10 replies to this topic

[mini_matty]

Hey guys its pretty much as the title says Ive got a 86 mayfair and I love the look of a deseamed mini I just woundered how hard it is to do or how much it costs, being a student means funds are quite tight at the moment.
A guide would be perfect or advice.
Cheers

[Bungle]

there is a guide to passing BIVA test in the zcars section

you will need this once deseamed

[mini 4o]

Hey guys its pretty much as the title says Ive got a 86 mayfair and I love the look of a deseamed mini I just woundered how hard it is to do or how much it costs, being a student means funds are quite tight at the moment.
A guide would be perfect or advice.
Cheers

Hi
I am sure someone can help.

In one word please don’t do it, ok its your mini and you say you love the look, but maybe one day you would like to sell it, and its not to everyone’s taste, bit like oversills , I walk away..

John

[Liam Mini 35]

i am planning on doing this once i get all the underseal and crap off my shell, but i have been told its an absolute pain in the arse and takes ages. i have been told that you have to remove a couple of inches a time from the seam weld it up and then take another couple on inches off weld that up and so on and so forth. i have also heard that you are supposed to weld both sides of the seam, but not to sure about this.

[new_van_man]

I too like the look of the deseamed mini! But it is quite involved and requires alot of time welding and grinding. If you can weld yourself then no problem, but if you are paying someone then it will prob cost quite a bit.

I did this at uni also, but my landlord did teh welding for me cheap in his garage.

The way we did it was to weld inside A and C posts where you can get to the seams from the inside and grind off excess unnecessary seams and then filled with filler. However there are bits where you cant do this due to access and you have to grind a bit weld bit grind a bit weld a bit and so on. its not difficult its just time consuming.

I would leave the roof seams on as you will get dripped on everytime you open the drivers door. Mildly annoying.

Sills and rear valence are relatively straight forward.

The smoothing of joints and applicatyion of filler and rubbing down takes ages and is hard work to get it nice.

It is a lot of work trust me i done it, it does look nice but like previous guy said its not to everyones taste and also makes fitting replacement panels slightly more complex in my opinion and certainly costly.

But its up to. Please check my method as it may not be correct but it was what i did. I also never had an SVI test, perhaps i should have done, but took it for mot and it was fine and no one asked any questions. But that was a 10 years ago and in cornwall where no one really cared about things like taht much.

Good luck with it!

[Carlos W]

It's quite an involved task with lots of cutting and welding! Done badly and you might as well throw the whole car away as it would be a hard thing to reverse!

[wassupcrew]

i've done it once before and never again. its a huge job and very difficult to get right without warping panels. the way to do it properly is to lead load the joints afterwards rather than polyester filler so its permanent as many times the filler will just crack off when going over bumps

[MINI-TURBO]

im planning on deseaming my other mini shell, i have been told you have to do about 3 inches at a time otherwise the panels will move, but it does look realy nice if its done properly.

[1995 MK2 IOM]

PLEASE DON'T DE-SEAM THE MINI...

THE WHOLE POINT OF A MINI WAS THE EXTERNAL SEAMS...

DE-SEAMING A MINI = NOT A MINI.... I "DISLIKE" SEEMLESS MINI'S AND FIBREGLASS FRONTS... BUT THAT'S A DIFFERENT STORY...

MY OPINION ONLY THOUGH...

OOPS I was in caps... ah well... draws attention to the point I guess...

PWEASE DON'T

J

P.S. IF YOU WANT A DE-SEAMED ONE.. PLEASE BUY ONE.. NOT WRITE OFF ANOTHER...

Edited by 1995 MK2 IOM, 18 May 2011 - 09:59 PM.

[Tupers]

The best advice I could give would be to leave the seam standing proud of the body by around 3MM. That way when you weld it up you can go a little slower with a bit more heat resulting in better penatration and a stronger weld.


It's also worth doing a few practice runs off the car just to get your eye in and your settings right.

[skoughi]

I would suggest before you grind off any seams to start by cleaning off any paint, gunk and rust thats at the back of the panels you're doing then make a strip of sheet metal about 60 - 70mm wide and the same thickness as the panel metal. Drill a row of holes 6-7mm up each side of the seam about 15-20mm apart then clamp the strip of metal at the back of the panels and plug weld the two together making sure both sides that go together are as clean as you can make it. If you can get access to a spot welder to do this stage the use that. This will now hold the two panels securely in place. Grind off the seam leaving a small gap between them, 1-2mm. Beat the edges smooth with the strip thats been welded at the back so they are tight together, doing small tack welds as you work your way up. Then when you've done this stich weld the seam up, just do about 25-30mm at a time then move to another bit of the seam to keep down on warping. This should in theory, or my theory at least, make it stronger than what was there before. Make sure the rear bit is cleaned and etched primed then lots of sealer. The mini i have has had its seams taken off but whoever did it just welded where the seam was so think i'll be welding a strip of sheet metal at the back to give it some strength. I don't mind the deseamed look but if mine hadn't had it done when i got it then don't think i would do it myself. But done well then i does look good, just make sure no moisture can get in the back of it.