578 replies to this topic

[Crazy]

What an excellent thread, just gone from page 1 to hear, fantastic work Ben, Do you have an email I could fire over some photo's to and some information I am looking for some work to be done.

[Ben_O]

What an excellent thread, just gone from page 1 to hear, fantastic work Ben, Do you have an email I could fire over some photo's to and some information I am looking for some work to be done.

Hi.

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread and for your interest.

I would be pleased to take a look at the work you require and you can send photographs and information to me at [email protected]

 

Cheers

Ben 

[Ben_O]

I have been cracking on with the Neon.

 

There was a hole in the o/s/r floor pan. Nothing major so I just patched it up

 

 

 

Ill replace the anti drum at paint time to cover the repair

 

Next up was the 1st of the arch tubs.

I started by cutting off the old one so that I could see what repairs were required in the surrounding panels.

It was all pretty nasty so will require some patching before the arch tub can go in.

 

First up was this hole

 

 

 

 

And then I cut and replaced some of the floor return where it had become thin and holed

Here is some of the worst of it cut out

 

 

and another hole to repair all cut out ready for patching

 

 

And patched

 

 

And then once the rest of the tidying was done, the new tub was welded in

 

 

 

 

There was also another hole lurking behind filler

 

 

 

Which got cleaned up, patched up and a repair piece was made up ready to weld in

 

 

More tomorrow

[kit352]

That passenger side rear tub was my biggest worry other than the scuttle area. It was very poorly repaired before so i knew it was hiding things. Of course i didnt think it was that severe but now i dont need to worry about it. Hopefully the other side is more straight forward.

[Ben_O]

That passenger side rear tub was my biggest worry other than the scuttle area. It was very poorly repaired before so i knew it was hiding things. Of course i didnt think it was that severe but now i dont need to worry about it. Hopefully the other side is more straight forward.

The passenger rear tub was very bad. The rust beneath the plate that had been welded on had spread into the plate so would soon have weakened significantly so best that it's done now.

I think the other side will be straightforward as straight away it is visibly much better.

 

If all goes to plan, I'll have the other side finished tomorrow too and it all sealed up/stonechipped and then the subframe can go back in on thursday.

 

Cheers Ben 

[floormanager]

What an excellent thread, just gone from page 1 to hear, fantastic work Ben, Do you have an email I could fire over some photo's to and some information I am looking for some work to be done.

My mini is in this thread, the blue MK2 S (around page 15 I think).  Really happy with the work, proud to be part of Ben's work on this thread :

[Crazy]

 

What an excellent thread, just gone from page 1 to hear, fantastic work Ben, Do you have an email I could fire over some photo's to and some information I am looking for some work to be done.

Hi.

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread and for your interest.

I would be pleased to take a look at the work you require and you can send photographs and information to me at [email protected]

 

Cheers

Ben 

 

 

Sent a mail over Ben

[Ben_O]

 

 

What an excellent thread, just gone from page 1 to hear, fantastic work Ben, Do you have an email I could fire over some photo's to and some information I am looking for some work to be done.

Hi.

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread and for your interest.

I would be pleased to take a look at the work you require and you can send photographs and information to me at [email protected]

 

Cheers

Ben 

 

 

Sent a mail over Ben

 

Would you mind double checking the address please? Only I haven't received anything from you.

Cheers

Ben

[Ben_O]

I have now finished the last of the welding on the neon

 

Passenger side was finished off first

 

 

And then I began the drivers side

 

 

 

 

 

[kit352]

That looks like a much better area to work in than the other side.

[Ben_O]

All sealed up

 

 

 

And then stonechipped

 

 

Both rear radius arms were heavily worn and had lots of play in them so I picked up a set of exchange units

 

 

Which I built up onto the frame

 

 

I ran a new front to rear brake pipe as the old one was shot and now the frame is ready to go back in but not until the morning as the stonechip is still not dry

 

Then ill set about respraying the car as the current finish is pretty poor

 

 

That and the fact the lacquer flies off in sheets like sunburn if you go anywhere near it with an air blower  

[kit352]

Painters tape is also a quick way to remove the clear coat :)

[Crazy]

 

 

 

What an excellent thread, just gone from page 1 to hear, fantastic work Ben, Do you have an email I could fire over some photo's to and some information I am looking for some work to be done.

Hi.

Thanks for taking the time to read the thread and for your interest.

I would be pleased to take a look at the work you require and you can send photographs and information to me at [email protected]

 

Cheers

Ben 

 

 

Sent a mail over Ben

 

Would you mind double checking the address please? Only I haven't received anything from you.

Cheers

Ben

 

Did just copy and paste it, Have just tried to send it again from another account though.

[Ben_O]

I have refitted the subframe to the Neon and its now rolling once again

 

 

And then onto the body prep..

 

The quarter panels were fairly wobbly from previous repairs to them and had a fair amount of filler in them.

I need to level everything out before painting so the first step is to apply some medium body filler to the low area around the arches

 

 

 

The stuff I use is very good as it works a bit like self levelling floor screed and actually flows and settles. Its called Evercoat Rage Ultra for anyone interested and its great for the initial fill.

 

Once rubbed back, further coats are applied and rubbed down to create the rough level and shape like so

 

 

The dark area by the arch radius is guidecoat showing that this area is still low.

 

A further coat rectifies that

 

 

Before a coat of fine stopper to sort any pin holes or minor low spots

 

 

It seems like a lot of filler but by the time its rubbed down at each stage it's only minimal.

 

I've already finished the other side

 

 

And prepped the roof

 

 

Besides the prep, I investigated the carburettor. The car was running very rich and was smoking quite a bit with all the unburnt fuel.

I stripped it down

 

 

Besides some gumming and some bits floating around, it's all in good order.

I believe the running issue was caused by the needle which had far too much slop so new parts were ordered.

 

I also called in a favour and had the parts ultrasonically cleaned

 

 

And then serviced and reassembled

 

 

More to come

 

Ben

[JXC Mini GT]

Great work Ben, and it's good information for anyone carrying out repairs to there mini.