14 replies to this topic

[Telejmp]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, but I guess it is a problem.
Ok, My mini has some rear end damage, which has crumpled the boot floor slightly.
I have found a place that sells replacements for about £90. Is it possible for me (Or my bestest buddy, dad, hehe) just to cut out the old one, and weld in the new one?
Also, can this be done from inside the car, or does it have to be done from underneath?
Sorry if my questions sound a little, silly, I am a complete newbie with Minis
thanks,
pEaCE
DOm

[Woody]

Hi ,If your boot floor is crumpled you dont need a new one , you just need the floor repaired , to do this you need a Dozzer , however if the floor is severly crumpled and does need replacing it will still need pulling out berore having the damaged section replaced, if the crumling is only slight you may get away with a block of wood on the back panel and a body jack/big hammer from inside .
There is a repair section available for the rear of the boot floor but to fit this you will have to get the outer panels back to their original position (so the boot lid fits proply) , cut out the damaged section and replace from inside the boot , this repair section will need to be seam welded in to keep up the strenth of the boot floor .
I hope this makes sence , if not feel free to ask more questions

[Telejmp]

Thanks Woody,
I was actually thinking of trying to beat it back into place the other day, hehe. I need to replace some of the metal under the bonnet anyway as a lot of it is very rusty, I guess I could remove all that, beat it into place and then replace the rusty parts, would be a lot easier than fitting a new one.
A couple of questions, hehe.
Whats a Dozzer?
And just in case it needs to be replaced, by seam welding, does this mean weld the whole seam together, with a gas welder?

Thanks a lot,
pEaCE
Dom
Also, would a mini fail its MOT with a crumpled boot floor? its not tooo bad, you cant even tell at all from the outside of the car,untill you look under the rear bumper.
thanks again,

[Woody]

Ok , here goes , A dozer is a peice of equipment a body repairer uses to straighten bent bodywork , It is "L" shaped , fitts under the car , it has a 10 ton hydraulic ram which is chained to the bent sectionwith a clamp and when you pump up the ram the chain pulls out the damage in the opposite direction to the impact ,( this doesent even make sence to me now i read it back !)
If the boot floor is rusty it may be easier to flatten out ,
A crumple in the boot floor should not be a MOT fail ( differant people may dissagree with this , may be best to ask a MOT tester) unless it is on the subframe mount .
All patches welded on to a car where there was not an origional factory join have to be welded arount the whole circumforance (the whole seam must be welded )
for this you could use gas if you wish , but MIG/MAG is better
this is a dozer Click on that link , a picture may explane it better B)

[Telejmp]

Thanks Woody, that really has helped. After looking at the boot floor, it looks like its not that that is actually rusty, its the body work under the lights and I believe it is called the rear valance.
Im going to take it to a mini garage as soon as I can, and get it checked and see what I can get away without doing, hehe. From your explanation, it sounds promising that I may be able to get away with just having it straightened out.
Thanks again,
pEaCE
Dom

[Al*]

My Mini too has the rear floor crumpled but sounds much worse than yours. my whole rear end was pushed back about 6" and really rusty i cut apart the rear end and flattened it out then I purchaserd a repair panel... it is just the right size too, it goes from the edge of the floor to right before the spare tyre pin it is gonna work out just fine... if you have any questions and woody is too busy to answer you just drop me an email or a private message and I'll tell you what I know.

Oh! I will post pics of my rear ernd as soon as I figure out how to post pics. Does anyone know of a site that hosts photos for free? or can I post pics straight from my harddrive?

Al

[marksmini's better half]

Al*

when you click reply there is a part at the bottom of the reply page that says file

attachements if you click browse you will be able to use pics from your comps

hard drive (the only thing with this is you can only post one picture per reply) :wink:

Hope that helps

[Telejmp]

Al* , how did you flatten out the boot floor?
Did you use a hammer and a block of wood as woody suggested?
Im thinking of making a start on this next month, it will be a scary project, but id like it to be done, ill feel better about the whole car.
pEaCE
Dom

[Al*]

yeah I just beat the living *yellow human water* out of it till it was looking semi decent...using a hammer and a block of wood yes. it really didn't need to be perfect on mine as I am just cutting it out anyways...

Al

[Race Dave]

the boot floor in mine was cut out and replaced with a flat sheet of thin steel welded into place. it doesn't have the rear subframe mounts tho so doesn't need to be load bearing all it supports is an alloy tank in the centre. no spare wheel tho!

[Al*]

alright here is what my boot floor looke dlike when i bought Rusty. Pretty ugly huh?

Al

Attached Files

•  rear_end.jpg   381.39K   6 downloads

[MiniMowse]

Al*
You bought a Mini looking like that?! You're a stronger person than me! How does it look now? I think you're wonderful to save the life of the Mini. Had it caught fire or something?

[Al*]

Al*
You bought a Mini looking like that?! You're a stronger person than me! How does it look now? I think you're wonderful to save the life of the Mini. Had it caught fire or something?

Thanks MiniMowse, and yeah it is looking better. I am going to be finishe d the front end this weekend and then it is on to finishing the rear end (it is already cut apart) And as for a fire no...It had carpet glued all over the outside, and ontop of that it had been sitting next to a dumpster for 12 years. I saw it took pity on it and no matter how many other minis i saw for sale i couldn't leave Rusty there all alone. So on goes the epic of the restoration of my very very Rusty 1973 Austin Mini 1000. I'm putting alot of effort into this car and when it's done i hope the car gives back to me too.

Al

[simmo]

i couldn't leave Rusty there all alone.

very dedicated keep it up

[Al*]

Thanks Simmo and everyone else out there I really appreciate the support. I finished the front end fitting yesterday and low and behold it looks like a mini again... :grin: Well today I am getting into the rear end and trying to look at the fit of that boot repair panel, will post pics when I get it in.

Al