13 replies to this topic

[shyrob]

Ok here's a right old dodgy question... I had my mini stolen. I got her back with great success but the thieves ripped of the engine number just leaving the studs. I got one stud out by tapping it round with a punch, the other started to move then the head snapped of flush. I've heard that these studs are hardened and drilling them out is futile. What can I do to preserve my mini's originality? I want to get her back to her old self. I am talking about ORIGINAL pre 63 stuff here so no crazy suggestions please lol

[minisprint]

Ok here's a right old dodgy question... I had my mini stolen. I got her back with great success but the thieves ripped of the engine number just leaving the studs. I got one stud out by tapping it round with a punch, the other started to move then the head snapped of flush. I've heard that these studs are hardened and drilling them out is futile. What can I do to preserve my mini's originality? I want to get her back to her old self. I am talking about ORIGINAL pre 63 stuff here so no crazy suggestions please lol

think a colbot drill bit would drill it out! they sell the rivits on ebay i think!

[samsfern]

their blind rivets i think

[rob#155]

What sort of position are you in with the engine, is it in or out of the car?
I used to be an engineer, and our shop had a srark eroder, we used this to remove broken taps and any other hardened bits that you couldn't drill.
I wouldn't have thought the rivets were that hard myself, but I don't know.
If it's out and you can take the block to an engineers shop, they would be able to have a go at drilling it out properly, (inline) or if not spark erode it out, it's not a labour intensive job so shouldn't cost much.

Hope this helps!

[E.L.M.O]

Congrats on getting your mini back, do you mind if I go slightly off topic and ask how you managed to recover it?

[Paul Wiginton]

Ive drilled them out with a titanium coated bit

[Ethel]

Rivets by definition have to be soft enough to hammer in to shape. Have a go with a drill. If it doesn't work out you could always drill new holes next to the old ones.

[Dan]

Ah but they aren't rivets. Or blind rivets. I can't remember the name of them but they are extremely hard because they are actually a headless one way screw that cut their own threads into the cast iron as they're hammered in.

[SolarB]

This is what they look like, mine came out with mole grips.
Holes in the block are 4mm diameter.
 P1090989_b.JPG   140.81K   9 downloads

[shyrob]

Congrats on getting your mini back, do you mind if I go slightly off topic and ask how you managed to recover it?

Hi, no prob. Well for a start it was not a pro job as we knew it was stolen by idiots, they didn’t even know how to get in to it, they had to jump start it as they didn’t know about the floor start. The mini was spotted that evening by a good friend on this very site here, making it’s way to Bedminster (Bristol, about 35 miles away). As you may or may not remember we created a high level profile on every possible mini and classic car site, Printed off thousands of reward posters and handed them out at all the shows. Basically we had to block off every avenue for “moving the mini on (parts or whole)” The main thing that we did was to place a stolen reward listing on Ebay. Ebay was the master stroke here as it kept the pressure on, reminding all true mini fans to keep a look out. We were getting hundreds of emails and from all of the world too! Then six weeks after she was stolen... I had “the” phone call.
We went to Bedminster and there she was. Parked up outside a block off flats. We called the police etc, etc.
My mini came back to me about 95% complete withe next to no damage at all. I was so lucky!!! I'm filling up now lol

[monkey]

OMG congrats on getting her back! What a nice ending to such a horrible story!

I can't belive that 6 weeks later it is still almost in one peice!

[shyrob]

OMG congrats on getting her back! What a nice ending to such a horrible story!

I can't belive that 6 weeks later it is still almost in one peice!

http://www.thisisbri...il/article.html

[blacktulip]

thats a fantastic result in finding it again, good luck on the studs.

[shyrob]

Here is a better picture