106 replies to this topic

[mini.rich]

Ok, so this is another MK3 1000 in Black Tulip, quite a rare colour, or so I'm led to believe But, I know there is at least one other on the forum

A little bit of history about the car, I bought it back in 2003 ish, and restored it by 2005. I had it resprayed in Inca yellow, and I fitted a 1275 engine, coilovers and S discs. I used it for a little while then decided to take it off the road for a 1380 race engine and a F/G front. It's intended purpose was to be a track car... but I lost interest as I was building my 16v Cooper instead. So I split the engine, sold most of the other bits and decided to put it back to standard last year.

Currently she is stripped back to the bare shell and I'm repairing the floors properly this time! I used oversills when I restored it the first time, for 2 reasons I couldn't afford to do them properly and I didn't have to experience/knowledge I do now :-P It was more a case of getting it on the track.

Anywho, back to the present day..
I placed an order this week from M-Machine for inner and outer sills, and other bits and pieces, I have to say the quality of the panels is excellent! In the next month or so I'll be glueing these on to get it rolling.

I rebuilt both subframes last year, with pretty much new everything, and Hi-lo's. I have the original engine, it needs work and is currently in bits, but it'll be near standard, nothing too lairy

A couple of photos before being sprayed yellow...





This is what she looked like..





And then how she currently looks..



Looks disgusting, no? By the way the red oxide was painted on by the previous owner, I'd always intended to hammerite it black just to tidy it up, I didn't get round to it.. ha. Infact all the random colours you see on the shell before it was painted yellow, were the previous owner, I think there was something like 5 different colours!! haha.

Luckily alot of the floor was covered in underseal, so it's only the sill areas that need work
The inner and outer sills on the driver side have been cut off, the driver side rear arch and boot floor have all been repaired and the floor has been stripped of the underseal. I'll update later with photo's of how she currently looks

Oh, and as with any mini project you have to give it a deadline.. so I think it'll be completed by the summer

Edited by mini.rich, 26 March 2013 - 09:16 PM.

[mini.rich]

So today I got some work done on the mk3, prepped all the areas where the inner sill will be welded to the rest of the shell, and did a bit reconstructive surgery on the bottom of the rear pocket



These are M-machine panels, very good quality and very good prices!!


The lower edge of the rear pocket was quite rotten and I accidentally cut the front edge where it's welded to the inner off with the air chisel So I have repaired it all with fresh metal, unfortunately the pics don't look great

Before



After
Camera phone, quality..







Inner sill about ready to glue in place, just waiting on some more panel clamps.



There isn't a massive gap between the panel and floor, it just looks like it because the panel is sticking out and needs clamping in place properly, ha.

Not going to be many updates for the next few weeks as I'm working away..

[mini.rich]

Ok, thought I might aswell update this, seeing as I've been busy working away on it every weekend! apart from this one because of the bloody snow!! I'll apologise for the quality of the photo's as they are off my phone, and not my SLR

So I've pretty much completed the floor, inner/outer sills, boot floor, new cross member, heel board etc etc





This is in now..



Boot floor looking a little better, I have a new heritage rear valance to fit aswell. And since these photo's were taken I have done more work to the bumper mounting edge.







I also then attacked the bulkhead...



Liberated this from a shell I have.





The completed floor



In this photo it is missing the battery cable channel and brake pipe clips, I have replaced them all with M-Machine parts now.

And I have now started trial fitting the front end





I have a bit of work to do around the tops of the inner wings first, but I've just about sorted the fresh air vent hole areas :) It's moving along nicely I think, I'm hoping to have it ready for paint by May, but I might have to change the roof skin... which will be a fun job!!

[okc78]

Great progress and thats some tidy looking work you've done there, well done and thanks for posting.
Is that new inner wing from M-Machine? it doesn't look like a heritage panel. Is your roo fpanel rusty in the corners?
So is the car going back to black tulip? Looking forward to seeing more.

[sonikk4]

Nice work there and M Machine panels are good stuff.

[rally515]

Lovely work on the inner sills rich.
doing this on mine soon enough so might invest in getting aload of those panel clamps

Edited by rally515, 24 March 2013 - 08:01 PM.

[steven]

lovely work !

[rally515]

Suprised this has only one follower "come on steve, keep up ;) )

Oh that 1 follower is me by the way

[blacktulip]

Wow, i have only just seen this topic. I'm glad you are returning it back to original. It looks like a big job on hand and judging by your skills it wont be long before its back

I'll be keeping my eye on this one!

[mini.rich]

THanks for the comments guys!

Great progress and thats some tidy looking work you've done there, well done and thanks for posting.
Is that new inner wing from M-Machine? it doesn't look like a heritage panel. Is your roo fpanel rusty in the corners?
So is the car going back to black tulip? Looking forward to seeing more.

Yep, the inner wing is an M-Machine version, it is a bloody good repro though, and for only £30 you can't go wrong!!
As for the roof, rust wise its ok in the corners, but quite badly flat spotted and dented, when it was sprayed first time the guy who sprayed it spent a long time getting it right with filler. I have a very good second hand roof panel which I might use.
Yep it's going to be Black Tulip again, as it is a pretty rare colour, seeing Blacktulip's on here has inspired me to put it back to standard! Plus I love 70's mini's

Lovely work on the inner sills rich.
doing this on mine soon enough so might invest in getting aload of those panel clamps

Thanks, those clamps are well worth the money, the more you have the easier it makes holding it all together

Wow, i have only just seen this topic. I'm glad you are returning it back to original. It looks like a big job on hand and judging by your skills it wont be long before its back

I'll be keeping my eye on this one!

I thought you would be the first to comment! I don't think there are many left in this colour, do you know of any others??
It's a bigger job than I thought it would be, but I'm doing it properly, and any rust is being cut out, so it will last!!

[blacktulip]

someone else on here had or has one but thats all i know about even elsewhere. plus being the original colour makes it even more special. what are your interior plans?

[mini.rich]

someone else on here had or has one but thats all i know about even elsewhere. plus being the original colour makes it even more special. what are your interior plans?

I saw someone on here had a GT in it, but thats all I've seen. I like alot of the 70's colours, thats why I had it Inca Yellow, but I think Black Tulip is better!
As for the interior, I had an original black vinyl one in it when it was yellow, so that will most likely be back in it, but I'm currently trying my hardest to get my hands on a Geranium set like yourself. I have 3 door cards in Geranium from the original interior but no seats.... What I might do is take them to someone like Newton Commercial and see if they can match the material and colour with something similar, it'll be costly but it will look right!!

The Whole car is going to be standard in looks, with just Cooper reverse rims or some Astrali or Dunlop Alloys.

[blacktulip]

someone else on here had or has one but thats all i know about even elsewhere. plus being the original colour makes it even more special. what are your interior plans?

I saw someone on here had a GT in it, but thats all I've seen. I like alot of the 70's colours, thats why I had it Inca Yellow, but I think Black Tulip is better!
As for the interior, I had an original black vinyl one in it when it was yellow, so that will most likely be back in it, but I'm currently trying my hardest to get my hands on a Geranium set like yourself. I have 3 door cards in Geranium from the original interior but no seats.... What I might do is take them to someone like Newton Commercial and see if they can match the material and colour with something similar, it'll be costly but it will look right!!

The Whole car is going to be standard in looks, with just Cooper reverse rims or some Astrali or Dunlop Alloys.

i did contact newton but they said they needed a sample as they didnt know what colour it was. you hold they key mate lol can you let me know when you are ready to do that? maybe we can order two sets and see if we can save some money? thats if i still have mine that is.

[mini.rich]

someone else on here had or has one but thats all i know about even elsewhere. plus being the original colour makes it even more special. what are your interior plans?

I saw someone on here had a GT in it, but thats all I've seen. I like alot of the 70's colours, thats why I had it Inca Yellow, but I think Black Tulip is better!
As for the interior, I had an original black vinyl one in it when it was yellow, so that will most likely be back in it, but I'm currently trying my hardest to get my hands on a Geranium set like yourself. I have 3 door cards in Geranium from the original interior but no seats.... What I might do is take them to someone like Newton Commercial and see if they can match the material and colour with something similar, it'll be costly but it will look right!!

The Whole car is going to be standard in looks, with just Cooper reverse rims or some Astrali or Dunlop Alloys.

i did contact newton but they said they needed a sample as they didnt know what colour it was. you hold they key mate lol can you let me know when you are ready to do that? maybe we can order two sets and see if we can save some money? thats if i still have mine that is.

Well, I have a sample!! So I'd be up for doing that!! I would like the original colour interior in mine, it's definitely worth asking as I think an entire interior with seats and door cards is about £7-800. I don't think you should sell it!

[okc78]

I know it sounds like a bodge but have you guys considered painting a set of mkIII seats and door cards geranium? You can get some paints especially for this job and would have thought in any colour match. Vinyl cote is one, there are others as well I think. They come with a cleaning solution, a preping liquid that slightly melts (for want of a better word) the vinyl so the new paint sticks and the top coat that can be sprayed. Not used it myself but I have heard this stuff does not come off after proper prep and looks good. It would be a much cheaper option and if it looked rubbish you've only lost your time and some cost of paint.
I had a black tulip GT theres a little pic of it in my sig, lovely colour.