22 replies to this topic

[aussie mini]

Hi all, i am new to this site and am from Melbourne in australia...
I have just posted a topic in the introduce yourself section but thought i would share my rebuild with you...

Its been going on for a year now and is hopefully only a few months from being back on the road:)

This resto started in December 2005 after I was forced to take the car off the road when the front drivers side wheel collapsed!! The bolts holding it on had sheard off unbeknownst to me and in peak hour traffic I was left with one nut and bolt holding the front wheel on!! VERY WOBBLY.

Here's the car before the resto started


Well first things first...Started stripping the car. Lots of fun!! I pulled all the seats and windows out first then started stripping paint and gennerallly making a mess!!!


As you can see it was pretty grubby in there but no sign of any rust yet :thumb:

The floor on the drivers side had been cut up and and a new section welded in previously... not ideal but after I had cleaned it up it seemd ok.

I started from the top down and got the roof all stripped and shiny first then put a temp coat of anti rust primer on (hindsight sux as I should have left it bare... I had to strip it all over again) but at least it kept the rust off.







Then it was on to the rest of the body. There is a heap of pics that I should have taken of this part but didnt (hindsight again!) however I stripped the layers and layers and layers of paint from the body with the exception of the drivers side fender as this had been damaged in an incident before I got the car and I thought I would get it panel beated professionally (didnt happen... i ended up doing it myself and am pretty happy with the result but lets not get ahead of ourselves ...)

Engine is out and body is stripped of all bolt on items...
Then I got hold of some old tyres and put the car on its side to clean up the undercarriage... this was indeed the messiest part of the job!

Sorry folks no before pics but these next are after I had stripped the undercarriage back to metal and recoated with some pretty heavy deadner...


I used a rust converter on all the seams on the car. The covers were removed from the seams running from the roof to the wheel arches and the seams themselves cleaned up, treated and then the covers were palced back on with a high quality paintable sikaflex as well as being brazed at the top and bottom.

After the body was stripped I moved on to the doors... ouch found the only bit of rust in the whole car and when I say bit I mean shiploads!! Luckily it was only in the doors... but still too much for me to want to play with and as the car originally had sliding windows I scouted around for some replacement doors (with sliding windows of course)
I found one in Bendigo (about 100km away and the other was donated to me by a local mini shop.
Both doors were in reasonable nick... NO rust (yay) but need some minor panel work and both will need new chrome.
You can't see from these pics but it also needed some welding where the top hinge mounts on... the hole for the bolts was torn all the way through the front seam of the door.

As I stripped panels I also put a primer on them (probably didn't need to but...). The car is basically re-assembled now (doors and boot lid only) and has had a couple of coats of hi-build primer which has been blocked back once . The next series of show this...

Note the 2 pallets with castors underneath!!







This next pic shows the flares... they are the cheap screw on type but I have fibreglassed them to the body and then sanded and filled and sanded and filled .... ... them to look like this:


And that is where it is up to as of today (Thursday August 17).
Cheers Bryan

Edited by aussie mini, 10 January 2007 - 07:17 AM.

[aussie mini]

Heres the next series of pics from the rebuild...

i am a signwriter by trade so used my workshop to do the final coats of paint... the undercoating etc. i did in my garage.

Heres the car leaving home...


And being taken off the trailer!


The first coats of colour.... Metalic Silver




Then ther was a bit of masking and blue sprayed over that. The blue is essentiallly 9 parts clear to one part blue to give a pearl metalic effect...






Remember this paint job is to resemble a union jack!! Some red was needed and done in the same fashion as the blue...








Thats not the end yet!! there are heaps more pics to come (i hope your not on dialup!!)
Cheers, Bryan

[aussie mini]

Well here is the finished product
I hope you all like it... you will see some differences from the last pics in that the silver is now darker (both on the flag and the roof). Doing this had a slightly unexpected side effect... The silver section now changes colour depending on the angle you look at it from ... mostly from bright to dark silver but there is also a bronze/gold effect thhat has come through...

Also you will notice hiliting around the red and silver sections...
all colours used were of acrylic lacquer but the top coats (clear) were 2 pack iso-clear...
this is a 2 pack that bonds well with fresh acrylic lacquer.

This is the car ready for the clear to be done..
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e207/nullarborexpress/Paintjob29preclear.jpg


and after the clear...


silver...


gold!!...same position different light




Left

Right


ME!!!



Well thats the extent of the paintwork... Even now, months down the track im not 100% happy with the result... I didnt like the pinlines so i removed them quick smart and am waiting to basically finish the whole car before re-applying the pinlines and adding another coat or two of 2 pack clear to the job.

by the way. The reason for different posts rather than one huge one is the site wont let me put over a certain amount of pics up at once so...

[aussie mini]

Well these next pics were taken some time later as i had been pretty busy with work and didnt have much time to spend on the car.
The engine was taken to a local mini specialist and is finished (still at the mechanic's though waiting for the gearbox to be rebuilt). I have had the 1100 rebuilt and its been bored out 40 thou, this takes the bore to 1160, and the cam has had a mild grind as well. The head has been fitted out with stainless valves etc for unleaded fuel and should be ready soon. This is all pretty exciting but really for me it feels as though it amounts to very little until its back in the car.

Whilst this has been happening i was busy preping some other parts....
I sandblasted the subframes and have repainted them.
I cleaned up all the brake drums and suspension gear, the subframes and just about any other bolt on bits and pieces. I have got to the stage where the back wheels are BACK ON

Here's a few pics....

brake drums etc.


and what they look like on the car... ignore the old shock absorbers they are just there to hold things in place for now!!




hi-lows and brake drums fitted...


both front and rear subframes have been painted red for a bit of contrast..


even the pedals have had a bit of a touch up!


and finally... thr car is back on its rear wheels. The old wheels as even now i am trying to find a set of nice 10 x 6's...



Cheers Bryan

[aussie mini]

But wait theres more....
i used a bath of caustic soda in the garage to clean up some parts...
A few hours in the bath and then a lick of paint....

Under the bonnet...


closer look at the wiper control


more of the inside.. dash is yet to be built...


and even the handbrake cables!!


Its amazing how much time and effort you can put in to ajob for what seems like NOT a lot of progress. . below are some pics of the front









I cant believe how high it sits with the new rubbers and the Hi-Lows are adjusted as low as they will go!! Hopefully when the engine goes in it will drop ... a LOT! Well the brakes are done..still have to run the lines but i feel somewhat satisfied (Even have a handbrake that works )

I dont want to put any of the chrome work or lights or windows etc. on yet as it is going to get another coat of clear before then. On to more of the interoir from here but then again there is the wiring to do and the brake lines to run and the .... and the ... and the... crikey when will it end!!!

[aussie mini]

These are just about up to date with where i am now...

Just before christmas i turned my attention to the dash. I completed bits and pieces here and there on the rest but the dash and the interior has had all my attention to date!!! ...Even today its is not finished yet but the colour scheme will match the outside.

You will notice in the pics below there is a shaped panel on the extremities of the dash and this will bring the blue of the body onto the dash (as well as hold a nice little speaker). The backing will be a light metalic silver with the glove BOXES (those two shaped holes... have made a cover for them but not in pics) will be the darker met silver that is on the stripes outside the car. The centre piece is going to be the same red as the outside. In effect the dash colour scheme will mirror the stripes outside... blue ...light silver ...dark silver ...light sliver ...red ...light silver..dark silver ...light silver and then blue again. Must say the hardest part of all this was getting the glove box covers to conform to the curve of the dash... As i fabricated it all out of MDF (craftwood/pracicle board) this turned out to be quite simple... I screwed a backing panell behind the holes for the gloveboxes and then screwed in insert to these, coverd that with wood glue and then screwed the covers/lids to that. Once this was done and the glue set i removed all the screws and disposed of the backing board... The lids now hold thier curved shape!







I was hoping to have all this painted and finished by now but these next are as far as i have gotten...
Here's the dash with undercoat on, speakers in and the speedo mounted. The 2 glove boxes have lids that will be fully removeable when finished... all will be magnetised. This saves a lot of headaches with trying to come up with an unseen hinge system!! Background is silver, glove boxes will be the darker silver from the outside paint job and the two end bits with the speakers in them will be the blue. The bit holding the speedo will end up red.




Whilst i was busy with all this woodworking I fabricated some speaker boxes with a diffference (go figure!)... Mrs NExpress gave me a pair of xpold 6x9's for chrissy and i needed somewhere to put them... Unfortunately they were a little too big for my original idea but i compromised and check out the results below....


Here is a pic of the speaker boxes as they fit in the storage wells beside the rear seat. I intend to cover these with some padding and the same vinyl as the rear seat.


another view...


and another!


and one from the top!... Should make pretty good armrests when its all finished!!


as for the rest of the interior, not sure what colour carpet to use at this stage, but I want to stay with a reddish trim. With that in mind 9 and the fact that i dont really like the clubman seats that someone had put in the car previously I have RESCUED a brilliant pair of bucket seats from a Fiat 128 sports car that was about to be crushed at a local wrecking yard. They fit beautifully and I have (well still in the process of really) cut parts of the mounting brackets from the clubby seats that were in my car and welded them to the new seats. Pretty simple really. I


Rescued from a doomed Fiat 128 Sports Coupe..

i love em!!

Thats about all i have for you at the moment... Should be getting the engine and gearbox back early Feb...

well i hope you enjoy reading this and i will be sure to check back and answer any questions you might have. Also i will be posting updates from time to time btu not nearly as big as the previuos posts (which have taken me the better part of the last 3 hours!!!)

anyway, enjoy...

Cheers, Bryan

Edited by aussie mini, 10 January 2007 - 08:23 AM.

[Bungle]

wow love the paint job

[Dolts]

WOW! thats lovly!

[MiniMartin]

WOW nice fresh original take on the Union jack paint job well done top quality. I love your custom dash and speaker pods even more kool. You keeping the alloys yellow? I think gold would be more in keeping now (I think i prefered silver in Union jack but your car your tastes not mine)

[Baldspeed Racing]

Thats a cool paint job, nicely done. Bet it wasnt cheap

[aussie mini]

Thanks guys, the paint job didnt cost too much as i did all the work myself.... still theres nearly $1000 in paint and undercoats etc there!

The wheels are from the cars previous life and will be donated to the highest bidder back here in Oz, new ones will be the same colour as the dark silver in the duco.

Martin, i agree with you, I prefered the lighter silver as well but got carried away when doing the job! Must remember to stop when i'm happy and not go overboard in future!! But still i am happy enough with it and its not finished yet... that light silver willl be used a hi-light sort of pin line all over the car and also on the dash.

Cheers, Bryan

[jack_marshall]

Wow is all I shall say.

Wow.

Definately magazine and show winner.

[Tomm]

Jezus christ

Did you do the first paint job aswell?

[Jammy]

Thats fricking awesome. I saw the first paint job and thought, yea, thats really cool, then I saw you'd strip it and was really disappointed you'd decided to get rid. But then I saw the new job, and yea, thats one of the best paint jobs I've seen on a mini!

[mad4mins]

well done fella .. looks really good keep us updated!!