1843 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

It is really surprising to see so much rust in the seams, After reading this, it prompted me to have a poke about in the seams on my 84 shell and it's nowhere near as bad! wonder why the late shells are so bad!  

I had the rust preventative methods in mind on mine from the start but wasn't sure which product to use for the best but I think now im going to use what you have used.

I hadn't thought about the idea of spraying the zinc primer into the seams like you have and have to say its a great idea and i'm going to follow suit.

 

I'm probably going to be selling my Mini when it is finished so would be nice to be able to show photos to prospective buyers and explain what I have done to prevent future rust as iexpect most buyers will worry about future rust, even on a fully restored car.

 

Thanks for the inspiration Pete and you are doing a brilliant job, can't wait for future updates. This is going to be one hell of a clean car!

 

Ben

[Sleeping Park Lane]

Pete, what an absolutely cracking write up of all the work you've done / are doing. Thanks for posting it for us all.

 

Wonder if this thread will end up as long as the S14a rebuild one?

 

Great work,

Steve

[Petrol]

It is really surprising to see so much rust in the seams, After reading this, it prompted me to have a poke about in the seams on my 84 shell and it's nowhere near as bad! wonder why the late shells are so bad!  

I had the rust preventative methods in mind on mine from the start but wasn't sure which product to use for the best but I think now im going to use what you have used.

I hadn't thought about the idea of spraying the zinc primer into the seams like you have and have to say its a great idea and i'm going to follow suit.

 

I'm probably going to be selling my Mini when it is finished so would be nice to be able to show photos to prospective buyers and explain what I have done to prevent future rust as iexpect most buyers will worry about future rust, even on a fully restored car.

 

Thanks for the inspiration Pete and you are doing a brilliant job, can't wait for future updates. This is going to be one hell of a clean car!

 

Ben

I guess they ran out of money on the last Mini's Ben, too much budget spent on injection and wooden dashboard trim - at the expense of rust proofing. On the + side though, expecting rust everywhere has forced me into doing a really thorough job.

 

Pete, what an absolutely cracking write up of all the work you've done / are doing. Thanks for posting it for us all.

 

Wonder if this thread will end up as long as the S14a rebuild one?

 

Great work,

Steve

 

Hi Steve, the S14a rebuild was a bit full on and I am amazed at how many views it's had. This Mini is about 10X the work and I am into new territory with the welding and shell rebuild. I will get there but I will also need some help.

 

As always any Q's or suggestions are welcome

 

 

Pete

[Petrol]

Spraying 2K paint is easy when you know the technique. It’s nothing like celly to apply as it’s slow drying. This enables the paint to flow out for a good finish.

Celly V 2K.
The only advantages celly has over 2K are it’s drying time and it’s less hazardous. 2K has a far better shine, adheres better and is massively more chip resistant. It’s also a lot more flexible and won’t crack on seam sealers and plastic components.

The key to spraying 2K is timing. Don’t apply too much too soon or it will run and boy does it run if you rush. I always apply a very thin coat first, it’s that thin it’s just a dusting and barely covers. After about 5 minutes this first coat will be tacky, I then apply a slightly thicker coat but again it barely covers. At this stage the finish on the paint is very poor, looks like it’s gone on far too dry and is best described as full of speckles. This is where it’s easy to fall into the trap of lashing loads on but that’s the wrong thing to do. I leave this coat about 10 minutes then apply another slightly thicker coat by turning the wick up on the gun.

At this stage the finish still looks poor but what happens is the solvents in the last coat start to melt into the previous 2 coats. After about 15 mins I apply another coat, again applying more paint than the last coat. The finish at this stage looks a lot better but not perfect. Again the solvents in the last coat applied melt into the previous coats and the whole skin of paint flows out. This can take some time, up to 5 mins to start dependent on temperature / paint to thinners ratio. It’s also worth mentioning that even when the paint is tacky, it’s still flowing out.

The results look like this, bottom of door

 

 

Top of door that had the typical Magnum rippling

 

 

2K paint rocks!

 

Thanks for looking

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

[not so mini]

What a great read and best way to spend a dull morning at work  I have been doing small bit to my Van rebuild whilst waiting for garage space, ( Its been blasted) but after seeing all your prep it makes my rattle can job on things like hubs and backplates look rubbish.I am also a big fan of Deox C but I have never used the gel.

Looks like I will have to pick up my game, thanks for the kick up the A**e

 

Keep up the good work

 

Mark

[Petrol]

Thanks for the kind words Mark, the gel will come in useful I'm sure. Dull weekend means I haven't got anything done on the shell which is disappointing.

Felt I had to do something so decided to have a look at the gauges. The clock was missing when I bought the car (I wonder why) but I have bought a full set off wayne wright on here so I'm sticking with the magnolia, at least they will match the speedo and rev counter.

 

The problem is the plastic can't stand the heat from the illumination bulb, it goes brittle and in some cases melts.

 

 

 

Had a long think about this one and decided to use 15mm copper tube. This had to be crimped to make the bulb holder a good fit

 

 

The crimping means there is an air gap around the bulb holder. This will allow air to flow in and out of the gauge to allow some cooling. Then I used super glue to temporarily fix it on

 

 

Followed by fiberglass resin for a strong bond.

 

 

Since copper is a good heat conductor, it acts like a heat sink. I wired 2 gauges up and left them for an hour. The one with the copper tube mod was cool, the other was mega hot.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

[myredmini]

Very Impressive!!

[Petrol]

Thanks myredmini, I have bought some LED's for the gauges which should produce less heat. If they work OK it will save me the hassle of repairing the other gauges.

 

Had a major shock this evening, I have sorted the front part of the NS inner wing, A post and flitch panel but there was an area that needed to be checked. Thought it best to get rid of the underseal and go back to bare metal but there was no rust at all! Happy days

 

 

A quick shot blast and it's now primed

 

Pete

[Petrol]

Decided to remove the seam sealer and split more seams inside the front of the car. It was full of blast media so vacuumed it out

 

 

It's best to do this otherwise power tools suck the beads in and it knacks em. Floor to bulkhead seam sealer removed

 

 

Used this, it soon rips it to bits

 

 

Yep, it's rusty

 

 

 

 

Even the dash bottom rail to bulkhead seams have started

 

 

Next job is to the split the seams from underneath but before I tipped the shell up, I drilled the heel board spot welds out from the boot floor / under seat. Both the heel board and boot floor are being replaced so I used a big drill

 

 

Tipped the shell over and removed the NS section of the heel board. 

 

 

I have cut the Heritage new board in half. It will be replaced in 2 sections and welded in the middle. This will ensure that the subby mounting holes are in the right place. Then came the first major disaster so far. The angle of the inner sill I replaced was out, only by 2-3 mm. Since the replacement part is about 650mm long, it equated to a 10mm problem where it joined to the tunnel area. I'm sure I could have forced it on but best if fit right in the first place. Once things start running out, they only go worse. I did consider cutting the new inner sill off and starting again but decided to rectify it with a bodge.

 

By cutting the inner sill it changed the angle

 

 

Forced it shut and spot welded it, then used intergrips to reduce the buckling

 

 

Looking much better now, still wants a bit of tweaking but ran out of daylight

 

 

Thought it was worth posting this because when I do the other side, I will fit the inner sill and heel board at the same time

 

Pete

Edited by Petrol, 14 May 2013 - 11:23 PM.

[KELT11]

Hi my name is Kelt and i owned this Mini for about 6 years . I sold it about 7 years to a guy in Cearphilly its good to see it is still soon to be back on the road i bought it from Bristol minis when it was a year old 

if there is anything you need to know you can get hold of me on my email [email protected]

[grahama]

Good bodge,  looking good tho,  I take it you are fitting the rear subby each time you weld a half in for alignment?

 

Graham

[Petrol]

Hi my name is Kelt and i owned this Mini for about 6 years . I sold it about 7 years to a guy in Cearphilly its good to see it is still soon to be back on the road i bought it from Bristol minis when it was a year old 

if there is anything you need to know you can get hold of me on my email [email protected]

 

Thanks for contacting me. Mailed you.

 

Good bodge,  looking good tho,  I take it you are fitting the rear subby each time you weld a half in for alignment?

 

Graham

 

That's right Graham, it didn't quite fit right but with the mod, the heel board now fits. It will have a few tacks with the subframe fitted. The subframe will then be removed to finish the plug welds.   

 

Pete

 

 

[Petrol]

Other side of the seams split, this one is across the bulkhead from inside the engine bay

 

 

 

Shot blasted

 

 

Inner wing

 

 

 

Same treatment

 

 

 

Filled with zinc and planished back

 

 

 

This area needs cutting out so I left it

 

 

So I could move on to the heel board. Subby fitted and N/S half heel board tacked

 

 

I did this with the outer sill clamped in place. These will be the last things to be welded on the shell

 

 

 

Fully plug welded

 

 

Bare metal sprayed with zinc. There's no point spraying zinc on ecoat.

 

 

Thanks for looking

Pete

 

 

 

 

[Petrol]

Split the seam around the rear window

 

 

Some areas needed a bit of attention

 

 

Took a while to get it to this

 

 

Same here

 

 

Also did the top area of the rear window

 

 

Progress is slow but I am trying to be thorough.

 

 

Pete

 

 

 

[grahama]

Really going the extra mile with the seams,  but that should pay off with the longevity of the mini.  How are you shot blasting the seams,  have you got a small diy system??

 

Graham