1498 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Look forward to seeing the progress Ben, have one question...are you restoring this to standard 25 spec ?

 

Cliff

Defiantly defiantly!! even down to the naff wheel trims mate!

I have most of it but am missing the grille which is just a standard Austin grille in nimbus and some plastic bits of trim.

I just love the retro 80's look to it. its like no other mini in my opinion.

[rally515]

 

Look forward to seeing the progress Ben, have one question...are you restoring this to standard 25 spec ?

 

Cliff

Defiantly defiantly!! even down to the naff wheel trims mate!

I have most of it but am missing the grille which is just a standard Austin grille in nimbus and some plastic bits of trim.

I just love the retro 80's look to it. its like no other mini in my opinion.

 

 

HAHAHA nice ;)

 

I have a hub cap from a 25 (came with a metro shell haha) which i havve no use for ?....

[Ben_O]

does it have the centre badge on it mate? ohh ohh piccies!!

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

I didn't mean to wet myself but one of my centre caps is damaged LOL

 

Ben

[rally515]

I'l hve to check that, i took a picture of it so i'l check my photobucket now

[Ben_O]

Lovely!!

 

Cheers

Ben

[rally515]

Is this right ?

[Ben_O]

That's the right trim and centre cap but wrong badge on the centre cap but would still suit as I need to have new badges made up anyway!!

Here are my centre caps. bit cruddy but the chrome is good. just the badge need doing.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

Attached Files

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[rally515]

Ahh right so theres a seperate insert on the hubcap itself i presume, never taken much noticed wheen i got it haha

Roofless on here should be able to give you a lift with the stickers on those aswell Ben

[Ben_O]

oh cool ill check that out!

 

Cheers

Ben

[1984mini25]

The hubcaps that were later used on the Mayfair are exactly the same just with different centre stickers (thin printed alloy disks) witch is handy as the Mayfair ones can be picked up pretty cheaply compared to genuine 25 ones.

[Ben_O]

Cheers for that. I was lucky with my trims, they are genuine ones with the centre caps. Only thing they have been painted silver so no black detail but they are fairly simple to refurb to original. I only paid £12 for the set off eBay

 

On another note, thanks to Tom on here who is sending me some bits of body shell I can really get stuck in now!! So cheers Tom!!

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

Right update time.

 

Today I have continued with repairing the front bulkhead and cross member.

 

This is turning into a nightmare as the whole bloody thing need work.

 

I thought I had better sling the sub frame in to check all the mounts still lined up as I have previously replaced the bottom half of the cross member and subsequently had to re-fabricate the tower bolt holes. Stupidly until now I had not tried the sub frame in but luckily it went straight in.

I know only one tower bolt is fitted in the pic but the repair piece still needs fitting and I did have it in with the other tower bolt before I took this photo.

 

So I decided to replace the top section where the master cylinders would go if it was LHD as it was quite bad. Initially I had planned to repair it in situ but after further investigation It is a bit worse than I thought so off it will come.

This is it marked out for removal. I will need to do another bit nearer the middle of the cross member but due to the complex shape, I am going to do it in bits.

 

Her it is all cut out

There is quite a bit to put right before the repair section goes in. The bulkhead behind where the top of the cross member  spot welds to is pretty bad, espically towards the end so I will chop this out and renew.

 

Here is the repair piece I roughly fabricated up for now for test fitting.

It need a lot more work before it is ready to weld in.

 

Once I was happy with the fit, I removed it and chopped out the rotten bulkhead bit I mentioned. It was a very awkward spot to cut so took ages. Once it was out, I cleaned it all up and made up a piece to go in. I don't have a pic but you can see it finished in the next photo. After that was welded in and cleaned up I finished fabricating the repair piece and cut it in.

I managed to get as far as tacking it in when the welding wire ran out!!

 Ignore the part of the bulkhead where the wiper motor sits as this is to be finished after as I am waiting on a second hand upper bulkhead to arrive so I can use the bits I need to finish that.

I did give it a quick grind up to check the shape of the rolled edge where I had to slot it. Looks like its going to be ok.

 

Overall, quite productive today. I had to slot the left hand side of my repair piece on the edge so it followed the shape more accurately so should all be dandy when I get back with the new wire and finish welding it all up. Then I will just need to weld in the end repair piece where the tower bolt goes and job done!!

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Zeemax Adventure]

Nice repair you've made there :)

[Ben_O]

Thanks Man!

 

It still has a long way to go before I am happy with it.

I went to Halfords and picked up another reel of wire and did a bit more to it.

I now have the end piece fitted but still have the welding to finish along the length of the repair piece where it meets the front of the x member. Then I will need to fabricate a closing piece for the front on the end. Then once I can get it up on its side, I can replace the bottom. So yet more fabricating for the x member!

 

So here it is as it currently stands.

 

Cheers

Ben