850 replies to this topic

[Steve220]

I think my frame has a bit of damage, it's being soda blasted for £40 and will assess if it needs welding etc. I've got a good deal on a new MPi frame which keeps things OE and new.

Edited by Steve220, 20 March 2016 - 10:28 PM.

[blueovalcraig]

Love your mini. Hope mine looks half as good when I eventually finish it

[Steve220]

Many thanks! I'm making a list of all the body repairs that will need addressing come next year when the car gets stripped... And it's slowly getting bigger!

[blueovalcraig]

I'm planning to just get mine fit for MOT then use it for a while then one day carry out a complete rebuild. I bought this mini without even seeing it or hearing it run..................

[ukcooper]

Enjoyed reading that :)

[Steve220]

Enjoyed reading that :)

Thanks coops! Still want that cylinder head of yours lol!

A few updates from yesterday, mainly as I was cleaning up.

As I was taking parts off, I saw both hubs had new bearings in. Checking the cars history it would appear they were replaced about 3 months before I bought it. Rather than waste someone else's efforts, I bagged the hubs up for the rebuild.



Probably not an uncommon sight for mini owners, but this was after a prod on the old rear subframe.





Parts for the tip



And an offside radius arm to take to Minispares!



Now onto the cleaning and spraying. The hilos from Minispares have bare allow rods for the rears, wasn't a fan of them being exposed to the elements so scotch padded them, primed and sprayed silver. Really happy with the results. Also did a similar process with the new radius arm, the doughnut mounts and brake back plates. Had to take them all apart first which was easier than I first expected! Now they have a more durable coating on them.









I see on a lot of rebuilds that owners replace the brake pipes. I've checked mine over and they're sound. Maybe a small bit of surface corrosion that comes off with the scotch pad. Need to find the green that is the closest match (anyone got any ideas?) then I can polish the fittings!

Finally all cleaned up and stored for next time, whenever that will be!

Edited by Steve220, 22 March 2016 - 10:29 AM.

[Zeemax Adventure]

Your at the same stage as me... although my mini is a bit less complete.  I was going to try and get the green colour mixed to do the fuel lines, but decided black gloss in the end as the project is costing enough.  Ive got all new brake lines so no green on those anyway.  Are you keeping the standard KONI shocks? mine have seized so looking at Protech ones as they seem to have great reviews

[Steve220]

I'll clean them up, paint, renew stickers and sell them. I have protech in the shed at home, wouldn't have bought anything else. Personally I would always paint copper brake pipe, it too can corrode over time. I'll take one of the pipes down to a paint company and see if they can match it for a spray can.
Just dropped the subframe off to the tip, feels weird throwing it away.

[Zeemax Adventure]

Mine wont be corroding, ill be underneath regularly polishing all my bits with HD WAX haha.

[ukcooper]

Ive got Protech ones to fit to mine to replace gaz's ones but ive gone with springs instead.

[Steve220]

Mwuhaha

[ckneller321]

Going for the exhaust blown rear axles... I like it! 

[Steve220]

I was tempted to put it out the fuel filler hole. Got a large update, just uploading the photos!

[Steve220]

Right, bit of an update. So, as you've seen in the previous pic, i've bought myself a mig welder! Decided over a beer with mates that i'd give some of the bodywork a go myself!

 

Today was all about seeing what the state of the car is like. Firstly was a small area over the O/S wheel arch that suddenly got larger with the flapper wheel

 

 

Think this is going to be a new inner arch to make sure its all out. The front of the boot floor always appeared to be mostly made of fibreglass, again with the flapper wheel I took it back. I found about 5-7mm thick filler all over the portion and underneath a lot of rust/rot

 

 

Removed the 'epic' wiring attempt for the rear fog light. This will later be made into a waterproof plug.

 

 

More filler/fiberglass removed - Turns out the tank mount was resting on it all!

 

 

 

Onto the outer valence... well, i'll let the pictures do the talking.

 

 

More filler!

 

 

Had the "f*** it' moment and cut out all the rust etc out. This will later be replaced by a repair panel.

 

 

 

 

Arches off to check underneath and gain access to the weld spots for the lower scuttle

 

 

After wrestling with the grinder, a 1mm cutting disc and a flat bladed screwdriver and its off! The main reason I've tried to rescue it is it seemed to be in very good condition. Turns out it isn't that bad at all and is a genuine heritage panel!

 

 

 

My mum's wearing the crocs. Unfortunately I haven't succumbed to that fashion disaster just yet.

 

Filler panels will be replaced with the front part of the boot floor.

 

 

 

That's it for today. Making a list of more panels I will need, but mainly i'm enjoying cracking on with this! Shame I don't have more time to work on her

[Ben_O]

This is looking very familliar

 

Good luck with the welding Steve. It all looks horrific when they go like that but it is all straightforward stuff once you get stuck in. Shame someone thought that body filler would be a suitable repair...

 

What's the heelboard like?

 

Ben