1498 replies to this topic

[1590gilbert]

looking good, great work with the welds and cleaning up afterwards, mines nowhere near that quality.

 

im hopeing to get mine done for 2016 aswell(will be tax except feb 2016) woop woop

[Ben_O]

So after some more work on the car today i now have a finished join between the inner sill and the floor.

 

I started by grinding up the welds from inside much like the front section i did last time.

 

I didn't take any pictures of this because i will need to go back to it once the welding and grinding is finished from underneath.

 

Anyway, i flipped the Mini back on it's side and finished the welding that i couldn't do from inside. this was the part below the cross member and the last bit at the back of the floor where the companion bin was in the way.

 

i also had to weld a few other bits of the seam underneath as the welds from above hadn't penetrated quite enough for my liking.

 

So here is the back half roughly ground up, i will come back to it with a flap disc later

 

 

the beauty of joining the sill to the floor at the edge of the flute is that i can grind it all up neat and keep the strength of the weld. the only compromise is that the flute ends up about 3-4mm wider. I can live with that though, better than a bare welded seam.

 

here is how i did it.

 

i started off with the seam weld

 

 

The i cut through the weld in sections using a thin disc only going deep enough to take the rough down but not so deep that the strength of the weld is compromised.

 

 

Then i changed to a normal grinding stone and feathered the edges to neaten it all up

 

 

then ran the flap disc over the lot to smooth it up

 

 

I can neaten up the join further by wiping some sealer into the edge with my finger before stone chip etc.

 

I am not a fan of brushing sealer over all of the welded joins as it would look a bit like a patchwork quilt.

 

So anyway, an overall of today's progress

 

 

 

You may notice that i haven't plug welded the sill to the crossmember and companion bin.

 

This is because i ran out of gas

 

Ill have to go and get some. I could finish the grinding from the inside but not today, i need to go out

 

Comments welcome of course

 

Ben

[1590gilbert]

Quality job. Big thumbs up.

[Ben_O]

Quality job. Big thumbs up.

Cheers Mate!

[rally515]

Lovely technique, I guess the cutting disc used to slit the weld helps keep the heat down to a minimum whilst grinding, therefore resulting in a better, less distorted finish.

What thickness of cutting disc did you use Ben ? looks a bit bigger than the 1mm type.

 

Cheers,

Cliff

[Ben_O]

Lovely technique, I guess the cutting disc used to slit the weld helps keep the heat down to a minimum whilst grinding, therefore resulting in a better, less distorted finish.

What thickness of cutting disc did you use Ben ? looks a bit bigger than the 1mm type.

 

Cheers,

Cliff

That's the idea mate, it is also much easier to control where you are grinding as the key is to not thin the surrounding steel

 

I used a 4mm cutting disc which i use for grinding all the time alongside the grinding stone. Although it is a cutting disc, its far too thick to cut anything i need on the Mini.

 

Ben

[rally515]

 

Lovely technique, I guess the cutting disc used to slit the weld helps keep the heat down to a minimum whilst grinding, therefore resulting in a better, less distorted finish.

What thickness of cutting disc did you use Ben ? looks a bit bigger than the 1mm type.

 

Cheers,

Cliff

That's the idea mate, it is also much easier to control where you are grinding as the key is to not thin the surrounding steel

 

I used a 4mm cutting disc which i use for grinding all the time alongside the grinding stone. Although it is a cutting disc, its far too thick to cut anything i need on the Mini.

 

Ben

 

 

Fantastic!, I'll be sure to try it on the Toe board repair I did, the last thing I want above the floor pan to toe board join is a dirty great big line of weld above it!!

[Ben_O]

 

 

Lovely technique, I guess the cutting disc used to slit the weld helps keep the heat down to a minimum whilst grinding, therefore resulting in a better, less distorted finish.

What thickness of cutting disc did you use Ben ? looks a bit bigger than the 1mm type.

 

Cheers,

Cliff

That's the idea mate, it is also much easier to control where you are grinding as the key is to not thin the surrounding steel

 

I used a 4mm cutting disc which i use for grinding all the time alongside the grinding stone. Although it is a cutting disc, its far too thick to cut anything i need on the Mini.

 

Ben

 

 

Fantastic!, I'll be sure to try it on the Toe board repair I did, the last thing I want above the floor pan to toe board join is a dirty great big line of weld above it!!

 

Just take your time, make sure you have good visibility and handle the grinder carefully i.e do not put loads of pressure on it.

 

I just hold the stone to the weld and let the grinder do the work, takes longer but saves making mistakes and having to re-weld it, especially if the metal has thinned significantly. It's no fun welding thinned steel.

 

As i said before, i want all of my repairs to be invisible, i am not a fan of patches and welds showing.

 

I am not trying to fool anyone though, i just want it to look tidy and unmolested when it's finished.

 

Ben 

[Doodle Moo]

I've just read your whole thread and wanted to say awesome work and skills.
Your doing the little mini proud and know it'll be stunning once complete :)

I've just unearthed my mini checkmate that has being buried in the garage for 11 years !! - if I can save it and do half a good a job as your doing I'll be chuffed

Well done Ben

[Ben_O]

I've just read your whole thread and wanted to say awesome work and skills.
Your doing the little mini proud and know it'll be stunning once complete :)

I've just unearthed my mini checkmate that has being buried in the garage for 11 years !! - if I can save it and do half a good a job as your doing I'll be chuffed

Well done Ben

Thank you for the great comments!

 

perhaps you will do a build thread for your checkmate?

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Doodle Moo]

I'm hoping to take pics as I go with the checkmate - but build will be as funds allow sadly
Also own a 72 vw camper that sucks the pennies

Your rebuild & attention to detail has certainly motivated me to pull my finger out and get cracking - so thank u :)
Just wish I had your fabricating skills

keep up the great work

Cheers
Lisa

[Ben_O]

I'm hoping to take pics as I go with the checkmate - but build will be as funds allow sadly
Also own a 72 vw camper that sucks the pennies

Your rebuild & attention to detail has certainly motivated me to pull my finger out and get cracking - so thank u :)
Just wish I had your fabricating skills

keep up the great work

Cheers
Lisa

Well good luck with it Lisa.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

I started a bit late today so i didn't get all that much done.

 

so last time, i seam welded the floor to the inner sill from the underside of the shell and was left with the penetration on the inside.

 

 

 

So cleaning those up was first on the agenda

 

After 20 mins or so i had this

 

 

 

 

Then i removed the unwanted carpet retaining brackets

 

 

and finished the plug welding to the companion bin and crossmember

 

 

 

 

 

And then hoovered all of the grinding dust and swarf out and gave it a couple of coats of Zinc

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will come back to this later once the welding is complete and tidy it up further.

 

So all in all, not a very exciting update but progress non the less.

 

Next time, i will get it back on its side, re attach the battery cable channel, Brake pipe retaining brackets and plug weld the inner sill to the bottom of the companion bin.

 

So this is where i left it this evening

 

 

Thanks for looking

 

Ben

[Hendred]

Looks like original floor out of factory, not a weld seam in sight!  Looks marvellous Ben

[Hendred]

P.s how did you get this all done while at the same time heavily involved in the linking game? lol