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Mini Trailer Back End Project


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#16 fiestaharry

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Posted 04 July 2016 - 07:26 PM

looks good, careful welding that galvanised stuff, can make you very ill



#17 Rocket.

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Posted 04 July 2016 - 07:37 PM

Awesome project ! Great metal skills !



#18 minitiae

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Posted 04 July 2016 - 08:36 PM

In answer to fiestaharry, Thanks for comments but I do NOT weld galvanised metal, as I am well aware of the fumes it causes. I always grind the galvanised coating off around the area before welding. In any case, you get a bad porous weld if you try to weld galvanising.

 

In answer to Rocket, Thanks for the positive comments !



#19 MrBounce

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Posted 04 July 2016 - 09:52 PM

Fantastic work - well done  :thumbsup:



#20 minitiae

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Posted 26 July 2016 - 07:39 PM

First of all, thanks to MrBounce for encouraging comment. You included a link and I've just completed reading all 24 pages of Project Zippy !  Great amusing writing style and I admire what you have done so far and your determination in spite of setbacks and limited facilities, although money can't be one of them, as you must have spent a BARN load on this project so far ! 
Keep up the good work - I'll be following your posts until the MOT ticket ....
 
 
 
 
Installment #7  26th July 2016
 
Next, the 'hinge panel' and associated water drainage/hinge support channel.
For the first item I obtained a scrapped Peugeot Boxter van bonnet as the source of sheet metal and removed the frame as was done with the VW bonnet used for the front :-
 
Mini%20Trailer%2036.jpg

 

 
 
 
 
 
For the hinge support/drainage piece I cut a length of channel section from the galvanised 'cricket pitch coverer' 1.5mm material and rolled it to a curve as shown in the next pic.
The drainage channel was easy but the hinge panel took a LOT of time and practice runs to get to this final result, (fortunately the Boxter bonnet gave me plenty of spare metal to play with). The profile was formed to match the curvature of the 'lid' for which the original Mini half roof will be used. The front edge is joggled to mate up flush with the front panel lip and the back edge was flanged and then shrunk as necessary, all using my homemade joggler, flanger and shrinking tools:-

Mini%20Trailer%2037.jpg

 

 

 

 
 
 
The drainage channel was then trimmed to length and welded to the side decking panels, ('coaming' in boat parlance), and holes drilled to allow water to escape, (see pencil in pic). Then, in conjunction with the hinge panel, two support brackets were made up, attached and drilled to suit the Mini boot hinges which will be used. A third support bracket was later added in the middle for additional support just in case some fat clown should decide to jump up and sit on the front of the trailer !
 
Mini%20Trailer%2038.jpg

 

 

 

 

 
Finally, the hinge panel was placed on and tack welded across the front and into the slots in the side decking panels, (seen clearly in last pic of Installment #6):-
 
Mini%20Trailer%2039.jpg

 

 

 

 
In between times, (and there wasn't much of that !), I started fixing up an old boot lid I had, which was predictably rotted through along the bottom. Locally removed internal frame, blasted to ascertain full extent of rot, then cut this out and inserted a repair piece but the continuous butt weld was another case of rampant distortion which will need sorting out as best as possible - oh, where would we be without polyester filler ?!
 

Mini%20Trailer%2040.jpg

 

Mini%20Trailer%2041.jpg

 

 
 
 
I can feel a suspension session coming up sooner or later.....
 
 

 



#21 MrBounce

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Posted 04 August 2016 - 08:24 AM

Ha ha thank you for your kind words! I can assure you that there is NOT a lot of cash that's gone in to my project though - much of it has been from deals with friends, cash made from selling some parts, getting bits from TMF Members and eBay and careful use of birthday money!! Mrs B would NOT allow me to spend spend spend - that's for sure! 

 

Your project's coming on nicely - love the attention to detail and the skill. Look forward to Installment #8  :thumbsup:



#22 minitiae

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Posted 27 August 2016 - 08:35 PM

Sorry, MrBounce, I hope I don't get you into trouble if wife reads my comments about your spend - I must admit I now think I exaggerated somewhat !
I see you're getting on well with your nicely re-furb'ed master cylinders and brake valves etc.,- satisfying sort of jobs, aren't they ?
 
 
Installment #8     27th August 2016
 
After an overdose of sheet metal work, I have moved on to the suspension by way of a bit of a rest - nice mechanical work which I enjoy best.
Firstly, from the off, I never had any intention of re-using Mini arms - far far too heavy !
Worse still, using an entire subframe - a diabolical weight to be towing around and with completely the wrong spring rate for the weight of the trailer !
So I came up with my own lightweight design of coil-over I.R.S. 
A local Auto Repairs Garage with whom I have a symbiotic relationship, regularly disposes of VW/Audi aluminium lower front suspension mountings complete with rubber bushings, (it is not cost effective to replace just the bush, so they replace the complete entity). I decided that a couple of pairs of these was just ideal for this project, (one seen extreme left in pic 1 below).
I cut them as shown and made up suitable spacer bushes and mounting brackets :-
 
Mini%20Trailer%2042.jpg

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Next, without going into the nitty gritty details of the setting up method and measurement, by using some light gauge 30mm square tubing, a bit of heavy piping, some 6mm plate, and a nice pair of (unidentified) hubs which I had 'in stock', I came up with the results shown below in pic 2. All I had to do with the hubs, which were 5 stud, was to change to 4 stud to suit the Mini wheels.
The springs were (unidentified) motorcycle front fork springs which I estimate to be about the right spring rate - time will tell. The motorcycle rear units were modified to stud fitting at the top to suit the Mini wheel arch mountings. In the end, it was decided not to use these, as the damping was dissimilar on both units, (and just look at the rust on the rods).
Mini%20Trailer%2043.jpg

 

 

 

 

 
So I dug out of 'stock' a pair of lightly damped but very good car dampers (again unidentified) and modified them instead - seen below after blasting and priming. This time I had to not only modify the top mounting to stud pattern, but also make locating rings for either end of the springs. The top ones are made from aluminium, but the bottom ones are made from HDPE - what's that you may ask?  It's melted recycled plastic from milk bottles - excellent tough but easily machinable material.  These fit neatly over the 35mm diameter damper bodies and are stepped to nest nicely against the 35mm exhaust pipe clamps. This allows adjustment for pre-load, although this can only be done on the bench using a set of spring compressors. However, once the 'sweet spot' is found, no further adjustment should ever be needed.
Mini%20Trailer%2044.jpg

 

 
 
 
 
Next pics show the whole caboodle assembled, painted, and fitted. There are 2.5 mm thick reinforcing plates on the other side of the eight 8mm mounting bolts.
Mini%20Trailer%2045.jpg

Mini%20Trailer%2046.jpg

 

 
 
 
 
With the trailer finally on its wheels, the upward crank necessary for the tow bar could be worked out, such that the trailer would be horizontal in the very lightly loaded condition, and then the tow bar was made up using light gauge 60mm tubing, (Ikea bed legs !), which suited my available, (although unnecessarily heavy duty), 50mm hitch. The protruding length is kept to the minimum that will just allow the trailer to jack-knife to a full 90 degrees which will be a help in tight manoeuvering situations. The round protrusion on the bottom is for a rubber buffer parking rest, and the gusset plate with the hole in it is for a safety chain, (not that this is really necessary).
Mini%20Trailer%2047.jpg

 

 
 
Well, that's the suspension sorted, so, enjoyment interlude over, it will be onto the lid/roof fitting, stays, wiring etc.,and more of the much less enjoyable prep & paint work next.......
 

 



#23 mini_matt_106

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Posted 21 September 2016 - 03:08 PM

That's cracking work! I wouldn't have thought of making my own arms!

#24 minitiae

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Posted 01 November 2016 - 08:04 PM

 First of all, thanks to you, mini_matt_106, for kind remarks.
 
Installment #9  1st November 2016
 
It's been quite a while since the last installment, but I haven't been sitting around doing nothing. There's been a LOT of labour and time spent on the final prep and paintwork, but I hope you'll agree that the end result is not bad at all. Some areas could have been improved further with even more work but after weeks of nothing but this, I'd had my fill, and had to draw the line somewhere !
 
Overall I used 2 litres of cellulose (and probably the same in primer),for the Teal blue bits and about 1 litre of two-pack white for the white bits and did the final polishing with a borrowed Sealey buffing machine in conjunction with my own well used sponge mop, (the machine looks like a slow running 9 inch angle grinder), using Farecla G3 polishing compound.
 
The ensemble had it's first public outing recently at a local classic car show. It weighs 140 Kg total, (interestingly spread evenly between the two wheels and tow hitch - 47Kg each), it tows very well, so much so you'd nearly forget it was on behind - nice and stable with good suspension action and no noises at all.
 
I eventually hope to fit the Mark 3 non-reversing light tail lights to replace the Mark 4 ones which I'm not keen on as they don't match the car, but,although I have no less then THREE complete left hand ones of these and one right hand lens assembly only, I have no right hand base unit, so until I'm able to get one of these, the Mark 4 tail lights will remain.
 
 
 
The 7-pin lighting cable passes neatly up the inside of the tow bar tube:-

Mini%20Trailer%2049.jpg

 

 

The rubber seal around the lid is from a scrapped hatch back car:-

Mini%20Trailer%2050.jpg

 

 

The front panel 'swoopy' paint job was an attempt at breaking up the large expanse of the front panel:-

Mini%20Trailer%2051.jpg

 

 

 

The lid stays were made up from 20 x 4 mm flat steel:-

Mini%20Trailer%2052.jpg

 

 

 

The boot lid doesn't really need to open but could serve as a table at shows:-

Mini%20Trailer%2053.jpg

 

 

 

No engine therefore no cc's ! 

Mini%20Trailer%2054.jpg

 

 

 

Hitched up to it's parent and ready to go !

Mini%20Trailer%2048.jpg

 

 

 

 

 
I have added a short video to my 'Home Made Garage & Workshop Tools' YouTube channel which you can have a look at if you wish, although there's nothing there that you have not already seen on this forum :-
 

 

 
Feel free to comment, favourable or otherwise....... 

 



#25 minimissions

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Posted 02 November 2016 - 06:53 AM

This is an awesome little trailer nice work there, i love the use of the vw Golf bonnet etc






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