48 replies to this topic

[AndyMiniMad.]

I had no idea the after market (non genuine) panels were such a bad fit. Im kinda glad I went for the heritage stuff now...but with your welding/fabricating skills it does'nt seem to be a problem for you. Looking good so far..

[olds_kool_lews]

yeah there pretty terrible to be honest, got them from old skool minis in birmingham, the fronts of the wings are really good, but they come up too short at the rear, but all rectified now both sides, got the scuttle on last night, need to tidy up some of the welds so the screen seal sits flush, then get the front end fully welded on and stonechipped underneath, really looking forward to getting her finished now, would day im about 65% through the rebuild ;) will upload some pics later!

[olds_kool_lews]

Small update... After kneeling on several screws/bolts/sharp bits of metal while welding i thought enough is enough and knocked up a small stool to sit on out of bits i had laying round the garage..



the over hang bits on the 1 end will soon become a little tray for cup of tea/tool tray for mole grips etc

also did a little more welding to, got the scuttle welded on fully now and the closing panels welded to it, after this i re-fitted the front end to check the gaps on the wings/scuttle join to make sure they were still ok, passenger side was spot on, drivers side though was about 3-4mm out, so i had to slice the extended bit, trim it down a little and re-weld it so the wing now sits nicely against the scuttle, clamped and bolted the front end back in place and bolted on the bonnet to check the panel gaps and all is well! means i can finish the prep under the front end, get it all stone chipped etc and then weld it all up ready for prep and paint



also had a play around with my camera with fish eye mode..

[Mini Mad Drakeley]

great project mate i got the same front end from old skool minis aswell, everything fitted fine for me except the join for the wing to the scuttle panel, it was got as good as possible but its not very good i love those banded steels by the way, they just look awesome

keep up the good work, Adam

[AndyMiniMad.]

Nice stool...it can double as a chopping block if things go wrong...lol..How does anyone know thats what things look like if your a fish??

[bcjames]

Lewis you make it look so easy. Post 1 its a car, post 2 its chopped up, post 3 it looks like a car again! Those wings were miles off, good work getting them fitted nicely!

Oh and nice stool

[olds_kool_lews]

lol glad eveyone approves of the stool! my little girl loves it, she thinks its her bench haha!

i really dont like hangin around when it comes to buildin cars, i like to get stuck in, get what needs to be done, then enjoy driving them! i would be out there tonight doin some more, but i feel like having a night off

[olds_kool_lews]

another update... the pics dont really look any different, but i can asure you the car has come along some what, the front end is fully welded on now, seam sealed, inner wings stone chipped (just need to stone chip under the wings/behind the front panel/a-panels) i ran seam sealer around the back of the head lamp securing rings on the wings to aid rust proofing (i hope!)

anyways a few pics...


top wing seams (they weres well out, you can see where i split the wing and added 1" strip of steel to extend the wings, had to do both sides!)


as you can see, plenty of zinc primer to hopefully hold back any corrosion!

welded on...


inner wing shot (still need to peal the sticker off lol but all prepped and zinc primed)

[tedmcedd]

looking good! Im running an austin 1300 in Harvest gold! what a great 70's colour!! shame youre not staying auto, but 1100's are great engines.

the banded steels look great, looking forward to how you progress!

PS. might be worth getting a heritage certificate, that will tell you the build date, tax exempture is built on or before 1st jan 1972... never know, could have been sat in a showroom unregistered for a while??

Ed

[olds_kool_lews]

i was thinking of gettin a heritage certificate, would be nice to be able to tax it for free ;)

yeah its a shame about the auto engine, i dont think its completely wrecked, the gearbox was perfect, it ran sweet as a nut when i got it, i think it justs needs a damn good service (previous owner said he never touched the engine in all the years he had it... lol)

[olds_kool_lews]

repaired the passenger footwell yesterday, it had a plate ontop of the old floor panel, and a plate underneath, effectively sandwhiching the old floor in between, i could of left it as it was pretty solid, but i wasnt happy so chopped it out and let in a new piece of floor section which tidied things up some what... heres a pic, i didnt get a before or during, i was to busy lol

[olds_kool_lews]

few pics of todays progress, nearly finished the filling and prep work on the passenger front wing where i had to split and weld in an extra 1" of steel, i completely bare metalled the wing/front panel before any filling was done, looking good so far, but still need to do the final prep

few pics, given that the front end is made of non-genuine panels, ive got it to fit pretty nicely!...

[Badboytunes]

Wow thats clean. I have not seen a Harvest Gold Mini for years. It reminds me of my first car GDF 709N. Only difference is that mine was a manual.

Thanks for taking me back to 1987 ;)

[olds_kool_lews]

not much of an update, but got the underneath of the passenger wing painted, and the inner wing in the engine bay, having a small garage and very little room to work around the mini let alond spray it, i decided to brush paint under the wings etc its only the 1st coat but its gone on smooth, and looks well, although in the pics it looks more sandglow than harvest gold! but trust me, its harvest gold lol

[woodenman23]

Lookin' good. Got to love harvest gold.