134 replies to this topic

[bluemini17]

Current stage-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Build thread -

The mini is in the building

After many, many, many years of neglect, perhaps TEN, the mini is at long last warm and snug in my garage.

The plan is for a full strip down, weld-a-thon, and then paint. Followed by a sensible engine choice of the 998 variety, but who no's, only time will tell.

Here are some pics.





The first stage is to strip the mini down to bare shell........



and then get poking with the trusty rust finding device  (RFD) aka the screwdriver

























so........ after finding all this rust what does any sane man do but buy a welder, a tank of argon, some 1mm cutting discs and a cheeky flap disc of course....

One small problem, I don't no how to weld 

Stage two.... Welding

Lets see now, electric plus argon apparently equates to welds... good stuff. Lets see if I can make things stick together.





dodgy oversill purchased many years ago, cut in half and cleaned up ready for tack welds. Im experimenting with my butt welds.



cheeky few tacks, not bad for only 1hr play time with this beast.

Time to read up on a few things........ http://www.mig-weldi...uk/tutorial.htm

Right sooo, the trick is to pulse the weld, lets try this......



Not too bad for only round two, lets see the penetration



Getting there, must remember to hold it in position for a fraction longer.

Time to grind this bad boy down and see what were left with.



Im happy with that. Time to see if I can replicate this on the real thing.

For obvious reasons I didn't want to jump ahead of my whooping 1Hr weld time so thought I would start with a simple job, blanking off the air intake hole in the driver wheel arch.

Offending flange removed


Time to make a template with some card and then cut it out of some new metal






Some fettling later...... a good fit



followed by those cheeky spot welds again, and checked for penetration





Next stage was to pulse weld between the tacks, making sure to leave time for the metal to cool between welding sessions, overkill perhaps, but im preparing my skills for a full butt weld in the boot !!!



Inside penetration, could be better



Then it was time to grind her back with my new favourite toy, the flap disc ala angle grinder.



some job.

And that's all folks, stay tuned for more learning curves.

The next stage is to 'aquire' some box section and build a rotating spit. Anyone have a 4m or longer scaffold pole, the straight pole type with no clamps on the ends?

edit: having just looked at this post my pics are very small, I will do larger ones next time. click on the pic for a bigger view and to be taken to my imageshack account.

All the best, David

Edited by bluemini17, 22 November 2017 - 11:12 PM.

[bluemini17]

(My next post from 18th April 2014)

 

 

Well folks, update no.2


During work I was standing staring at a wooden pole, as you do, and got some inspiration as to how I would build my rotating spit. After some head scratching and many drawings followed by calculations I came up with the required height vs rotation for my spit. Too low and the roof would hit the floor, too high and it would be awkward to work on.

After some metal was found I got cutting and welding, I had the welder set to max and even then I had to cut a V to get a good weld. This steel is thick!
Unable to find a length of pole for free I was forced to weld some bits together, good result in the end with the mini happily swinging about.














Once she was up in the air I set about poking holes in the floor to find yet more RUST.
The next day I ended up at http://brooklandsmg.com/ and bought a boot repair panel

I cut all the rusty crud out with my angle grinder and made a few decisions as to how much good metal I should cut out. I ended up cutting away the flange that sits between the wheel arch and the boot floor.
I tacked the new panel in and then began welding an inch at a time allowing time to cool. Unfortunately the repair panel did not cover all of the gap. so I had to make some patches. They were tough going with all the angles and boot well to include. I got there in the end.







Once ground down I then made a new flange and blended it into the original, a seamless finish.



Once complete, I nipped out and bought a tub of KURUST, it is brushed onto the area of which has surface rust and prevents the rust from rearing its head again.


I ground the surface rust away with a flap disc and then brushed on the KURUST. Once dried I then gave the whole boat floor a coat of ETCH primer. This stuff is used on bare metal and/ or rubbed down body work. The primer eats into the bear metal and provides a good key for the primer coat / seam sealer / stone chip.









A word of caution to those who are working on minis, I took some of the seam sealer off which looked like this......



and this is what was underneath it !!!!




I still have a few patches to do on the boot floor but thought it was best to paint up the bare metal to prevent flash rusting.
Stay tuned for more mini adventures……….. the heal board and hinge panel

 

[bluemini17]

(Post from 19th April 2014)

 

 

neighbors were out so i took the opportunity to knock all the tar / bitumen stuff off the inside floor, i reckon a good 5kg saved in weight.





once complete, i then used a twisted cup in my angle grinder to clean the under belly of the mini, once cleaned off i then rubbed it back to clean paint with some white spirit and a rag, More RUST was found, no surprises there..





i made up some patches for the boot floor, mainly where the drain holes were and also where the spare wheel was toughing the floor, tacked in and then pulse welded.





more work on the mini tomorrow, hopefully get the boot repairs finished off and etch primed.

Edited by bluemini17, 22 December 2014 - 05:18 PM.

[bluemini17]

(update from 23rd April)

 

 

another update from the bank holiday shenanigans.

mainly fafing about, i have been putting off the toe board, maybe i will grow a set and make a start on it soon.

made a start on the off side of the boot floor / arch. some minor rust on the arch but where the original sponges were between the sub and the boot floor had turned to rust, time cut, path and weld.







then onto the offside of the boot, same again,,,,,



a dab of KURUST



then a template, and then cut out from 0.8mm







patch tastic



need to spend some time grinding the welds down, i will wait for a rainy day.....

while i waited for the welds to cool in between runs i started stripping the subby

Nice n crusty, im going to need a new subby, i figured if im putting in the effort on the panels i might as well have something solid to bolts the wheels to









I then made a repair on the wheel tub,,,





and made a patch for the boot floor,



I then made a new lip to stop mud splashing the boot floor,



for a laugh i put the old boot floor on top, not much left, you can see why i needed a new floor...........



then i ground down some of my welds in the wheel tub,





i offered up the rusted sub frame and have taken multiple reference points for when i take out the toe board / front mounting points for the sub frame.

currently waiting on the delivery of a rear valance, rear closing panel and a few other boot related things.

back to work now so not much progress this week i would imagine

[bluemini17]

(update from 27th April)

 

 

time for an update on Saturdays work, the rear valance.

I needed to the get the rear valance in before i begin work on rebuilding the rear hinge panel and the lip below the tail lights. the valance will bring some rigidity back to the rear end.

time for more pics...........

had a quick offering up of the valance, i bolted it to the boot lip with some bolts and also bolted in the rear closing panels that the subframe mounts into.









the fit was terrible as you can see so i had to get creative. a few bends and folds later it got a good fit.

I then took the black paint off the valance panel with this paint remover pad in my angle grinder.





once rubbed down with spirits i then hit it with some etch primer



and then the final color of the car, my thoughts being that the paint would be hard to get into the valance and the back of the spare wheel well once fitted with the closing panels





i then ground the paint off the edges where i would be welding and made some holes for the plug welds









time to get plugging, 60 odd plugs later i was left with this,













this is how the rear looked when i first attacked it



the pics below show my next challenge, the repair of the hinge panel and below the tail lights, a whole replacement panel can be bought but it is more expensive than what i paid for the car!! so repair i shall try







same story, back to work now so prob no more updates till next week

[bluemini17]

(Update from 30th April)

 

time for a mid week update - the boot hinge panel

I ground the welds down on the valance from fitting on Saturday and gave it a quick lick of etch primer to keep the rust at bay. Im using U-pol etch primer, some job.

FYI i found this random shop in Ballynahinch that sells all sorts of car repair items, 2k paint, welding tips etc, fairly handy for me as i work in this area at least once a week.



Once the welds were ground i then bolted the hinge repair panel to the existing boot hinge holes. this was to get it dead center on the car.




after a few nuts and bolts later i then made up some flanges and welded them below the tail lights. this would keep the shape of the rear in place while i removed the rot.



with this done i then cut the back out, no going back now!





and what was left of the hing panel





i then trimmed and tweaked the panel until it was a good fit, followed by many a plug weld. if you follow the curve you will see it lines up perfectly. once i grind the welds down it will be perfect....... hopefully









Next stage is to cut out the temporary flanges and remove the corners below the tail lights. stay tuned......



on a side note, i sold my fiber glass flip front. the guy gave me some cash and also agreed to drop round a floor panel later this week. here is a pic of it in my pug. a MINI-pug, dont think it will catch on....

[bluemini17]

(Update from 4th May 2014)

 

yet another update, my sanity is starting to slip now, what toxins are released when welding and grinding?  :twisted:

following on from my previous update i ground down my welds in and around the boot hinge repair, not a bad result.





 I then started on the corner repairs below the rear light clusters. i removed my temporary brackets and cut out the infamous rot.





not much left in the way of metal !

I then clamped in the new panel and scribed around the opening with my trusty tool









I then tacked it to an inch of its life, while taking time in between tacks to cool the metal







I then ground the welds flush and gave it a coat of etch primer. It prob looks rough to the naked eye but bear in mind this is just bare metal rubbed with 80 grit sandpaper and a light wiff of primer. it took 5 hours to do both corner repairs, give or take the odd tea break and making snacks. time and patience paid off 







next stage will be to fabricate a repair piece where the boot seal rubber mounts to and also do a few patches along the top of the boot lip.

on a plus note i was at peak performance today and saw some nice minis and tyre/ wheel options

[bluemini17]

cheers guys, one day i dream of a world where water + oxygen + metal does not equal rust 

time for a much needed update, im not going to write much because im too lazy tonight. First off, the bottom left corner of the rear windscreen.....



I cut out the rot, made a new panel from scratch, tacked in, pulse welded and then ground down to a rough shape, some clever filling will hopefully get me a good end result - total time - 2 half days 















while sanding the paint off i also found a panel join, ends up that my mini had a whole lower n/s rear welded in, that weld was hidden perfectly under filler! Im trying my best to make my panels fit without the need for filler but unfortunately the complex curves were hard to replicate and im afraid a dash of the filler will be needed  :oops:



moving on......

the n/s toe board where the sub frame mounts at the front....... same story here, small amount of visible rust = massive area of hidden rust!




















this is a pic of the mounting nuts for the rear sub, note the raised curve in the middle of the two nuts, i assume to add extra support



the reverse of the above pic, the curve has allowed water to sit between the bracket and the inner sill, not good














with the floor, mounting bracket and inner sill repaired i then moved onto the wheel arch/ tub. i made a patch and bodged er' in









soon followed by a new closing panel on the heal board







i then made a new inner sill support, that strange 'bent dog leg shape' that is on the inner sill and ties the mounting bolts to the inner and outer sill (can be seen just above the grey primer'ed bracket in the below pic)



After a swig of tea i then plugged ahead and did the closing section of the heal board, i did buy a repair panel but it was pure rubbish. on a side note.... any one want to buy a nearly new toe board closing panel repair  :?  







you will note that i did not close the ends fully over, this is because the outer sill sits under this 'flap'

and a shot of my welds on the 'dog leg bit'


 

 

 

[bluemini17]

on another side note i saw this cool camper van made out of old tin items, oil drums etc





but i was put off by the price.....



maybe a side project for when i get board of rust! 

 

I then moved my beady eyes to the rear n/s quarter panel, i new from day one that this had to come off, it was a hadrian repair panel and had been fitted very poorly by the previous owner. the inside of the panel had no paint on it and had rusted almost through. off it came with a few cuts of the grinder





and more rust...



here is a pic of the original repair seam weld....not to bad with the naked eye



and the reverse



not good.

this brings me to date so stayed tuned for more manic cutting.

 

Edited by bluemini17, 22 December 2014 - 05:29 PM.

[bluemini17]

(Update from 22nd May 2014)

 

time for a much needed update. Im spending more time welding and less time messing around with my camera so sadly there is only 41 pics for this update 

I went from this.....





to this in 2 hours. not to shabby, even managed to get the curves incorporated into the seat

.

I then turned my attention to the big hole where my n/s window once lived.



I ground all the crud off and sorted out any surface rust.

I then trimmed the shell to make a perfect fit for the new panel.

with that done i then tack welded the panel home.

I was sh@*&ing myself due to the price of the panel







i fitted the glass to make sure all was good and then i began work on fabricating a new inner wheel arch, i required the outer lip and then about 2inches inside the arch.

I made a template, cut the steel, bent it and then formed the curve. tacked in then seam welded.

end result was top notch 









once this was done and ground smooth i then had to sort out the rusty hole above the petrol cap. Cut out and ready for new metal



New metal in. I managed to get the coach lines folded into the correct place, a bit of work still needed during paint prep but end result is better than expected considering the crazy amount of curves!





moving swiftly on i poured some petrol onto my floors and waited a day for the bitumin stuff to soften. i then cleaned half the floor to reveal what rust was lurking.









that will be a new floor pan then........  

i turned the shell upside down, cut out the floor pan, marked the new one and then welded it in. ground the welds down and a lick of etch primer.









Thats all for now folks. Just need to wait on my new panels arriving before i can do any more major stuff. I will just have to do the tiny patch welds around the drain holes for now  :twisted:

[bluemini17]

(Update from 26th May 2014)

 

while i wait on my new panels i made a start to the rust removal around the front.

this is what i have going on, both sides of the car  :twisted:





so, normal style of approach, cut out the old and bung in the new.....



you will notice i havnt finished the lip along the top, i am waiting on a new dash rail so i can follow the curve, i dont have a rail at the min, it rusted away!



Next area of rust is where the accelerator pedal bolts to, its duff, so out it came but not before i took reference points for the bolts that secure the pedal.













Time to turn her onto the other edge and make a start on the driver side floor.



Boom, more rust, i should of taken out stocks and shares in this orange stuff 





same again, cut out the crap, bung in the good stuff ( the small holes are where i drilled out the spot welds, I will use these holes to weld in the new floor pan).













I havnt welded in the flange at the top as this will be replaced with the new flitch panel when it arrives.

As always, the pace is moving slowly but surely. Everyday that goes by i feel my welding improves or i learn a new trick.

[bluemini17]

More updates coming soon........ the whole of June's work.

[exuptoy]

Awesome work and your welding is looking good.

[Covert]

Well done matey, considering you havent welded before you are doing really well, im so glad you took that rear quarter off, hidden treasures lurk within .....

[Steve8274]

Impressive for a novice welder. I still working up confidence to start on mine.