125 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Looking good, quick progress! Looks like a birds nest on the driver's side front suspension though    was it pulled out of a hedge?

It was sat on a grass verge for several years.

 

 

There were lots of nests everywhere when I started pulling it apart and evidence of rats. They had eaten half of the inertia fuel cut off switch!

[mattmiglia]

Will you get it blasted Ben?

[Vinay-RS]

It's nice to see that the car doesn't look too bad now that it's been stripped down. Like everyone else has said, you worked really quickly taking it all apart. Really impressive.

[Ben_O]

Will you get it blasted Ben?

Not this one.

The places where it is really rusty will just be cut out and replaced. The panels that remain have little or no rust so blasting isn't really worthwhile

 

It's nice to see that the car doesn't look too bad now that it's been stripped down. 

You might change your mind when I get around to uploading the next set of pictures.....

[Ben_O]

The next thing I removed was the front subframe.

The tower bolts unscrewed easily, as did the teardrop mounts however the toeboard mounts were seized solid and the nuts didn't even look like nuts anymore.

Fortunately, one of the mounts had come apart so i only needed to remove the n/s mount.

I ended up grinding the heads off of the captive plate inside the car

 

 

 

The subframe is definitely scrap.

 

Next, out came the steering rack

 

 

 

Then onto the rear subframe. I had planned to strip the frame in situ but everything is so crusty that it would have been a nightmare so I removed it as a built unit.

To my surprise, this happened

 

 

 

Without any heat or penetrating oil.

 

The rear mounts were a different story and only one bolt undid so I had to resort to splitting the bolt heads on the other three

 

 

 

This frame is scrap too

 

 

 

and now aside from a few odd clips the shell is stripped

 

 

 

 

[Ben_O]

We are pretty much up to date with this now. The only other thing I have done with it is mount it on the spit so that i can assess what it actually needs.

I want to retain as much as possible but don't want any non-original weld seams or joins so patching is out of the question.

 

First, I need to get the shell up high and attach the spit frames to the shell

 

 

And then add the A frames and spine

 

 

 

So that I can do this

 

 

And reveal the true beauty....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And that's where I am to date

I am planning on allocating 1 day a week to work on this car so progress won't be quick but I hope to have it finished this year.

 

Thanks for looking

 

Ben

[KTS]

..on the plus side that shock mount looks OK !

[Ben_O]

The o/s wing would go again.

 

Might keep it for something else..

[jamesquintin]

Are you patching the floor or replacing? If I were doing my MPI again, i'd use the whole injection floor as it comes with the studs underneath for the full lines

Q
 

[Vinay-RS]

It's crazy how much rust hides underneath these cars. Guessing that this Mini will be getting new floors and sills too?

[Ben_O]

If I were doing my MPI again, i'd use the whole injection floor as it comes with the studs underneath for the full lines

Q
 

I didn't realise that they came with the studs? The last one I did didn't have studs.

I have a couple of bags of new studs anyway to fit if necessary 

 

It's crazy how much rust hides underneath these cars. Guessing that this Mini will be getting new floors and sills too?

 

So far, it's getting a complete new floor including cross member, sills and heel board, complete new boot floor as well as valance and closers, lower rear panel (or possible full height) a new toe board and possibly a new front bulkhead but i'm undecided on that.

 

Then the usual inner and outer wings, A panels, scuttle and front panel, door frame repairs and skins at least one quarter panel and one door step/A post.

 

I'm going all out on this one. When it is finished, it will look and feel like a brand new car. I don't want any patches or repair panels if I can help it and anything that does go in will be invisible.

This will be a no filler car too.

 

It should be ace!

[JXC Mini GT]

Hi Ben

 

It sounds like this is going to be a very special Mini, have you set yourself a target date to complete it all?

[Ben_O]

Hi Ben

 

It sounds like this is going to be a very special Mini, have you set yourself a target date to complete it all?

I really hope so.

 

It would be lovely to have it finished this year but with so much going on, it's really hard to find time to work on it. Once I get the back log out of the way, I hope to assign 1-2 days a week to getting it done which should be ok as most of the panel work is complete and large panels so should come together quickly.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Vinay-RS]

This will be a no filler car too.
 
It should be ace!

This is exciting. One of the coolest aspects of the Mini25 build was that you weren't going to use filler. Will be so nice to follow this build as you go through it.

[KTS]

It's crazy how much rust hides underneath these cars. Guessing that this Mini will be getting new floors and sills too?

 

what's really crazy is that there's no evidence of any kind of underbody treatment on that car.

 

out of interest, did any of the later minis get any kind of rust proofing/underbody protection when they came out of the factory ?