133 replies to this topic

[Gillybobs]

Well not much progress of late.Ended up having to refurb the bathroom at home after the shower started leaking so not really had any time for the mini. Since my last post I have managed to get some glass in the car. Really pleased as I've never done this before and did it with out breaking any glass!

 

Did have one slight mishap that left me feeling suicidal at the time. Some how slipped with the tool for putting the chrome bead in the seal and scratched the scuttle.

I was really gutted as I was trying to be really careful and had covered the bonnet and scuttle with thick blanket and still managed to scratch it.

The lads at the body shop say they can sort but im going to leave until I've built a bit more of the car in case i mark anything else.

 

I've also been having a look at the electrics on the car as nothing much seemed to work. The car does run but I had no warning light for the oil and charge light. None of the indicators or hazard lights worked. No brake lights. It looks as though the car has been somewhere damp for a while and there are alot of green terminals . I seem to have got everything working again but I think things will need some more checking and cleaning to make a reliable car.

 

[Steve220]

Don't be too disheartened, progress is coming along nicely! Wiring is always a bugger I tend to test the looks in a spare room and a multimeter checking for continuity.

[Gillybobs]

Im hoping the wiring shouldn't fox me too much as I'm an electrician! Theres some nasty chocolate block connectors and inline fuse fitted in places I cant understand. At some point I may remove the loom and make a couple of repairs to it. For now though I just wanted to see things working to prove they're no more deeper problems. 

[Gillybobs]

Well got the mini out of the garage today!

Had a look at fitting the seem strips. The rear one went on ok but the front one look to have the bend about an inch too low . Bit annoyed as they are genuine heritage parts that were not cheap.

Going to leave them for now and get on with some other job.

Another job I had to sort was one of the wheels had a locking wheel nut that I hadn't got the key for that some one had tried to chisel of. Managed to knock and old socket on to it and it undid .

Then I put the mini back in the garage and had a play with my new jack. Got the car up in the air ready to refurb the sub frame. 

Started spraying some wd40 on the nuts and bolts and had a go at undoing some of the bolts. All the bolts in the heal board have undone and the ones for the radius had all loosened too!  

Hopefully have a look at getting the subframe off over the next week or so.  

 

[slidehammer]

Looking really good, nice to see a limited edition going back together and heading for the road again. Don't be too harsh on yourself with the scuttle scratch. I have noticed a couple of scratches appear on mine and I haven't a clue how I did them, but it must have been me when I reassembled the car after paint. I bottled out of putting the front and back glass in myself and after watching a professional do it for me was glad I did as I think it would have ended in tears and far more paint damage then you ended up with.

[Gillybobs]

Cheers glad you like it slidehammer ! Perhaps i should have got someone to fit the glass but I like the idea of trying to do as much on the car as I can myself. 

 

Found one of the  original front seem strips to compare to my new ones it appears to me that the bends are in the wrong place . The original is on the right the new one is on the left. It seem to me the bend are too far down the strip . Anyone else had problems with them?

[Marco1972]

We had the unpainted ones from Minispares they fitted really well

Keep up the good work

[Gillybobs]

Had a couple of hours on the car and got the rear subframe off to refurb it.  Just looks to have surface rust and is not in bad condition at all. Hopefully I will get the subframe stripped over the next few days and decide what im going to do with it. 

 

[Gillybobs]

A little while back a fellow made contact with me to say he use to own my mini and sold it on to a young lad who was going to restore the car. The lad was the one who stripped the car to the state the car was in  when I bought the car but never got any further. 

Anyway the man said he had a disc of photos of the car as it was when he bought it and I met him and he gave me a copy. Totally forgot about the disc and never looked at it and was tidying up and found it again .Heres a few photos of the car about 9 years ago! 

 

 

[Gillybobs]

Making bit of progress. Stripped the subframe down and have took it for shot blasting. Striped the radius arms down and they are a mess, They dont look as they have had any grease near them for years! 

 

Had a little shopping trip today to get some parts ready to rebuild the subframe. Managed to get some nice N.O.S rover part too!

[Ben_O]

It's always nice to get information/pictures from previous owners.

 

a few years ago, i found a thread on another mini forum talking about a dilapidated mini languishing in a garage in a sorry state. Turns out they were talking about mine before i bought it.

 

Looks like your restoration is going well.

 

Good luck

 

Ben

[Gillybobs]

A little more progress! The subframe , Radius arms and brackets have all been shot blasted primed and painted. They look great in 2 pack shiny black. 

The radius arms have also been rebuilt with new bearings and bushes. Need to get on and sort the underside of the car now. 

[slidehammer]

I had exactly the same problem with the Heritage seam covers on my mini and like you I discovered the problem after paint. What I will do next time is dry fit them and make any adjustments before paint. Looking good though keep up the good work

[Gillybobs]

I had exactly the same problem with the Heritage seam covers on my mini and like you I discovered the problem after paint. What I will do next time is dry fit them and make any adjustments before paint. Looking good though keep up the good work

Glad its not just me! You live and learn. What annoys me is that I thought paying the premium for heritage parts I would get a good quality part that fits instead you get a pile of crap. 

[slidehammer]

 

I had exactly the same problem with the Heritage seam covers on my mini and like you I discovered the problem after paint. What I will do next time is dry fit them and make any adjustments before paint. Looking good though keep up the good work

Glad its not just me! You live and learn. What annoys me is that I thought paying the premium for heritage parts I would get a good quality part that fits instead you get a pile of crap. 

 

I agree first thing I thought was I had got something wrong with the panel alignment but no, they just didn't fit very well