15 replies to this topic

[Element_01303]

Hello All, Well After introducing myself the other day to the forum I thought it was time to finally get to sitting down infront of the computer and out of the garage to show the gang a little of what I have been up too the past couple of weeks. I bought this 1987 advantage and after owning it for about one day and having a good thorough go over of it, decieded that the guy that had fixed it up before me was just looking for a quick sale and made her look nice and run alright.... but buggered up when it came to good quality fixes. Little thing like lights intermittly working or the wipers cutting out is you jiggled the wiring harness, not to mention the rust demon that keeps popping up the more paint comes off and the strange molding smell from the interior.... so I instanly made the firm decision to take her down to metal and build her back up again to my exacting spec so that I would know every bolt and nut had been givin the proper attention.
I have been working on cars for a good many years but have been a uni for the past three and have not held a wrench (sorry spanner on this side of the ocean ) for quite a while so you can imagine the gusto at which I have attacked poor Lotti, a little pain now for so much pleasure later!!!!

...As she came...

 Lotti_1.jpg   237.64K   6 downloads

 Lotti_2.jpg   273.84K   4 downloads

I was at first just going to do the wiring with a new loom and get her MOT'd and such, but then thought hey while I am at it might as well clean up and paint the engine compartment...

 Engine_Compartment.jpg   389.44K   6 downloads

...this idea kinda spread to the body and has now left me with a dirty shell stripped of everything and starting to get a coat of etch primer where I have taken the wings down to metal. I have managed to now finish the scuttle and both wings and am moving on to removing the rest of the paint on the roof and remaing body sections.


 Off_Side_Stripping.jpg   267.61K   7 downloads

 Near_Side_Stripping.jpg   284.22K   5 downloads

I do not think I will spend quite as much time on the interior refinishing as the exterior though as most of it is in pretty good condition, I will just fix the bad spots and repaint the visable areas not covered by the interior panels etc.

....so as it stands here in my beloved little Lotti at the end of todays work....

 A_finished_Front.jpg   209.23K   3 downloads

And the battle plan for the rest of the project:

1. Finish the exterior and interior respray
2. Drop and strip subframes and paint/rebuild with new shocks, hi-lo's, and replace rubber doughnuts with coil springs
3. electrical and exterior seals and glass
4. Interior
5. Engine and Tranny

...I have not made up my mind on all the specifics yet but the ideas are flodding in the more I poke around on the net and read the forum...Really can't deciede what will be more fun in the end though...working on the girl, or the first road trip :shrug: !!!!

Hope you guys will stick around and keep up on this, looking forward to rolling out of my drive and getting on meeting the rest of the mini world

-Christian

Attached Files

•  Strippin_1.jpg   235.27K   5 downloads

[Element_01303]

....Update update update...

So after much delay in posting back to the forum with updates I finally have one though I can say support has been lacking in this endevour ...and in the most ardeous stage as well, oh well, the more I post the more attention it will draw...I hope!!! SO the stripping continues, there it is, the update....happy now? But seriously this is a really diffacult stage of bringing a mini back on the road, taking down layer and layer of paint back to a bare metal workable surface. It is also truley amazing the types of things you will find....how many owners could possible just slap a 20mm coating of bondo on a car, not sand it and walk away...the only thing hidding it was the 10 or so layer of paint until it just blead away looking like a great paint job!!! but as it stands here is my baby...

 Almost_There_1.jpg   320.14K   6 downloads

 Almost_There_2.jpg   293.98K   3 downloads

...The hardest part so far was deff the roof. The checkerboard which I thought was paint (until about half way through !!!) was actually a baked vinal sticker that was so hard it felt like paint, kept melting into the undercoat when I hit it with the wire brush....not fun, made getting it off 10 times harder than it needed to be. But I have set enthusiasim aside and stripped the remaining section with a stripper to pull the vinyal and clear coat off yesterday and will finish the rest tonight....

 Almost_There_3.jpg   245.19K   7 downloads

...so the plan for the weekend unfolds, remaining paint off tonight, strip clean and treat the bad areas on the interior (not totally stripping as most is in good condition) and god willing....etch prime the shell on sunday...If I can actually get a coat of primer on the inside as well i would consider this a total sucess ...but we will see, the weather is not as always so supportive of my plans....anyway hope all is well in project land for the rest of you, I think I may have caught the ring worm...and have a finish date to drive me forward to Germany but we will see ....till next time

-Christian

[scoticus]

nice job on th stripping.. looking goooooood



ill support ya lol

[Element_01303]

nice job on th stripping.. looking goooooood



ill support ya lol

...hey hey first post back!!!! ..thanks man, now you can say you were there from the beginning ...stay tuned, and I will try to post a bit more regularly, should start going a bit faster after all the paint is off.

-C

[scoticus]

nice job on th stripping.. looking goooooood



ill support ya lol

...hey hey first post back!!!! ..thanks man, now you can say you were there from the beginning ...stay tuned, and I will try to post a bit more regularly, should start going a bit faster after all the paint is off.

-C

haha, yes.. first comment.. i popped you thread cherry lmao

sorry , i had to say it

ill be with this one all the way, guna subscripe to it

yeah, once the paint is off itll go much faster, you can see whar needs doing properly

[sazal]

Hello

You keeping her looking original and putting advantage stickers back on her?

Good to see another Advantage being done up!

[shedberg51]

Looking good Christian. Nice to get to the wrenching again eh? Great for working out the workaday world frustrations! Dad

....Update update update...

So after much delay in posting back to the forum with updates I finally have one though I can say support has been lacking in this endevour ...and in the most ardeous stage as well, oh well, the more I post the more attention it will draw...I hope!!! SO the stripping continues, there it is, the update....happy now? But seriously this is a really diffacult stage of bringing a mini back on the road, taking down layer and layer of paint back to a bare metal workable surface. It is also truley amazing the types of things you will find....how many owners could possible just slap a 20mm coating of bondo on a car, not sand it and walk away...the only thing hidding it was the 10 or so layer of paint until it just blead away looking like a great paint job!!! but as it stands here is my baby...

 Almost_There_1.jpg   320.14K   6 downloads

 Almost_There_2.jpg   293.98K   3 downloads

...The hardest part so far was deff the roof. The checkerboard which I thought was paint (until about half way through !!!) was actually a baked vinal sticker that was so hard it felt like paint, kept melting into the undercoat when I hit it with the wire brush....not fun, made getting it off 10 times harder than it needed to be. But I have set enthusiasim aside and stripped the remaining section with a stripper to pull the vinyal and clear coat off yesterday and will finish the rest tonight....

 Almost_There_3.jpg   245.19K   7 downloads

...so the plan for the weekend unfolds, remaining paint off tonight, strip clean and treat the bad areas on the interior (not totally stripping as most is in good condition) and god willing....etch prime the shell on sunday...If I can actually get a coat of primer on the inside as well i would consider this a total sucess ...but we will see, the weather is not as always so supportive of my plans....anyway hope all is well in project land for the rest of you, I think I may have caught the ring worm...and have a finish date to drive me forward to Germany but we will see ....till next time

-Christian

[Element_01303]

Hello

You keeping her looking original and putting advantage stickers back on her?

Good to see another Advantage being done up!

Sazal....Very reluctent to answer this at the risk of upsetting a purest...but while Lily is a gorgeous little car I am taking a more "street racer" theme going for Lotti....don't hate me please !!!!

She is going to white with black sportspack arches and a black roof with a custom designed Ace of Spades card on the top and the black 13 x 7 supertrax rims from huddersfield...interior to follow the same black/white theme and looking into doing a full custom dash with Autometer gauges from the states...kinda had to go this route, as she was just a patch work of a million differant mini's...plus a tiny little race car like a mini has always been a little fantasy of mine....but she is loved and that is whats important....next one will prob. be a retro rally if I am around in the UK for that long!!

-C

[Element_01303]

Looking good Christian. Nice to get to the wrenching again eh? Great for working out the workaday world frustrations! Dad

Thanks Dad....for everyone watching this thread, my dad is monitoring from California to stay updated, how cool is that?!.....I love the fact I can't keep oil and grime out from under my fingernails again....

"I did wash up I swear...I just won't come out!!!"

-C

[mini_matt_106]

heya looks like a good little project always nice to see another advantage if you are keeping it white i think its Citroen do a reali nice bright white called Alpine white i think. Dimond white always looks a bit cream/yellow for my taste so will have mine re-sprayed! maybe you could just have a pair of the Advantage vinals from the boot on each door? just for the reminder that its an Advantage!
black alloys look so good on a white mini thats why mine a black! lol
cant remember who else on here has an ace on their roof but it does look the sex!
matt

[Element_01303]

...So post weekend update, lots of progress this weekend despite a rather large dim sum breakfast on sunday slowing things down a bit!!! I won't bother will all the final stripping and weld grinding shots and just give you the pics with the etch primered shell ready for body work!!!!

 Etch_Primer_1.jpg   336.5K   3 downloads

 Etch_Primer_2.jpg   325.31K   3 downloads

Everything is going along very smoothly now, had a talk with a passerby on sat, and it looks like he might have a full spray booth for me to borrow for a sunday so I can finish her off with a proper spray instead of half a**ing it in my garage but we will see. Lucky for me mini's have great panel seperation which would make make painting panel by panel not that diffacult. I am just very worried about dust and the like ruining an otherwise good job...but we will see how it goes. Ever ongoing and moving forward.....

-Christian

[Element_01303]

heya looks like a good little project always nice to see another advantage if you are keeping it white i think its Citroen do a reali nice bright white called Alpine white i think. Dimond white always looks a bit cream/yellow for my taste so will have mine re-sprayed! maybe you could just have a pair of the Advantage vinals from the boot on each door? just for the reminder that its an Advantage!
black alloys look so good on a white mini thats why mine a black! lol
cant remember who else on here has an ace on their roof but it does look the sex!
matt

...Thanks Man, I was thinking in all the intrest that the Advantage owners have for their cars of having a viynl sticker cut that ays "Advantage Racing" or just "Advantage" not huge but resonable to put at the top of the windscreen. I know its a bit chavy but so is a mini street racer ....anyway maybe not, thoughts? I have a test can of the Diamond White 2 that I had made made up and its a bit more of the bright white over the origanal that I had seen previously, but I will take a look at the Citroen color and do a comparison between the two thanks!

-Christian

[Element_01303]

Well, the body filler fun has begun, I am sorry that I have no pictures today as I left my camera at home but will post some tonight or tomorrow morning to show you lot some of the progress. I am having to fill the gaps between the wings and the scuttle panel as when the new wings were put on they were badly lined up (non-heritage panels from the look of the fit) leaving a rather large gap. Also where the wings join the front panel, the guy welded on the outside of the panels in the gap, so after much profiling with the grinder, that has been filled too. I am using a glass fibre filler as it is much more structurally sound than the poly or bondo type filler and I have to say I am most impressed with the finish on this stuff, not to mention it is as hard as a rock. There are some holes due to air being mixed in, but a quick pass of poly will fill the small imperfections leaving a great finish IMO.

I was a little hesitant about finishing in this way and thought about redoing the panels, but for the time/ money associated with it and the fact the panels were brand new, lead me to this corse. Now that the stripping is done and I am seeing the result of the filling/smoothing I am very impressed. I think it is going to give the fromt end quite a sporty looking apperance especially with the sportspack arches on there. On that note I have decieded after much reading on the matter I have no choice but to go with the genuine Rover arches. I really want the quality garuntee frrom the originals, and with so many others having bad experiances in fitting and gaps and the like, and rebuying after getting crap product I am just going to shell out the extra dosh and go for it. Should get them next week, and after they are fitted I can start with the final work over leading up to paint!!!! ...And she slowly comes back together.... More soon

[scoticus]

looking goood

[daemonchild]

cant remember who else on here has an ace on their roof but it does look the sex!

He's resprayed it in matt camo colours now, but it used to look like this - sorry no picture of the roof: