1658 replies to this topic

[Deathrow]

Thanks for the support, it's nice to see people are still interested after all this time.

My main problem at the moment is time. I've got a full time job now so I only have the weekends to fit everything else in and the Mini has sadly taken a back seat for the last 2 or 3 months.

I won't give in though, I will see it MOTed!

[axn1]

wow, my eyes hurt, i have been reading this tread with my friend, and we like it! greetings from here where santa lives :)

[mackeellan]

Bout time you told us what is happening. I am really missing your project rebuild. All the best.

[Deathrow]

Apologies those of you who are waiting for the next bit of progress.

Between work, social life and keeping TMF ticking over I've not had any time to work on Elliot.

I am eager to get back to her though and start getting her road worthy again. I miss driving a Mini so much and I think it's time I started getting some enjoyment out of Elliot again.

[sonikk4]

C'mon Adam buck up old bean i though you would be nearly there by now. I might just get Paddy road legal soonish (i keep saying that) and Erm is going to get some cash lavished on him again very soon.

[Big Sam]

When I read Hugh's thread this kept on popping up so I thought I must read it too.

Read it all over a few days, great build.

You not done yet ;)

[Deathrow]

I'm afraid not . I have a full time job and live 70+ miles away from the car now. I will find time to get it finished though .

[danny2009]

Any progress?, Nice to see your not giving up on it :)

[Deathrow]

Hi Danny, sadly not . I have however booked two weeks off work in March which have Elliot written all over them :).

The issue is mainly that the car is 70 miles away. If I can get it painted and MOTed so I can drive it to where I now live I'll have alot more time to tinker with it. I don't actually need a car anymore so it's very much a toy as well so it doesn't matter if I take it to bits to have a tinker.

I've recently had an urge for a new car and actually have the money to spend on one for a change but I'm trying to resist so I can build something nice to go under Elliot's bonnet. Possibly forced induction but we shall see.

[Deathrow]

I know what you're thinking "Holy hell, an update on Elliot!" well it's probably best not to get too excited! However, there is an update to be made.

I've not made as much progress as I would have liked due to the absolutely dismal weather we've been having (you wouldn't think it was almost April!). The bottom line is I didn't think it was wise to start painting anything while it was snowing outside. What I have been doing though is getting to work with the filler where it's needed.


Work on filling the imperfections in the rear panel and rear valance.


Took the a-panel down to bare metal as well as the repaired sections of the door step. My DA made light work of it.


Filler applied to necessary areas.


Part way through sanding, much smoother now.


Only a very thin layer of filler was left here, nice and smooth.


Still more work to be done at the front of the door step and on the a-panel.


Only slight imperfections to clean up here but they stood out when looking along the panel.


Filler applied. I did start dressing it also but it's proving a complicated area to get the shape just right.

That's about all the pictures I took as I was working along. I'm definitely no filler pro so it's taking a while. She won't be perfect by any means but she will be mine .

I've also had some change of heart about colours. Basically I've gone off the orange roof, I think it's down to a combination of me growing up a bit and also the fact you can buy a black Citroen DS3 now with an orange roof.

The new plan is to have the body entirely in Elliot's original black (which will shine fantastically if I make a decent job of it) with orange wing mirrors and an orange numberplate lamp on the boot lid. Now that brought me to another problem as the car would now be pretty much a silhouette and I didn't want that so...


This is the new colour for the wheels as tested on my boot lid. It's Toyota Decuma Grey.

And just for good measure I just found an example of a wheel painted in the same colour http://imageshack.us..../img0850rr.jpg.

Snazzy!

[yeti21586]

i hate clicking on links


this is looking good, you not going for an orange roof anymore??

YetI

[Deathrow]

Haha, I was trying not to steal too much bandwidth . Shows who's really reading too.

Nah I think I've grown out of it. I think she will look better all black again.

[chrisandsarah]

Still reading! The wheel colour is lovely. Makes sense about the orange roof though, you would probably end up with people coming up to you asking if you copied the DS3 which would suck!

[Deathrow]

Yeah exactly! And they'd never believe me when I said actually I decided on this colour scheme long before the DS3 even came out!

I still want the orange but in this instance I think less is more .

[Archived4]

WOW. Just read all 101 pages, and your work is inspirational! It has given me enthusiasm to work on my car, but my work looks shoddy in comparison lol. Top stuff!