53 replies to this topic

[JakeJakeJake]

So front end is now all lined up, is bolted on front panel, wings and will also attach to inner wing.

 

 

This is the other side before it was bolted on, nothing moved when we took all the clamps off :) 

 

 

 

We made some braces for the a panels, not everyone does this but as the steel front end is a little heavier its worth doing. Also its not going to be too stiff? will be plug welded, had ran out of weld through primer. 

 

 

They are in line the photo is wonky, also you can just about see the harness bar in the back

 

 

Finally whilst the rear subframe was off got it and the radius arms all painted up.

 

 

Next job is brace bars and new rad mount and try and tidy up the engine bay a little. 

 

 

Edited by JakeJakeJake, 12 June 2017 - 10:23 PM.

[JakeJakeJake]

Boot all stone chipped, will also do rear bench

 

 

Roll cage plates welded in, apparently the ones in the bins were a real pain

 

 

Roof chopped out and new skin in place 

 

 

Brace bars all made up 

 

 

Brace bars in place and engine nice and green, cam cover is in black crinkle effect. Will be wrapping the exhaust manifold. 

 

[Will16]

I'm not the biggest fan of the vaux conversions, but I like this Nice welding, a panel stiffeners look great and the bmc green engine and box is very cool

Edited by Will16, 18 August 2017 - 03:35 PM.

[JakeJakeJake]

Interior, wheel arches and inside boot are now all painted, pictures are a little dark so don't quite show the colour 

 

 

Just when we thought it was finally 100% rust free, a small patch was found when taking the shell back to bare metal, it has now been sorted. Note the last picture, is before any filler had been applied. 

 

 

here's how it stood, put the front end back on as it made sanding a lot easier,

 

 

[JakeJakeJake]

Again the pictures really don't do the colour justice, it's a lot more blue in real life. The colour is Speedwell Blue. 

 

[JakeJakeJake]

Wheeled it outside to make room to work on the rest of the parts

 

 

Can see underneath the fibreglass roof, has a pretty cool texture to it.

 

 

Paint has good shine to already, this is with not cutting back on finishing done yet, just how it dried after paint. Is 1 coat acid etch, about 3 high build primer and about 5 of topcoat all in cellulose. Etch is from Clostermans primer and topcoat from Nu Agane.

 

 

 

Everything else is prepped pretty much. Doors needed a little filler as the previous owner did the door skins. Also the wings needed some firstly from the adjustments to get it to all line up, and also one had very slight crease, that wasn't noticeable until it was down to bare metal, still took forever to sort. 

 

All the time spent lining up the front end and all the time spent on prep and carefull minimal filler, the car should look very straight. 

 

 

This is all now in primer

 

Finally stuck a bit of silent coat in as most of the sound deadening had been removed to repair the floors previously. Didn't have one of those fancy roller things so used a skateboard wheel. And yes, those are my socks , it's a shoes off kind of job especially because there are a couple of bits of interior paint that need touching up so it helps with the dust/dirt!

 

 

The seat mounts are still on the cross member because someone has welded them to it, not sure why. 

 

 

[JakeJakeJake]

Here's a door with one coat of paint on it

 

 

Stonechipped the edges of the doors, has come out well

 

 

All the structure on the underneath of the bonnet has been removed, is not needed as it will be on pics, is quite bendy though.

 

 

The inside of the front end is all stonechipped, you can see the work done to the front mounts to make it removeable, also the notch to make room for the exhaust, I have some of that gold reflective heat tape to go on it, should stop the paint from getting cooked. 

 

[JakeJakeJake]

Quick update everything is now painted, not long to go now!

 

 

 

Cage is a Safety Devices one from Minispares, the harness bar is from Jon Betts (great guy, very helpful)

 

Also have tidied up the front subframe, was quite rough before. Brace bars now painted and fitted.

 

 

Went to put the new brakes on (old ones for sale if anyone is interested), unions were no good so needed replacing. Brake lines and Clutch lines were not the best a bit kinked in places, all hand bent and not particularly secure. So new unions and some nicely bent lines with a proper tool will be fitted. Exhaust manifold is now wrapped. 

[lawrence]

looking great :) I'm liking the speedwell blue too, suits the retro colour of the engine also! keep it up

Lawrence

[JakeJakeJake]

The new rad mount it now done.

 

These end sections are made up from folded steel, with swaged holes, they sit over each end and bolt into the existing mounts on the rad. The rad is an alloy mpi rad, which is thicker than standard so cools better but is much more of a pain to fit! The brace bars needed modifying.

 

 

It mounts onto the brace bar like this, there is also another mount on the front crossbar on the subframe.

 

 

Is all very snug but fits fine with good clearance all round

 

 

New wheels are on and it is really starting to come together!

 

 

And finally got the bracket for the bonnet pins and springs on, using little cap heads, looks a lot nicer than self taping screws or rivets.

 

 

 

[mk3 Cooper S]

Looks great.

 

You have skills and have invested your time with quality work

 

Screaming out for mk2 rear lights in my opinion

[JakeJakeJake]

Couple more of the rad

 

 

Offering up the new boot lid, fits surprisingly well for a single skin fibreglass boot 

 

 

The boot is secured by two springs and no lock, these springs normally scratch the paint which is not normally an issue on a track car. Sometimes people put electrical tape under them to stop this, I thought I'd use blue tape as it would match better but then decided to get some vinyl sheet to stick on .

 

 

Boot all finished and with plate stuck on 

 

 

Finally fitted some over riders, but I am not sure about the fit, they look like they are slanting forward but its as vertical as we could get them 

 

 

Also trimmed the end off the exhaust, it stuck out quite far and had a rolled tip, this is a little more subtle. 

[JakeJakeJake]

Went to finish plumbing in the rad and a piece of the old rear rad pipe broke off

 

 

Will plumb it back in with aluminium and stainless tube, and silicone bends. 

 

Had to take the inlet off to get access to it, which was held on with these “bolts”

 

 

Some of the brake lines needed replacing anyway, and most were not pretty 

 

 

Whilst the inlet was off, thought it would be a good chance to get the bulkhead all sprayed up and tidy the wiring, the first step, pull all the spaghetti the though the bulkhead

 

 

After bare metaling the bulkhead, stone chipping and painting it looks like the pics below.

Also split the loom in two so the majority can run behind the dash, It can now exit the bulkhead on both sides tidying up the engine bay. Is all wrapped in tesa loom tape which I highly recommend. 

sorted all the dodgey wiring, extended some, chopped out some and some had to be replaced. 

The new brake lines and clutch lines are also mostly run, the orange clutch hose is for a BMW Z3. 

 

 

Also touched up the engine paint. 

 

Next step is to fix the alternator bracket as the current one sits a little crooked. 

[JakeJakeJake]

Alternator bracket now all done 

 

 

Got some glass in, changed to some opening rear quarters as they matched the fronts, turned out all my glass is different colours

 

 

Interior is starting to come together, had to change to some different seats a mouse ate one of the Speedwell seats.

 

 

Brake lines are now all done

 

[miniaddict92]

Like the little touches and the retro theme. Coming on nicely