281 replies to this topic

[IronmanG]

How long did it take to do that Ben? Those 2 posts?

That's today's work

Cheers
Ben

Its when I see this I realise I gave my pickup to the wrong people....

[Fred&Rex]

Great work again, making it look very easy!
I’d spend hours thinking about it!!

[Gilles1000]

Funnily enough I removed yesterday the front panel and repaired the inner wings plus the wing I will reuse.

 

Today having some other issues I did nothing but build the subframe in the car (maybe one hour looking also for the assembly kit)

 

I think I will need one day to try the wings and front on...

But this is my first Mini, I think Ben should be able to do this with closed eyes now :)

 

Anyway, impressive job!!

[Ben_O]

Back on today and I began by sandblasting the bonnet hinges

 

 

And then finished the prep on the inner wings and bulkhead.

I also bare metaled the scuttle at this point as it had a ot of paint on it.

The scuttle was quoted to be replaced but it's perfect so can stay.

 

 

 

I cleaned up the sections where the front panel and wings spot weld to the body

 

 

 

 

And then once I had applied zinc primer to those areas and it had dried, I masked them up ready for epoxy

 

 

 

Then on with the epoxy

 

 

 

The brown primer on the bulkhead is a thin coat of acid etch just to cover the bare metal until I'm ready to prime the engine bay after welding.

 

Once the tape is removed, we are left with prepped edges with a zinc coating ready for welding

 

 

And then back into its bay ready for fitting

 

 

Cheers

Ben 

Edited by Ben_O, 25 May 2022 - 02:33 PM.

[Ben_O]

All built back up ready for welding in the morning

 

[Ben_O]

I've now finished the front end.

 

The process continued with spot welding the wings to the a panels

 

 

 

And then the wings to the inner wings as far as I could with the bonnet on

 

 

Then off with the bonnet to finish those

 

 

Next up is these two bits

 

 

 

Same at the back

 

 

Then subframe out to spot weld the front panel to the inner wings

 

 

Then a splash of zinc over the bare bits and I'm done

 

 

Just the parcel shelf to replace now and I think that's all the welding apart from some holes here and there that had been historically drilled to inject a wax.

 

Cheers

Ben

[Ben_O]

Oh and the tabs that reinforce the a panels to the wings which are sitting on the bench......

 

Ben

[Crazy]

Woah some progress there Ben, been away and come back to a whole host of updates, excellent work, Just trying to clear some schedule to make a trip over as discussed earlier. Just waiting on work to give me the greenlight for a day off going to extend it to a weekend stop over to catch some of the new contacts I made while over there. 

[blacktulip]

nice to see your still as good as ever Ben

[Ben_O]

Last panel to replace now and it's the parcel shelf.

 

Out with the old

 

 

There is such good access with the shelf out that I decided to prep and prime inside the boot at this stage

 

 

 

 

Then spot weld the parcel shelf In

 

 

 

Now the loose ends to tidy up.

Starting with the holes previously used for cavity wax injection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small hole in the bottom of one of the companion bins

 

 

 

Bit of rust to mend on the quarter panel 

 

 

 

 

And then finally the small reinforcers between the wings and a panels

 

 

 

 

And that completes the panel work!

 

 

 

Cheers

Ben 

[MikeRotherham]

Even though you did mine, still feel a bit of envy with this build. I do like the body in silver.

 

With the regard to the new doors. Were they a good fit from the get go? I was under the impression that they sometimes needed a bit of 'persuading' to fit the door aperature at the factory.

[Ben_O]

Even though you did mine, still feel a bit of envy with this build. I do like the body in silver.

 

With the regard to the new doors. Were they a good fit from the get go? I was under the impression that they sometimes needed a bit of 'persuading' to fit the door aperature at the factory.

Hi Mike.

 

The doors can be hit an miss.

Sometimes the skins are too far forward or too far back on the frames so no amount of shimming can give a satisfactory fit.

You usually have to settle for a compromise between a good fit on the window frame to body and a good central fit of the skin to the surrounding panels.

These doors actually fitted pretty well and I've not had to modify them at all.

One side is nice with no shims and the other side has 1 shim in the top and bottom hinges.

These are original replacement doors as apposed to the heritage ones available now so that might have made a difference...?

 

Cheers

Ben 

[Ben_O]

Time for the prep.

 

First thing I did was raise it up to a nice workable height and bolt on the doors

 

 

 

And then it's literally a case of pick a panel.

I chose to start with the left quarter panel.

 

It had several shallow ripples across the length of it and also its had paint at some point which was flaking off everywhere.

I opted to strip it back to bare metal and as I did a lot of filler came out.

 

 

Underneath all that, it's very good with some slight unevenness so I applied and sanded a coat of filler

 

 

As you can see, I also prepped the shut and finished the A panel.

 

Then after some repairs to the new door which seemed to have suffered storage damage, I have now finished that side.

 

 

 

Cheers

Ben 

[Fred&Rex]

Wow Ben
Loving the work, great ethics to the job, is it staying the same colour or will it be different..

Thanks

Daz

[Ben_O]

Wow Ben
Loving the work, great ethics to the job, is it staying the same colour or will it be different..

Thanks

Daz

Cheers daz.

 

It won't be staying silver.....

 

Ben