156 replies to this topic

[miniyellowmini]

Nice project, looking good

[BusheyTrader]

Don't know how I missed this thread before, lots of good work.......have read the boot area repairs with interest as I've just started to cut out the rust myself.

About 20 years ago we had a Mini Club as an everyday car. It felt like driving an outcast at the time due to the square front but it's good to see that's no longer the case.

[miniBrain]

To g111mds, rust nut, Hugh, The.Yellow.Mini.Guy, miniyellowmini, BusheyTrader - thanks for the comments lads, very much appreciated.

Hugh - Thanks for the tip about fitting the door. Didn't think it would bend by hand/hammer so have been puzzling over this for ages - was thinking about jigs and hydraulic jacks, cutting the frame, etc. But will try a simple bit of manual persuasion as you suggest - that could save me a lot of bother.

The.Yellow.Mini.Guy - Just keeping it as original as possible.

Bushey Trader - I actually like the Clubman style better than the roundnose. But don't tell anyone I said that!

Edited by miniBrain, 01 May 2012 - 08:18 AM.

[miniBrain]

Hi Folks,

Made some progress with the painting:

Three coats of high build primer then rubbed down with 600 grit wet. Another final coat then rubbed down again:



Then 4 coats of basecoat:





The finish has a fair amount of orange peel but this will be polished out with some 1200 grit used wet.



The worst problem was a bad reaction inside both door posts:



This is almost certainly the Hammerite I used after welding the panel. You should definitely avoid Hammerite if you are going to be overpainting it with a different type of paint.

After I've repaired the reacted areas, I'll leave the paint alone for a couple of days before rubbing it down. Then I can apply a couple of coats of clearcoat and hopefully end up with a nice glossy finish

Thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 02:12 PM.

[grahama]

WOW, bloody nice!!! Shame about the reaction, but this seems a common thread problem. Back to bare metal ??

Graham

[skoughi]

Good to get some paint on her but shame about the reaction. I've been using hammerite primer on my clubby as well but I'm only using it inside the car and inside the boot which I'm thinking to brush paint with oil based gloss. But I've put it on the underside and as I'm worried about a reaction with stonechip then a coat of isolator should do the trick. A panelbeater, which I trust with everything paint wise, told me if the hammerite is left to go off properly then you should get away with it but I think for the cost of isolator then it's hardly worth the risk. Dunno if thats any help to you now though!

[hughJ]

That is lovely. I do like that blue. What a shame about the paint reaction. I've just had one with my window frames and can't really understand why. I think paint just waits till you've got everything nice and then bites you!! All the best with sorting it.

Hugh

[miniBrain]

Thanks for commenting Gents.

I meant to say that I got the paint (Rover Pageant Blue) from Nu Agane who sell on ebay. 5L Cellulose Basecoat, 5L Thinners, 2.5L High Build, 2.5L Clearcoat all for £115 (+ £35 p&p).

I think you're right about paint biting Hugh! It can be unpredictable. The Hammerite was on for a couple of weeks, so should have cured I would have thought. And not all of the Hammerite reacted To be honest I've heard bad things about Hammerite before and I thought twice about using it - I was just too lazy to mix up some epoxy stuff.

I've already stripped it back to the metal and will redo with celly products only.

I've heard about isolator before but never got round to using it - it'll be useful to see how you get on with it Skoughi.

Bob

Edited by miniBrain, 03 May 2012 - 11:56 PM.

[miniBrain]

Hi Folks,

More progress on the paintwork:

I rubbed down the basecoat with 600 then 1200 wet and applied a final coat. Then gave it about 4 coats of clear. Had to rub down the clear before the last coat to take away some of the worst orange peel and a bit of sagging.

This is probably the best I can achieve with my limited equipment and even more limited ability:









I'll not get a mirror finish with this paint job, but once its polished and waxed it will do for me. I just want to get the thing back on its wheels now.

Thanks for looking,
Bob

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 02:13 PM.

[IwanDavies95]

That is looking amazing pal!! Definatelely following this link!!
IWan

[MrBounce]

That's really good! Coming along nicely

[hughJ]

Bob, don't put yourself down - that looks smashing!! If I can get half as good I'll be delighted.

Hugh

[miniBrain]

IWan, MrBound and Hugh, thanks for looking and your positive comments - much appreciated!

Just a quick update, I've started the rust proofing by firstly injecting the internal sections that have'nt been replaced (i.e. the roof sections, windscreen pillars and cross member) with Fe123:









Hopefully this will eradicate any remaining surface rust that I couldn't get to. (I don't think the internal sections were painted at the factory).

Will then inject all internal sections with Dinitrol. I prefer Dinitrol to Waxyoil since Dinitrol stays tacky but I've found Waxyoil can dry out and flake. This happened on my MGB GT and there was rust forming under the Waxyoil.

Lastly, a major milestone - start of reassembly:



Next update should show the car back on its wheels

Thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 02:14 PM.

[The.Yellow.Mini.Guy]

Can't wait to see the car on wheels!

[miniBrain]

Can't wait to see the car on wheels!

Thanks mate, and here she is:



I even let her out of the shed for some sunshine & fresh air:



Prior to the "roll-out", most of the electrics were installed and checked out. I've got new headlamps ready to fit after a bit more rewiring at the front:





Rear subby fitted and new Gaz adjustable shocks installed:



Front subby fitted. Also fitted master cylinders and major electrical items including new blade-type fuse box:



Front subby was fitted with new springs, top arm repair and new bushes. Loosly fitted swivel hub and caliper to see how it looked:



The calipers were fitted with new pistons and seals:



I only had an imperial spring compressor tool, so being a tight wad decided to convert it to metric to suit the new cones rather than fork out £28 for a new one. Bought a high-tensile M14 bolt for £1.50 and cut the thread off the imperial tool and cut the bolt to suit:



Jigged it up to keep it concentric:



Then welded it together and cleaned it up. Worked a treat! (I would only attempt to make/modify a spring compression tool if you are confident in your welding. There's a lot of force needed to compress a spring and if the tool breaks while its compressed and you are in the process of fitting the top arm it could do a lot of damage to your fingers):



Old and new cones together:



This is how I fitted new boots to the drive shafts. Fed a cord through the ball cage then slipped the boot over the cord. Anchored the cord to to the bench, then with plenty of engine oil to lubricate it just pulled the boot as hard as I could until it slid over the cage. A bit crude but it works and the boot is undamaged.



I did my best to clean up the master cylinders and the wiper motor but they were very badly pitted. This is about the best I could do. I gave them a coat of clearcoat to try to keep the rust at bay for a while:





Was prepping the engine for fitting but broke a stud on the thermostat housing. Luckily it screwed out relatively easily with pliers. I also took the other two out so I could replace them all. Apart from that I think I've got everything needed to install and run the engine.



Thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 02:16 PM.