589 replies to this topic

[nitrodave]

Looks like a quality paint job. Looking forward to seeing this come together!

[nichmoss]

I've just rejoined the forum and am reading this thread with great interest.  The amount of work you've put in (I'm up to September 2018) is incredible and really shows the sort of issues you can get with this sort of work.

 

I have a 1998 MPI and have just stripped it down at a friends workshop.  He's a very experienced body worker who normally restores Jaguar E-Types and his work is terrific.  I have had to bribe him with copious quantities of beer just to take the Mini on as he's done them before...

 

The good news is that now we can see everything, the front bulkhead and everything behind that, excluding the sills is fine.  The sills are not bad but I don't want to have to do this again so it made sense to add those to the list of new panels.  Forward of the bulkhead, it's just the inner wings that won't need replacing and as it has the Sportspack arches, there is more work to modify the new wings.  It could be a lot worse looking at the work you've gone through here!  He was very clear that I buy Heritage panels as they should fit better than any repro parts and I'm still paying for his time...  I'll build up after the body is done and painted and am happy to work on anything mechanical - quite looking forward to that after winter.

 

I will read the remaining two years of work as I go but, wanted to say thanks for this whole thread.

 

Cheers, Chris

[jamesquintin]

Thanks' for the kind comments! What I currently wished I had done sooner is got EVERYTHING refurbished before the body was painted. I've been going through my parts boxes and just keep seeing loads of bits I haven't even begun to clean.

There is nothing better than having a massive box of lovely nice clean parts you can just bolt on. Every single untouched dirty bolt now stands out like a sore thumb!

Q

[jamesquintin]

hurrah! Got a day on the car today. The shell was supposed to be all done and dusted, ready to be moved to the container, but the guy with the truck couldn't make it, and the seams wern't on the car either...\\

 

Oh well. Got some stuff done on the car anyway!

Made a couple of ramps for when I push the car into the container:

 

 

 

 

Hopefully it'll fit in there!

Then I just started putting stuff back on the shell. I'll let the pics to the talking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hopefully get some more done Friday

 

Q

[jamesquintin]

Got the Car back to my container! 

 

It's still missing the seam strips, so will get them on when I do the rust protection

 

I then set to work putting parts on as I found them in the mess I've left in the back of the storage

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And just for a laugh I stuck the rear seats in

 

 

Thats it for today

Q

[leepol83]

Just brilliant As always Q
Where did younger those bumgs for the sills from ?

[jamesquintin]

Just brilliant As always Q
Where did younger those bumgs for the sills from ?

I honestly can't remember where, but they are an actual Land Rover part (i did search my emails to find the order)

Q

[leepol83]

Just brilliant As always Q
Where did younger those bumgs for the sills from ?

I honestly can't remember where, but they are an actual Land Rover part (i did search my emails to find the order)

Q

I’ll have a scout thanks Q

[jamesquintin]

Got some more time on the car Sunday. I'm officially back on the mini scene as I've banged my head on this bad boy:
 

 

 

Just started adding bits on as I found 'em:

 

 

 

 

 

Q

[Sam76]

So much love for this car! Can’t wait to see it finished

[jamesquintin]

Got a couple more hours on the car. Basically just adding bits as I find them in the pile of crap at the back of the container...

 

 

 

Annoyingly there isn't a screw hole for the alarm switch, so will have to drill one

 

Started adding the door handles 

 

 

 

and managed to scratch the bloody paint!

Nothing is easy

Q

[Steve220]

That last scratch - it'll smart repair out if you remove the handle. Are you using gaskets on them?

[jamesquintin]

That last scratch - it'll smart repair out if you remove the handle. Are you using gaskets on them?

 

Yup, got gaskets, but stupidly spun the handle when I was pitting in on

[sonscar]

You may have this covered but I found after fitting the door cards and all the rest that the internal handles are handed left and right.Looking good annoying about the paint.Steve..

[jamesquintin]

Got another hour in the container... I wish I had enough space to just bolt everything on, but I just can't

 

Got the washer bottle pipe fitted and run up to the bulkhead:

 

 

Will add a couple of stick pads to cable tie them to the shell

 

 

Also got some foam pads to go behind the door bars

Q