129 replies to this topic

[70K1100]

Managed another hour in the garage over the weekend.   Way too hot to spend much more time there.    But the usual task at hand of grinding down the floor was done, and as usual more rust located in the boot floor.   I was hoping to get away with just trimming back the boot floor panel and keep the seat base in place but the more I grind back the more rust I find.   So it looks like the entire boot will need to be done.

 

 

 

   

[70K1100]

I’m over grinding down a small section of the floor at a time. I’ve grown impatient and looking at having the shell blasted to be able to have a clean slate to continue with. What are people’s opinions about either sand blasting or sofa blasting?

[70K1100]

The first time in about 10 years since the mini has seen the sun. Waiting patiently at the end of the drive way for the long trip of 300m up the road to be stripped and painted. The street has such a bad camber that I had to push the mini in the middle of the street to it's destination.

 

 

Here it is where it will be for the foreseeable future. I'm lucky enough to still be able to do all the dirty jobs to strip it back to bear metal. From that point on I'm banned.

 

 

It has cost me another few hundred dollars in new panels. But the cost of new panels is cheaper than the hours required to panel beat the existing panels.

Edited by 70K1100, 15 September 2023 - 09:20 AM.

[70K1100]

Some small progress on the mini today.   New panels ordered from Minispares, Quote received from painter for paint and panel which was well within budget.   However, I was told that the mini is a dirty, dirty girl.   It took three sessions with the power washer to clean all the crap off and out of the shell.   

[70K1100]

Received this picture today from the painter.   Looks like the boot floor and the front floor panels have been cut out and ready for the replacements.

 

 

 

[70K1100]

The mini has progressed more in the last two weeks than is has in the last 11 years.   The shell is at the panel beater getting work done on it and I'm waiting on new panels to come from Minispares to finish the body work off.   I've been instructed at that once rthe body work have been done, then I'm not allowed to work on the mini until it has been painted.

 

However, as the shell currently sits it has one new floor panel, which previously in some places was three layers thick,   The hard to reach areas have been sandblasted and the majority of the shell has been painted in epoxy.   The only real hold up was when I went to buy the paint, I was told that the colour I wanted was not available in 2pac, only acrylic.   So a change of colour was decided on.

 

Here are some of the progress pics.

 

 

 

 

I think that I should name the car Joseph.   After the numerous colours that the shell was previously painted, the poor things techincoloured dream coat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After that I spent a day dismantling the doors and then sanding them back to bare metal.

 

 

Thankfully no bad suprises there.

 

Then onto the boot lid, which I really think was made up of at least 50% body filler.   That was the biggest job.   Still some repair work needed on the bootlid.

 

Edited by 70K1100, 11 October 2023 - 07:44 AM.

[bpirie1000]

Well done on the large tub of elbow grease you are using.. congrats.

Car looks good

[70K1100]

Christmas arrived early on Monday.   When I got home from work, I found presents waiting for me.   Thank you to Minisport in Adelaide who packaged the new roof skin really well and it arrived very quickly.   Same with Minispares in the UK.   There package arrived very quickly as always.

 

 

 

[70K1100]

I spent yesterday stripping down the front subframe again.   This time for some strengthening work done around the two towers.   Then off to get sandblasted and powder coated.

 

Can the front subframe be assembled whilst on the vehicle, or is it easier to put the cones, upper and lower arms in before putting the subframe in?

[KTS]

it can be done after it's fitted, but much, much easier (especially the upper arms) to assemble it before fitting

 

IIRC the nut on the lower arm pin should be fully tightened once the car is back on the ground

[colinf1]

It may be worth waiting to build up the subframe until you have assembled the front panel and wings on the car, you need to mount the front panel on the front subframe to ensure everything aligns.

 

It may also be worth waiting until this has been done, before sending it off for powder coating, to prevent any damage to the powdercoating as you'll be putting it in, taking it out, working on the front panel and wings around it

[70K1100]

Thank you for the advice. I think I will wait so that the front lines up.

[70K1100]

Another productive day.   I spent the day with some help from my painter cutting the old roof of the mini in preparation for the new roof.   After cutting it off initially with an angle grinder, I think the person who put the roof on was paid by the spot weld.   I didn't know that there were going to be so many.   It's probably a good thing that I am putting a new roof on the car, because we found a lot of surface rust.   Nothing a quick sand blast won't fix.   But after a quick trial fit of the new roof, I called it a day.

 

 

 

 

 

[70K1100]

Not a lot has happened over the last month.   I hate it when work gets in the way.   Mostly just buying parts for the mini.   One of those purchases I blame on Timmy850.   After watching his Youtube video with his mini with the Dellorto carb, a 40DCOE came up locally on Facebook Marketplace.   So as a result of this video, I am now the proud owner of a 40 DCOE.  

[70K1100]

Finally got a few days off from work that weren't pouring down with rain.   Spent the time working on the mini again.   We managed to glue and spot weld on the roof after spending the time sanding back the edges that were painted with epoxy to stop the rust.   We put the roof skin on and thought that it was on backwards.   Took it off and put it on again, then found out that it was around the correct way the first time and had to rush to take it off again before the bonding compound set.   A few spot welds later, not as many as Bristish Leyland Australia used, but all done now.

 

 

 

 

The next day was spent linishing back the welds on the front floor panel on the passenger side.   The next step was to cut off the A panel and sand back the inner A panel and then weld up a few holes that were discovered.   The coating on the Magnum panel hasn't really held up well and the surface rust has come through but only on the outer surface.   My panel beater said that we'll sand it back and coat it with epoxy and rust converter and it will be fine.   After reading a few opinions about the fit quality of the Magnum panels, I was very happy with the fit of the A panel.  

 

 

 

 

The last thing completed was fitting the passenger door.   One of many things that has not happened since owning the mini.   I'm really lucky that I have had the opportunity to work on the car which has saved me money and learnt a lot during this time. 

 

 

On a sad note, the two days of work did cost me more money for a new rear floor panel as we found more holes and rust, so it's more economical to replace the whole panel.   I have lost my favourite rust "repair" work though.   It looks as though the metal was welded from the inside and not finished from the underneath.

 

 

Can anyone tell me what is normally done to seal the sections either end on the parcel shelf from the boot?