185 replies to this topic

[Pickup76]

Hey all, im Chris (pickup76) and im about to restore my 1976 mini pickup. Its my gap year project so it just about to get off the ground, as my exams are almost over.
Ive tidied up the work shop and im ready to start.
I thought the best idea would be to make a list of what needs doing so that i can work out in what order im going to do it;

New front panel,
wings,
inner and outer A panels,
passenger side floor (With the extra 3" i have to put in so its the right length)
both outer cills,
rear wheels arches,
tailgate,
load bed lip,
rear valance (and corners),
load bed cross member (subframe mounts),
rear bulk head to load bed seam,
patching to the quarter panels,
rear light panels,

I think thats about it. Ive probably missed loads out though.

Thats a tad scary looking at the list and it being my first restoration but hey you gotta start somewhere!

Ive ben honeing my welding skills on the minis my mates seem to crash or break every other week, but im still abit of a novice.

I decided to start on the floor first as i want it to be structuraly sound so i can move it around. I stripped the car of everything and rolled it over in the garage, and im cutting the cill off.

This is how she looks at the moment;

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[Pickup76]

These are some of the nastiest bits;

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[Pickup76]

and this seam

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[Pickup76]

The other side of that seam

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[spannermonkey]

Good look with the pick up, I myself am doing the exact same thing after recently purchasing a 1974 pick up, talk about a daunting task, unlike yourself I have absolutely no knowledge of welding and Have to replace the passanger floor and all sills. other than that it's prety sound. had fun taking all the components out of it, bet it won't be when it comes to sticking it all back in. Have two other mini's in my little collection. a mini sprite 1275 which is my best car at the mo, and a mini 1000 which I'm using for spares for pick up, mainly subfrfames as there brand new, and the engine unless I get my hands on a metro 1275.

[Pickup76]

Yours sounds alot better than mine, but would you believe i drove mine into the garage! welding is easyish, i only got a welder a couple of months ago and ive picked it up pretty quick but i have had quite abit of practice now.
The welder cost more than the mini! £170 of the welder, £120 for the pickup! (might cost me abit more than that by the time im done though)

Ive got a few spares minis as well including this one which had an unfortunate insident with a ditch (nothing to do with me) (then my grinder).

Good luck anyway!

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[Al*]

good on ya pal. nothin like a good project cvar to learn all about a certain type of vehicle.....take a look at mine.... yours looks good in comparisson...good luck and get to work!!!

Al

[Pickup76]

Hi all, been working on the pickup today as my exams have finally finished.
Ive been scraping this underseal stuff out if the inside of the car. Its like some kind of tar.
Ive been removing it with a chisle and a hot air gun but its taking ages. Anybody know a better way of getting it off? Do you think paint stripper will work?

Cheers

[pierce]

paint stripper won't even touch it Just have to carry on with the hot air gun or get a burnishing brush on a drill

[Pickup76]

whats a burnishing brush?

[steeo]

Doing my own as well at the minute, its a 72 pickup.

New front subframe with discs and calipers, 2nd hand rear, new wire loom, 2 new front wings + front panel and bonnet, new external door hinges.

Was going to replace the cargo floor but instead have got a lad to fabricate aluminium checker plate to cover the back and sides instead.

Engine and gearbox have been completly rebuilt and have a set of twin webbers somewhere to go it aswell

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[Alburglar]

sounds good

[Pavel]

Attack underseal with an angle grinder... what will be left should be loosened and will flake off or can be taken off with a wire brush on a drill..

[Pickup76]

Nice mini steeo, sounds alot more solid than mine! How much more you got to do?

Ive been stripping underseal for the last 6 hours :sad: but about half of it is off now. I couldn't use a grinder as the tar just clogged whatever disk i used. I ended up using a chisel and a hot air paint stripper. It worked ok but abit time consumeing, any better ideas?
Im almost ready to put a half floor back in so hopefully ill have that in by next week, then it might look like ive actually had a possative effect on it.

[steeo]

Well I picked up the external door hinges last week and they are been fitted at the minute, then the subframes will be comming out and the shell will be off to get sand blasted and then i suppose the hard work starts (hope not) replacing any panels that are like swiss cheese :grin: but going around the body with a magnet didn't show up much filler.

As soon as the whole body is blasted and any new panels are replaced, it is then been sprayed and the underbody sealer will be applied and then its just a matter of putting the pickup back together again.