83 replies to this topic

[v21ash]

love this build, keep it up!

Hi, looks like an excellent project, surprised to see how bad the shell actually got!! But you are doing a fantastic job of restoring it!

I was thinking about getting a zinc coating kit myself, where did you get yours? Any good? How much?

Cheers

Thanks, i got the kit from a bloke who my friend knows, it was about £60 for everything inc a variable power supply. You can get them off ebay too, gateros_plating is the one you want to be buying them off, his are the best/cheapest kits.

Well that's my project pretty much up to date apart from the work that's gone on over the last few days but that will have to wait till tomorrow now.

[R1minimagic]

Ok cheers, I have seen various kits on ebay but didn't know if they were any good or what the quality of the finish was vs price.

Does it also do chrome plating?

[v21ash]

The kits that gateros_plating sell are exactly the same as mine, to chrome plate you'd need different chemicals, if you speak to gateros_plating he'd probably do a chrome plating kit too.

The kits are only worth buying if you want to do alot of small items, if you only had a couple of large items you'd be beter off paying to have them done. My kit paid for itself after doing 3 or 4 brackets.

Edited by v21ash, 01 June 2011 - 10:59 PM.

[benjy_18]

my kit is from gateros_plating and its pretty good, comes out quite bright after passivating aswell.

good luck with the project ash, its a shame the later minis rust out so soon.

[DeanP]

Wow, I like it. Hard to believe how rusty a 12 year old mini can actually be. Anyway, some great engineering skills used, I shall be using some of your ideas when I come to do my sills.

Thanks for sharing.

[v21ash]

my kit is from gateros_plating and its pretty good, comes out quite bright after passivating aswell.

good luck with the project ash, its a shame the later minis rust out so soon.

Wow, I like it. Hard to believe how rusty a 12 year old mini can actually be. Anyway, some great engineering skills used, I shall be using some of your ideas when I come to do my sills.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the reply's, they give me motivation to keep going



Here’s the progress from the last couple of days, i decided to take this week off work and had planned to go on holiday but i had the new boot floor sat in the conservatory waiting to be fitted so i took the cheaper option and stayed at home I’ve cut the floor out so there’s no turning back now

I planned to salvage the closing brackets but this has proven to be very time consuming, removing them without destroying them was a rite pain.















I’ve still got to finish stripping the closing brackets then i’ll shot blast them.





In order to get the closing brackets out in one piece i had to cut a section out of the wheel arch, i then welded a new piece in, i’ve still got to finishing dressing the weld on the N/S and i haven’t started the O/S yet.







I cut the boot floor down to size a bit, and just before packing up for the day yesterday i couldn’t resist offering it up to see how it fits The overall fit is good, i marked the floor where to join is so all i’ve got to do is trim is back a bit.
The two outer bumper bolt hole line up almost spot on but the middle one need to be pulled into alignment, when all three are lined up the right hand side of the hinge panel still seems to be out a bit. It will pull into alignment though, before i weld anything up i’m going to fit the boot lid and bumper to see how it all looks.







So all i’ve got to do is cut the boot floor down a bit, repair the O/S wheel arch where i’ve cut the closing bracket out, make a couple of minor repairs to the bumper lip, strip down and shot blast the closing brackets and get them spot welded on to the new boot floor, then it ready to start welding the floor in.

Cleaning up the closing brackets is going to take the most time so i might just stop being tight and take a trip to Mini Spares to get a new pair, although mine have a extra strengthening plate sat on top of them, i think this i normal but when you look at pictures of the new closing brackets they don’t seem to have it, and i can’t find that part listed separately???

So anyway if i pull my finger out i should be able to get to new floor welded in and the rear valance fitted by the end of the week which will mean all the welding on the car is finished.

Edited by v21ash, 03 June 2011 - 07:49 AM.

[shough]

Sport 5's are my favourite minis!!!
Please keep up the good work and the updates coming.

[v21ash]

Sport 5's are my favourite minis!!!
Please keep up the good work and the updates coming.

Mine too it was my dream car but you wouldn't think so though by looking at the state i let it get in.

[v21ash]

Not much progress made today, i spent most of the morning rewiring my garage to fit a 32 amp socket to run my spot welder, it was one of those jobs i’ve been meaning to do since i moved house 4 months ago and never got round to it.
After i wasted the morning i decided to bite the bullet and by a new pair of closing brackets, ended up going to P & L Minis as they were only £2 dearer even after my discount at Mini Spares, so i saved a bit of time not having to go the extra distance to pick them up.
By that time it was gone dinner, but if i’d decided to clean up the old closing brackets i’d still be doing it now.




Got the closing brackets and tank strap bracket spot welded on.









And made some new cable tabs and got them spot welded on.







I thought i’d test fit the rear valance and it all looks good.





Where are all the pikey’s when you need them? I’ve got loads of scrap steel i need rid of.
So my jobs for tomorrow are remove the battery strap fixing point from the old floor and spot weld it on the new floor, weld some nuts on the valance for the fog lamp brackets, trim the new floor down a bit and repair the O/S wheel arch and bumper lip then the floor can go in.

[grahama]

Neat work as ever, like the way you are doing some off the mini, much easier than on and you can clean up the welds better too. Those pannels for closing the valance, did they have all the strengthening already on them?? Notice they are heritage ones.

Graham

[v21ash]

Neat work as ever, like the way you are doing some off the mini, much easier than on and you can clean up the welds better too. Those pannels for closing the valance, did they have all the strengthening already on them?? Notice they are heritage ones.

Graham

I had planned to get the boot floor in first then fit everything else, but it is alot easier this way, and as you say everything can be cleaned up easily too. I'm tempted to fit the valance to the floor before it goes in but i still need to see if it would cause me any problems first.

Yes the extra stiffeners came already spot welded to the closing panels, that will be why i couldn't fit a part number for them.

[v21ash]

Time for another quick update, i didn’t get as much done over the weekend as i’d hoped but i managed to get the new boot floor in and half welded up so i’m almost happy. I didn’t want to go back to work after a week off today though, i’d rather of stayed at home to get the boot floor finshed, but i’ve got to fund this project somehow.

Started the weekend off by cutting out the sections of the bumper lip that were a bit rusty underneath.















Then i repaired the O/S wheel arch where i had to cut it to get the closing panels out, i wasn’t too bothered about this side as the back edge had rotted away so it would of needed cutting out anyway.

[v21ash]

I cleaned up all the edges of the boot floor that were going to be spot welded and primed with weld through primer, that took me a good hour or two as i’ve run out of surface prep discs so had to sand most of the e-coating off by hand. This time i’ve used copper rich weld through primer as i couldn’t get any zinc rich and i’ve found that i can only put one coat on otherwise the spot welder can’t weld it, don’t know why, i used to put 2 or 3 coats on with the zinc rich and never had a problem.

When i test fitted the boot floor before, i marked a load of points along the join and marked where the overlap was, i then measured from them points back to where i had cut the original floor then transferred the measurement on to the new floor so i could mark out where i needed to cut it. I cut the boot floor down to size and got it in position, i almost cut it spot on but it was easy to trim back any slight overlap with it in situ. I tacked it all the way along the join and then spot welded along the edges back to the closing brackets.













And then i rewelded the brackets inside as per the original floor.

[v21ash]

I’ve just got to clamp up the back edges of the wheel arch to weld them up, i don’t think i’m going to be able to clamp all three layers together tight enough to spot weld it as two of the layers are heavy gauge steel so i’ll probably end up plug welding that bit.







Just got the rear valance to clean up and prime tonight (if i can drag myself in the garage) and weld on some nut for the frog lamp bracket then i can get that spot welded on. I’m leaving the bumper lip till last as even when all the bumper holes are lined up there is quite a bit of boot floor left sticking out, i know there was a bit on the original floor but not that much, so i’m going to fit the boot lid and bumper before i weld it up to make sure everything lines up o.k. first.

[grahama]

Great work, enjoy looking at the neatness, think that makes me a little odd !! Hey ho !! Have borrowed one of your pics to ask about the arch lip at the rear and how it is used, is it welded to the valance closing plates??

Graham