948 replies to this topic

[Viktor]

I went 'shopping' this morning for a few bits for the Mini.

 

The owner was breaking this Mini and it was reasonable close to me, so I decided to go and get a couple of panels. The roof is in very good condition, with a couple of small dents but no rust whatsoever.

 

 

 

I also took a cut on the back seat panel, as it is quite rusty on my car. This one comes with the brackets for the rear seat belts. I was going to upgrade my car to have rear seat belts anyway, so at least one thing less to worry about.

 

 

Everything loaded up and back home.

 

 

The rear seat panel is in good condition with no rust. I would need to remove the spot welds, but other than that it should be quite straighforward.

 

 

 

I put the roof inside the box I got with the boot floor and put it in the garage until I decide what to do with it...

 

 

 

I will continue working on the floors, then wheel arches (tops), quarter panels and rear panel. Then moving to the front and the last thing will be the roof. So that box is likely to stay there for a good couple of years...

 

More updates soon.

 

Victor.

[Viktor]

I cleaned up the back seat panel and it is almost ready to be put in place. 

 

 

 

There's only a bit of rust in one of the edges, but nothing too bad.

 

I will give it a go tomorrow.

 

Victor.

[colinf1]

Have you anywhere to store the replacement roof panel? I can see it getting damaged if you leave it there!

I'm surprised you didn't take the full seat panel, but even that lower section will save you a lot of time.

[Viktor]

Hi Colin, it is either there or in the middle of the garden. The wife is not happy with the idea, so the garage it is! I will be careful, but I agree it is likely to get damaged there unfortunately.

 

My back seat is in very good condition. It is just the lower part that was quite rusted and bended, so I thought instead of fabricating a new piece, it was going to be better to get a cut from a donor car.

 

Didn't do much for the rest of the weekend, just out enjoying the sunshine!   

[Viktor]

I gave it a go at the back seat repair panel. It is now almost ready for welding, which I'm hoping to do tomorrow...

 

I cut the panel to suit the area I want to replace in the car.

 

 

I took the brackets for the rear seat bealts, gave them a clean and a lick of zinc primer. I will save these for later...

 

 

 

 

Then I prepared the repair panel, removing the paint and adding some zinc primer to the welding area.

 

 

 

While that was drying out, I gave it a go at the rear wheel arch. Deep clean and anti-rust treatment. I love the colour. The top wheel arch will be replaced, together with the quarter panel.

 

 

 

Then I put the repair panel in place, using the right hand whole as reference. Unfortunately, the left hand one felt off as I cut it too much.

 

 

I marked up the cutting area...

 

 

...and tried fit the panel with welding clamps

 

 

 

There are a couple of areas where I need to grind the back seat a little bit to get a perfect gap for welding.

 

That was all for today, hopefully I will get this done tomorrow.

 

Victor.

[colinf1]

looking good Victor!

[Viktor]

Thanks Colin. Slowly, slowly but eventualy I will get there!

 

Wife 'asked' me to do a few things around the house today, so didn't have much time for the Mini.

 

I re-aligned the repair panel with a couple of screws and welding clamps, making sure the rear seat belt bracket was aligned and in postion.

 

 

Gaps seems to be okay on this side.

 

 

And I started welding. I plug welded the bracket to the boot floor.

 

 

And that was it, as I run out of time. I might try to continue welding after work this week. Welding is not noisy, so the neighbours should be fine with it...

 

Have a lovely week everyone! Spring is coming! (eventualy)

 

Victor.

Edited by Viktor, 06 March 2022 - 08:06 PM.

[Viktor]

Long day today welding and grinding the back seat repair. My neighbours are very pleased about my project...

 

Lots of welding going in...

 

 

And all done

 

 

From inside the boot:

 

 

And from the underside of the car. It looks like I achieved good penetration.

 

 

Then the grinding started...

 

 

And continued inside the car:

 

 

And a bit of anti-rust paint to finish it off:

 

 

 

It is not perfect, but good enough for me. This won't be visible anyway, and it has been a very good learning exercise.

 

My reflection from today: These long repairs, requiring a lot of welding and grinding are a lot of work! It might be worth considering buying the whole panel rather than repairing it. It would be more expensive, but the amount of time and effort required on this is just too much.

 

I'm exhausted! So time for a glass of wine and some telly.

 

Cheers.

 

Victor.

[Viktor]

I got the seat belt brackets welded in place. The access was very tight, so the welds are not very neat unfortunately.

 

 

 

Then I moved on and started looking at the reinforcement plates unde the stiffeners.

 

 

I got the rear ones from M-Machine, while the others I made them myself (rectangular shape)

 

 

My car came with 2 layers of reinforcement plates for the rear stiffeners as shown in the photo below. I need to fabricate the second layer...

 

 

Then I run out of time, so until next weekend that is all around here!

 

Have a nice week.  

 

Victor

[colinf1]

I'm impressed with your gravity defying paint run!!

Looks like your making great progress, and those welds will not be noticed once you have seam sealed all join lines!

[Viktor]

Indeed! I painted it while it was upside down, so I can shake the car and get all of the dust from grinding out!  I sprayed too much paint though...

 

Yes, good progress and agreed it won't be visible once is fully sealed :)

 

Victor.

[Viktor]

This weekend was about welding the reinforcement plates under the wheel arch stiffeners. Some photos of the process:

 

The rectangular ones went in first.

 

 

 

Both in place and ready to get the rear ones in.

 

 

Quite a lot of welding, perhaps it wasn't necessary that many welds, but better safe than sorry...

 

 

After doing this side, I decided to adjust the settings of the welder and put down the speed of the wire. This side went a lot better

 

 

And all the plates in place, ready for grinding

 

 

I also fabricated the second layer of reinforcement plates for the rear area. 

 

 

All grinded down

 

 

And zinc primed (only the rear ones), and anti-rust paint for the front ones.

 

 

Plates in place and ready for welding

 

 

This side done

 

 

And for the other, I run out of gas for the welder, so I had to stop with only a few more welds to go...

 

 

To finish off, I cleaned up the wheel arch and applied KuRust on it.

 

 

The boot floor is now almost finish. When I get the gas bottle next week, I will finish those reinforcement plates and that should be it.

 

I guess the logical next step will be to do the floors, exciting times ahead!

 

Have a good week.

 

Victor.

[Gilles1000]

Good progress! 

Your welding is also looking better :)

I'm still asking myself about the double reinforcing under the boot. Mine has only one plus the valence closing panel which also acts as a stiffener.

Anyway, I think this is a good thing.

 

Cheers,

Gilles

[Viktor]

Thanks Gilles, yes I believe the welds are getting better.  By the time I would finish the project, I might be even a pro! ;)

 

The original floor on my car had double reinforcement, and although M-Machine only supplied one layer, I decided to fabricate the second one myself. I'm hoping the rear subframe will still fits once is all done...

 

Victor.

[Viktor]

I bought a new gas bottle this morning and managed to finish welding the plates. Some photos:

 

 

 

 

And a lick of paint to finish it off

 

 

I put the rear subframe back in the car, to make sure everything still fits

 

 

 

 

I checked inside the boot, to see if the plates got good penetration:

 

 

 

Then I moved to the central tunnel, and realized that I forgot to clean up the area before adding the mounting panel.

 

 

So I put two big nuts in between to clean the area.

 

 

I clenaed it and painted with zinc primer.

 

 

That was it for today. Tomorrow I will weld the mounting panel and the tunnel together. 

 

Victor.