313 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

 

You must be pleased how good it looks after the blasting! Hopefully an easy job to do the rest of the welding. 

Very pleased, did wonder if it would resemble a tea bag after the blasting and Ben does a brilliant job fabricating and welding  

 

Thanks Darren.

 

sorry for the lack of updates these past two days, been off with Flu.

 

I went in this morning to catch up but the compressor is down. Someone in the neighboring building has disturbed the wiring when upgrading their own. 

 

It's being sorted over the weekend though...

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[JDImini]

Hi Ben

 

Hope you feel better soon

 

Thanks

Darren

[JDImini]

goodies on the way from Frontline Developments 

[Ben_O]

I started work on the left hand sill today.

 

 

I thought this was the better side but infact, it turned out to be the worst...

 

Never mind, time to start removing the old one.

 

I started off by removing the front section so that i could get a better look at a suspect section of inner sill

 

 

And this is the section that i was half expecting to be much worse than it turned out to be

 

 

The back half is not to bad but the closing panel on the end will need replacing

 

 

There is also a hole in the bottom of the quarter panel

 

 

The front lower half of the inner sill will need similar attention to the other side

 

 

With the rest of the sill removed, i could get a better overall look

 

 

It really amazes me how things can be behind a perfectly excellent looking sill

 

Now it was time to start cleaning back the rust to see what actually needed repairing.

 

Off with the rear closer

 

 

Which is not to bad behind

 

 

The front closer was also removed and there was some rust behind so ill need to repair this side the same as the other

 

 

Holes.....

 

 

This is the first hole i found after a clean up

 

 

I think ill remove a section of the inner sill in front of the hole and replace the section behind from this side. It's quite a squeeze in the footwells of this car

 

Ill need to repair this part too

 

 

It had torn away from the sill.

 

On with the repairs, I thought i would start off with the back end this time

I repaired the hole int he quarter panel

 

 

And then made up the new rear closing panel

 

 

 

 

And then trial fitted it in place

 

 

 

I have also cleaned up to clean bare metal the vast majority of the inner sill but didn't get a picture.

 

Tomorrow, ill repair the inner sill section at the front and make up the closing panel for there too and then i can prep and fit the new sill.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[JDImini]

yet more great work!

[Ben_O]

yet more great work!

Thanks Darren.

[Ben_O]

More progress with the inner sill repairs today.

 

I repaired the hole above the inner sill at the front

 

 

And today i mourn the loss of a dear and old friend.. We have been together 12 years 

 

 

 

Yeah, that's broken

 

I Have ordered a replacement but have to wait for delivery so a cheap one bought locally would have to do whilst i wait.

 

 

Don't buy a cheap one of these like I did today, it lasted barely 30 seconds before it packed up. 

 

Ok, on to the lower inner sill repairs.

 

I cut the rotten holed piece out

 

 

And then did the same with the front piece

 

 

And then de-rusted in there and zinc sprayed it all up

 

 

I needed to make the front piece first

 

 

Which went in just fine

 

Followed by the piece of sill

 

 

All welded and ground up

 

 

 

I still need to make the front closer but for now, i zinc sprayed the entire inner sill

 

 

 

Before trial fitting the new outer sill

 

 

Something is wrong though as it won't move up high enough.

 

 

 

I shall investigate that tomorrow.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[carthorse]

The el'cheapo 90' die grinder I bought off fleabay a few months ago refused to run at all despite multiple attempts at taking it to bits and fettling it's nasty badly cast insides
The Clarke one I replaced it with from Machine Mart works well without being daft Snap On / Blue Point money

[Ben_O]

The el'cheapo 90' die grinder I bought off fleabay a few months ago refused to run at all despite multiple attempts at taking it to bits and fettling it's nasty badly cast insides
The Clarke one I replaced it with from Machine Mart works well without being daft Snap On / Blue Point money

The one i got today just shook itself to bits in moments. It runs at too higher revs for the cheap components to cope with.

 

The one that broke has worked perfectly for the past 12 years and is by Universal tools. I believe it was around £100

I'm replacing it with the latest version of the same model which is now £120.

 

Money well spent on a tool that is used everyday and i know is good quality.

 

But i at least expected the cheap one to last a week until the replacement arrived....

[spraybeater]

Quality work on this as usual! Ben, got to agree on the cheapo die grinder, i 

bought one of those of evil bay and it lasted 2mins , plus was got in touch with

Tool Zone and they re funded costs and told me to bin it,

[Ben_O]

Back on with the sill fitting today.

 

I had a play with the reluctant-to-fit sill first of all and have managed to get it to fit nicely.

 

With the sill back off, I marked out and drilled the trim and badge holes

 

 

Then prepped it for welding and sprayed up the inside

 

 

Next, I refitted the sill and tried on the wing to check for fit

 

 

 

Before welding it top and bottom

 

 

 

I sprayed up the rear closing panel that i made the other day

 

 

Which goes here.

 

 

And then welded it into place

 

 

 

And then I made up a new front closer

 

 

And fitted that too

 

 

And that concludes the sill fitting

 

 

 

 

So with the structural welding complete, the bracing could come out

 

 

And now it's time to re-skin the doors.

 

My ex glamorous assistant removed them from the car when he was still here and i though he had stripped them out.

He hadn't so that needed doing before I could remove the old skin.

 

 

Here is the damage

 

 

 

 

Just like a Mini 

 

Once I stripped the gubbins out of the door, i cut the skin off

 

 

Which showed the extent of the frame damage

 

 

So ill make up a complete new bottom section which will sort that.

 

And that was all i had time for today.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Carlos W]

Excellent work as always Ben

[slidehammer]

Top work as always Ben, really enjoying this project. The shell was in fantastic condition to start with considering its age and the lack of rust proofing from the factory.

[Magneto]

What keeps the water out of here?

 

[Ben_O]

What keeps the water out of here?

 

 

A rubber bung.

 

Cheers

 

Ben