117 replies to this topic

[Cavazzi]

Hi

I have been reading a lot lately on TMF and thought i was my turn to show my rebuild of my 1977 van

Bought it 30 september 2008, and had it stored for 12 months before i had the time to begin stripping it. Got it home and got to work. 6 months later, i moved 200km away to start studying as ship engineer, and the car stayed "home" with my parents. since then i only had time to work on it a day or two a month or less, so its been a long process and there is still a long way left.

 

Some pictures of the beginning

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[Cavazzi]

Driver side new floor full lenght, new toeboard/firewall to come

 

[Cavazzi]

My old man removing the passenger side floor

 

more grinding

[Cavazzi]

Floor out

 
The new floor went in easy (i dont have a pic)


Cracking on with the toeboard


Then the passenger side rear wheel arch

[Cavazzi]

Rear corners were cut out and new inside corners were made from sheet metal




The tank filler hole needed repair




The finished corner

[alex-95]

Good work, whats your plans for it?  I was going to say that you should wear a welding mask, but saw the hand held one, The auto-dimming ones make welding much easier

[Cavazzi]

When spotwelding the autodimming ones arent good, they're too slow. i have a industrial one i got when i worked as a blacksmith (summer job).

 

My plan for the mini is a white colour, 99% sure its gonna be white and i want something like a snow white, some small arches, and black reversed rims with crome hubcaps and black roof. not sure about the wheels anymore since i want to run disc brakes on the front and the 7.9" brakes cost alot, and i got hooked on some supertrax but they seem to only be made in 13" and i dont want to cut the wheel arches.

[Cavazzi]

More pics!
 
Driver side rear corner
















Test fitting


Bought myself a new used door that was rustfree, test fitting and it fits perfectly. was also trying to figure out how to mount the 2 A panels


My girlfriend helped scraping of the tarlike rust protection


Removed the old strengthener underneath the loadbed, it had a little surface rust but nothing to worry bout. Decided to get strenghtener because the old one would have been too much work to repair, and i want the car to be as perfect as possible.


Took 2 bottles of brake cleaner to get it this clean


Test fitting the new parts

Edited by Cavazzi, 27 November 2013 - 07:21 AM.

[Cavazzi]

On the engine side i have decided to use to old 998cc unit, wich need a refurb of the cylinderhead, but is in overall good condition.

Maybe a 1275 head conversion could be fun to do.

 

I have a 12G295 cylinderhead laying around, but since i need to fit new pistons in order to get the maksimum out of it i will not use it.

 

Any ideas on what to do?

Edited by Cavazzi, 08 October 2014 - 06:21 PM.

[SAL 821X]

Fantastic Cavazzi some really nice work going on here.

 

Wish I had a dad to help me though.....   haha.

[mini danny]

Looks awesome I cant wait to start my van!!! And wish my dad would help me out but I dont think even knows what a spanner is haha


Dan

[Cavazzi]

Bought the car to be a resto projekt together with my dad, he is a "bodyworker?" (dont know how to say it right in english) and have worked a little on a mini before and done a full restoration of a Volvo P1800, which is still in perfect condition 20 years later.
Im more of a engine man myself, worked as a mechanic for my 2 younger brothers speedway team for 10 years and now helping out a super motard driver.

 

In the weekend we had time to cut out the other wheel arch and fit a new one, not much work before its going of to be sodablasted.

 

does anyone know how to fit the A-panels on a van? or a site where it is illustrated?

 

-Cavazzi

[Cavazzi]

Had a day off during christmas, so my dad and i raced to the workshop to get some done on the car.
4 hours of work an we almost had the right side inner wing fitted, its all marked up just need some holes and welding to the car.
 

 Inner wing being cut out
 

Needs a bit of preparation before the new wing.




I also managed to get a hold on 2 BMC original cooper wheels 10x5 steel. no pics, but they need new paint, i only need to find 2 more..

Cheers
Christian

Edited by Cavazzi, 29 December 2013 - 02:42 PM.

[Archived1]

very nice work!

[Cavazzi]

Thanks alot, its takes a long time when you are doing it like me. everything has to be as close to perfect as possible, i dont want to do a resto in 5 years again.