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1275Gt - A Refresh, Hopefully Not A Restoration

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#1 AndrewT

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 05:32 AM

Well that's the plan anyway.  Hopefully I won't discover anything too nasty along the way.

 

This is the subject of the work:

 

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A 1980 1275GT.

 

Being an NZ car it has not suffered the same rust issues as in the UK.  My previous mini was about 20 years old when it died from terminal rust, this one is 34 years old and the body is in better condition than the other one was when it was 12 years old.

 

It's spent its whole life as a daily driver so is mechanically sound but is cosmetically tatty with a few minor scrapes and niggles.  It's also suffered from sunburn with the paint very badly faded and worn through to the primer in some places.  The fading and various bits of touching up are inconsistent so there are about 4 different shades of red/orange visible on the car.

 

The interior consists of seats, a steering wheel and some gauges.

 

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The good news is that the previous owner accidentally let the registration lapse a couple of years ago which meant that to get it back road legal she needed to have re-registered.  In NZ this means that rather than just passing a standard WoF (MOT) it needs to pass a far more stringent test more similar to SVA.  This means that ALL rust needs to be cut out and repaired.  I'm therefore fairly confident that I won't find anything too horrendous.  A detailed check of the usual places shows solid metal and you can see from the interior shot above what the original floors look like.

 

I want a fairly standard look in a solid colour so the plan is to tidy up the bodywork, respray in Surf Blue with Old English roof and complete new interior.

 

The engine starts first time and pulls very well with no oil leaks so I'm not going to touch that for now but will put in some hi-los that I've had in a box since 1995.

 

The car is actually going to be in regular use round town once completed so the focus is on comfort and practicality rather than all-out performance.



#2 AndrewT

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 05:43 AM

First up is the bodywork behind the front bumper.  It's had a little parking knock which has dented the panels slightly in 2 places.

 

The bumper has been pushed in on this corner

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Managed to snap the bracket in that corner as the bolt had seized so 5 minutes into the restoration and I'm actually down on progress.  The joys of working on old cars.  :lol:

 

Little bit of hammering and smoothing required here:

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And a little more here:

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and that will be the front fixed. 

 

Then I just need to get the bracket welded back onto the bumper. :D



#3 megamini_jb

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 05:45 AM

Cool project, liking the plans.

Enjoy! Will be watching your progress

#4 Devo

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 07:24 AM

Nice project you have there Andrew, I will be following  :-)



#5 AndrewT

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Posted 10 July 2014 - 10:55 AM

Nice project you have there Andrew, I will be following  :-)

I've been following yours and I think I have the easier job by a looooooooooong margin.  The first photo I saw of yours I thought, "no, he can't be restoring that.  That must just be a picture of another car he found in the same scrapyard."    You're a far braver man than me.



#6 AndrewT

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 09:53 AM

Work has got in the way the last couple of weeks so progress has been slower than I would have liked.

 

Got the lights out and removed all the loose paint and surface rust.

 

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Then chucked a couple of coats of primer on the front.

 

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The lower valance and one of the wings are a bit wavy so I've been doing lots of priming, sanding, filling, sanding, priming, sanding, filling............... 

It's almost ready now after today's sandathon so maybe 2 more evenings' work and it should be ready for some paint.

 

Last week I went to the local paint shop and got a rattle can of 1960's Surf Blue and one of 1990's Surf Blue so that I could decide which one I wanted.  I test sprayed them on the left wing and stupidly forgot to take any photos.  The 90's one was far too green for my liking and the 60's one came out white and watery so the paint shop had clearly made a mistake in the mixing.  However, by then I had decided that I wanted to try out Speedwell as the 60's Surf will be close to the 90's one and I don't like it so much in the metal.

 

Getting old UK colours made up over her in NZ without an existing panel to get a match is almost impossible but I managed to find a place that could mix up something that they thought was Speedwell in a 2 pack rattle can for me to test.  If that came out OK they said that they could then analyse that sample and make it in a single pack lacquer.  All very complicated but I took the rear number plate housing off and sprayed that up today.  The colour is really nice.  The photos below look a little grey but it's come out a very subtle shade of blue which looks like most photos of Speedwell that I've seen so I am definitely going with this now with an Old English White roof.

 

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I am sure that my old UK Mini which was a 1979 had a black plastic light housing but this one from 1980 is a die cast metal one.  Have I just remembered things wrongly or were the UK ones plastic?

 

 



#7 AndrewT

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Posted 27 July 2014 - 10:08 AM

Actually, I hadn't fully sanded off the two test coats so have just grabbed a quick snap - Speedwell on the lower left, then a bit of filler and primer then 90's Surf.

 

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#8 AndrewT

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Posted 03 August 2014 - 07:17 AM

Finally some visible progress.

 

This photo looks incredibly similar to one of the earlier ones but it really isn't.  Honest.

 

It's got at least 12 hours of filling priming and sandingto get it ready for paint.  It was a bit of a nightmare as the lower valance has had so many dings and knocks.  It would have been quicker and easier to cut it off and put a new one on.

 

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While that was drying I had a bit of a clear up and discovered this which annoyed me a lot:

 

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Back on subject and after a quick rub down it was time for some colour:

 

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I wanted to get the clear coats on as well today but unfortunately I got a bit of a sag in the left wing, although it's not visible in the photo.  It therefore needs a bit of a rubdown and another coat of blue before the top coats can go on.



#9 Devo

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Posted 03 August 2014 - 12:08 PM

Looking good Andrew keep up the good work  :thumbsup:



#10 Dr.Wylde

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Posted 03 August 2014 - 11:36 PM

please keep the nz spec 1275gt stripes they look boss



#11 AndrewT

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Posted 04 August 2014 - 09:00 AM

please keep the nz spec 1275gt stripes they look boss

 

Unfortunately the ones on there are scrap.  Plus with the new colour scheme I'd only want white stripes so unless I can find some NZ spec ones in white it looks like I'll have to use some UK spec ones.  I don't want to leave it stripe-less as a GT needs stripes. :mrcool:



#12 Dr.Wylde

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Posted 04 August 2014 - 09:28 AM

http://www.trademe.c...n-760452347.htm

 

ask this guy he might be able to do something



#13 Dale_

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Posted 04 August 2014 - 10:40 AM

I'm so jealous :( if you get bored of this project I'll have it ;) haha

#14 AndrewT

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Posted 05 August 2014 - 01:24 AM

http://www.trademe.c...n-760452347.htm
 
ask this guy he might be able to do something


Good find! I'll wait til the car is fully painted up before deciding what to go for. The silver ones may look better than white.

#15 AndrewT

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Posted 05 August 2014 - 01:31 AM

I'm so jealous :( if you get bored of this project I'll have it ;) haha


Ok - you can have first refusal if i get bored.

Don't hold your breath and the delivery option will be collection only!





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