457 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Here are the photos from yesterday of the other door frame that i hadn't taken.

 

It didn't look too bad when the door was together but as soon as we started removing the skin, filler and all sorts was falling out leaving quite a sorry looking door frame

 

 

 

 

I finished repairing the A post stiffener and cutting out the rest of the flitch ready for the repair panel. Once it was cleaned up, i sprayed on some Zinc

 

 

Once that was done, i removed the other shock mount and found the same damage as the other side

 

 

So i marked out what needed to be removed

 

 

cleaned up the minor pitting behind and then tacked in the new metal

 

 

And then fully welded and dressed down

 

 

You may notice some small splits on the bottom of the inner wing beneath the repair area. they are welded up now too

 

Next, i took a look at the scuttle corner.

 

Some corrosion here

 

 

I unpicked the corner of the wing, wedged it forward and spot blasted the area. It came up well with only very slight pitting so does not require anything else

 

There was also this area

 

 

This did not clean up so well and is holed in a few places so i cut it out and fabricated a new piece.

Here it is welded in and dressed down

 

 

Then i decided to remove the ends of the front panel so that i can prep the bottom flanges of the wing as there was some rust showing through on the front of the seam under the headlamp

 

One side complete

 

 

And i did chop the other side off too but that still needs the remains of the front panel flange removing and cleaning up

 

And here is where we are now

 

 

Scuse the mess 

 

All that needs doing now is the new sills, front panel, flitches and A panels welding in and then i can prep for primer. Oh and the doors...

 

Thanks for looking 

 

Ben

Edited by Ben_O, 18 August 2016 - 06:33 PM.

[yeti21586]

that is amazing work, and sooooo speedy as well!! keep it up 

 

 

YetI

[JDImini]

Hi Ben

 

didn't get chance to comment yesterday as preparing for Jack's 18 birthday to day on A level results day   great results but Jack had set the bar very high so he was a bit disappointed

 

The work is brilliant as always, I uncovered the missing steering rack today and as talked about earlier in the week the keys so I think we'll try and come down next week and see the car first hand and perhaps get a photo on the forum

 

Good luck and well done for any of the very youngest mini forum members that have had there a level results today 

 

Darren  (slightly worse the wear for a few beers and margaritas) 

 

Thanks

Darren

[Ben_O]

Well done to Jack on his A levels

 

You are very welcome to come and visit next week. I won't be here on the 8th and 9th of September as my folks are coming to visit so that would be ideal

 

Did you get my e-mail about the lower dash rail yesterday?

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

Evening.

 

I walked into the bodyshop this morning and glanced at the door frame sitting on the trestle and something caught my eye...

 

One of the old repairs to the bottom of the frame

 

 

And the other side of that repair....

 

 

Yes, that is chewing gum

 

Gave me a chuckle.

 

Anyway, onto today's progress.

 

The first job was to remove the remains of the front panel from the wing seam

 

 

There is some pitting on the front of the arch which will need cutting out and replacing but it's only a small repair and will be done whilst the front panel is being installed.

 

Next i cut the spot welds on the 'ear' of the front panel and had a little look behind. 

 

 

There is rust there and a tear from removing the 'ear' caused by the metal thinning so it will have to be cut out and replaced.

 

 

I made a simple repair piece to go in

 

 

And then installed it

 

 

 

I then went on to removing the other remains of the front panel from this side.

 

Then onto the other side

 

This side was a bit worse but still the same repair

 

 

 

Whilst i was doing this, my glamorous assistant stripped the paint from the roof, scuttle and wing tops

 

 

He found a nice big patch of filler on the scuttle which once removed, revealed this

 

 

So out it came

 

 

And in went a new piece

 

 

yes the hole is a bit wonky, my step cutter is worn so i'll either sort that once the new one arrives or finish it by hand with a file.

 

Whilst i was doing this, things started to arrive into the workshop...

 

 

And inside were many goodies

 

 

 

I get more excited by new panels than i do shiny bits 

 

Oh and there was this kit too

 

 

Full safety devices cage with harness bar and door bars. Looks pretty cool, even trough the wrappings. 

 

With an hour left of the day and panels in my possession, i couldn't resist making a start

 

 

Managed to get it 90% welded on. 

 

 

Once the welding is complete, then ill need to dress down the welds etc. 

 

Colin is working tomorrow so if all goes to plan and nothing comes up in the way of work for him, i should get in Monday to a bare naked mini with no red paint left on it!

 

Oh and sorry for the orb like manifestations on the photos, i had a dirty lens and didn't notice.

 

And this is where i left it today.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Ben

Edited by Ben_O, 19 August 2016 - 07:53 PM.

[MikeRotherham]

 

That area around the rear valance is amazingly clean.

 

A couple of questions Ben:

 

What do you use to remove the seam sealer so completely?

 

Is that grey primer that was under the metallic paint that seems to cover everything if so how did you just the remove the metallic and leave the primer so intact?

Most of the sealer is hard enough that you can use a narrow wallpaper scraper. I use a 1" scraper which i keep clean and sharp and it just more or less scrapes off in sheets. In more stubborn areas, i heat the sealer with a heat gun until it starts to burn and then scrape it off. Once the majority is off, i heat the remains again and then go over it with a soft copper brush. Then if needs be, a coarse scotch brite and some thinners can be used to remove any residue.

 

If you are referring to the primer on the underside of the floors, i applied that to cover the bare metal after i had finished cleaning up and is just a zinc rich primer. This will be rubbed down when i am ready to apply the high build primer once the body repairs are complete and is just there to prevent and slight rust starting again on the fresh bare steel.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

Hello Ben,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Another question, what tools do you use to cut and shape the metal patches you produce to fill in the corroded bits you have cut out?

[Ben_O]

 

 

That area around the rear valance is amazingly clean.

 

A couple of questions Ben:

 

What do you use to remove the seam sealer so completely?

 

Is that grey primer that was under the metallic paint that seems to cover everything if so how did you just the remove the metallic and leave the primer so intact?

Most of the sealer is hard enough that you can use a narrow wallpaper scraper. I use a 1" scraper which i keep clean and sharp and it just more or less scrapes off in sheets. In more stubborn areas, i heat the sealer with a heat gun until it starts to burn and then scrape it off. Once the majority is off, i heat the remains again and then go over it with a soft copper brush. Then if needs be, a coarse scotch brite and some thinners can be used to remove any residue.

 

If you are referring to the primer on the underside of the floors, i applied that to cover the bare metal after i had finished cleaning up and is just a zinc rich primer. This will be rubbed down when i am ready to apply the high build primer once the body repairs are complete and is just there to prevent and slight rust starting again on the fresh bare steel.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

Hello Ben,

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Another question, what tools do you use to cut and shape the metal patches you produce to fill in the corroded bits you have cut out?

 

Generally when making up small basic repair pieces, the only tools i use are the bench vice, a panel hammer, perhaps a dolly if required and if i need to put a fold in a larger piece then i will use the metal folder.

All cutting is done with either a 4" cut off tool, tin snips or air shears and sometimes all three. The air saw does a good job of doing more complex cuts but takes more time.

 

With this type of work where replacement panels are cheaper then the labour required to fabricate, more specialist forming tools are unnecessary.

 

In fact, all of the pieces i have made up so far could be made easily enough using a hammer and a block of wood if that was all that was available.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Ben 

[MikeRotherham]

Yes, that's very helpful thanks.

 

Thanks for the quick response too!

[sledgehammer]

Fantastic work

[jonlad]

hello, I've been enjoying reading your projects on here, you do some great work!

 

In one of your posts above you mention removing the remnants of front panel from the wing. I wanted to ask what you find is the easiest way to remove one seam from another? Drill spot welds and chisel one seam from another? Grinding disk? Other?

 

I have bought a shell where the previous owner has cut the wing away close to the a panel but left the seams welded together. I can't see any spot welds at first glance but need to clean it up to fit a new wing.

 

Any advice appreciated, keep up the good work, you give the rest of us something to aim for

Jon

Edited by jonlad, 21 August 2016 - 11:44 AM.

[Ben_O]

hello, I've been enjoying reading your projects on here, you do some great work!

 

In one of your posts above you mention removing the remnants of front panel from the wing. I wanted to ask what you find is the easiest way to remove one seam from another? Drill spot welds and chisel one seam from another? Grinding disk? Other?

 

I have bought a shell where the previous owner has cut the wing away close to the a panel but left the seams welded together. I can't see any spot welds at first glance but need to clean it up to fit a new wing.

 

Any advice appreciated, keep up the good work, you give the rest of us something to aim for

Jon

Personally with the seams, i prefer to grind the spot welds away and then peel the seam remains with a pair of pincers. If you grind the weld completely then it's a breeze to peel it off and just needs a light going over with a sanding disc to level everything off and remove and torn metal bits left.

 

Here is a link to the build thread for my own Mini. http://www.theminifo...rebuild/page-63

The page i have linked to shows how i did it with pictures just on the quarter panel to rear panel seam but it's all the same process.

 

If the flanges in a seam have been welded using mig plug welding then it's a bit trickier, especially if they have been ground down flush and are not visible.

 

The only way to do it really is with a lot of time and patience. You need to start getting the scrap seam peeling using a thin chisel or even a flat screwdriver and peel it (much like in the link above) until you find the next plug weld and it won't peel past it. grind that weld away and then carry on with the next and the next and so on. If you are lucky, the plug welds will be an inch or more apart.

 

There is another way which is to just grind along the scrap flange until it thins right out but you have to be very careful not to start thinning the flange you want to keep or it won't be up to the job of having the new one welded to it.

 

It can be tempting to keep the old flange on there and just clean it up and weld the new one to it but i can't stress how important it is to remove it or you will be leaving rust trapped between the original flanges which will just spread into the new seams in no time.

 

Hope that helps

 

Ben

[jonlad]

Excellent, thanks, more than i could have wished for!

 

I just need time to put it into practice now!

[Ben_O]

Lots of boring paperwork to do today so progress has been a little slow.

 

However, i did manage to get a fair amount done.

 

Friday, i had started to weld on one of the new sills. so first thing, i finished off that side.

 

 

 

Before i could finish the welding on the front of the sill, i needed to finish the flitch repairs.

 

I bought a couple of those Magnum repair panels which to be fair aren't a million miles away and for the price are quicker than making up a repair section.

 

Here it is clamped in place

 

 

It did need the bottom trimming a fair bit before it would go anywhere near but rather that than it be too short..

 

I cut what i needed and welded it in.

 

 

Got a slight bit of distortion in a few places but ill go back to that once the welding is complete and sort it out.

 

Then i could weld the front of the sill

 

 

Just a couple of plug welds to the flange at the front of the sill and a seam weld from the flitch to the front edge of the sill.

 

 

Then i prepped and fitted the other sill.

 

I only have pictures of it welded and linished. I thought i had taken a few more but alas, no

 

 

 

Just the flitch repair this side to do and then the doors can be trial fitted to align the A panels. The door skins will need to go onto the frames first though.

 

Colin is staying on tonight so was making a start with one door when i left.

 

I am going to have to return the front panel as the quality is disgusting. It's the wrong shape, has a lot of sharp edges and where the lower weld on mounts are spot welded to the front apron is buckled where they don't fit well together.

It is going to be exchanged for a heritage panel so hopefully that will be better.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Ben

[carthorse]

Great work as always, I've just taken delivery of the same rollover jig you're using and your pictures of the shell on the jig have been a great help over the last couple of days as I've been figuring out how to bolt the thing together!

[Ben_O]

Great work as always, I've just taken delivery of the same rollover jig you're using and your pictures of the shell on the jig have been a great help over the last couple of days as I've been figuring out how to bolt the thing together!

Cheers

 

I'm not sure that this one is assembled correctly as i have no instructions.

It is supposed to turn easily by hand with one person but we always struggle at the half way point so it needs two of us to do it

 

Ben