289 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

How are you spot welding the ends of the sills ?? Do you have really long arms for your machine ??

Do you mean the back end behind the companion bin?

 

If so, there is a single side function where you clamp and earth plate to the panel you wish to spot weld to and then there is a gun with an electrode in it that you use to spot weld from the front.

If done correctly, you get nice penetration on the other side which looks just like the other side of the spot weld if you had used the double side arms.

 

Ill take a photo to show if that isn't clear.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

Continuing on with the repairs to the flitch/toeboard, I started to fabricate a section of flitch.

There is no sense in trying to make an accurate panel off of the car so it would need to be made up as I go along.

 

I cut an oversized piece of steel roughly the size of the hole I needed to fill and clamped it where I could

 

 

And as a starting point and line up aid, I shaped this end to follow the sill

 

 

I then cut some slits in the bottom to aid folding under the floor, trimmed the repair piece down to fit and tacked it into place

 

 

 

Next, I spot welded the bottom of the repair piece to the returns on the front of the floor.

 

 

To answer an earlier question, the single side function on the spot welded works like this.

 

Clean an area to bare metal as close to the back of the weld site as possible

 

 

Too far away and the welds will not hold. You can tell after a few moments as you hear them crack and ping...

 

Then you set the welder to single side

 

 

The control knob just to the right in that picture controls the weld duration. 3 is about right for this steel and this machine.

 

And then the weld is produced by this gun with an electrode in.

 

 

Simply press the electrode tip firmly where you want the weld ensuring that the two pieces to be welded are tight to one another and then press the trigger.

 

If the weld has worked, you get strong penetration on the back

 

 

I usually check them by inserting a scraper between the skins and trying to pry them apart. If it's not good enough, it will break apart very easily.

I always do test welds on steel offcuts of the same thickness to check that the welds are strong enough.

 

Anyway, back to the repairs

 

I finished folding over the return under the floor ready for spotting

 

 

 

And then knocked up a piece for the toe board 

 

 

Which completes the puzzle

 

 

That gets tacked in

 

 

It's starting to shape up now and so I can weld the pieces in fully

 

 

Then I can trim and fold the rest of the return on the flitch repair piece

 

 

You can see that I have also spot welded the pieces where necessary 

 

Once complete, I had a quick grind up (this will be fettled further during prep)

 

 

 

Then some zinc spray to cover things and were done

 

 

 

I also did some repairs to the inner A post stiffener/closer but didn't actually take any photos. You can see it in that last photo though.

 

Quick tidy up and then onto the other side

 

Brace installed

 

 

Chop 

 

 

 

 

Chop

 

 

The companion bin will need some work

 

 

And that's another day over.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[nicnoo]

 

How are you spot welding the ends of the sills ?? Do you have really long arms for your machine ??

Do you mean the back end behind the companion bin?

 

If so, there is a single side function where you clamp and earth plate to the panel you wish to spot weld to and then there is a gun with an electrode in it that you use to spot weld from the front.

If done correctly, you get nice penetration on the other side which looks just like the other side of the spot weld if you had used the double side arms.

 

Ill take a photo to show if that isn't clear.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

Thanks for that and the photo, it's given me an idea............................................

[floormanager]

I am in awe of your abilities.  You are an artist.  Thank you of sharing.

[Avtovaz]

right now i see, you have a fair gap to weld to get weld into, the panels arnt as close as i thought! So that is why you get so much strength in it. D you pulse your mig welds,? Sorry if ive asked that before! I tend to be on off on off for an inch, and then go to another inch far away.

[Ben_O]

right now i see, you have a fair gap to weld to get weld into, the panels arnt as close as i thought! So that is why you get so much strength in it. D you pulse your mig welds,? Sorry if ive asked that before! I tend to be on off on off for an inch, and then go to another inch far away.

Yep, pulse weld with thin body panels. Helps keep distortion right down and less chance of blowing through.

In places, seam welds are necessary but not when fitting repair sections and panel joins etc.

 

Cheers

 

Ben 

[Petrol]

Bloody hell Ben! It's full on this!
Nice work fella. Top job as always.

Pete

[Ben_O]

I shall summarise the next few stages of this job as it's largely the same as the other and i'm sure nobody wants to see me drag through the same thing again.

 

First the front half of the inner sill was removed. Note, I cut out the bottom of the flitch with it as that is toast - many many layers of rotten steel, filler and green resin.

 

 

 

And then the centre section

 

 

I cut out the cross member end too as between the inner sill and the extra inner sill was just crusty remains of the flanges so it was pointless trying to unpick everything only to have to rebuild the edges.

 

That's it all out then

 

 

Next, I repaired the companion bin bottom

 

 

And removed the remnants of the outer sill from the step and quarter panel bottom

 

Next I popped in the new inner sill

 

 

You may notice the porta power in that picture... I mentioned previously that the passenger door stuck out at the bottom on this side. I didn't take a picture so this earlier photo shows it

 

 

It stuck out 5mm from the quarter panel and today when I was measuring up with the new inner sill in place, every measurement was 5mm different to the other side.

Not a coincidence me thinks..

 

Mini's should measure 50" across from step top to step top and this one was 5mm out so the porta power was used to adjust things to suit

 

And now we have the magic 50"

 

 

I won't be able to see the door fit until the inner sill is welded in and the bracing removed but i'm confident that it will now be resolved. I hate poor fitting doors 

With that sorted, I screwed the new inner to the existing floor and made my cut

 

 

 

 

 

Once cut, i checked all measurements again and all Is good

 

So back out with the sill for prep and to fit the stiffener

 

 

 

Cheers 

Ben

Edited by Ben_O, 14 December 2017 - 07:49 PM.

[Avtovaz]

the bit i worry about when i come to do mine is the press marks wont match up in the floor pan at the front, did you say these are magnum panels? thanks for posting this mate, its really good to see!

[Ben_O]

the bit i worry about when i come to do mine is the press marks wont match up in the floor pan at the front, did you say these are magnum panels? thanks for posting this mate, its really good to see!

These are M-Machine panels.

 

The floor pan heel pressing is not quite deep enough for this car but i think that the existing floor is the wrong shape possibly from previously having been damaged by jacking or taking a thump and it's been knocked back into shape.

You can easily get everything to line up though by tacking, dressing and tacking until it follows.

 

Hope that helps

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

Here is the progress from yesterday.

 

I started by cleaning up the rest of the edges for welding

 

 

 

And then fitted the closing panel here

 

 

And then refitted the inner sill, spent some time aligning it and checking the all important measurements and then welded it in

 

 

And then the moment of truth, will all the measuring pay off and give a good door fit?

 

 

good good!

 

Now onto the crossmember end.

 

Starting off with a cardboard template, again by taking measurements

 

 

 

Trial fit

 

 

Transfer to steel

 

 

Cut and fold

 

 

And ready to fit

 

 

Getting close now. Just the crossmember, grind up the welds on the floor join, fit the jacking point and outer sill then flitch repair and finish welding the heelboard and we are done

 

Then onto the prep and paint

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Marco1972]

Nice job making up that crossmember end top work mate 👍🏻

[johnR]

A joy to follow as usual!

[evoderby]

It is indeed! As others have stated, Im surprised how nice the mini looked when rolled into Bens workshop....back then it almost seemed as if this was going to be a somewhat boring freshen up

Edited by evoderby, 17 December 2017 - 03:36 PM.

[Ben_O]

It is indeed! As others have stated, Im surprised how nice the mini looked when rolled into Bens workshop....back then it almost seemed as if this was going to be a somewhat boring freshen up

That was the original plan.

It only came in to have new sills fitted and some panel gap adjustments here and there.

I think we were all surprised with the condition of the underside of this Mini.

 

Still it's fast becoming a solid car again and will be for years to come

 

Cheers

 

Ben