141 replies to this topic

[stormduck]

A little bit of progress! Bye bye boot floor





One arch out



Went out and bought this today



My gosh is it so much better than gasless! The wire goes on so much better, so much cleaner, so much neater, not as much burning splatter. Very impressed. I got it assembled and working, had a 5 minute go and got a better finish than hours of gasless welding with a poorly mated couple of thin bits of metal



I'm gona set up a few bits of metal with close joins and get practising. Anyway, other wheel arch is to come off tomorrow.

[stormduck]

2nd arch out



Removed the metal surrounding this bracket - took an hour of grinding and cutting - phew!



Getting better!

[ed4ran]

looking good!!
I think it will be better with a complete new floor, and also i dont think there is anywhere on the rear for rust to be hiding now???

Keep up the good work

Ed

[stormduck]

My thoughts exactly mate, no point messing about when the whole boot floor can be replaced. In fact there's not much left of the rear now! The last rot hideout is the sills, that's next on the list.

[mad4mins]

great project!!

loving the frame you've built!!!

keep it up!!

[ed4ran]

Also the gas welding looks alot better than the gasless (definitely less splatter)!

[Supercue]

Bought my Mini on Wednesday and I have just read your thread all the way through. I'm so impressed with the dedication and serious amount of time and effort you have put in. Great to read so much detail and lots of pics too.

How long do you think it will be before you are able to put your car back on the road?

I will certainly be keeping an eye on this thread as my one has only just begun.

[stormduck]

Many Thanks people, much appreciated! I've had targets in the past, but at the end of the day this is a DIY hobby that will always take 2nd place to other things in my life, work, moving home etc, so targets that i've set in the past have slipped away quietly. My latest one is by next spring/summer, i can't blame the weather now that's for sure!

A little update, been having a rest from the grinder - it's so noisy! - So i stripped the new engine that i had bought last year. I can't remember if i wrote about it earlier in this post but i'll put some pics up below. A chap off the forum had it machined by MED and rebuilt himself a 1275 metro lump for racing, limited at 6k revs, had half a dozen races, off'ed the car then had it sitting on his drive for a few years before selling up. That's where i came in! Anyway, this is how he rebuilt it:

Balanced, tuftrided crank fitted with center main strap. MG Metro cam. Balanced rods, new nuts and bolts. Bored to 1293cc.




Duplex gears


Totally refreshed MG Metro head - 11 Stud, skimmed, new valves, springs, collets, retainers, new standard rocker gear. 10.5 CR




I'll get some more photos when it comes back to me, but as of this afternoon it went into Gosnays who are going to work on it. Unfortunately the paint on the inside of the block has come away during use and found its way into places it shouldn't be. So it's going to be cleaned thoroughly, oil gallery plugs removed, tapped and fitted with threaded plugs or bolts (the standard push fit ones, as they have been replaced before may come loose under high pressure in future causing an oil leak in a big way). The pistons have some vertical scoring so they are to be bead blasted and i'll fit new rings to them. The crank journals are to be lapped - they have some light scratches but not enough to need a regrind. The cylinders will be re-honed. And i think that's all that we agreed!

And i need to get my new purchase up to them as soon as i get it to finish off the cam bearings that being an SW5-07 cam with duplex venier timing gear, oil pump and followers ... 'appy days!

So i should have it back by middle next week and then i'll be showing as many people that pose the slightest bit of interest!

[stormduck]

sexy new bit of kit

Attached Files

•  Cam_Gear.jpg   122.62K   21 downloads

[ed4ran]

MMmmm nice

[stormduck]

Blimey, almost a year! Shame on me! Well, got started again, lets see how long it lasts! 2.5 hours of cutting and grinding got this bracket finished



Started removing the old oversills, glad i'm doing it, already seeing the first signs of rot after half hour of lying on my back grinding....nice!



This is gona be a looooooong job, wish i hadn't made the welds longer!

Edited by stormduck, 19 May 2008 - 07:23 PM.

[stormduck]

Did quite well tonight, spent an hour grinding off the sill. All i can say is that oversills are very very bad indeed and anyone that fits them should be shot. I'm so glad that i'm doing this now! Even if it is a rubbish job to do





I'll finish getting this off and then see about removing the old sill, that's after i've swept out the garage! I'll probably block up the plug hole in the shower with all this rust in my hair!

[dezshearer]

Oversills are fine as long as they are put on properly!

The area underneath needs to be rot free or else they are BAD news.

[MrMini]

I just read the whole project. I admire all your hard work and its great to see you are learning new skills along the way. Keep it up! It will look stunning when its done im sure!

[stormduck]

Oversills are fine as long as they are put on properly!

The area underneath needs to be rot free or else they are BAD news.

yeah you're right, just not as much impact putting it that way!

It will look stunning when its done im sure!

I bloody hope so mate! cheers