127 replies to this topic

[70K1100]

I managed to get a few more pictures of the door and some more repairs to the body yesterday.   The door will still need some fettling to get it to sit right.

 

 

 

I think that the previous owner had a Clubman padded upper dash pad fitted leaving some sizable hole in the dash that needed welding up.   Just need some linishing and the dash will look a lot better.

 

 

 

Lastly some holes where the old special wheel arches were fitted. 

 

 

[70K1100]

Spent a couple of days working on the mini again.   I got to cut the rear passenger side floor out of the shell without stuffing up too much.   Then trimmed back the replacement panel to make it fit a bit better.   Then had a Project Binky moment by making cardboard templates to fill in some rust areas, transferred it to steel and then Shannon welded them all in.

 

So now I have a new floor panel.   I know that the ribbing is different, but it won't be seen with carpet and when it's driving around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[70K1100]

Got some good news from my panel beater today. Floors and all in and the shell is off the rotisserie. Next step is to get rid of the black bitumen type sealer in around nearly the whole shell.

 

 

[70K1100]

I received from photos from my panel beater with more progress on the shell. Getting closer to getting colour on it.
All of the floor has been welded in now

Boot floor has been removed including seat base.

Front guards have been removed and front panel.

Heavily dented boot hinge panel have been replaced as well.

[70K1100]

More progress has been made on the shell over the last few days.   The front panels are starting to go on.   Only issue is that the bonnet came off a different car, the front guards have a sticker saying that they were made in Italy, I don't know who by though, and the front panel was made by Magnum Panels.   So the radius on the outer edge below the headlight is different to the radius on the outer edge of the front panel.   To pass across to my panel beater, which radius should he work off? The guards or the front panel?

 

 

[KTS]

making good progress there !

 

not sure which is the better reference panel, but on another point i would recommend that you do the assembly with the front subframe in place - this should give you a much better chance of ensuring that after it's all fixed together the subframe will actually fit in the hole and the front panel mounting points align with the subframe

[70K1100]

KTS. A really good point. I didn’t think of that. I’m waiting on some stuff from minispares to arrive, so progress has halted a little bit. But when it kicks off again I’ll put the front subframe in.

[70K1100]

After some convincing by my painter, I took he subframes in to someone he knows to get powder coated.   I'm happy with the price and the end result.

 

 

[70K1100]

A very busy weekend on the mini.  We managed to strip the shell down to bare metal.

 

 

 

 

 

Stripped back the replacement boot lid and managed to get that fitting a lot better that what it did initially.

 

Then time for epoxy to minimise any rust.

 

 

Then on Sunday we completed the fitting of the right hand petrol tank.   Very nervous time indeed.   Youtube videos were watched to get the process right. 

 

 

Next step is to allow the epoxy to cure and then start priming, more raptor underneath the car and rubberised paint inside to help with sound deadening.   Almost at the point where I can no longer touch the shell until it's time to bring it home. 

[70K1100]

A lot has changed since I last posted. Now the mini has been painted and is back home

 

 

Now the nervous part begins with assembling the mini. 

[70K1100]

I started to watch YouTube videos on how and where to run the brake lines and saw how the passenger side brake line was run on the front subframe. Is this correct with a big curve to the hole in the subframe?

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[Shep76S]

First time I’ve seen this build, lovely job!

[68+86auto]

I started to watch YouTube videos on how and where to run the brake lines and saw how the passenger side brake line was run on the front subframe. Is this correct with a big curve to the hole in the subframe?

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It does run along the front of the subframe but it should have a sharp bend at the fitting and in each corner. Most of the mini videos on YouTube are bad.

[KTS]

..like this.  if you can get the section at the front to run parallel with the subframe even better 

 

Edited by KTS, 08 April 2025 - 08:41 AM.

[RichB]

I used a brake line kit and found that the pipe was not long enough to run it as neatly as KTS has. I was forced to have larger radius curves at the front corners of the subframe.
Were I to do it again I'd specify a longer pipe for that section.