10 replies to this topic

[riczito]

Hi all,

 

I had some work done on my car recently, and apparently the people who did it weren't Mini specialists. Because they committed a newbie error, and jacked the car up in the wrong way, from under the front footwells. As a result, the footwells are somewhat caved in, bent upwards in that area on both sides. I think the floor can probably be redressed, but I'm wondering what the best technique is? Does anyone have any experience in this domain? Any videos out there?

 

Thanks,

Ric

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[RustyAutoCityE]

Sorry to hear about the damage, have you been in touch with the garage that caused it?

You could always try the old fashioned lump of wood and a mallet method from inside the car.

[riczito]

Sorry to hear about the damage, have you been in touch with the garage that caused it?

You could always try the old fashioned lump of wood and a mallet method from inside the car.

 

I have, yes. They said they'd fix it. Problem is, they're a long way away from me, and I don't know when I can find the time to drive all the way out there. I was thinking I might do it myself. Lump of wood and a mallet, you say? Hammered down from inside? Does that work OK? For some reason I thought it needed to be pulled out from underneath.

[RedRuby]

As rustyauto suggests plus you could put some timber underneath spanning the damaged area supported lightly by a jack so when working from inside you won’t end up bowing it in the opposite direction.

[slidehammer]

When I have straightened them out, I have done the above with a block of wood and a large hammer. It looks like they have mistaken the slinger bracket for a jacking point. That will be harder to straighten out as it should run parallel to the floor with a small gap. Maybe you could carefully leaver that down with a large flat bladed screwdriver.

[RustyAutoCityE]

Nice they offered to sort it out at least.

Depends on how perfect you would like the end result I guess. Although not a Mini, I have used the wood and mallet on the floor of a Nova. Came out ok.

Regardless of what method you use, make sure that seam is well protected incase water gets in there.

[g0myw]

I had the same scenario when getting new tyres.
The young d1ckH3@d just trolley jacked both sides.
{the mini was out of sight for me}

I'm sure we've all learnt from this .!

Anyway block of wood & careful use of a club hammer.

Edited by g0myw, 10 September 2020 - 12:38 PM.

[imack]

Check this out:

https://youtu.be/BXlnQgeTJGk

[sonscar]

Not confined to Minis either.The fitter was about to jack my wifes Kia under the sill seam.When I stopped him he used a superior tone That is the jacking point Sir.Yes I said but only with the factory jack which has a plastic lined slot to fit over it.No training is my Guess.Steve..

[paul748]

Same thing happens with MOTs.

The problem is that the modern lifting equipment is not suited to the floor of the classic minis (and other old cars).

At my last MOT, the tester showed me the problem. He was very careful but I could see that it was very difficult to get a safe lift without causing some damage, especially at the front.

[riczito]

Check this out:

https://youtu.be/BXlnQgeTJGk

 

Thanks, that was really interesting. Although I think I'll have to content myself with the hammer technique, as I don't have a lift. I've watched quite a few of davejaguar66's videos. They're a gold mine of useful info!