589 replies to this topic

[Wild]

I'm sure it's been suggested to you before but you might want to find a local place that does 'pub' sized co2 bottles that would last you much longer than the small disposable ones from halfords :) The place i get mine from i think is £18 per refill and £10 deposit on the bottle and when you compare that to the £15 from halfords .. for a bottle that will last you probably 5 times longer :)

Cracking job on the minis restoration by the way !!

[jamesquintin]

I'm sure it's been suggested to you before but you might want to find a local place that does 'pub' sized co2 bottles that would last you much longer than the small disposable ones from halfords :) The place i get mine from i think is £18 per refill and £10 deposit on the bottle and when you compare that to the £15 from halfords .. for a bottle that will last you probably 5 times longer :)

Cracking job on the minis restoration by the way !!

 

I did look at 'Hobyweld' but by the time I'd got the correct regulators and what not to fit my welder, it wasn't worth it (as I'm spot welding as much as possible)

 

Reading this thread, I need a.bigger garage and welding skills. Looks like a really enjoyable project there. Nice work.

 

It's enjoyable, but glacially slow work...

[jamesquintin]

Big day today...      ....finally welded the boot floor in!

​Spent a lot of time trying to get it as perfect as I could before takign the plunge and going for it!

 

 

Just need to finish plug welding the seat base

[jamesquintin]

As I ran out of gas, I cracked on with the wheel arch. Took the back of the drivers side off and removed the brackets

 

 

I wire brushed the inside to find the post welds, then used a grinding disc to grind through to the brackets. They popped right off!

 

 

 

Will clean them up and get them onto the new arch

[jamesquintin]

Got a bit more done this morning, prepped the arch and brackets and spot welded the washer bottle bracket back on (using the original spot weld positions)

 

 

[jamesquintin]

So back on the car and managed to get the rest of the arch cut out and prepped the flanges

 

 

 

 

Had an issue with the arches not wanting to fit, for some reason the profile looks all wrong:

 

 

So whacking it with a hammer sorted it out!
 

 

Just mocked up for now, need to weld it in properly

[jamesquintin]

finnaly got some time on the car, managed to get the arch finnaly welded in!

 

 

 

My spot welder refused to do the 4 layers of the arch stiffener, so had to do it the old fashioned way:

 

 

 

welds need tidying up, but getting there!

[jamesquintin]

Now it's time to turn my attention to the heel board... After lots and lots of grinding (much to the annoyance of my neighbours) i went from this:

 

to this!

 

 

Then I mocked it up to see how the fit was:

 

 

 

 

 

The fit is really good! I need to prep the heelboard, so made a start on that:

 

These are not on my MPI, so they were ground off:

 

 

 

I'll have to make up the tab that goes on the brake side. It's like the normal tabs for the wiring in the boot, but longer

 

Q
 

[jamesquintin]

Did some cosmetic stuff today. The Cooper S Kit came with new wheel centre stickers, but I didn't want to destroy my original ones. I bought some new centre caps from eBay and stuck the new stickers on. Looks ok to me!

 

 

 

 

Yes the wheels will be refurbished at some point in the build...

Anyway back on with panel work. The original heel board had a tab for the brake pipe, which isn't on the heritage panel:

 

So I made up a new one and spot welded it on:

 

 

Then I prepped the heel board ready for welding over the weekend!

Edited by jamesquintin, 24 February 2017 - 07:24 PM.

[jamesquintin]

Finally got the heel board welded on! Loads of spot welds later...

 

 

Next thing is to cut the floor out, but before I do that I'm carrying on with the prep of the new floor. I chopped off the airbag sensor:

 

 

then gave it a clean up

 

 

then put it on the new floor

 

 

I also added the brake tabs and the battery cable:

 

 

 

Next job is to cut the old floor out... eeek!

[jamesquintin]

Ok, most of the floor is out..

 

 

 

 

 

I need to remove the brackets for the seat base, seat belts and the hand brake. The companion bin is just too far gone. I was hoping to save it, but by the time I've farted about recreating the flanges, it'll be easier just to buy another one!

[cityspeed]

Great work! Keep it up,
my mini is in a similar state body work wise

I tried to save my companion bin but ended up cutting it up was so difficult to remove hats off to people who can get them out without damaging.

[jamesquintin]

So, continuing with the floor prep, I got the rusty old jacking point out:

 

and tidied up the tunnel a bit

 

 

before doing a test fit:

 

 

But the floor was sitting too low!

 

 

 

So although I welded some bracing on, it looks like the cross-member had lowered when the doorstep was replaced a few years ago (not by me). Once I've finished prepping the body for the floor, I'll take the bracing off the cross-member and see how it looks...

[jamesquintin]

Carrying on with the prep, I decided to take a look under the sub frame strengthening plates and sure enough there was rust. Slowly ground the plate out and made some new plates from 1.2mm steel

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added a bit more to the flange prior to putting the floor in. All I need to do now is prep the bottom of the cross member and where the inner sill comes up to the front of the door aperture before whacking the new floor in..

[jamesquintin]

More floor work, this time I've welded it in!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next job is the step/door hinge panel...