289 replies to this topic

[Marco1972]

Going to be a solid little mini when finished Ben

Nice work mate

[Ben_O]

Love your write ups Ben, very methodical and detailed! Whats that on the subframe, a blue cylinder on a bracket? Flame kit ?

Thanks.

The item on the subframe is the fuel pump.

I did remove it before welding though 

 

You could've put the tools away......

 

For a lovely looking car to start with, there's some nasty horrors hidden

That will be my first job tomorrow.

I would normally do it before leaving but lost track of time and had to leave quite suddenly.

It is a shame that the panel work wasn't sorted instead of a respray. The structural integrity of the car really was quite shocking. One of the worst I have seen on a Mini that's on the road with an MOT

 

Going to be a solid little mini when finished Ben

Nice work mate

 

Cheers Mark.

It will be great to return it back to being safe and preserve it better for the future. 

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

I popped in this morning for a couple of hours to get the new inner sill ready for fitting Monday.

 

I trimmed some of the mess and patches from the front to allow the panel to be slid in and then clamped it into place

 

 

 

 

 

Once it was fitting well, It was then a case of clamping/screwing the new edge to the old and then cutting in the new piece. 

Here is the cutting completed

 

 

 

Then take it back off again to clean the edges for welding. There is lots of underseal etc to remove underneath.

Here is what I have now cut out from the front floor/toeboard area

 

 

I'm sure more will have to come out but ill wait until the inner sill is in and then work out what will be needed.

 

Here are the edges to be welded cleaned back ready

 

 

Lastly, some zinc paint was sprayed onto the weld edges and areas that will be inaccessible once the sill in in

 

 

 

 

It's now ready to fit for the final time so ill get that done Monday, sort out the mess at the front and then onto the other side.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Marco1972]

I used the same inner sill to first flute panel on mine it was a good fit
Just had to trim a little square off the top back edge if I remember rightly

Looking good Ben 👍🏻

[Ben_O]

Just had to trim a little square off the top back edge if I remember rightly

 

I have had to with these panels in the past but this one is absolutely spot on

Cheers

 

Ben

[Petrol]

Looking good Ben

If you spray dynax on top of zinc primer, the dynax will be attracted to the metals and offer even more protection

Just a titbit of techie info...... OK I'll get my coat

 

It's good to see a proper 69' Mini in bits. Your pics are fantastic, thanks for sharing.

[Avtovaz]

just read it all ion one go so far, really good work mate, keeping a proper note on what your doing as ill be doing mine soon!

 

what make of zinc do you use?

[Ben_O]

 

Looking good Ben

If you spray dynax on top of zinc primer, the dynax will be attracted to the metals and offer even more protection

Just a titbit of techie info...... OK I'll get my coat

 

It's good to see a proper 69' Mini in bits. Your pics are fantastic, thanks for sharing.

That's really useful thanks Pete.

No problem sharing, I hope that the pics and info may help others

 

just read it all ion one go so far, really good work mate, keeping a proper note on what your doing as ill be doing mine soon!

 

what make of zinc do you use?

I use 2 different Zinc primers and both are unbranded from my paint supplier. Well I say unbranded, they are their own brand so most likely unavailable elsewhere.

 

The first is a really heavy zinc which I use in box sections and anywhere concealed. I tend not to use it on weld seams, especially where Mig welding as it really interferes with the weld causing some pretty horrific splatter explosions 

It's fine with spot welding though..

It's about £15 per aerosol can trade so not cheap but good.

 

The other is a much lighter zinc content which I use where Mig welding is going to take place, especially plug welding although I do still tend to scrape the paint off through each drilled hole once clamped up before plugging.

I also use it to cover areas of bare metal during the panel work process to keep surface rust from starting.

For example, all of the bare metal on the new rear end panels is coated with it.

Still a good product but much cheaper at around £7 per can trade so I can splash that about a bit more  .

 

Sorry I can't advise you where to get these ones but I used to use Zinc 182 by uPol, SAS zinc spray and weld #2 by uPol. All are good products and easy to get hold of.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

 

Cheers

 

Ben

Edited by Ben_O, 09 December 2017 - 10:10 PM.

[Ben_O]

Back on with things today.

I didn't get as much done as was planned as I had some customers visiting discussing work etc which is always nice but slows things up somewhat.

 

First order of the day was to pop the inner sill back in so that I can align and clamp up the stiffener that goes inside the companion bin

 

 

Then a quick check that everything was dandy with the fit inside the companion bin

 

 

That photo is useful to show why the stiffener is required..

 

Next up I clamp in the stiffener making sure it is correctly aligned

 

 

And then remove the inner sill so that the stiffener can be spot welded into place

 

 

 

Before that can go back in for the final time, I need to fit the closing panel that sits in front of the arch tub

 

 

 

And then back in with the sill

 

 

 

 

I then spent some time making sure everything was where it was supposed to be and then spent a considerable amount of time and patience butt welding the new inner sill to the existing floor.

 

Here is the finished article

 

 

 

 

 

Then the bracing came out and I checked the door alignment

 

 

Relief and satisfaction 

 

Then I spot welded the crossmember back to the floor, had a clean up and a hoover out and splashed some zinc primer over the repairs to keep it nice why I do the rest of the repairs

 

 

 

There is still quite a way to go on this side so here is hoping that the other side is more straightforward. It certainly looks the better side.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Marco1972]

Like the idea of fitting the stiffener to the inner sill first makes sense

Of course I did it the hard way 😂

[Ben_O]

Like the idea of fitting the stiffener to the inner sill first makes sense

Of course I did it the hard way

Usually more often than not, when doing inner sills, you end up cutting the bottom of the quarter panel off to replace so of course, access is good.

 

This is actually the first time I have done it like this and it worked out well.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[slidehammer]

Nice work as always Ben. The door fit looks good I have lost count of the number of restorations I have seen where the bottom of the back edge of the door ends up sitting proud of the quarter panel. Where you not tempted to use a half floor as the front floors looks quite pitted in the photos?

[Ben_O]

Nice work as always Ben. The door fit looks good I have lost count of the number of restorations I have seen where the bottom of the back edge of the door ends up sitting proud of the quarter panel. Where you not tempted to use a half floor as the front floors looks quite pitted in the photos?

 

Cheers. This side is fine but the door already sticks out at the bottom on the other side so ill try to rectify that when I do that sill.

 

There is some pitting in the floors but generally, it's just surface rust and the owner of the car would like to retain as much original metal as possible.

Had the metal been too thin, then it would have had to have at least front pans.

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

Onwards and upwards.

 

I pushed the back edge of the inner sill over to where it was supposed to be and welded the nut bracing for the heelboard to the inner sill and spot welded the closing panel to the stiffener.

Also the floor to the bottom of the companion bin

 

 

Next up, Jacking point.

This was screwed in the correct position to the outer sill and then the whole lot offered up to the car. Then the jacking point was screwed to the inner sill from inside and then the sill removed again to get the position

 

 

And then welded

 

 

With all welding complete everything was given a coat of zinc ready for the outer sill

 

Then the outer sill was clamped on

 

 

 

And then spot welded

 

 

This end needs closing up

 

 

Which is done by welding and then shaping

 

 

Then the jacking point is welded to the sill and ground to shape

 

 

Next, I repaired the step

 

 

 

Now the fun part.....

 

 

I can't tell how much i'm going to have to replace with all the underseal there so it must go

 

 

 

Now I can determine what can stay and what must go, I did some cutting

 

 

 

And then had a clean up of the edges ready for some new metal

 

 

The repair pieces need to be made up like a jigsaw. Each piece must be made to fit the next and since the only reasonable datum I have is the floor, then that will be done first.

 

I marked out on the sheet the repair section

 

 

Then a quick cut and fold and then clamp it in

 

 

Then tacked in

 

 

I want to keep everything loosely in place for now until the rest is made and fitted so the tacks will suffice until the rest is in then ill weld it all up together.

 

The next piece will be the lower flitch as this will now follow the existing curve of the floor. Once that is made and tacked in, it will be clear what size and shape the toeboard section will need to be.

 

More tomorrow

 

Ben

[nicnoo]

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