109 replies to this topic

[Avtovaz]

right! i did the roof on my car the other day, i used this as i saw a guy who restores ladas [im a big lover of] on youtube use it... I brushed that on in parts, but to spray it takes a bit of effort. I may get myself a small spray gun just for this job.

 

I dont like etch, but i do like the bilt hamber electrorox, but i have to long term experience of any of this.. the electrorox stuff needs 4 days before you can paint over it apparently.

 

The 2k epoxy is good when you weld threw it too...

[SamG]

Progress has been a little slower than usual recently, mainly due to our baby girl arriving on the 20th Sept! The last couple of weeks have been a tad hectic as those of you with your own can imagine I'm sure!

 

I managed to steal a few hours today however and popped up the unit to try and get a few odd jobs ticked off the ever growing to-do list. 

 

Starting in the boot - I was able to save the original boot floor to wheel arch stiffeners which is satisfying. Although they'd not exactly break the bank to buy new, it is a nice change to use original metal where possible. I took them to work a while back and gave them the treatment in the blasting cabinet and they came up great. I bolted them to the boot floor through the rear subframe mount holes to get them exactly in the right position and ensure the holes line up well, but both the N/S and O/S stiffeners needed a little felling to get a good fit. They mainly just needed the outer most flange to be dressed forward to meet the wheel arch. Here's the N/S on just after being welded in...

 

 

As you can see, once I'd sprayed weld-thru over the whole area and zinc primer on the underside of the stiffener, we seam welded along the three boot floor flanges and along the top where it mates with the wheel arch. The other flanges were spot welded originally but I don't have the correct arms to work around the rear panel, so we had to plug weld them. Once it was all ground down and painted I think it looks pretty good! Especially considering it'll be hidden behind the fuel tank.

 

 

And the O/S

 

 

Another job I managed to get ticked off the list was to remove the flash rush on the inside of the battery box and spray it with zinc primer. Again, I'm pretty happy with the finish.

Edited by SamG, 07 October 2017 - 06:35 PM.

[SamG]

Moving forward into the cabin I also fitted the rear seat support. This was a pretty straight forward job with just a little bit of re-bending and fettling to get the angle and position just right. It's spot welded at the top where it meets the front of the boot floor and seam welded along the rear face at the bottom. Also in this picture you might just be able to make out the other job we managed to get done today, the welding of the rear bulkhead to the wheel arches. Again, I think this is something that would have been spot welded from the factory, but I dread to think how much the correct arms would cost to be able to do it that way, so seam welding it is!

 

 

So this is how it is at the back at the moment - 

 

 

Forgot to mention (probably because Ellis actually did the job) that we also ground down the companion bin to B-pillar welds so that all fits nice and flush now.

 

Next up is to give the inside a damn good hoover out as the welding and grinding dust is starting to do my head in. Once it's all clean I want to get the ash tray mounts welded into the companion bins and get those painted up. Then it'll be the handbrake cable bracket. I also need to buy the stiffener panels that sit in between the wheel arch and the rear bulkhead as the ones I removed are beyond salvage unfortunately. Will it ever end?!

[mk3 Cooper S]

Great panel work

 

Are you keeping a project budget? Interesting to see how all these new panels compare to a new shell?

You obviously have set you sights high with the replace rather than repair strategy.

 

Turned into a bit of triggers broom but you will end up with a very solid straight car.

[SamG]

Great panel work
 
Are you keeping a project budget? Interesting to see how all these new panels compare to a new shell?
You obviously have set you sights high with the replace rather than repair strategy.
 
Turned into a bit of triggers broom but you will end up with a very solid straight car.

Thanks! My wife is running a spreadsheet and keeping a close eye on the financial side of the build! I'm confident that the shell will be completed for a good few thousand less than the cost of a brand new shell. It was never my intention at the start to go this far and replace this much metal, but the panels I've removed were just not economic to save. Also, doing it this way means I can paint between all the seams and seam seal the closed box sections as I go, something that I doubt is done with the new shells. As far as I know you can't buy a mk3 shell new? Believe it not not I'm also really enjoying the process! Anyone can bolt bits to a new shell anyway can't they! Having said that, I've learnt a lot on this car, and certainly won't be buying one in such poor condition again!

[Avtovaz]

looks really good mate, thanks again for the updates!

[mk3 Cooper S]

 

Great panel work
 
Are you keeping a project budget? Interesting to see how all these new panels compare to a new shell?
You obviously have set you sights high with the replace rather than repair strategy.
 
Turned into a bit of triggers broom but you will end up with a very solid straight car.

Thanks! My wife is running a spreadsheet and keeping a close eye on the financial side of the build! I'm confident that the shell will be completed for a good few thousand less than the cost of a brand new shell. It was never my intention at the start to go this far and replace this much metal, but the panels I've removed were just not economic to save. Also, doing it this way means I can paint between all the seams and seam seal the closed box sections as I go, something that I doubt is done with the new shells. As far as I know you can't buy a mk3 shell new? Believe it not not I'm also really enjoying the process! Anyone can bolt bits to a new shell anyway can't they! Having said that, I've learnt a lot on this car, and certainly won't be buying one in such poor condition again!

 

The labour cost is the price of the hobby  

 

Looking great, Great to see another mk3 preserved

[Jgguinness]

Looking fantastic!! 

[SamG]

Little update - I've managed to spend a couple of hours here and there up the unit to get on with some of the more mundane jobs that need doing.

 

First up was the ash tray mounts in the companion bins. I decided to buy M-Machine mounts to go with the M-Machine companion bins, assuming they would be a good fit. Unfortunately the profile on the front edge where they mate was completely different, a good 10mm off over the length of the curve which was really disappointing. A little bit of fettling, adjusting and cutting and I got them fit well enough.

 

 

I then hoovered the cabin out and got all the bare metal painted.

 

[SamG]

Back in the boot, I ordered both wheel arch to bulkhead strengtheners and got them welded in. They were seam welded along the two flanges with wheel arches and boot floor, and plug welded along on the forward face through the rear bulkhead. Not sure if I've mentioned it before but I'll be fitting the bigger 7.5 gallon tank so I welded in the little S-shaped tank strap bracket as I had it lying about. That's the boot pretty much finished (I think) except the little buffer that sits on the rear bulkhead for the fuel tank to locate against. I took the picture in a hurry and didn't realise the camera was in wide angle mode so it's not the best.

 

 

Quick question - can someone confirm that I don't need the tank stand bracket for a 7.5 gallon tank? Just the tank strap bracket and the buffer bit on the bulkhead?

[SamG]

Next up was to grind down all the penetration on the plug welds on the front of the floor. These have been here since we first fitted the floor and the car was still upside down which seems like years ago now! I'd been avoiding doing it for some reason, turns out it only took me an hour or so with the stone in the angle grinder. This is how it was before...



And an hour later;



Next was to plug the little return on the toe board, and seam weld along the very top of the lip. Ideally I'd have liked to spot weld it all but the lack of uber long arms means it wasn't possible. Probably alot stronger this way anyway. Holes drilled ready to be plugged;



All plugged and seamed;



A quick lick with the grinder and a sprayer with the primer and that'll be that!

Edited by SamG, 11 November 2017 - 08:29 PM.

[SamG]

A job I'd always had in the back of my mind to do was to remove the cross member and paint inside it. When I first bought the floor, I asked for the the crossmember to come separate so I could do just that but M-Machine warned against it incase the floor lost its strength in transit, which was fair enough. Instead they just tacked it on in 4 places so it was easy to remove and paint later. As much as I like M-Machines stuff, the lack of paint on their panels is getting a bit annoying.

Anyway off came the cross member;



I'm glad I did it because there was a bit of surface rust underneath which I licked off with the wire wheel.



I plan on seam sealing the entire inside of the car when it's ready so I went ahead and did the little section that will be underneath the crossmember and therefore inaccessible later on. I used a sealer we use on aircraft at work which also has good anti-corrosive properties.



Once that was dry I then painted what was bare and it all ended up looking nice and uniform.



I also managed to mark and drill the holes for the plug welds in the crossmember flange so that's ready to go back in too. Pictures of that next weekend.

[daveb99]

Been following for a while and it looks like it's going well. Makes my few holes that need sorting seem a little less daunting!

[SamG]

Long overdue update! I’ve slowly got back into the swing of things after the Christmas break and have managed to crack on a bit with some of the odd jobs still on the to-do list.

 

Before Christmas I marked and drilled out the holes on the crossmember flange ready to weld it back in after painting the floor, so that was ready to weld in which I did a few weeks ago. After measuring the position of the crossmember on 2 other minis that are in the unit I was eventually happy that mine was straight and true so I was able to clamp it into place.

 

 

The welding went really well, I’m getting a lot more confident with the MIG these days. A large part of it is having the welder set up correctly which is something I’m still learning how to do but luckily Ellis was on hand to give me a few tips on wire speed and power etc. Considering I’d never welded before starting this project I don’t think these plugs went to badly! (A few were questionable at best but I won’t show you those ;))

 

 

After all the holes were plugged I ground all the welds down flat and gave the whole area a quick lick of paint.

 

 

 

 

Edited by SamG, 22 February 2018 - 07:08 PM.

[SamG]

At this point I was getting a little of tired of endless bodywork so I handily distracted myself by starting to think about building up my subframes. I researched local shot blasting companies and came across a one man band in Bridgwater (where I also attend an evening class one evening a week) so one Tuesday I took them across to him and he blasted them for the the princely sum of £30 a pop. They were done that day meaning I was able to collect them on my way home and I was really happy with how they turned out.

 

 

 

 

At this stage I’m loathed to spend more money than I have to so I decided to paint them myself. After what seemed like weeks of research I settled on the aerosol version of POR15’s Chassis Black Top Coat as it has really good reviews. It’s marketed as a direct to rust (or bare metal) paint which doesn’t need a primer, although I still toyed with the idea of spraying them with my Bilt Hamber Zinc primer first. I set up a little spray station in my garage and set to work.

 

 

I went with 3 very light coats to slowly build up the layers although sometimes my impatience got the better of me and I went a little thick in places meaning I had a few runs that needed to be cleaned off.

 

 

 

 

 

At first I was happy with how they looked but now I’m not so sure. Whilst the blasting process gave the subframes a good key for the paint to adhere to, it also left a mottled effect which still shows through. Whilst I’m sure the paint that’s there is man enough for the job the frames aren’t as smooth as I think they should be. I’m now considering buying a tin of subframe enamel and painting it on with a brush over the top of what’s already there. Anyone out there have similar experiences or advice?

Edited by SamG, 22 February 2018 - 07:13 PM.