24 replies to this topic

[smtaylor3]

hello im 16 just bought my mini a 80s mini city needs front panel, wings, a panels , outter sills ,step sills, rear valance , front foot wells the usual stuff. so basically im want to respray my mini a different colour its currently red i would like to strip back to shell but dont know what im getting my self infor as my uncle and dad say there is alot of work to it but can i not just drop both subframes out as its still on wheels and need to take back subframe out anyway to patch the rear arches and paint the back subframe?, pretty much no front end on the car so any help or tips would be great thanks

[Davethepioneer]

If this is your first restoration and your a little unsure then read plenty on here to build your knowledge .

If you want to completly strip your Mini then what I would do and I still do it is take plenty of pictures before stripping anything down, make a note of where each bolt goes, each wire location etc and put small parts into freezer bags, this way everything is recorded and noted down and you will be suprised how much this helps when your shell is complete and you come to re-build it and you open the freezer bag and the note says for example coil mounting braket and bolt you will know exactly what it is no matter how much time it takes to do the bodywork. As for stripping the paint from the body it all depends on your finances, if there stretched already you can use nitromores or if you have the money have the shell soda blasted and then you will know exactly what you are dealing with.

If you want to work on the subframes and leave the body then you can put the shell on a pallet that has castor wheels on and then you can move the shell very easily, I did this on my last mini and purchased the castor wheels from machine mart, hope this info helps fella

[smtaylor3]

thanks very much its not gonna be bare metal restoration , im thinking strip back to shell and sand back to primer seems to be the cheapest and easyest option thanks again for the tips

[maryquant]

Make sure you have plenty of space to store parts, the mini is quite small, a dissasembled mini seems to spread for miles (in my case anyway)

Read through all the project threads you can under 'Complete Mini rebuilds' - but really the strip down is a case of if it comes off, take it off - just keep going and like Davethepioneer said, lots of bags/tubs all labelled up. My rule of thumb is picture of it in situ followed by picture of it disassembled, then I right the image number on the bag.

[smtaylor3]

thanks very much , ive bought all the panels for it on wednesday but mini is on hold until my dads 1965 vw split screen van is on its way to be mot'd which is along way off till then im gonna try and get her running in the drive way see what the engine needs done to it

[Davethepioneer]

Hahahaha as MaryQuant says, the mini is such a small car but when stripped down my god I need another garage just to put all the parts in.

[smtaylor3]

thanks well hopefully ill get started soon , another thing any suggestions on colour i saw a really nice mini one time and a near identicaly colour is on a youtube video "mini vs peugeot 205" will try and get a link looks like metallic would be a great help if someone knew the name of the colour or even the paint code

[daemonchild]

Hahahaha as MaryQuant says, the mini is such a small car but when stripped down my god I need another garage just to put all the parts in.

Yeah - I've got engines here and there, subframes take up more space that you'd think off the car too.
Boxes and boxes and boxes in the loft. The interior will take up a pile of space too...

[Davethepioneer]

There is a photo in one of the Mini mags of a mini in 1959 all stripped showing every part from window glass to radious arms, I wil try and dig it out and scan it, its from a magazine last year so will not be interfering in the sales of the mag lol

[Davethepioneer]

[daemonchild]

It's cool. But there are more wheels than required....

[asmith88]

the spare one are for stopping it from falling on you when ur underneath it! a miust for ever mini owner to poor for axle stands!

[smtaylor3]

well i have interior stripped and is in the loft , tomorrow or sunday hopefully gonna see if engine goes, i dont know how long the mini has been sat for , previous owner said the guy who had it before him cut the wing and most of the inner panel off to get at the chassis which also has been cut off but good news when i pulled up the carpet i found a tax disc so have now got the reg and found a chassis plate of some sort stamped in the footwell so can now get the number back hes gonna be annoyed about that

Edited by smtaylor3, 10 April 2010 - 01:45 AM.

[captainjack15]

Dip it!!

[smtaylor3]

im not dipping it , it doesnt need a full bare metal resto and the chemical dipping is a balls as your taken all protective coating off the body that was originally on it and no matter how much filling painting you do it will never look the same again , will get some pictures up of her so uses can see the work ahead of me