30 replies to this topic

[Bungle]

because i have no idea what body work skills Alex has, for all i know he has 30 years in the business and me suggesting i send him to a body shop would be pointless

i'm not saying Alex shouldn't modify his car just pointing out it's not just a case of break out the grinder and welder, bit of paint and it's all finished

how would you feel if you had modified your mini and spent many £££££ on it only for it not to be road worthy, then find out TMF members knew you were heading for trouble but kept the mouth shut

[Bungle]

have a read of this link Alex and make your own mind up

http://www.the-ace.o...dification.html

[JustSteve]

I know it's not as simple as this, BUT...



Q) Is it acceptable to fully weld sections that are spot-welded as part of the original construction methods, to increase the strength of the body?

A) Yes, providing the original structure is retained.






That would be my argument

[mk1coopers]

because i have no idea what body work skills Alex has, for all i know he has 30 years in the business and me suggesting i send him to a body shop would be pointless

i'm not saying Alex shouldn't modify his car just pointing out it's not just a case of break out the grinder and welder, bit of paint and it's all finished

how would you feel if you had modified your mini and spent many £££££ on it only for it not to be road worthy, then find out TMF members knew you were heading for trouble but kept the mouth shut

I agree with you on every point, all I'm saying is that perhaps its best if the info and links to ACE / VOSA ect were put into a pinned and locked thread so it's there for everyone to see. I can see you are posting info because you don't want people to loose ££££ or buy something that gets impounded on a road side check, and I'd do the same if I saw someone potentially about to do the same or buy a car that clearly wasn't what it was supposed to be. I do have a car with lots of body mods, however it was all done over 40 years ago, (and its survived this long so I'm guessing the company that built it must have known what they were doing) , was documented at the time, and is correctly registered on the V5 so it isn't affected by the rules that came in 30 plus years ago, i do feel that there should be more freedom to have modifications checked and signed off by inspectors without the threat of loosing the vehicles identity, a little more creativity in the world would be a good thing, everything we use was an idea in someone's head once, let's encourage people to think outside the box, Mini's must be one of the cars that have had the most modification's done to them over the years, google the book / website for Maximum Mini to see the great (and not so great!) ideas that have come about by people thinking 'what if' :)

[Bungle]

I know it's not as simple as this, BUT...



Q) Is it acceptable to fully weld sections that are spot-welded as part of the original construction methods, to increase the strength of the body?

A) Yes, providing the original structure is retained.






That would be my argument

so you would leave the seams in place and just seam weld down the end of the seam ?

[newnham500]

That Mk1 Sprint is currently for sale.

The price is around £48,000, yes £48,000!!!!


48 grand, im not being horrible but i wouldnt pay 48 pence for it, the blue one is . the wings on the clubman look tasty, but the back looks shocking.

[joshspragg]

as much as i hate to say it but that deseamed clubman and mk1 look pretty good. normally i'm against anything like that.

[JustSteve]

so you would leave the seams in place and just seam weld down the end of the seam ?

No, I never suggested I would.

I'm simply saying that you could interpret this, that 'de-seaming' is okay.

[Bungle]

but seam welding the seams down the edge rather than spot welding them would still leave the seams in place and not be the look the op was looking for

[1994alex]

have a read of this link Alex and make your own mind up

http://www.the-ace.o...dification.html

Cheers , i have just had a quick read through, and more questions have come to mind

'It is NOT acceptable for the bulkhead, or transmission tunnel area, to be modified.'
Im presuming that modifying the bulkhead would mean that you are not allowed to modify it to fit a weber carb or a turbo?

But then the next point
'The specification for a monococque will vary with each manufacturer and the decision on what are acceptable modifications will be based on those criteria for each vehicle.'
Considering leyland is not around anymore you are allowed to do it?

Then when it comes to the chassis would you be allowed to do this the black bits are subframes the red bits are the alterations to provide strength

[Bungle]

i'm no expert on this but i do follow topics about it on this and other car forums, ACE them selves can also try and answer any questions

yes cutting the bulkhead for a turbo or webber box is classes as a bulkhead modification

joining the 2 subframes together to add strength should be ok, it's removing metal that is classed as monocoque modification

since Rover/BMC/LAYLAND etc are no more it's the DVLA that seem to be calling the shots to what you can and can't remove, the info they have given ACE is that you can remove the front panel and outer wings (inner wings must stay) and this is not classes as a body modification, but touch anything else and you loose the vehicle identity

[JustSteve]

but the seams are only there for the spot welds... are they not?

[Bungle]

no i think they were to help hold the car together while being put together

you can spot weld panels together with out them sticking out like a minis seams

[GTIAlex06]

Dont do it

[mk1coopers]

Think you'll find that Minisprint was built by the man hinself, Neville Trickett who now resides in france. This is the guy that made 'em back in the sixties.

Yes that is a Trickett converted car, one of his new ones, Neville converts the shells then it's up to the customer to do all the finishing and painting / reassembly work. As to the price, anything is only worth what someone will pay for it, genuine Sprints are very hard to value as there are so few of them around with provenance (i.e. built by Trickett / G.T. Equipment or S&A) , and they just don't change hands that often, I can't remember that last time a period Sprint with history came on the market.