1498 replies to this topic

[clubman91]

Cheers for that ben,
Keep up the great work.


Mark.

[JonnyAlpha]

Ben;

 

Nice to see you back at this, I am about to pop put to start sorting out the shed (to make some space) and the garage to prep for starting again tomorrow. This will give me 4 whole days of work (hopefully), the problem is I will have to fabricate (as you are) and that takes up time, i'd much rather just buy the bits and get cracking but the project pot is all but empty.

 

Keep at it and hopefully meet up sometime this year with Minis on the road my target is the National Mini Cooper Register day in Beaulieu, just a short hope on the Ferry for you (if you are still on the Island of course).

[Ben_O]

Ben;

 

Nice to see you back at this, I am about to pop put to start sorting out the shed (to make some space) and the garage to prep for starting again tomorrow. This will give me 4 whole days of work (hopefully), the problem is I will have to fabricate (as you are) and that takes up time, i'd much rather just buy the bits and get cracking but the project pot is all but empty.

 

Keep at it and hopefully meet up sometime this year with Minis on the road my target is the National Mini Cooper Register day in Beaulieu, just a short hope on the Ferry for you (if you are still on the Island of course).

Cheers.

 

I know what you mean about the fabrication but like you my pot is empty and i need the money to buy essential panels that can't be made at home.

 

I have a Mini roof panel here that i have been using to make panels from and it owes me nothing so all the awkward parts that can't be bought like the rear bulkhead repair can be made up pretty easily and cost nothing.

 

My target is IMM 2016 but whether this happens or not is anyone's guess. There is so much to do. I won't rush it though, it will take as long as it takes. 

It would be good to meet up with the Mini's so once both are ready, we can sort something out.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

I got an unexpected afternoon in the garage so i continued on my rear bulkhead repair.

 

I had previously welded up the slots i had to cut to shape the flange where it goes round the arch tub but in doing so, it had misshaped the flange and it no longer fitted 

 

So i started by re-cutting the slots and cleaning it back to bare metal ready for fitting.

 

 

next i had to re-fit the arch tub using my little jig setup to align it.

 

Once it was in place, i had to do lots of trimming, nipping little bits of here and there until it was a snug fit and then i tacked it in place

 

 

Once i was happy with the fit, i seam welded the repair in place which on the whole went very well. The metal this Mini was made from seems to be very thin, even the healthy metal blows quite easily do i had to chase a few blow through's in 1 or 2 places but it is fine.

 

 

Then i ground up the welds using a stone followed by a flap disc.

 

 

It all turned out pretty well.

 

Next it was time to fit the arch tub. As i am not able to weld the bottom of the tub to the boot floor yet, i knew welding it to the bulkhead wouldn't be enough so i thought i might tack it to the old subframe rear mount reinforcer for now.

 

So first i marked out where i would be welding and stripped and zinc primed the arch tub

 

 

Then i needed to drill the holes in the bulkhead flange ready for plug welding.

 

I use a step cutter to do mine.

 

 

And here are the holes ready to go.

 

 

i also zinc primed the flange where it meets the arch tub.

 

Once the arch tub was re-aligned, i used a wire brush attachment in the drill to clean away the zinc where i will be plug welding.

 

 

Which makes a nice neat bare metal ring for perfect contact.

 

 

As you can notice in that picture, the flange is not sitting tightly to the arch tub and i can't get clamps in to hold it and i'm not a fan of skin pins or self tappers in this case so i use the shaft of my hammer to hold it whilst i plug weld like this

 

 

And then once the plug weld is complete and still glowing, i can quickly turn my panel hammer and give it a few taps to settle it.

 

And here it is plug welded and roughly ground up. I will come back to this and tidy it up better when i start the prep work. You can see that i also welded up the cuts at this point now that it is the correct profile.

 

 

 

And here is where i tacked the rear mount. I didn't get an after pic but you get the idea

 

 

So yes! Arch tub fitted.

 

 

Only one tiny mistake and that is, i forgot to measure the position of the bulkhead flange where it welds to the arch tub and it turns out that it is forward about 6mm.

This should be fine though as the only thing it could possibly affect would be the lower rear seat belt captive mount which i will be fitting next but i can't see a problem with it sitting a tiny bit further forward?

 

Cheers

 

Ben 

[Minidarren83]

Looking good Ben loving the thorough explanation and detailed pictures. Sharing knowledge is what it's all about

[Ben_O]

Looking good Ben loving the thorough explanation and detailed pictures. Sharing knowledge is what it's all about

It's slowly coming together mate. i have a £191 panel order to make which will give me everything i need to finish the O/S of the shell!

 

Not long now

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

My Filament brushes turned up today.

 

Just waiting for the panels and bumper pack of zinc primer and ill be ready to hit it again.

 

 

Ben

[finch661]

looking good buddy, getting some tips :)

feel free to come up here and do mine :)

[Ben_O]

looking good buddy, getting some tips :)

feel free to come up here and do mine :)

Glad you are getting some tips from this build.

 

Thanks for the compliment!

[finch661]

looking through this build, suddenly mine doesnt look too bad lol

[Ben_O]

It is a pretty bad one but certainly not the worst.

 

I sometimes look at it and think that i haven't hardly done anything then i look back through this and remember. 

[finch661]

It is a pretty bad one but certainly not the worst.

 

I sometimes look at it and think that i haven't hardly done anything then i look back through this and remember. 

Im the same, you forget how much prep work you have to do to even get just one panel in, plus the clean up after. I have been trying to get my boot done for a month, my valance has been sitting on my freezer for a few weeks as well.

 

all worth it in the end eh!

[Ben_O]

Hope so!

[1590gilbert]

If your ordering quite a few silverline tool bits n you arnt allready, get on toolstream and setup an accout you will get silverline tools dirt cheap. Or if your close enough to alfreton, get to GJ'S and daughters there cheap aswell, love that shop.

[Ben_O]

If your ordering quite a few silverline tool bits n you arnt allready, get on toolstream and setup an accout you will get silverline tools dirt cheap. Or if your close enough to alfreton, get to GJ'S and daughters there cheap aswell, love that shop.

I think he only silverline bits i use are these filament brushes. I didn't even realise they were silverline when i ordered them!

 

Thanks for the tip though, ill check it out