241 replies to this topic

[josh.evans]

hi i have started to restore my neon i brought it in august last year. It had all ready been restored in 2004 by MINI BITZ northampton and it has now started to fall apart once again. the work they did just wasn't done right. They put a whole new front end on and they didnt underseal or wax the wings, so they have just rotted through. Also where they had welder new out seals on they didnt protect the weld so that has just rotted. It did have a £2000!!! re spray to british racing green but that hadn't been done properly either it had started to peal at the back also the rust was making the paint bubble. But the worst part of the job (BODGE) they did was the passenger door they had just filled in a hole in the door with about an inch and a half of filler. Now that has all started to crack. And the hole they filled in wasn't very small. Well that is just the body work. Now moving onto the engine and that has a major leak it's like leaked all of it's oil. I think it must me the pot joint seals or the gearchange seal. Not too sure as the engine is still in the car at the moment. I have added a few pictures of the 1st restoration.









this is when it looked nice!!!


these pictures are when i got it home.


there was paint bubbling on the top of both arches under both head lights on the doors. etc lol

so far i have completly sanded down the whole car ready well nearly ready for prima just gota panel wipe it and finish the small areas which i havnt sanded. This is where the DA sander came in handy. Oh i did strip everything 1st LOL. When you start sanding away you find more and more things that need repairing. Just something that has to be done. I didnt have much room as i have knicked half of my parants garage haha.





I have chopped the drivers wing of as it is not repairable well there wasn't any point. will get pictures ups soonish.

Edited by josh.evans, 20 August 2010 - 08:44 PM.

[josh.evans]

hi again

just come back from holiday so the work will start once again. i will start doing the driverside inner wing. needs cleaning up a bit
so thats what i'm gonna crack on with

cheers

[Retro_10s]

Was this mini in bromsgrove? - looks like a neon i went to see - Needed loads of work and the guy wanted £1000 for it - i put my finger through the sill and scuttle without even trying

[josh.evans]

no i dont think so it might be
cheers

[josh.evans]

right finally got round to doing some bits to the mini

i ave cut of the drivers wing as it was just completly rustly hadnt even been under sealed anyway here's a pic of it removed


once i had removed the wing i found more rust on the inner wing just the top part where it had been patched before and also at the bottom where it had been patched. the centre just had surface rust so got the angle grinder out and cleaned it up. then just had to spray a bit of primer to stop it from doing it again. Oh i also had to grind all of the exsess metal from the wing. and also got the bloody door off just snapped 2 torks bits and then had to just undo the top hinge. the passenger door is still on it's gonna have to be grinded off.

then i got round to cleaning both door steps up the driverside is fine but the passenger needs replacing and panel to add to the list.

Then i left the panel work to 1 side whilst i cracked on getting the engine out.



its in there still at the moment because i cant get the driveshafts to pop out will give it another bash tomorrow in some time in the week.
so thats what i ve done so far.
should get some more pics up next week

cheers
josh

[josh.evans]

hi

been working on the mini again today i got the engine out at last



cheers

[jjojjas]

never ceases to amaze me what "professionals" call a restoration. Theres always plenty of cowboys.
Good luck mate.
Jas

[josh.evans]

cheers matey

[miniallsort]

wow looks good josh you doing the work yourself? how did you get the engine out nice wheels as well

[josh.evans]

hi mate yeh doing the work my self and just dissconnected everything labled it all up then put the rope round engine then i un bolted 2 of the engine mount bolts but had to grind the other 2 off. lol then away she came.

hope yours is going good

cheers
josh

[daemonchild]

It LOOKED really nice didn't it?
A lesson --> do it right first time. (I know YOU weren't at fault mate!)
Cheers. Will try to learn from that in my rebuild project!

Edited by daemonchild, 08 June 2009 - 09:13 PM.

[josh.evans]

yeh the person that had it before me did all the work and yeh it did lokk fine but it was all lurking underneath

cheers
josh

[josh.evans]

right this weekend got round to cleaning all the oil and grease of the engine looks much better now just used a spark plug brush and a tin of gunk degreasent. works a treat will get some before and after pics up tommorow

cheers

[adam_93rio]

it looks good, are you restoring back to original spec and design? or just doing what you want with it

its easy to mae them look good, doing it properly is when your really good
its obviously had some money spent on it tho, ust to not underseal or rust prevent it is appauling, why do all that work then leave it and the final hurdle

keep us updated anyway mate, it looks like a good project so far, ill be folliwing it

adam

[josh.evans]

hi got welder now so will be ordering the pannels next week. so will be replacing them in the next couple of weeks. also sorting out the engine in the week re painting it also replacing gear linkage oil seals and the pot joint seal so it will all sorted.

will post up some pics up soonish

cheers


josh