589 replies to this topic

[jamesquintin]

thanks for the kind words.

 

One tip, if your floor needs replacing, get the whole thing (sills, heelboard and everything) from BMH. Yes its a big spend, but the time I've wasted putting all the seperate bits together is unbelivable. (the BMH panel also comes with the studs for the fule lines etc)

 

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[rich_959]

I seriously hope it doesn't come to that, but it seems it's always wise to assume the worst and use that as a starting point to avoid disappointment! It had new floor, sills etc about two years ago but we'll see how it looks once the strip gets that far.... Thanks for the tip!

[jamesquintin]

Right, back on it after being dissolusioned with body work..

Got the inner wings finally prepped:

 

 

 

Then stripped the paint off and sprayed some etch on there:

 

 

Then bit the bullet and FINALLY got the wings on:

 

Quite happy with the gaps. Will need to finish off the rest of the sport welding over the weekend
 

[jamesquintin]

Right, finally started welding the front end on after months of muckign about getting it all right!

 

 

I had to get creative with my spot welder so I could get to the hard to reach areas:

 

 

 

 

Never folded an A-pane before, man thats a pain in the bum!!

Still need to do the other side, and spot weld the front panel flanges to the inner wing, but will do that when the front subframe is out

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[jamesquintin]

HUGE UPDATE!

 

 

I managed to weld on the small A-panel plate!

Actually the garage has been so untidy it's been difficult to get in there, so I spent the afternoon tidying it up. Hopefully finish spot welding the front on the weekend.

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[spraybeater]

HUGE UPDATE!

 

 

I managed to weld on the small A-panel plate!

Actually the garage has been so untidy it's been difficult to get in there, so I spent the afternoon tidying it up. Hopefully finish spot welding the front on the weekend.

Q

 

Any progress is progress! at least you fitted these important plates!!

its amazing how many don't 

I remember having an disagreement with back in the day with a panel beater 

that worked for me, he was adamant they were not necessary.

 

A good tidy up of working area is always needed.

[jamesquintin]

It does add a surprising amount of rigidity :)

[jamesquintin]

Right, the front is almost on! I Just need to spot weld the flanges on the front panel to the inner wing, but that shouldn't take to long:

 

 

I popped hte arches and doors on to see how it all looked, much better gaps than when I started...

 

 

 

 

and the all important piece...

 

Not sure I'll get much more done this weekend

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[johnR]

like the spot welder adaptation!

A good tidy up really helps productivity

[fiestaharry]

Really good, coming on well!

[Cookiez]

Looking good

[Chris M]

Fantastic work. Good to see things done well.
Keep the pics coming 👍

[jamesquintin]

So more updates.

Got one side of the front panel potwelded to the inner wing, will do the other side when I can spin the car around:

 

 

I then turned my attention to the rear panel. There was a LOT of surface rust under the rear window seam (classic water leak) and there wasn't an easy way or reparign the damage to that lip. The car had a few shunts in the back under teh rear lights and the multiple repairs had left a lot of filler in that area, making the lip really diffucult to repair. I decided to bite the bullet and get the half rear panel to fix both at the same time.

So out with the old:

 

 

 

and on with the new!

 

 

 

Starting to look like a mini again!

Will need to clean up all the flanges tomorrow and make repairs to the parcel shelf

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[Ben_O]

Looking good James. 

[jamesquintin]

ok, so more rear repairs...

 

It had the classic rust under the rear window join, so I was left with this:

 

So simply chopped it out!

 

Luckily it wasn't too bad, so I made up some patches and welded them in:

 

 

 

and then dressed the welds and gave it a spray of Zinc:

 

 

 

Not the best in the world, but it'll never be seen anyway

 

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