51 replies to this topic

[roughneckin]

Well all I have had a yearning for many years to restore a mini.  I think it came from my brother constantly fiddling with VW beetles/bugs when we were younger.  He always seemed to be doing something with his car, while I was just driving my Ford Probe around instead.  I know it seems strange to "want" to work on something as I beleive most folks just want something to run properly and get them from A to B not have to tinker with it constantly.  Pretty sure that is why fuel injection and automatic transmissions came into play, to make vehicles easier and more dependable, but who wants that if you never get to lift the hood and fiddle around!!  I'm stangely happy when things go wrong with my motorcycles and truck as I get to learn something new on how to fix it.  Well I guess that is why I picked up a partially stripped, sandblasted and partially primed 72 mini a couple weeks ago. 

 

I had quite the issue being able to make the wife happy about getting the car into the garage and still fit hers in the winter as well.  As most know it gets pretty cold over here in Canada and the wifey likes her car a smidge warmer if it can be when she gets into it before work.  It took us 2 days and a ton of organizational skills (which usually I don't really have) but we got it done.  I called the fellow woh had the car and told him, I would take it.  I picked it up for $1500 and it has almost all the replacement bodywork already and extra windows and such.  The engine actually was rebuilt by the original owner and has a total of 300 miles on it, until he decided he wanted to restore the entire car.  He wasn't much of a welder, self admitted I hear, as most of the new panels were riveted or screwed onto the body (I will add pics soon).  Not bad as it is easy to weld around the good bits and grind off the bad ones. 

 

Once I get my photobucket up and working again I will include some photos and progress reports.  On a hello note, I have been lurking on this forum for awhile now and it is full of good content and knowledgable folks.  I hope that my Canadianess will fit in with the British way of things around here....except for all the tea drinking, it's coffee for me on Saturday/Sunday mornings working on the mini!!

[sonikk4]

Canadianess we can do but don't diss the TEA its what makes us English. Work and a brew, beating the mini and a brew, welding the mini and a brew.

 

Breakfast is not breakfast without a brew. I mean bacon, sausage, egg, black pudding, fried bread, hash browns, beans, tomato's, toast and of course a large brew.   

[roughneckin]

It does help with your Englishness but my family is from Scotland and still have family there, which I actually visited for the first time this year, but I guess some of us Canadians grabbed onto the coffee loving Americans. Don't worry, my wife drinks enough tea for the both of us so its all good!!!

Anyways on to the build!! I am stoked!! Here is my garage partially cleaned out. This puppy was terrible but looks way better now!




Here is the car and parts the way I got it. Actually not as bad as I've seen on here but still needs some work.






That's a Kiwi plate in the background for interest sake. The interior is In really good kit actually and the previous owner kept,a ton ef extras around as well.

Here is what I've started on. There is a bit of rot in the sill area with the previous owner over lapping new sheet metal




Done some grinding and cleaning and will start the terrible welding I do as soon as my friend with the welder comes up to go out for hunting season, which is just around the corner for us folks. I will be working on this project during the week nights but the weekends will be tied up till the freezer is full!!

[roughneckin]

So got out to the garage the other day and today. I'm borrowing a friends welder for this project and haven't had time to grab it yet so the body work is on some what of a hold till then. I did start tearing down the engine for a clean and new paint.

One side is orange ....


The other is black...


Me thinks the engine had a complex and can't work out which it wants to be so I'm going to help it and turn it all gloss black.

I also did a bit on the valve cover

It was also unsure which color it wanted to be so I helped it out as well

Baking it to cure it

I will add a nice gloss to it after.

And then a bit of finding bondo and pulling out the filler someone used

This is how much came out of the door jamb in total. Never thought about using a sponge as a filler for bondo backer.


Hopefully will have the welder soon and can start the patching but hunting season is coming and that will take a bit of priority soon.

[Archived4]

I'm not sure the sponge was a bodge. It was used in production to fill sections where wires were running through I think. If you have a feel in the roof gutters inside, in the corners there will probably be more sponge too, and at the bottoms of the rear bins, going into the sill.

[roughneckin]

Nope just this spot as there is holes in the areas that you mentioned and nothing in there but it could be the last left over bits.

[Ben_O]

Hee hee, Bondo!! I love that word... Bondo

Anyway enough of my madness!!

Looks like a great project. Hope it all goes well.

 

Ben

[EvNZ]

An RG Plate?  I had a 92 Nissan Bluebird that had an RT plate, so that must be of the same era....any idea what it was off?

 

Oh, nice work on the mini as well.... 

[roughneckin]

No idea what an RG, RT, Lmnop plate is.

Thanks for the check in though guys. Have been having a hard time deciding design ideas with all of the projects on here!!

[roughneckin]

Bondo, Bondo, Bondo, Bondo, Bondo!!! Lol

[roughneckin]

An RG Plate?  I had a 92 Nissan Bluebird that had an RT plate, so that must be of the same era....any idea what it was off?
 
Oh, nice work on the mini as well.... 

Ah just got what you were on about with the RG....it is off a Nissan Sentra that had an oil leak and blew up on our way from Nelson, where we worked, to Christchurch for the All Blacks game in 2004 against the Springboks. Some nice Kiwis picked us up on the side of the road and we got to the game on time, I bought a new car down there and then emptied the old car and decided to grab the plates as a memento of the $800 I wasted on it!! Good catch!

A small update on the car.

Had some rust in the door hinge area and the scuttle so out some of it came



And dropped the outer sill off as it had been attached with no welds but some nuts and bolts instead. Might try and reuse this one as it's not terrible.


I have ordered a bunch of new sheet metal pieces from a supplier in California as he gets better deals shipping from you folks in the UK but I'm waiting for around 3 weeks possibly before I see any of them at the moment but that gives me some time to do some painting of engine parts and the such. You folks on the other side of the pond have good delivery times for sure. Whatever you do don't attempt to many Camaro or Mustang rebuilds. The timing has got to be similar to get that over there.

As well I get outside for the last few weeks before it starts to really get cold here and working in an unseated garage in -25-40c is something that will not be fun.

[roughneckin]

Added a bit of epoxy primer, weld through primer and rust encapsulator to the mix of random stuff I have grabbed recently. Need it to warm up a bit to apply any of it though. Got some tips from the autobody brother as well so that will help greatly too. No pics today though. My photobucket isn't syncing with my phone right now.

[domdee]

that sponge looks nasty!

[roughneckin]

Yeah domdee it was kind of nasty for sure.

Well I got some extra toys in the last few weeks.


First real attempt at MIG welding and it didn't go very well to start


But it turned a bit better soon after


Also received a bunch of parts from the UK as well but no pics. Just working on getting a few parts to line up now and hopefully see some new metal go in. Good to see progress.

Edited by roughneckin, 29 October 2013 - 04:37 AM.

[craig-721]

good work, the weld looks good too