948 replies to this topic

[Viktor]

Looks like its all good and solid, doesn't seem too be anything too nasty.

I have a few skeletons in the closet! Overall the car is solid, but I believe almost every single panel in the car needs attention. My intention is to do an 'audit' this weekend and assess the status of each panel. I will put some photos to get people's opinions on how to better repair each one of them.

Thanks for you comment. Cheers.

[Viktor]

Another weekend down and some progress on the Mini. I thought it would be good to give the engine a bit of clean. For the state of it, it looks that it has not been cleaned for the last 45 years!

 

 

I bought this spray from Halfords, but either the engine was too dirty or the product is rubish, as I had to work a lot with the brush

 

After a bit of work I managed to remove some of the dirt from the block. At first it looks like the engine colour was brown???

 

I posted this on Facebook and some people suggested that it might be rust, so I gave it a bit of wire brush and indeed it is rust...

 

I spent the rest of the time removing the front subframe. Quite an easy job, all nuts and bolts were easy enough to remove. I used the hidraulic jack to hold it and to lower it slowly.

 

The front subframe is very solid with some superficial rust and lots of dirt. I didn't see any nasty surprises! Phew!!!

 

I removed the suspension arms, where lots of grease were concentrated. It took a bit to remove the suspension cones, they were stuck in the subframe.

 

The idea now is to take both the rear and the front subframes for sandblasting. There's a company nearby doing sandblasting and powder coating, although I'm not going to powder coat my subframes. The idea is to paint them instead. 

 

Question for the audience, How much can it cost to sandblast both subframes? Any ideas? I will ask for some quotes this week, just wanted to have a reference. Thanks

 

Until next weekend, she is resting for now...

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Cheers.

[Gilles1000]

The engines should have been black from the beginning of the 70's to the introduction of the A+ in 80 if I'm right.

Before thew were green, after yellow (998) or red (1275)

Ah, and the "gold seal", exchange engines, were... Gold :)

 

Your parts look quite good!

[Viktor]

The engines should have been black from the beginning of the 70's to the introduction of the A+ in 80 if I'm right.

Before thew were green, after yellow (998) or red (1275)

Ah, and the "gold seal", exchange engines, were... Gold :)

 

Your parts look quite good!

Hi Gilles, thanks for the info. Yes, it seems that my engine should be black. I have this picture from another 'Stripey' and the engine seems to be black-ish...

 

Yes, the subframes are good. Looking at the MOT history of my car, it seems he had some failures due to rust on the subframes, so these might be fixed / replaced at some point in the past. The body panels are not very good unfortunately. So far I think I need to replace the whole front and wings, floor and boot floor. Rear quarters are very rusted near the wheel arch, the sills are a bit damaged and some areas in the roof. The list is just too long!!!

[sonscar]

Earlier you said that you would be willing to weld small patches yourself.Do this however a large panel is no more difficult to weld,just larger.Resist the temptation to cut everything out at once,pick some easy wins and gain confidence.There are lots of posts of heroic rescues on here to help you out.Enjoy,Steve..

[Gilles1000]

You could also try (and should) try at first on some scrap metal of the same gauge as the Mini. That will let you train welding skills.

 

My Mini has also loads of rust holes everywhere... I truly understand what you mean with"the list is just too long" ;) But for most of the common rust areas you will find repair panels, albeit know I would do some repairs from scratch as I gained experience.

The only problem beeing my car is at the moment in France and me in Germany, and the boarders are nearly closed. And the weather is not very motivating to do metal work...

[Viktor]

Earlier you said that you would be willing to weld small patches yourself.Do this however a large panel is no more difficult to weld,just larger.Resist the temptation to cut everything out at once,pick some easy wins and gain confidence.There are lots of posts of heroic rescues on here to help you out.Enjoy,Steve..

Hi Steve, yes that is still the plan. The bonnet of my car is shot, so I will try with that first, to gain confidence with my welding. I think you are right, small jobs, one on a time. I can't wait to start proving myself into welding! Does anyone know when is the VAT free day at Machine Mart? Just waiting for that to buy my MIG welder!

[Viktor]

You could also try (and should) try at first on some scrap metal of the same gauge as the Mini. That will let you train welding skills.

 

My Mini has also loads of rust holes everywhere... I truly understand what you mean with"the list is just too long" ;) But for most of the common rust areas you will find repair panels, albeit know I would do some repairs from scratch as I gained experience.

The only problem beeing my car is at the moment in France and me in Germany, and the boarders are nearly closed. And the weather is not very motivating to do metal work...

Hi Gilles, that is the beauty about restoring a Mini. Especially here in the UK, you can find lots of parts and repair panels for not much money. Hopefully this pandemic madness will be end soon and you can go back to your Mini. Here the weather is also crap, very cold and wet!

[Viktor]

Not much exciting stuff to report this week. I got the subframes back from sandblasting and fortunately they are in very good shape with no rust whatsoever. I got three quotes from different workshops, and obviously I went for the lowest price. I paid £90 for both subframes (sandblast only).

 

 

 

Next task is to protect the subframes from rust, so I'm going for one coat of anti rust primer, two coats of red oxide paint and 2 coats of stone chip. I hope this should be enough to keep the subframes from rust for a few years! 

 

That's the primer done

 

And then the red oxide paint.

 

First coat done. It is nice to paint outside the garage with a bit of sun!

 

Also started on the front subframe.

 

 

I will try to get all the paint done this week and then I need to decide what to do next. The list is long enough!

 

Cheers.

 

Victor.

[colinf1]

Looking good, how did you find painting the rear subframe? I'm still not fully finished my front one, it's amazing how many different surfaces there are to paint, then you look at it from a slightly different angle and there's a bit you missed...

I'm going the same route, red oxide primer, but just gloss black over that.

[Viktor]

Looking good, how did you find painting the rear subframe? I'm still not fully finished my front one, it's amazing how many different surfaces there are to paint, then you look at it from a slightly different angle and there's a bit you missed...

I'm going the same route, red oxide primer, but just gloss black over that.

Hi Colin, very good point mate. Yes, there are some areas in both subframes that are very difficult to reach. I'm using brushes with different sizes, and also I have spray paint for those really difficult areas. I just hope I'm reaching everywhere, because rust just needs a small unpainted area to start growing!

Gloss black as top coat sounds great, I might do some test on my frame to see which one I prefer. Which type of paint are you using for your top coat? Where dod you get it from? Thanks

Victor.

[colinf1]

Paint is only got from Tesco's, Johnstone's black smooth paint for metal, I needed to get something on it to stop the condensation in shed getting on the metal.
Also using same paint for all suspension and steering components, so should look nice and uniform "when" it's all reassembled...

[Viktor]

Paint is only got from Tesco's, Johnstone's black smooth paint for metal, I needed to get something on it to stop the condensation in shed getting on the metal.
Also using same paint for all suspension and steering components, so should look nice and uniform "when" it's all reassembled...

Thanks Colin.

Cheers.

[Viktor]

Long time no see.  A bit busy at work, so not much time to spend on the project.  I have now painted the subframes, with the final two coats in gloss black.  A few pictures of the process:

 

Red oxide paint for the front subframe:

 

 

 

 

Top coat with gloss black for the rear subframe:

 

 

 

 

Top coat with gloss black for the front subframe:

 

 

 

 

So this chapter is now finished.  It has been a real pain to apply 5 coats of paint to each subframe.  I hope it will be all worth it and the subframes will not rust in the next few years!

 

Thanks for watching.

 

Victor.

[gaspen]

I think it is a good idea to spray some wax oil into the cavities on the rear subframe