103 replies to this topic

[elliot341]

 

 

Hiya mate, was looking at that course at Bolton college, was it worth doing? Just at the point where I'm putting metal back in but a bit nervous, my welding is crap ha ha

Yeah was really good, theres a 10 week syllabus to follow if u want (and the guy in charge runs through things) or you can focus on specific things if thats what you want to do. I did 3 weeks solid on welding to make sure I got my basics sorted. The only issue is cost, I booked mine sept 15 for a jan 16 start and it was £96 ish, but since then they tried to increase it to more like £170 odd which starts getting quite expensive. Hopefully theyve learnt their lesson and reduced the price again! It was quite a good laugh as well 7-9pm on a thurs.

 

Thanks for the reply. I might give them a call. My welding is getting better but that may be more luck than judgement

 

Practice makes perfect is very true with welding, or practice until "it'll do"

[elliot341]

Patches tidied up and additional patches welded in to close up the top of the flitch area. As I was removing all the plastic fresh air ducting I also welded up the intake to the heater. Welds ground back a bit.

 

 

Let have a look behind the shock mount, I'm sure its not too bad......

 

 

 

Rusty metal cut away and weld thru primer applied.

 

 

2 layers of metal, primed both sides, welded into place and welds ground down.

 

 

Cleaned off underseal and paint from front half of inner wing. Also Applied deox gel to areas with minor rust that I'm not removing.

 

 

Welded up front air intake once all paint etc had been removed

 

 

Cleaned all inner wing up and applied a decent coat of zinc primer to whole wing.

 

[elliot341]

Time to have a quick poke on the scuttle. There's a number of areas which I know i'll have to cut bits out and replace, so I just started having a look and *poof* filler!

 

 

Generally I'm going to be replacing the scuttle ends, and patch repairing the upper dash rail/bulkhead/scuttle in a few smallish areas across the scuttle. I dont have the spare cash to go full scuttle replacement and I want to keep the alignment of the panels. 

[elliot341]

So onto the passenger side flitch mmmm rust, underseal, patches and oversills!

 

 

Also a bit rustier than the drivers side at the top of the flitch.

 

 

I definitely found this side easier and quicker to do having learnt where everything was attached, having invested in more and better tools and generally just attacking it a bit more! 

Section attached to a post removed (spot weld drill bit and grinder : ) 

 

 

Close up of rusty a post but not too far gone that it cant be saved with grinder, deox gel and zinc primer!

 

 

After a bit more time with the grinder and spot weld drill bit

 

 

A bit more of the rusty surrounding metal was cut back (this time much more careful not to cut off too much on the flitch) and we got to this point

 

 

More metal cut back to the approximate shape of the flitch panel

 

 

More to be uploaded soon.

 

[elliot341]

Flitch panel lined up and secured in place. Edges cut back to align with new metal.

[elliot341]

Flitch panel butt welded to rest of inner wing

 

 

Flitch panel plug welded along a post 

 

 

Air vent holes cut out to assist with welding in patches

 

 

Patches cut out and trimmed/bent to fit in place.

 

 

Patches welded in place and all welds ground down and tidied up. I must say this side progressed much quicker and I definitely feel like all my welds look a lot neater and needed a lot less tidying up afterwards.

 

 

Lets have a look at the shock mount on this side, I'm sure it'll be fine...... maybe not

 

 

Rusty metal cut out and all metal cleaned up and primed (not shown). 

 

 

First layer of metal repaired and welded up, please note I didnt set fire to any seam sealer or underseal while doing this welding..............

 

 

I ran out of welding wire at this point so cleaned off all the paint and underseal from the inner wing. Unfortunately I also ran out of sheet steel to make my patches hence this patch is in two bits. 

 

 

Shock mount all welded up awaiting linishing with the flap disc.

 

 

Following this welding I had a day finishing off a few bits on the mini. I ground down the remaining welds and also ground off the remains of the front panel still attached to the inner wing. Following this a few coats of zinc primer have been applied. 

 

 

 

I also took the opportunity to remove the remains of the ends of the scuttle. I will need to chuck a bit of primer on these areas to protect it while I'm not doing anything

 

 

 

Essentially this is where the mini stands at the moment. Better picture of the drivers side inner wing out in the sunshine. 

 

 

Front of mini with scuttle corners indicatively in place

 

 

So as of the end of Aug 2016 that's where my project sits! I have another Son due in mid October so I won't be getting much done on the mini for at least the next 6 months.

 

Thanks for looking!

[elliot341]

Picked up some more bits and pieces for when I redo my interior. Managed to get a clock and some dials that someone didnt want any more as they were changing to an electronic dash.

 

 

 

The walnut dash i have is cracked so I'm going to removed the varnish and then paint it body coloured. I picked up a MPI dash (well part of one) and I'm going to experiment on it as practice. Ill also practice drilling holes for the clocks above.

 

 

[Steve8274]

Just read through this. Looks really good what you have done

[elliot341]

Cheers, I'll just keep picking up bits and pieces to add to it and when things have calmed down with the new born I'm sure ill be back on the resto at least a little bit.

[mini_matt_106]

Awesome, the flitch repair work looks a bit of a nightmare to be honest

[elliot341]

Awesome, the flitch repair work looks a bit of a nightmare to be honest

 

I think having done both sides, I've made a better job of it second time around! I'm just glad the rust didnt extend too much further into the upper dash rail or A post, as it would have made it a lot more difficult and expensive. As it was I could get away with the flitch panel and some additional patches.

[elliot341]

Santa brought me a new interior! (Well maybe the wife and my parents....) I've got some seats to recover already : )

 

 

 

[elliot341]

Managed to squeeze a little bit of time on the mini. Want to have a good look at the scuttle at the areas I need to repair so first of all strip off most of the paint and filler.



Which revealed three main areas to repair. First area is smallest area and will only require a small bit replacing.



2nd and 3rd areas are more bodgey! Fairly big holes which have been filled with bog and painted over. I will need to cut out some of the bulkhead and dash rail to repair this area.



And similar for this area as well. I've marked up the areas for cutting and will stick sum primer on the other areas while I'm working on it.



I'll hopefully get chance to do a litype bit more later in the year : )

Edited by elliot341, 07 March 2017 - 05:38 PM.

[elliot341]

A while since last update, but I should be able to do a bit one evening a week now so hopefully will start making some progress

 

2 sections cut out of scuttle to see how bad the upper dash rail and bulkhead are.

 

 

Centre section needs some of the bulkhead and upper dash rail replacing

 

 

 

Drivers side isnt as bad, needs a little bit of repair on the dash rail and just generally tidying up

 

 

 

Bit of cutting out the rusty metal on drivers side

 

And in centre of scuttle and bulkhead

 

And soon enough all the areas have had sections cut out

 

 

A scrap pattern scuttle was butchered to produce patches which are here laid loosely in place

 

 

Next week -

 

Tidy up patches and prime, De-ox gel all exposed areas, prime any appropriate areas and generally start lining up for welding.

Edited by elliot341, 14 June 2017 - 12:46 PM.

[elliot341]

Big update with progress on the scuttle. 

 

All panels in place now, in order to minimise heat distortion from welding I have been using "Cold Front" by Frost, a kind of heat absorbant putty. Generally has worked pretty well, there will be a bit (!) of filler work to finish off. Note to anyone using the putty, wear disposable gloves, scrape off the putty once used and put back in a sealable pot as it dries out (but can be sorted by adding and mixing water) Onto the pics. o/s scuttle corner and repair section. 

 

 

Central section repaired (there was also a repair for the upper dash rail and bulkhead that cant be seen)

 

N/S scuttle corner and small repair section.

 

Plug welds added and more butt welds added between each panel. Starting to come together now

 

Scuttle/repair patch further welding

 

O/S scuttle corner plug welds and further welding.

 

First pass grinding down welds (note i have also welded up the wiper holes that wont be used)

 

 

 

Once cleaned off I could see there were still a number of pin holes in areas, so on went the heat stop putty again and welded up the holes. After (almost) final grind down and a quick rub down of the flash rust areas (the moisture in the putty leads to flash rust) we were left with the following;

 

 

 

 

 

Money shot 

 

 

Still a few pin holes and a bit to tidy up on the inside of the upper dash rail but not far off now!