37 replies to this topic

[Itsjustanestate]

Thought I would join the forum to share my rebuild project. The Car is a 1098cc 1976 Mini Clubman Estate that I rebuilt in 1990 for Road rallying. I fitted a fibreglass front, full roll cage, part seam welded and strengthened the shell, a seam welded/strengthened front subframe and full sump guard, gear linkage guard and tank guard. She was powered by a MED 1380cc stage 4 engine running a Piper 285 cam on a single HIF44 carb with water heated inlet manifold, Janspeed LCB exhaust manifold and home made stainless skidded exhaust, married to a Jack knight SCCR metro challenge box and Jonspeed LSD. Suspension was fully adjustable, camber, tow, height, bump and rebound. She ran on 13 inch weller wheels and brakes were vented metro turbo 4 pots on the front and minifins drums on the rear with adjustable brake bias and fly off handbrake. I competing in around 30 Midlands events in the 90s many being run around the lanes of Derbyshire. In her prime she could give a well specked escort or even a sierra cosworth a good run for its money, much to the dismay of their owners. She then got run for a couple of winters and was put away in my garage for the tin worm to do its job. I decided the time had come to do something with it so me and my 13 year old son stripped the back subframe off and I started to poke a few holes in it. It soon became apparent that a full rebuild was necessary so I persuaded the wife I still had the gumption and started cutting and welding. Hopefully the pictures will tell the rest of the story to date

 

Here it is back in the day

Edited by Itsjustanestate, 04 October 2015 - 10:49 PM.

[Itsjustanestate]

N/S floor cut out.

 

Starting to add some strength to the rear subframe mount area.

 

 

Roll cage foot strengthening being tied into inner sill strengthening.

 

New rear subframe mount made from 6mm plate.

 

The makings of a rear wheel arch turret. I should be able to run coilovers with this stiff fabrication.

 

New rear wheel arch and turret. This is where I switched from a tired old MIG to TIG!

 

The wheel n/s/r arch being fitted. Still learning the TIG at this point.

Note the uneven shape to the arch at the front is to account for the fact it is a standard mini roll cage in the longer estate shell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reasonably happy with the out come as there will be a fibreglass Group 5 wheel arch extension covering the outer edge on the final car and the TIG welds are nice and soft to allow for a bit of panel beating.

 

Next job was to fit a new rear n/s corner - unfortunately I chose a non-genuine panel so it needed a bit of persuading to fit but finally got there. It is genuine panels from here on where they are available.

 

 

 

And then fit a floor closing panel to the new wheel arch fabrication. Few one wheel arch done!

 

 

Edited by Itsjustanestate, 04 October 2015 - 10:50 PM.

[Carlos W]

Welcome to TMF

Looks like a good project

[Itsjustanestate]

I gues I should really post in the project section.

[Carlos W]

I gues I should really post in the project section.

 

I can move it if you like

[Itsjustanestate]

Cheers that would be good. Looks like you have a great project on yourself.

[Itsjustanestate]

There is another mini in there!

Next up was to tackle the rear valance. I eventually decided nothing was worth saving so cut the whole thing off at floor level.

Here it is with a new closing panel clamped in place.

 

 

I chose to weld it all up off the car. This did result in a slight bow (Note to self always make a jig.) but pretty sure it would have been a nightmare to weld on the car.

 

 

 

Now on the car ready for welding. Spot the Scooby bits!

 

 

And welded in.

 

 

 

Main seems ground off as it will be fully deseemed.

[minimissions]

Looks like an awesome project and nice to see a car with a story to tell as well :) good luck with the build :)

[Itsjustanestate]

Looks like an awesome project and nice to see a car with a story to tell as well :) good luck with the build :)

Cheers for the interest. She is moving along slowly. The rear is nearly finished. I will keep adding pictures to bring it up to a current status.

[Itsjustanestate]

Floor and inner sill welded to the sill strengthening (50mm x 50mm x 6mm steel angle). The roll cage feet mounts and the rear subframe mounting are also welded to this strengthening - all made from 6mm plate.

 

 

 

 

Next job was to tackle the side window frames. 

 

Here is the result of removing the glass and frame.

 

 

 

A quick repair plate welded in the rear corner and the small holes plugged with weld.

 

 

 

 

And another small plate.

 

 

 

Here is the window frame (new ones not available). There were a few holes in it that I welded up. 

 

 

Here is the body side showing the window frame finished awaiting the window ledge panel.

 

photo storage

 

And with the ledge panel fitted. I chose to bolt it in place with stainless steel button head bolts. That way it could be painted put on with seam sealant. no issue of burnt paint from welding.

 

[swampy1978uk]

cool project looking forward to seeing more.

liking the tidy workshop

[minimissions]

I have a feeling that I will be replacing these panels on both sides of mine when I come to do the work....

[Itsjustanestate]

The tidy workshop is my nemesis. To be fair all the pictures are taken at the end of the day when I have put the stuff back. You will notice there is a mark 3 buried at the back! There is also a 1/4 scale steam Lorry in there to.

[Itsjustanestate]

One rear quarter done one to go. So time to crack on with the o/s. More of the same for the window frame (tin worm!).

 

 

 

 

Next it was out with the cutting disc and sabre saw to put another hole in the shell!

 

 

 

That left a nice hole for a new wheel arch. Out with the tape measure and I quickly knocked up a mirror image of the n/s fabrication. Here is the cantilevered turret sitting upside down.

 

 

Next I cut the o/s/r rear rear subframe mount out and fabricated a new one in 6mm plate. I did the same to the n/s but didn't get pictures. Here it is cooling after welding up.

 

 

Here is the mounting in place.

 

 

And checking the fit with the turret.

 

 

[minimissions]

No hanging about here you seem to be cracking on fast with this :)