195 replies to this topic

[BusheyTrader]

Not much time spent on Spike this weekend........ Illness yet again over a long weekend, a family birthday and a jubilee street party limited the available time to a few hours cutting the boot floor from the L/H subframe strengthener / bracket on the wheel arch.

If I didn't need to keep the mounting points for the rear of the subframe in place I'd have cut the lot out in minutes with cutting discs. Trying to disassemble carefully with spot weld cutters and grinders is taking a lot longer. Plus I've got to remember not to lean on the boot hinge panel as there's nothing supporting it.......... It looks like I'll need to cut about 10mm from the bottom of it and under both rear lights and butt weld a new strip in.


Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 05 June 2012 - 04:55 PM.

[BusheyTrader]

There was some wise advice on the forum the other week. "Don't keep repair panels whole, trim them to fit the good metal left on the car". Well, the boot floor repair panel wasn't wide enough in places so I butt welded in extra metal. The spare wheel portion on the L/H side looks better as I added extra metal for a deeper dish that met the existing well profile.

The floor panel's Cleco pinned in place and everything looks better, just need to prepare for welding etc. I clamped the rear valence and closing arch assemblies in place and the rear looks Mini like again.

I've left the rotten battery box in place for now. There's not enough strength in the floor until welded up to drill out the spot welds, release it and repair or buy a replacement. The underneath is covered in 1/2 inch of that white sealant stuff. Hopefully I'll get more work done tomorrow.

Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 30 June 2012 - 11:52 AM.

[BusheyTrader]

The floor repair panel has needed a lot of work to get it close to the welding stage - getting closer. It was basically the rough shape of the floor.

Anyway a much needed change of smartfone means better pictures from my small garage. Hopefully this hole will be filled later today.







Adam

[BusheyTrader]

I tack welded the floor repair panel in to place


I've seam welded the panel. Then welded in metal strips where I'd cut slits in the spare wheel recess of the repair panel. The contour wouldn't match the original otherwise.


I need to bolt down the subframe strengthening brackets to the floor before welding. Cleco pins on their own don't clamp together tight enough for welding. Then grind down any proud weld on the underside (ugh!) so the rear valance closing panel will fit flush for welding.

Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 29 July 2012 - 05:45 PM.

[hughJ]

Adam - still amazed your doing it all the right way up and keeping it on its wheels. Certainly not jealous of you grinding from underneath. Looking good.

Hugh

[BusheyTrader]

Ironically the underside of the boot floor looks neater than above which still needs some dressing. I sprayed some topcoat on to the bare metal to stop it from oxidising.



Next task is to weld in the valance closing / rear sub mount strengthening panels on the underside. I'll probably bolt the rear subframe back in to ensure alignment.

Adam

[BusheyTrader]

I'm surprised I haven't done this before. I welded my first Cleco pin to the floor. I thought I'd removed it and was filling in the hole with weld............

[BusheyTrader]

I've welded the "rear valance closing and subframe mount panels" to underneath the boot floor. Both were heritage items and with a bit of tweaking fitted well against the floor and rear valance. Yes the assembly may be made up from simple pressings but it would take me far too long to make them up properly.




They were plug welded from underneath at close intervals. No picture from underneath looked any good so here's a photo of the weld penetration from above.

Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 27 August 2012 - 09:47 PM.

[BusheyTrader]

Photobucket appears to be playing up tonight so hopefully these pictures make it through................

I bought this boot repair panel https://www.minispar...ch/classic/boot the 31" only panel that locates the boot hinges. For a pattern repair panel it matched up pretty well which hasn't been my usual experience. I thought I'd give it a try for a tenner and if it was rubbish then the full width heritage replacement for ten times the price would have to do.

Using the motto of measure five times cut once I cut through the rusty original with a cutting disc, then trimmed the repair panel to suit with a flapwheel and butt welded it into place. I wish I'd used the copper plate behind the butt welding trick earlier on in the build as it works very well.






The weld on the R/H side was ground down with the edge of a grinding disc to give a neat finish. I postponed grinding the L/H side as it was getting late and I didn't want to annoy the neighbours. Once that's done I'll clamp up the boot hinge panel to the floor and refit the boot lid to check that all's well. Then it's on to the battery box after I've sorted the rusty sections underneath the rear lights first .........................


Adam

Edited by BusheyTrader, 03 September 2012 - 08:55 PM.

[BusheyTrader]

I fitted the boot lid to the hinge panel with a pair of shiny hinges and the fit surprised me. It's pretty good considering there's little room for adjustment.....



The centre of the boot hinge panel may need to be pulled back a touch so it sits flush with the boot lid. Otherwise the lid sits fairly close all round although the gaps change a bit when the boot rubber is fitted but they still look consistent all round. I'll clamp up the rear valance underneath to see if it makes any difference in the next day or so. The gaps on a Paul Smith Mini parked near my work don't look as close as good..........

Adam

[minimuk]

Looks ace oyur boot Adam will prob be ok wiv seal don't forget the hinge gaskets are relatively thick so they push in the lid too by 1-2mm, to make sure if I where you, put a seal in and the gaskets and see where you are before any more weldin...

[BusheyTrader]

Thanks Minimuk, I should have said the hinge gaskets were already on. They are thick, they almost remind me of bakelite. A quick trip down the road to Minispares brought a new boot seal. The lid looks good all around when closed but a touch proud at the top l/h corner. It could be the lid itself is twisted but its close enough not to worry me at the mo. The lid will need a new skin which may work to my advantage.

Adam

[BusheyTrader]

Forget to say that the Mig has been more consistent since I bought a proper Heavy Duty earthing clamp as per the previous post of last week.

The flimsy original that came with welder had a poor clamping action and the welding action behaved like a machine gun at times. The new clamp wants to bite your fingers off..............but the weld is more predictable all the time.

Edited by BusheyTrader, 10 September 2012 - 06:12 PM.

[Minidarren83]

Hi your making great progress in your project and still can't believe you've not flipped the shell I can't weld upside down for toffee and I must say thanks as without threads like yours my pattern Door steps would have been thrown as far as I could out my garage door.

Keep up the good work Darren

[BusheyTrader]

Thanks Darren, it's good to know that our experiences help each other. I've learnt a lot from this project forum since everybody here is so hands on. I'll be a lot better prepared for the passenger door step when I tackle that. Some of the pattern parts are just a starting point for the finished shape, others are spot on.

As for welding underneath the car, wear the proper gear with proper welding gloves and don't lie directly underneath the weld pool. Make sure that your overalls are fire retardant and there's no bare skin poking out of them. Ha Ha!

Adam