920 replies to this topic

[jonny f]

Good work darren!

Nice mask mod haha

[Minidarren83]

well its been a while had a little break over the christmas period and just found it hard to get the time to make a go on it but had a week off this week and managed to steal today away from doing jobs around the house to work on the mini got 4 straight hours on it and am pleased with the progress so here it is

So i left it last time with the final fitting of the new inner wing and with a couple more clamps i was happy with the fit so marked it all up and drilled 78 holes in it ready for plug welding



and then filled in all the holes this was my first time using the new 0.8mm wire as it was all they had and my new 95% argon mix so after the first few looking like a bag of poo i set the welder up on some scrap and was ready to go again





and then after what seemed like an eternity of cleaning and a little bit of primer it was left looking like this



after cleaning up and flattening this it was fitted back on



a few seam welds up the inside



the front end is now solid as a rock and rot free so i am a very happy chappy. The last two panels to be done on the front end are the scuttle end and closure i had an hour left so made a start on the scuttle end and i need to ask how magnum even get away with selling these it took so much hammer work to get the pillar joint looking ok and it will still need some filler



i tried pulse welding with the new 0.8 wire and its going to take some getting used too blew a couple of holes but it will finish ok



and the pillar joint looks messy but i needed to add more weld to fill the gap from one to many hits of the hammer and punch



thats all for now good bit done today and should get the scuttle cleaned off soon

coments always welcome cheers darren

[Skortchio]

You and your electricity in the garage! Mine is still out

Looking great dude, loving the amount of progress you pack into each session. Would take me about a week to do as much.

The welding is really looking professional too. Top stuff!

[grahama]

Hi Darren,

Great progress, inner wing looks very good. Blobby weld is nothing your skills can't cope with.

Graham

[Minidarren83]

Cheers fellas its good to be back on it feels good to get burned and set stuff on fired again lol

[ba-tat]

I have read several threads right the way through and his one is just awe inspiring. I am so glad you have shown us mistakes as well as your obvious skills and determination. Makes lurkers like me think perhaps this is possible for us mere mortals lol!

[Minidarren83]

I have read several threads right the way through and his one is just awe inspiring. I am so glad you have shown us mistakes as well as your obvious skills and determination. Makes lurkers like me think perhaps this is possible for us mere mortals lol!

Cheers mate I really like it when the lurkers come out lol although I still feel like I'm just bumbling along and if I didn't show my mistakes then I would just be lying and everytime I make a mistake I learn something and hopefully by showing it someone else reading it won't make the same mistake
Cheers Darren

[grahama]

Darren, for got to ask,

were you like me using 0.6mm wire before and what is the difference to the 0.8mm wire ??

Graham

[Carlos W]

Good work Darren, it won't be long before she's on the road!

[Minidarren83]

Hi grahama the main difference is that I need to use a lower power setting as it carries or transmitts more of the current to the workpiece making a larger and hotter pool but lowered setting its ok good for plug welding also when I was doing test pieces the seam welds had a fatter bead

Carlos I don't think so lol still got the engine to build after the shell maybe 2014 well that's my goal lol

[Minidarren83]

done a little more today got the scuttle cleaned of it will need a little filler but the basic shape is there so im happy with it, what im not happy with is when i pushed the scuttle down to tack it to the inner wing i let go before the pool had gone cold and it moved away so i had a massive paddy and cut it with the grinder and the inner wing!!!! so had to massivly weld it up and now its ugly but wont be seen







then i started on with getting the closure in its test fitted drilled for plugs and refitted and is now just waiting for my day off tomorrow to be welded in then its just the front subby rienforcing plates and stonechip the floors so getting somewhere





thats for now and should be a big update tomorrow

cheers darren

[malcs_miniturbo]

very nice work mate

[grahama]

I agree, very nice Darren, things coming together nicely, keep it up. My scuttle end repairs needed a skim also and round off but it is pretty unavoidable on an end repair to be honest.

Graham

Edited by grahama, 15 January 2013 - 07:38 PM.

[Minidarren83]

very nice work mate

Cheers mate and welcome to my build

[Minidarren83]

I agree, very nice Darren, things coming together nicely, keep it up. My scuttle end repairs needed a skim also and round off but it is pretty unavoidable on an end repair to be honest.

Graham

They are very bad scuttle ends and the shape is terrible with ripples all over the place from manufacturing but that's the joys of patern panels nothing patience and filler can deal with lol