416 replies to this topic

[KTS]

Whilst Ben keeps him self busy doing the hard yards on my pickup, i thought it about time to kick off my own topic to follow it's journey back to the road

 

to save typing it all again, here's the history..

 

http://www.theminifo.../332476-newbie/

 

..and here's where you can see Ben providing another masterclass in mini restoration

 

http://www.theminifo...-isle-of-wight/

 

 

Thought long and hard (..it's called procrastination, i think..) about where to start this topic before deciding it had to start with this..

 

 

it's a 12.5" mk4, small boss, dished moto-lita steering wheel that was given to me about 30 years ago when i got my first mini - no idea what it came from, but it's been in every mini i've owned, and will go back in the pup when it's done

 

picture doesn't really do it justice, but it was in a very poor state of repair; filthy dirty, leather full of cracks and some of the stitching coming apart, to the extent that i did consider sending it off to mota-lita to get it refurbed, but decided against it as i wanted to retain some of its character

 

first step, clean it

 

 

..and clean it some more, 'til it looks like this

 

 

..then moisturise it endlessly 'til the leather softens up and a lot of the finer cracks disappear..(..tried lots of different products for this, but found E45 hand cream gave great results)

 

 

..and finally, have a go at restitching the cover back on..

 

 

not looking too bad considering the state it started out.

 

still have the boss to sort out; needs a good clean and a new coat of black crackle finish paint, but that'll be for another day

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by KTS, 05 June 2019 - 06:14 PM.

[panky]

E45 brilliant

I've got a big pot of that for me dried up hands, might give it a go on the Cooper wheel which is a bit sun bleached at the top.

[longtimenomini]

Never owned a pick up ... always liked commercial Minis

Looking forward to see how this comes along

[Twincam]

I was down at Goodwood talking to the Rolls Royce leather guys, they gave me a tip of using intensive care moisturising cream as leather is skin, so to moisturise skin what do we use? Cream. The better the cream, the better the moisturise.

It's really come out well, how did you go about restitching it?

[KTS]

I was down at Goodwood talking to the Rolls Royce leather guys, they gave me a tip of using intensive care moisturising cream as leather is skin, so to moisturise skin what do we use? Cream. The better the cream, the better the moisturise.

It's really come out well, how did you go about restitching it?

 

good to know i'm following best practice with the E45 cream !

 

thanks - it came out a lot better than i was expecting.  moto-lita quoted me £95 (+VAT + postage) to refurbish/re-cover the wheel so i thought it was worth a try.  Having done it myself though, their price now doesn't look so bad 

 

i used a curved upholstery needle to restitch it, and just followed the pattern they'd used originally - really fiddly and killed my fingers and took about 3hours for me to do just the section around the top.  i was planning on restitching the whole thing, but as the rest of the stitching is in reasonable good condition i think i'll leave it as is..

 

if you're interested, stitch pattern looks like this - simple but effective as each hole in the leather is tensioned against 3 points in the opposing piece to hold it in place

 

[KTS]

..cleaned up the boss, gave it a coat of vht wrinkle plus and an hour in the oven, dug out some hi-loks pins and k-nuts from my stepdads collection and that's the steering wheel done.

 

 

 

[KTS]

i took the opportunity to repaint the garage floor

 

 

..and then his happened 

 

[T5FAU]

  Absolutely spectacular, you must be thrilled, what a beauty.

[MacGyver]

Wow! What a clean garage you have there!

And the pick-up really makes the white floor stand out... ?

[KTS]

  Absolutely spectacular, you must be thrilled, what a beauty.

 

thanks, the floor came up quite well - the pickup's not bad either 

 

i'm chuffed to bits, Ben's done a great job.  it's going to be a bit of a challenge to carry that standard of work forward on the rest of it seeing as i'll be doing most of it 

[KTS]

Wow! What a clean garage you have there!

And the pick-up really makes the white floor stand out...

 

i have a confession; the other half of the garage is a complete mess 

Edited by KTS, 13 August 2019 - 02:58 PM.

[MacGyver]

Wow! What a clean garage you have there!

And the pick-up really makes the white floor stand out...

i have a confession; the other half of the garage is a complete mess

You should see mine! ?
Seriously, you have made a lovely job!
My compliments. ?

[rich_959]

Please put a bungee strap or something around that BMX bike!! I'm flinching looking at the picture because a similar thing has happened to me in the past. And sods law says it will happen straight after a fresh restoration!

 

Lovely pup by the way. Ben is a magician!! 

[KTS]

took advantage of the long weekend with no work commitments and the rest of the clan visiting the in-laws to make some progress and paint a few of the bits that'll be going back on the car.

 

first up - DIY paint booth.  doubles up as a very effective sauna in hot weather

 

 

first time i'd made use of it since i built it, so took no chances and made sure the pup was covered up as well

 

 

..and the end result

 

 

i'll re-assemble the gear shift, pedal box and heater and then pack everything away safely 'til it's needed

[catch_me]

Very Nice! I need to get my gear shifter assembly ready to restore, that looks great!