not, I'd be happy to take more but its still on the jig so might not get the shots you need.

This link has a higher res image if needed.

[skoughi]

Absolutly perfect my good man! I also got a photo from another helpfull chap with all the wires and pipes in place as well, this one is better though. I can now go for all those little holes with the welder! You are a true gentleman!

[g111mds]

very nice work and really good write up on this. look forward to following the progress as the project continues.

[rust nut]

nice rebuild topic like how you did the roof repair

[hughJ]

This looks great - fantastic fit at the front. What a high standard of finish. Very jealous. Just bend the door that is sticking out!! It will probably go by hand! That's how I got my driver's door to fit better - a wee hammer helped!

Hugh

Edited by hughJ, 28 April 2012 - 09:15 PM.

[The.Yellow.Mini.Guy]

I just sat and read the whole thread and its getting amazing man!, i got my first mini on the 10th of last month and it has a solid body but reading this makes me wish i could do some repairs like yours!! Keep up the great work and you can count on me checking in from time to time to see how its going

whats your plans for the interior? are you doing anything different or keeping it original?