1844 replies to this topic

[Wigeon Incognito]

Quick work! This is going to be a good thread and a great project!

[Petrol]

Quick work! This is going to be a good thread and a great project!

Thanks but it's going to take a while. The main concern is our lack of welding skills.
Paint has arrived.




With any project it's a good idea to get some parts cleaned up and primed, motivation and all that, so did some blasting





Primed them

[MikaRaymond]

Evening all.

Progress has been hampered slightly due to poor weather and work. Pete's started sandblasting parts and also managed to borrow an engine crane until the weekend so when I got home last night, out came the engine.

Jacked up:





Shock absorbers looking a little worse for wear:



Engine out:











Subframe out:




Steering column, gearbox and 90% of the loom out:



Will take more detailed pics of the block, subframe and suspension components tomorrow.

We're quite pleased with our progress and moreso with the state of the front end. The body panels are being replaced but the floorpan, bulkhead and subframe look in good shape (from what we can see). Just the rear end to strip and then the engine & refurb work begins.

Updates to follow :)

M

Edited by MikaRaymond, 14 November 2012 - 10:15 PM.

[Smoke Grey]

Hi P and M

Will call round sometime soon with Marcos Man. That top dash rail looks evil!

You should really post a coupl of pics of the Nissan to give all the guys an impression of the level of your restoration skills ;O)

[Petrol]

Hi P and M

Will call round sometime soon with Marcos Man. That top dash rail looks evil!

You should really post a coupl of pics of the Nissan to give all the guys an impression of the level of your restoration skills ;O)

Pop over anytime
Don't know if we will be able to get it as good as the Nissan's. The main problem could be our welding skills - or lack of them The S13 only had a couple of plates welded in and despite the S14 being older than the Mini, it didn't need welding at all.

Thanks for looking

Pete

[MikaRaymond]

Hi guys.

We've made some cracking progress in the last couple of days and have almost finished stripping the chassis. There's just a couple of bracket and bits and bobs to sort but id say were 90% there.

Last night we managed to get the rear subframe off which revealed the state of the rear end. Fortunately there were no big surprises so now it's a case of deciding what to do with it over winter. We originally planned to wrap it up and work on the engine / components but we don't want to loose our momentum. We're going to leave the glass & lights in to try to prevent water ingress which will make things worse.

Piccies:





















We're currently working on a list of jobs that need doing and will post that up tomorrow.

This is where the fun begins

Cheers,

M

[Wigeon Incognito]

Full steam ahead then! Like you suggest, it's when you lose the momentum that projects like this falter.

[MikaRaymond]

Full steam ahead then! Like you suggest, it's when you lose the momentum that projects like this falter.

The original plan was to strip the shell and store it over winter while we worked on the engine, but as you say once you loose momentum you start to loose interest.

While Pete was away at work on Saturday I took the rear lights, chrome bumpers, boot, windows and a few remaining brackets off with help from a friend across the road. We didn't have much trouble until we came to take the doors off. Under the arch there are two brackets with two nuts which bolt directly onto the door hinges. When we came to undo them they completely sheared off



I don't know if this is a common issue but it didn't matter too much as we will be replacing all the nuts & bolts with stainless ones.

Pleasantly surprised at the condition behind the rubber seal:



This'll clean up:



Not so sure about the handbrake cable bracket though:



Or the bracket for the foggies:





The front end is coming off completely so we'll end up replacing these anyway.

Another issue I had was removing the rear windscreen. The rubber seal / plastic has hardened over time so didn't want to touch that until the boss came home.

We left the car like this overnight:



As stated at the start of this post, the original plan was to pack the shell up over winter. However as we now have 4 cars and such a small drive we wanted to move the car to the back patio. We weren't sure how we would do this as our side gate is only small, so the following morning Pete came up with this, a makeshift dolly



Cleaned the drive up:





And back to work on the car.

Removing the rear screen required a stanley knife, a screwdriver and a touch of patience. We needed to be careful not to cut either the panel or glass as we are placing these back in. The plastic didn't come off in one piece as it kept snapping but we got there in the end.



We were now ready to start work on the shell. We weren't sure where to start so went with something relatively simple - the battery tray. It was a right mess to begin with and took us about an hour to get it out. We drilled all the spot welds out but the sealant pretty much glued it to the boot floor, so we called on a couple of power tools:







Which resulted in this:





Then had a go at removing the front wing. The corner was that rusty it simply peeled up.



But we needed to drill the spot welds in order to completely remove it.



However, at this point we weren't too sure about what panels come with the front end and how it all connects together so packed it up for the day, leaving the front end looking like this:



We simply took a jigsaw to the wing to remove the bulk of it - It's still attached to the shell with the spot welds. We also need to know what parts come with the front end so we know which parts to take off.

If anybody has any advice on the best way of removing the panels (whilst keeping the inner ones) it would be greatly appreciated, as we're kind of going "as the crow flies" for the moment.

Cheers,

M

Edited by MikaRaymond, 18 November 2012 - 05:55 PM.

[Petrol]

While Pete was away at work on Saturday I took the doors off. Under the arch there are two brackets with two nuts which bolt directly onto the door hinges. When we came to undo them they completely sheared off
I don't know if this is a common issue but it didn't matter too much as we will be replacing all the nuts & bolts with stainless ones.

Youthful exuberance EH? Might be worth mentioning that it’s often easier to remove a seized nut by tightening it ever so slightly first. Applying heat with a blow torch also works wonders especially if you can heat the nut quickly. This expands the nut slightly and since the stud or bolt is cooler, often makes removal a lot easier. That said, we don’t have a blow torch.

Hinges are expensive and I need to find a way around the sheared bolts. Does anyone sell replacements? Are the studs splined into the hinge?
The back of the stud has a slim head on it. I could grind down a stainless allen cap bolt to fit but can you mig weld stainless to mild steel?
Thanks for looking and any advice is welcome

Pete

[Noah]

Epic project, love the interior.

Wish I was able to get mine going as quickly but lack of funds and space doesn't help ha!

[Petrol]

Thanks Noah,

We try to do something every day, even if it's just cleaning some plastic parts up or shotblasting and priming a few bits and bats....



Started removing the bitumen from the floor, this weighs quite a bit, it's also a fire hazard when welding



Can't believe they put this over the electrocoat, nor can I believe they put it straight on bare metal under the rear seat. As far as that goes we need to strip it off and prime it straight away so we left it for another day.

Pete

[Petrol]

Cut the outer sill off to see how bad things were behind



Our main concern with the shell is rust inside of seams so we are going to split them. Boot floor from back panel



Rear seat support seam split. We are not using any rust convertors / killers but are removing it with a combination of wire brush, shot blast and in this case, Deox gel



We will split the other end of the seam when the shell is on it's side

Both rear arches are being replaced as are both rear 1/4 panels. We can then sort any rust on the rear seams once the rear 1/4 panels are off

Wire brushing the underseal off to reveal the spot welds. Then drilled them out



Seams being split with a Gunson's seam buster kit



Thanks for looking, all feedback is welcome.

Pete

Edited by Petrol, 24 November 2012 - 11:28 PM.

[Petrol]

Trying to refurb a shell, outside, in winter is proving a challenge! The worst of the weather is yet to come though. Now the shell is stripped and we have made an assessment of the panels required, we bought two rear arches, a rear OS 1/4 panel, an OS door skin and a battery box for starters. These are not genuine panels but Magnum brand. Most OEM panels are E coated (Dunno if Heritage one's are) which is great as it provides good long term protection and you can just flat them back and prime. Budget panels can often look like they have this coating but it's easy to tell. Wipe the coating with some thinners -



As you can see the coating has come off. It's celly based paint so this will be removed and primed before fitting. The primer will offer long term protection against rust

Pete

[toplessmini]

Keep up the good work, and don't give up hope.
It will be werth it in the end

[Petrol]

Keep up the good work, and don't give up hope.
It will be werth it in the end

I know, I have refurbed a few cars over the years but this is my last project. I have had enough but what a car to finish with! My first car was a Mini and the plan is to pass on as much info as I can to Mika.

Loads more parts shotblasted and primed



OS door skin removed.



I didn't go right through the fold with the grinder when I took it off. I didn't want to damage the door frame but weakening it enough to peel it back. As you can see the door frame is undamaged



Bottom of the frame wants some work



Pete