288 replies to this topic

[Ben_O]

Awesome work Ben. I have a question :) I will be priming the inside of my shell soon, I'm guessing I only need to key the black coating and not remove it? Will be using zinc primer.

As long as it is e-coat you are keying back. If it's the black paint they put on non-gen panels, then I would remove it.

However, sometimes e-coat can hide rust beneath but you can see it through the e-coat.

I checked over the roof panel thoroughly and it was good so only needed a scuff

 

I see something photobombing a couple of pics which I recognise

[Homersimpson]

wow! Looks like a new shell from BMH...

No it doesn't this one looks good unlike the dross that BMH turn out!

 

I saw one a few week back that a friend of mine has just bought for a customer, you can almost get in without opening the doors and the roof panel fit is atrocious also some of the seam welds look like they were done by a 5 year old!

[Jase]

Thanks Ben, assuming it's e-coat as it's a heritage shell which I'm pleased with although it is 7 years old now with slow progress.

[jamesquintin]

 

wow! Looks like a new shell from BMH...

No it doesn't this one looks good unlike the dross that BMH turn out!

 

I saw one a few week back that a friend of mine has just bought for a customer, you can almost get in without opening the doors and the roof panel fit is atrocious also some of the seam welds look like they were done by a 5 year old!

 

 

That's odd. On the factory visit I was looking very carefully at the shells they were making and what I saw was of a very high quality. I spoke to the young fella doing the seam welds inside the boot (the support brackets to the parcel shelf) and his welding was perfect.

​Q

[Jase]

 

 

wow! Looks like a new shell from BMH...

No it doesn't this one looks good unlike the dross that BMH turn out!

 

I saw one a few week back that a friend of mine has just bought for a customer, you can almost get in without opening the doors and the roof panel fit is atrocious also some of the seam welds look like they were done by a 5 year old!

 

 

That's odd. On the factory visit I was looking very carefully at the shells they were making and what I saw was of a very high quality. I spoke to the young fella doing the seam welds inside the boot (the support brackets to the parcel shelf) and his welding was perfect.

​Q

 

 

I agree with this, I'm very impressed with my shell and would highly recommend.

[wingnut]

Great work as usual Ben,it must be nice to work with a shell with so little rust.

Whats is Carlos' mini in for?

[Carlos W]

Great work as usual Ben,it must be nice to work with a shell with so little rust.

Whats is Carlos' mini in for?

 

Oh, there's a list.............

[Ben_O]

 

Great work as usual Ben,it must be nice to work with a shell with so little rust.

Whats is Carlos' mini in for?

 

Oh, there's a list.............

 

The main thing is a respray but there is some tidying up and minor repairs to do first

[Ben_O]

Continuing on, I finished spot welding the roof on. It was very slow going but got there in the end

 

 

 

 

I also hung the doors and bonnet to check the fit and adjust/modify as necessary.

 

 

The bonnet has some damage which needs to be sorted. Kinda hard to photograph but the centre is pushed down

 

 

This door fits well enough

 

 

 

The card is there to hold the door in line as I have shimmed the hinges accounting for the weight of a built up door so without the weight, it sits wrong.

 

The other door is really crap to be frank

 

 

You can park another Mini in this gap

 

 

And something isn't quite right here either

 

 

So those will be sorted.

 

I have now pretty much finished repairing the bonnet which turned out to be a much bigger job than I expected. I got so carried away that I didn't take any photos so ill get those tomorrow.

 

I thought I would have a look at fitting the GTS arches. In the box, you get 4 steel 'strips' for want of a better word and 4 very thin plastic arch trims. There are no instructions and barely any information on the web about how they should fit.

I just looked at it logically and decided that the strips should be spot welded to the arch lip

 

 

 

As you can see, I marked out the position of the arch edge on the quarter panel.

 

I have some photographs of 2 different GTS mini's showing roughly how this goes. They showed steel tabs spot welded to the arch lip which looks like the plastic arch hooks over so I measured and made 5 different sized tabs to suit the profile of the arch and spot welded those on.

 

 

And then the arch hooks over those and fits like this

 

 

 

I will need to trim the steel strips to suit the lip of the arch but overall, it went pretty well. I found an article online called 'how to spot a GTS Mini' which talked about the arches briefly and an Australian Mini parts supplier that stocks the arches. I gathered from what they said that the arch simply hooks over the tabs and then is held to the lip with body clips and then the chrome finisher goes over the lip to hold them tightly together.

I think I shall add a small amount of Sikaflex to hold everything firmly. I really don't want them falling off.

 

If anyone has any more insight into these arches and the fitting of them, please let me know.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Marco1972]

Roof looks smart Ben
I’ve always fancied doing a roof on a mini
Interesting arches mate

[timmy850]

Theres a shop still with NOS fitting kits. Do you have all these parts?
https://minikingdomo...itting-kit-nos/

[timmy850]

A copy of the factory instructions are in this thread. If you can’t view them let me know and I can send them through

http://www.ausmini.c...t=Flare fitting

[Ben_O]

Theres a shop still with NOS fitting kits. Do you have all these parts?
https://minikingdomo...itting-kit-nos/

 

 

A copy of the factory instructions are in this thread. If you can’t view them let me know and I can send them through

http://www.ausmini.c...t=Flare fitting

Cheers for that. I can view the thread but not the attachments.

I would really appreciate it if you could send them over top me.

 

Cheers

 

Ben

[Mervyn]

Great work as usual

Grab yourself some plastic packers, ideal for setting gaps on the doors etc / easy way to check bonnet wing gaps etc.

https://www.selcobw....c-packers-pk100

Merv

[Ben_O]

Thanks to Timmy850 who supplied me with the original fitting guide, I have confirmed that I had it about right so I continued on with the trimming and fitting

 

I marked out the edge of the plastic arch onto the steel ready to trim

 

 

And then refitted the arch to check

 

 

 

1 down, 3 to go.

 

Onto the front arch. I offered up the steel strip 

 

 

 

And then spot welded it

 

 

Then the same process as the other. So basically, making up the retaining tabs fitting the arch and trimming to suit

 

 

And then I fitted the chrome plastic finisher to see how it looks

 

 

 

 

 

Not too bad although I will need new finishing strips as the originals are too short with the arches.

 

I turned the car round to do the other side but decided to sort the door fit first.

It has a wide gap down the back

 

 

So I added some welding rod to the edge to close that up

 

 

And then finished up by fully welding and grinding up

 

 

Just the front edge to sort now and then the arches can go on and that's the end of the panel work.

 

Cheers

 

Ben