1658 replies to this topic

[GraemeC]

I would try here, I think they'd charge around £10 a wheel but they will come back stripped to bare alloy. I use them for engine parts etc.

Alternatively there's http://www.interblast.co.uk/ who I think did TomKidd's shell.

[Deathrow]

I would try here, I think they'd charge around £10 a wheel but they will come back stripped to bare alloy. I use them for engine parts etc.

Alternatively there's http://www.interblast.co.uk/ who I think did TomKidd's shell.

Thanks Graeme, I'll give paint stripper a go and then I'll call those guys and get a price.

[The Matt]

Completely shattered now after moving back from Uni but I've got to sort myself out ready for drinks in town for my friends 21st.

Alcohol is your friend!

Looking good mate, I like the scheme you've done for the wheels too. Looks nice and different IMO.

I've always liked those wheels anyway. They look good in gold on a maroon/red mini, they look good in black on a white mini and they look like they're going to look good in black/orange on a black mini too!

[AuDix]

you need them like this tehe sorry to rub it in...

[Deathrow]

Completely shattered now after moving back from Uni but I've got to sort myself out ready for drinks in town for my friends 21st.

Alcohol is your friend!

Looking good mate, I like the scheme you've done for the wheels too. Looks nice and different IMO.

I've always liked those wheels anyway. They look good in gold on a maroon/red mini, they look good in black on a white mini and they look like they're going to look good in black/orange on a black mini too!

Not sure about that Matt, I'm not a big drinker and alcohol usually makes me a bit ill haha.

Yeah, I'm hoping that they'll come out looking a bit unique. I might highlight some other bits on the car orange as well to tie it all together.

AuDix, that's just cruel, I think you should post those to me now .

[Deathrow]

Well, looks like sand blasting won't be needed.

I got some paint stripper on saturday and I've had time to apply 2 coats, giving the wheels a bit of a scrub after each coat and then pressure washing the lot off them each time.


All 5 wheels, the black one will be the spare, it has some curb damage on the back, but it's straight at least.


Picture doesn't show it so well but this was the first coat of paint stripper.


This is how they looked when I put them back in the shed earlier.

The paint stripper is working well so I'm going to keep working it in on each wheel until they're completely bare, I want to get rid of all the old primer and everything so I know the work I do is sat on a solid foundation.

Weather forecast is pretty pathetic at the moment so I don't know if I'll be working in the garage tomorrow or not. If the weather persists all week though I'll probably get some fiber filler and get to work on getting my boot lid fitting nicely since I've got a new boot lid rubber now .

Keep watching.

EDIT: Oh and a question. I'm wanting to cut these valves out so I can paint the rim properly during the refurb, will a local garage be able to fit new valves without damaging the paint on my wheels?

Edited by Deathrow, 22 March 2009 - 09:28 PM.

[glyn]

should be no probs putting a new valve in with out damaging the paint they just pust them through the whole and they are rubber so it should be ok unless they really dont care about your wheels lol. its coming along nicely

[Deathrow]

should be no probs putting a new valve in with out damaging the paint they just pust them through the whole and they are rubber so it should be ok unless they really dont care about your wheels lol. its coming along nicely

Excellent . I assume the valves have stayed pretty much the same over the past 30 years? So they'll be easily replaced?

Haha, yeah, I'm going to go in and politely explain that I've refurbed them myself and I'd like them looked after. I'll have them do the valves when I get the a008's put on then, but that'll be the last thing I do to the car.

Hoping for a lot of progress over the next 4 weeks so keep watching chap .

[analogue_radio]

They're really starting to come together Adam! nice one

[Deathrow]

Thanks Image, the more I work on them the more I feel they're going to come out looking cracking .

I've come down with a bit of a cold , but I managed to drag myself to the garage and do some work on Elliot anyway.


This is the part of the driver door step that needed attention. As you can see, my previous patch wasn't very good so I opted to chop the whole lot out and replace the previous patch and the other rusty section in one go.


I must have been a bit in the zone at the time because I forgot to take pictures between cutting it out and fettling the repair to shape. Anyway, I blitzed everything underneath with a wire wheel and gave it a lick of red oxide.


While I had the red oxide out I gave my floor pannel repair a coat too because surface rust has started to show its face, wire wheeled the rust off and gave it a good coat of red oxide, I'll give it another when I'm done in this corner completely.


This is where I finished off today. Got the panel fitted up and tacked in. I'm much happier with how this matches the profile of the door step, good times. I had just enough time to do a few plug welds and seam weld the ends before the weather turned a little wet.

It's forecast to rain tomorrow, which might be a good thing because I think I could do with getting some rest and getting past this cold before I crack on with the Mini. However, if it's sunny tomorrow I'll be working on Elliot, cold or not!

*Blows nose*

Thanks for looking .

Edited by Deathrow, 25 March 2009 - 12:43 AM.

[Deathrow]

It's sunny at the moment but it's forecast for rain so I'm taking the day off to take my mum car shopping and to get past this cold, which seems to be shifting quite quickly.

I've just ordered some aerocatch fasteners for my front end, for those who don't know what I'm talking about:



And here is the website for them:

http://www.aerocatch.com/

More progress on the car tomorrow weather permitting .

[tedmcedd]

the wheels are looking good! those catches are very cool!!

good progress sir!

[GraemeC]

Aerocatches - I like them

If you are still thinking about the valves - just rip them out. Any tyre place worth their salt will replace them anyway as part of fitting tyres. When you get round to tyre fitting give me a shout - I'll direct you to a place that is very Mini friendly and is happy to handle 10" rims and will take care of them.

[Deathrow]

Thanks tedmcedd, I'll try and keep the progress flowing over the next few weeks .

Aerocatches - I like them

If you are still thinking about the valves - just rip them out. Any tyre place worth their salt will replace them anyway as part of fitting tyres. When you get round to tyre fitting give me a shout - I'll direct you to a place that is very Mini friendly and is happy to handle 10" rims and will take care of them.

Hehe, I was thinking of using them for a while before I saw yours, but seeing them in real life on your car just sold it for me, ordered a locking set though since my car still needs to be secure because it's a daily .

I hadn't ripped them out yet but I will now, it'll make refurbing them a bunch easier. That'd be great too because I was having concerns about taking them any old place, especially since I need to request that they only fit balancing weights to the inside lip and no where else for the sake of clearance and looks . I shall definitly give you a bell when I'm ready to put tyres on them. Thanks chap.

Weather seems to be brightening up today from what it was earlier so I'll head round the garage in a bit, get that door step finished off and crack on with the next task .

Edited by Deathrow, 26 March 2009 - 11:41 AM.

[Deathrow]

Well, I didn't get to the garage today because the hunt for my mums new car had to continue. The good news is, after an hours drive to go and see a car in place called Nelson my mum is now the proud new owner of this:


2006 1.4 Corsa C SXi+ with 10k miles on the clock.

She's happy because it's comfortable to drive and she can get her shopping in the boot.

I'm happy because it's got the 1.4 and isn't as slow as most hatchbacks this size and it means I've something with enough load space to carry bits for my Mini .

Anyway, now that's done I'm free to get to work on Elliot whenver the weather permits, so with any luck I'll be able to get down there tomorrow and do some work.

The little work I did manage to get done today was I applied another coat of paint stripper to my wheels and now have 2 of the 5 down to bare metal on the front face, only 3 to go . I cut the valves out as well.

Thanks for looking.