10 replies to this topic

[Aridgerunner]

After making a few posts someone on here recommended that I start a build thread.  So here goes.

 

First a little background.  My step son bought this car with the plan of having a fun occasional use car, knowing that it would need some work to make it decent.  The plan was to work on it together. Because neither of us knew much about Mini’s we got screwed.  My experience with mini’s started in 1970 while stationed in the UK.  I owned a 1959 for about a year and during that time I transplanted an 1100 engine in it.  This is the only picture I have of that car.

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The car ran fine and I do not recall it having any rust. 

 

This 1978 came with more rust than I’ve ever seen in a car that could still be driven..  The rust was quite cleverly hidden by those blasted oversills and a fair amount of skillfully applied body filler.  Here are some pictures of the car the day we got it home.

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The car does have some nice features.  The engine is a MG Metro with an HIF 44 carb and 1.5 ratio rockers.  The brakes are the 7.5” front discs and the rears are the Cooper drums with the built in extension. The 10” wheels are the wider Cooper wheels.

 

After driving the car for one summer we decided it was time to tear into it.  That’s when TJ lost interest.  Which is a bit of a problem for me because I my MGA needs a little work and then there’s the TR3 that needs a complete restoration. So the plan right now is TJ will provide the funds to buy the parts and I’ll do the work to get it back to structurally sound. At that point the Mini will go in the barn and the TR will move into the shop.  Unless TJ changes his mind; which has been known to happen quite often.

 

The following are some pictures of what has been done so far. I started by dropping the rear subframe and then removing and replacing the left side door step.  Doing that maintained a proper door opening.  Once the door step was in place I braced the body as so many others have said is necessary to do

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Then I cut out the rotted inner sill and welded in the new sill. 

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I then moved to the left side boot floor because I had to replace all of the structural parts that hold the subframe. 

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When that was completed I then welded in the new outer sill using a spot welder along the entire seam. In order to get a good door gap I added a wire bead to the lower section of the B post. 

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The door fit well enough at the wing and across the top and bottom.  I may do some more gap correction later in the rebuild. 

I expect the work that remains to be done will take many months simply because there are other projects (honey do list ya know) the draw me away from the fun projects.  

 

I expect to do an update in a week or so.  Thanks for looking and offering any comments.

 

Bill

 

 

 

[MasterD78]

Looking good so far!  

[Boycie]

Nice work, looking good. That's not rusty though.. you actually have something left to weld to!

[Aridgerunner]

Nice work, looking good. That's not rusty though.. you actually have something left to weld to!

OK, I'm laughing now. In reality the floors are not too bad and the A post was about 98% there. Just the bottom inch of the post was gone. This car was repaired once in it's past. The oversill still had a tag on it dated 1999. The lower 1/3 of both flitch panels had been replaced too. The work was a little sloppy but it kept the car on the road.

I hope the right side is at least that good.

[Aridgerunner]

OK,my how time fly's! Many other things got in the way, such as my son (TJ) bought a house and there went his spare time and money for the project. And then I bought a 77 B that needed a little work. Really, it's a nice car thatmjust needed some minor attention. No RUST! Unbelieveable in this part of the world.

Anyway, I have started on the right side and it is only marginally better than the left. I'll post some pictures when I make some progress.

It feels good to be back on the Mini.

Bill

[Aridgerunner]

Well, I got side tracked again. I hope now I'm back on this until it's on the road.

I removed the right front wing and A panel today. I did this so I could get better access to the lower portion of the A post. I'm glad I did. The previous repairs were done without correcting the area under the scuttle. So now I will get the new inner and outer sills in place, along with a half panel for the heelboard and then attack the scuttle area.

Once that is done I will remove the left side wing and front panel. On second thought, I should probably pull the engine and remove the front subframe too. I have the new wings and front panel so I should be able to proceed without too many delays. I hope.

Bill

Attached Files

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[Aridgerunner]

I just keep forgetting to update this thread. I have posted questions with pictures in other threads but didn't update here.

So here goes.

The right side of the car is pretty well ready for paint. I've been avoiding the repairs to the left side A and B post where they meet the roof. I knew it was gonna be real bear of a job to fix those. But they are nearly done now. I cut off the drip rails around the corner and saved them. Then repaired the roof and welded the rails back on. I thoroughly cleaned the remainder of the drip rails looking for more rust through and didn't find any.

There's still some areas that need a little more work and some of that has been done since taking the pics.

Over the next few months I'll drop the front subframe and start cleaning and repairing that area. It sure has been slow going.

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And once again; thanks to all that helped with answers in the past.

Bill

[Aridgerunner]

I move slow. Actually, I have too many other projects. That's my excuse for the slow pace on this project and I'm sticking to it!

Anyway, here's few pictures of the progress to date. The left side is very close to ready for paint as is the engine bay. I'm actually farther along with the front end than what shows in the picture. If all goes well I'll have this thing ready for paint by spring.  IMG_20230725_122642546_HDR.jpg   64.03K   0 downloads  IMG_20240111_153736474.jpg   42.68K   0 downloads  IMG_20240111_153736474.jpg   42.68K   0 downloads

[Sir_Swish!]

It's looking great! Well done on saving the roof corners

[slidehammer]

I bet you wish you still had the '59?

Good work on the repairs, especially the roof repair as that is a tricky area to repair well.

Good luck with the project

[Aridgerunner]

Yes, I do wish I still had the 59. But I do have a 69 that is next in line and not nearly as rusty as this one.