141 replies to this topic

[stormduck]

What a good day i had!! I wasn't looking forward to grinding down the front, but i've done a large chunk of it in a few hours and i'm well chuffed!

I removed all trace of wing and front panel from the passenger inner wing.



And removed a large chunk of the front panel, just leaving enough so the inner wing sits against the subframe and doesn't wobble all over the place for grinding:



A slightly rotton front panel!



After walloping the inlet valves before attempting to remove them the collets came away very easily. I also managed to prise to thermostat housing off the single broken bolt, and then finish undo-ing it with a pair of mole grips - SO happy it came out easily!

[ed4ran]

Looking good

[stormduck]

WOOOOO! What a fun fun day i've had! :saywhat: That was in a slightly sarcastic manner in case you didn't realise.

Started off grinding the drivers side inner wing and got all that off pretty quickly so was quite chuffed!



See the nice sunny weather!



And then i removed the gear linkage using a 4mm punch :grin:



And the the problems started....i blame the UPS delivery man. You see, he delivered my Mini Spares order that contained the cone compressor i ordered, which gave me the idea of using it today. What i then realised is that i shouldn't have taken the tower bolts out until i actually needed to, because the front subframe shifted forward so that i couldn't get the cone compressor through the bulkhead and into the rubber springs. I should've stopped here and waited till i had a hoist/stand etc and removed the engine, and then worry about getting the subframe in line to remove the rubber springs....but i didn't. I thought it would be alright to undo the lower subframe brackets then using two jacks shift the subframe back into line and tighten back up again......how wrong was i!

I undone the lower bolts and the subframe dropped enough for me to realise that it wasn't going to go back on. A poorly positioned jack meant the bulkhead side of the subframe dropped while the front remained higher. Anyway, realising what i was now in for i managed to shift the subframe into line with the top mount holes, compress the springs, remove the cones, lovely jubbly. But with the subframe and engine now sitting on two jacks i knew that i couldn't leave it like it, and would have to lower it to the ground to leave it for a few weeks while i sort hoist, stand etc.

After a lot of palarva finding something suitable to rest the subframe onto so that the sump wasn't taking the weight, i finally found something...not ideal but the right height! The steel wheels that came off the min! Plus some old shelves at the front to make up the height. A mess i know, but it works!



The rope was there so that the engine didn't fall on me while i was lowering the jacks!



At least the subframe's down. Now i need to hope that i can remove the upper and lower arms with it like that, because i don't fancy bolting it back up again!

Ooo HOW FUN!

[The Matt]

Not sure if I got the gist of what you were saying, but the cone compressor will work with the subframe off too. I did mine that way around.

[stormduck]

What an excellent day today. After slowing to a near halt things have completely sped right up again. With the help of good friend Kenny he's helped out on everything i was stuck on, and started with the welding of the new panels.

Here he is after tacking the hinge cover panel: Wave to the camera!



One panel down and lots more to go!



During the interval the rear subframe was finally removed!! One stiff bolt off, another one cut, and the final one...well, obliterated! He also got the radius arms off, chuffed :grin:



Scuttle now removed



Both inner scuttle pieces were welded on, followed by the new scuttle. We've tested the fit of the a-panels, wings and bonnet and it's really looking good, very pleased so far!!



I thought this was a good photo



We also removed the engine, and front subframe so i'm really pleased with the work done today! I now need to strip and re-paint the front subframe, strip and re-paint the bulkhead and inner wings using products from the Frost range, both inside and out. Make up pieces to replace the holes in the inner wing that i found underneath the top mounts, and generally tidy around the welding done today. I also need to seal up any small gaps between the scuttle inner and inner wing using POR-15 seam sealer. Then the front subframe can be re-fitted, and the rest of the front panels can be welded into place. And of course there's all the re-painting underneath the car to do! Another good thing is that i've decided on the colour but need to find out the name of it.

Along another line, i've taken the standard head and de-greased it:



And now it's looking like this after two coats of Frost Ford Red Engine Enamel:



If all goes well i intend to sell this head on in the next few weeks.

So quite some progress and i'm really pleased with it! I've now got plenty to be getting on with, and i'll hopefully have another mate round soon to help out with some small repairs to the wiring loom. Happy Days!! :grin:

[Jackman]

If you dont get your cones out speak to me.

Looks good too! Your doing good work with it.

[ed4ran]

looking good,
Its a nice feeling when things get going again!!
(well it was/is for me)
Keep at it, and it wont be long till your driving it.

[stormduck]

jackman - All the cones are out now thankfully

ed - yeah it is, except for the darned rain!

Was at it again today in between the rain spells!

This is what it looked like first thing this morning:



By the end of today i'd cut the rot from the top mount area, cut two sections from the inner wing that were rotten, found a hole in the sill area (where the wheel sprays water against), drilled through the rotton screws holding on the air vent one side, snapped the four rusty nuts holding the drivers side air duct to remove it, pulled through some bulkhead cables and removed gromets, seam sealed passenger side inner scuttle, metal readied all the exposed metal.



Also forgot to mention, big thanks to Mark who gave me hand with removing the front hub nuts and top arms that were causing me grief!

Next steps are to finish removing things from the bulkhead inc. steering column and rack, make up some pieces to weld into the inner wings, then take the whole lot down to bare metal and paint, she aint gona rust!

[stormduck]

Another succesful day, i couldn't resist getting out there with the excellent weather today!

I prepped all the patches at the front, then measured up and cut the .9mm zintec sheet into pieces to weld into the gaps. Considering i've never welded before i thought ah sod it! So i went for it and done quite well i thought!

The smallest patch covered in metal ready



The largest patch covered in metal ready



after the practice the passenger top mount was the best piece, although i now understand the need for a better welding mask, the hand held one that came with the welder is very poor. The reflection around the sides imperes the view, and the lense is fixed so you have to keep waving the mask in front of your face and then you end up off course. An automatic adjusting full face item is being ordered off ebay.



I also took delivery of the 12G295 i'd been waiting for, happy days! I'll need to strip it, check it all, then send it away somewhere decent to get it skimmed, and hardened valve seats fitted. I'll rebuild the rocker shaft, fit all new studs, re-paint it ready to be fitted and hope for a decent power hike.



Once i get the new mask i'll better the weld around the top mount and weld the other side, then i can get painting. Lets hope for good weather!

[miniboo]

Bluemini does headwork. link is in his signature

[DannyTip]

Awesome project your making cracking progress. I wish mine would progress this quickly what wheels and arches are you planning for it?

[Dom]

Good progress being made with excellent photography footage

[stormduck]

I may get in touch with bluemini but i'm waiting until i've stripped the block as i may need parts machining from that and would get it done in one go.

danny - cheers fella, that's a very good question as i'm not 100%. It'll sit on steels while it's being built, then i'll prossibly refurb a set of 12" minilites that i have and run on those, but i'd like to end up with a set of anthracite/black alloys but which model i'm not sure. It's a way off yet so i'm not even thinking about it! As for arches i have no idea which way i'm going to go....they'll definately be body colour but as for width i just don't know. I know i don't want wide 13" alloys so grp 5 are ruled out.

As for today, i removed the boot lid to get easy access to repairing the boot:



Found a rotten patch in the passenger wheel arch and cut it out, the sill looks fine and considering this panel hasn't been touched for 15 years i'm impressed it isn't a lot worse. I've coated it in metal ready and i'll patch it up and seal it properly so water won't get back in.



Then i started removing all the paint from the bulkhead. With the benefit of hindsite i should've used a soft sanding pad to remove this rather than a wire brush because it took AGES! Found some surface rust where water had got underneath the seam sealent but nothing bad:



Finished this panel by the end of the day, coated in metal ready for the time being.



I need to remove all the paint and rust from the bulkhead and inner wings, then seal all the seams. The stuff i'm using is the Frost stuff known as industrial filler, its SO tough! Then i'll paint the lower half of the bulkhead in black POR-15, while the upper half will be primer, then i'll top coat the lot using the colour which i'm having made up tomorrow :wink:

I've ordered a better welding mask so i can make the welds better on the patches, then i'll fill them before painting the inner wings.

[stormduck]

Good progress being made with excellent photography footage

I'm gona use film footage to capture the first start-up when it's ready :cool:

cheers fella.

[ministe]

Fantastic project log mate! Keep up the good work, its looking great so far.