156 replies to this topic

[miniBrain]

Bob, great tread, fabuloes result. But can you tell me, have you ever used the POR15 range of rust preventative paint from Frost.co.uk? If so, I see you splashed out on Epoxy Mastic 121 from rust.co.uk. is this a better protective coating?

cheers

Thanks mate!

I've never used POR15 but I did consider it. What put me off was its performance when applied on top of existing paint - I understand it peels off easily. I wasn't prepared to strip the car back to bare metal and it would be counter-productive to remove the e-coat on heritage panels since it is a very good coating. So I needed something that would work well on existing paint as well as prepared steel.

I checked with Ian at Rustbuster and he said Epoxy Mastic adheres well to other paints so that's what I decided to use for the floors, bulkheads, subframes, etc. I'm very pleased with it so far. In fact I dropped a blob on the garage floor and I've not been able to remove it without lifting the concrete!

I couldn't really say if one's better than the other - POR 15 looks fantastic on prepared steel. But my personal choice will be Epoxy Mastic for future projects.

[minimuk]

Bob, great tread, fabuloes result. But can you tell me, have you ever used the POR15 range of rust preventative paint from Frost.co.uk? If so, I see you splashed out on Epoxy Mastic 121 from rust.co.uk. is this a better protective coating?

cheers

Thanks mate!

I've never used POR15 but I did consider it. What put me off was its performance when applied on top of existing paint - I understand it peels off easily. I wasn't prepared to strip the car back to bare metal and it would be counter-productive to remove the e-coat on heritage panels since it is a very good coating. So I needed something that would work well on existing paint as well as prepared steel.

I checked with Ian at Rustbuster and he said Epoxy Mastic adheres well to other paints so that's what I decided to use for the floors, bulkheads, subframes, etc. I'm very pleased with it so far. In fact I dropped a blob on the garage floor and I've not been able to remove it without lifting the concrete!

I couldn't really say if one's better than the other - POR 15 looks fantastic on prepared steel. But my personal choice will be Epoxy Mastic for future projects.

understood, I might use both for different areas/applications, sounds the epoxy 121 is good stuff, I am using POR15 and yes on bare metal, how much Epoxy did you use on the main floor coating to give me an idea cost wise.

tar

[miniBrain]

Awesome project thread. You should be very proud of the results. I hope to have a 1275 of this standard one day

Thanks Dave. I'm sure yours will be excellent. Will be really interested to see how the Supercharger turns out - looks scary
Bob

[miniBrain]

Bob, great tread, fabuloes result. But can you tell me, have you ever used the POR15 range of rust preventative paint from Frost.co.uk? If so, I see you splashed out on Epoxy Mastic 121 from rust.co.uk. is this a better protective coating?

cheers

Thanks mate!

I've never used POR15 but I did consider it. What put me off was its performance when applied on top of existing paint - I understand it peels off easily. I wasn't prepared to strip the car back to bare metal and it would be counter-productive to remove the e-coat on heritage panels since it is a very good coating. So I needed something that would work well on existing paint as well as prepared steel.

I checked with Ian at Rustbuster and he said Epoxy Mastic adheres well to other paints so that's what I decided to use for the floors, bulkheads, subframes, etc. I'm very pleased with it so far. In fact I dropped a blob on the garage floor and I've not been able to remove it without lifting the concrete!

I couldn't really say if one's better than the other - POR 15 looks fantastic on prepared steel. But my personal choice will be Epoxy Mastic for future projects.

understood, I might use both for different areas/applications, sounds the epoxy 121 is good stuff, I am using POR15 and yes on bare metal, how much Epoxy did you use on the main floor coating to give me an idea cost wise.

tar

To do the boot floor and main floor inside & out, flitch panels, inner wings and front bulkhead you should be OK with 2 litres - i.e. what rust.co.uk call the "chassis pack" at £45 + p&p. I bought 4 litres to do above plus both subframes and I've got about 1ltr left over.

Bob

[minimuk]

Bob, great tread, fabuloes result. But can you tell me, have you ever used the POR15 range of rust preventative paint from Frost.co.uk? If so, I see you splashed out on Epoxy Mastic 121 from rust.co.uk. is this a better protective coating?

cheers

Thanks mate!

I've never used POR15 but I did consider it. What put me off was its performance when applied on top of existing paint - I understand it peels off easily. I wasn't prepared to strip the car back to bare metal and it would be counter-productive to remove the e-coat on heritage panels since it is a very good coating. So I needed something that would work well on existing paint as well as prepared steel.

I checked with Ian at Rustbuster and he said Epoxy Mastic adheres well to other paints so that's what I decided to use for the floors, bulkheads, subframes, etc. I'm very pleased with it so far. In fact I dropped a blob on the garage floor and I've not been able to remove it without lifting the concrete!

I couldn't really say if one's better than the other - POR 15 looks fantastic on prepared steel. But my personal choice will be Epoxy Mastic for future projects.

understood, I might use both for different areas/applications, sounds the epoxy 121 is good stuff, I am using POR15 and yes on bare metal, how much Epoxy did you use on the main floor coating to give me an idea cost wise.

tar

To do the boot floor and main floor inside & out, flitch panels, inner wings and front bulkhead you should be OK with 2 litres - i.e. what rust.co.uk call the "chassis pack" at £45 + p&p. I bought 4 litres to do above plus both subframes and I've got about 1ltr left over.

Bob

thanks for the info, once Evy is back in one piece I will invest in the Chassis Pack and give it a good coating

[miniBrain]

Hi Folks,

Got the car taxed and been using it as a daily drive to wring out any probs with the mechanicals. Firstly, the front suspension was bottoming out on small speed bumps. I know it was set too low and a little down on the RHS but wanted to wait a few weeks 'till the new cones settled. Had to raise it up by about an inch and now much better. Also very easy to change ride height on the front.

The engine pulls strongly and the car feels quite quick. Really pleased with the Minisport stage 1 kit - exhaust note very nice. But idle is quite erratic and as said before there's a good bit of oil being burned. The engine idles quite fast on the lowest idle screw setting but after a few minutes slows down to probably below 600 rpm (the tacho does not work) then will stop unless revved. After revving it idles fast then slows down again. I won't spend much time on this until I get the valve seals replaced or install a refurbished head.

Still missing carpets, dashboard, door cards, etc, but can't stop smiling every time I drive the Mini - its just brilliant.

Thanks for looking, Bob

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 09:28 AM.

[minimuk]

looks mint Bob, bet yr lovin it....

[miniBrain]

Thanks minimuk - for years I couldn't see the attraction of a Mini - but now I know

[miniBrain]

Hi Folks,

The more I drove the Mini the more I realised that I could not live with the original seats - I just couldn't get into a comfy driving position and they had limited adjustment range, were difficult to adjust and would give little protection in a rear-ender. So originality had to be sacrificed if me and the Mini are going to get along.

So had a look around on e-bay and found a pair of Peugeot 206 seats just down the road in Blackpool. OK, they're not Recaros but in great condition and sort of the right colour. Best of all, they cost me £18.99:



After a bit of fiddling with the around decided to fit the front of the seat rails to the rear top edge of the cross-member and make a bracket to bring the rear of the seat rails up to the same level as the cross-member (~90mm from the floor). Made up the bracket with some 4mm angle. The cross-member needed a couple of lugs welded in to keep the seat rails in position. A bit of 4mm plate did the trick here:



Rear bracket welded-up and painted:



And fitted to the seat rails:



Here's the seats in position – a perfect fit really:







Here's the front seat rail lug. It doesn't need to be that strong since the weight is taken up by the cross-member:



Just need to pull the handle to tilt the backrest and slide the seat forward for access to the rear:



The car has been transformed by these seats – the difference in comfort is just incredible – and it feels far more secure. The driver's even has height adjustment. Just need to try and get a similar covering or matching seat for the back.

Thats it for now, thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 09:30 AM.

[joezone2001]

Those seats look great! They really seem to suit the space well. A definite bargain! Nice Job.
Joe

[miniBrain]

Thanks Joe - yep, a real bargain. I can't stop myself from just getting in the car and sitting - wife says I need treatment
Bob

[miniBrain]

Hi Folks,

Been using the Mini as my daily drive so not much progress on the resto but here's a couple of items that might be of interest:

The engine, although clapped out, pulls nicely around town. In fact I'm pretty pleased at how quick it is. But lots of blue smoke on startup and the “lazy” oil pressure warning means the engine needs a rebuild. This is something I'll be doing this winter maybe.

Apart from that, the only thing that prevents it being completely usable day-to-day is the high idle speed – around 2000rpm – and thats with the throttle adjust fully out. Also the the choke was fully retracted and there was no binding on the throttle cable or anything like that.

I took the carb off to have a look for anything obvious. I wanted to get rid of the waxstat mechanism so did that first (thats the “button” type thing in the middle):



I simply chucked the waxstat device and replaced the jet but with the spring on the other side thus holding the jet at the top of the barrel:



For those that don't know about these things the waxstat device is designed to compensate for seasonal temperature changes – i.e. it retracts when cold thus richening the mixture and vice versa when warm. In practice the device didn't work too well. They tended to overcompensate meaning that the carb needed regular retuning – which sort of defeated the object of the device.

Anyway, the butterfly valve was a pretty poor fit in the carb body. The butterfly had ridges and the carb body had some scoring on it. I'm pretty sure wear around the butterfly is whats causing the high idle speed. The spindle and butterfly need replacing but maybe the carb body is also too worn. So as a quick fix I soldered up the overrun relief valve and also the small hole in the butterfly:



This did the trick for now – the car idles now at around 1000rpm although a bit lumpy. But this is probably the best I can do with this worn engine.

I also made a start on the interior: I made up some door cards for the back in the usual way - card template, etc. Then cut out the panel from hardboard:



I bought some blue vinyl from a local haberdasher plus some wadding - I got a huge piece for £12. This is enough to do the door cards, rear and front parcel shelfs and the dash. Glued the wadding the to panel:



Then covered with the leatherette vinyl:



And fitted:



Need to make some covers for the wheel arches plus get on with the front dash, sound deadening, carpets etc.

That's it for now, thanks for looking!

Edited by miniBrain, 17 August 2013 - 09:32 AM.

[hughJ]

Haven't seen this for a while - what a beautiful car. Most impressed with the seat and the cards! You seem able to turn your hand to anything!

Hugh

[miniBrain]

Thanks Hugh very kind of you, but you know the old saying "jack of all trades....". Glad to see yours progressing so well; impressed with the paintwork!
Bob

[minimuk]

Nie one Bob, like your card tricks,...one to remember.