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Bumble The '79 Mini 1000 - Ten Years In The Making


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#16 cookie4343

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Posted 28 October 2016 - 08:02 PM

Good luck mate, looks a real decent shell to start with.

#17 mini_matt_106

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Posted 28 October 2016 - 11:55 PM

Thanks for all the nice comments, nice to know you are following along, it's a great motivator!

There are plenty of rusty bits left to tackle as we go forward.

The plan for tomorrow is to get rid of the terrible repair panel I half welded in a few years ago and replace it with the new one from mini spares. The profile of the panel not matching the original always bugged me so hopefully this repair piece, while non genuine, will prove a much better fit.

Just to make sure I'm not skimping on the pictures, I bought a new worklamp after struggling a little last week

5C5F9C00-241C-46C5-9ECB-79E7AE89FDF9_zps

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It even has a tripod!
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Shouldn't have any excuses now!

Thanks for reading.

PS: I hope the pictures are okay, only iPhone pictures so far, I need to find my camera charger. I may even get a time lapse video in tomorrow if you're lucky!

Edited by mini_matt_106, 28 October 2016 - 11:59 PM.


#18 mini_matt_106

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Posted 29 October 2016 - 06:52 PM

Today I was mostly looking like this
EE37F773-F417-408E-B543-80D378172D6A_zps

I started by cutting out my previous panel
A1FC35FE-1A72-4E79-A21D-ECC6F2B78631_zps

Then cleaned up the edges
475BB952-3D78-4832-B837-C10238A53478_zps

I masked a line where I thought the panel needed to me cut
F3A7F74A-96F6-4C20-A569-3BCFAA2E69AF_zps

Then sliced through with a 0.8mm cutting disk, these are quite delicate, you have to let the disk do the work and not twist the grinder at all or the disk goes bang!
They are great for accurate cuts though.
1DC369C1-3CE9-4ECB-A630-F7B3BFB7D3FD_zps

I trimmed the panel down little by little until it was a perfect fit
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Ready to weld in.

However, while in this area I found some previous repairs and some missing metal from the flitch panel.
39BBFDC2-590A-4D0C-9A91-E09DEA6BFBE7_zps

I started to cut it out but realised I might need a flitch repair panel first
AD340D5D-EED9-4BA8-8F7E-FB1BAAAE6A2A_zps

Do you think I need to get the repair panel or can it be patched?
It also looks like I'm missing a tiny bit of the corner of the heel board.

Thanks for reading

#19 mini_matt_106

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Posted 29 October 2016 - 07:11 PM

Oh, and I also bought a can of vermillion spray paint to check the colour match, it's not ideal but it should do to cover the repairs.
B1412C9E-30BE-44B0-876F-7BF8E9004FDC_zps

#20 elliot341

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Posted 31 October 2016 - 01:07 PM

Hi Matt nice project! I love the inner sill repair that wasnt needed at all! I'm in a similar situation to you and need to replace floor pans on both sides (ive not looked underneath mine recently do you need to remove any cables or pipes when cutting the drivers side out or is there nothing to hit?). Anyway I shall follow yours, your flitches do look very similar to mine, cut all the crap out and start again, not much point in not doing and itll be much better going forward.



#21 mini_matt_106

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Posted 31 October 2016 - 01:15 PM

It was one of those repair panels that go over the crossmember, it was needed at the front but not at the back. However, that was replaced with the floor pan that was needed!
 
There are a couple of things to look out for that i forgot to check and cut through the first time around, and that would be the brake pipe front to rear and also the battery cable runs down the drivers side of the tunnel, so make sure you check under the car first (rookie error)

I also was reading your thread this morning Elliot, looks like you are making good headway, the rust sandwich on the a post makes me want to do the whole panel but it looks a lot more work than the patching I had I mind...
 
As I spoke about before, I did get a small timelapse from cutting out my repair piece.
 
https://youtu.be/z58PNizxUfk

Thanks for reading

Edited by mini_matt_106, 31 October 2016 - 01:48 PM.


#22 mini_matt_106

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Posted 05 November 2016 - 10:54 PM

Update time, I didn't get half as much done today as I wanted, one thing always seems to lead to another with these little rust buckets!

First off, user name Hedgey asked for a picture of the pinstripes and I can confirm yes they are metallic and approx 6mm wide.
D1870237-315F-45F2-B97C-F0F78DCAE151_zps

I cut out the rest of the dodgy patchwork on the flitch panel and uncovered some more rust under repairs which is always great!
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I made a repair piece to fill the gap but before welding it in I noticed another small repair that needed doing at the bottom of the a post so cut out and made a replacement.
Having not welded in a long time (and my welds never being very good before) I did struggle with the settings I have two rocker switches: min-max & 1-2 and also a dial for wire speed.

I'm embarrassed to show my pre grinding picture so here is one after grinding it flush.
83DC356A-A81D-488A-B3C2-756DB19209F9_zps

As you can see, plenty of holes that I had to go back and weld up.
I definitely need lots more practice!

#23 elliot341

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Posted 06 November 2016 - 04:32 AM

What welder do you have?

#24 mini_matt_106

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Posted 06 November 2016 - 03:53 PM

What welder do you have?


I'm not actually sure, can't remember.
But it looks a lot like this one
CECF1509-EA36-45BF-8E1A-288D28F99865_zps

#25 elliot341

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Posted 07 November 2016 - 12:51 PM

Ah ok, i was going to offer advice on settings but its not the same as mine. Practice makes perfect I'm sure you'll get the hang of it 



#26 mini_matt_106

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Posted 07 November 2016 - 03:36 PM

Yeah I think by the end of this I'll be a pro xD

#27 neon1991

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Posted 08 November 2016 - 10:15 AM

if the welder pictured is the same as yours then try switching to min and on number 2 with the wire at about where you have it.  make sure the metal is all really clean.  ;D



#28 mini_matt_106

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Posted 08 November 2016 - 12:48 PM

Thanks neon, I'm sure it will get better, I've got a can of argon/co2 rather than just co2 as I've heard that's much better.
Thanks for reading, might not be much of an update next week as it's my wife's birthday so won't be allowed in the barn

#29 mini_matt_106

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Posted 19 November 2016 - 05:48 PM

Got a few hours in the barn today, played around with the welder and managed to get some half decent tac welds.
It is a weldspares machine but the 125 not 150 and it's not very smooth, the gas and wire seem to surge rather than flowing consistently, seems a bit wrong.

BB7EE3F3-2768-491D-BDA0-A576800D8612_zps

Here is my practice from the bottom going up you can see I had too much power/heat and blew through
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This meant I could get a few welds in to hold my patch in place
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And then continue to put more tacks in between until I had covered the whole edge, it's not fantastic but it is solid
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I drilled a couple of holes and used a screw to pull the panels tight together to plug weld them. I'm not 100% sure how the panels all fit together in this area if anyone can help.

I also made a start on welding in the floor pan
CE97C716-0AD5-404D-9A8C-2C8CB1ED8BE2_zps
I decided to weld the back edge from underneath to make cleaning up easier.
And this is how I left it for the day
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Thanks for reading

#30 elliot341

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Posted 19 November 2016 - 10:01 PM

Looking good mate, looks like ur getting the hang of it




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