18 replies to this topic

[Spoonz]

I have looked and podered on how to deseem the mini shell, i have cut the wings off the mini already for the flip front,

anyone know the site for the guy who did the step by step on how to flip front a mini, because i want to check what i have cut already , before i cut more,<<<<

so does anyone have the same type of step by step on de-seeming the mini shell ? or help ?


thanks spoonz

[Sprocket]

I shall only say one thing, and that is, Don't

Not much help I know, but i have seen what happens to one when taking a telegraph pole side on

[Spoonz]

it has a full roll cage inside, so the shell isnt the strenth ,,

i have seams on minis, cut my hands on to many of them ! i think there ugly, its like having guttering on the car..... im not trying to collect rain water,,,,

anyone got any good tips then ? or step by steps ?

Spoonz, hahhaa

[discodavor]

taken from a post in another forum, hope it helps

"I've done two myself, and used the method described by Vizard in the 'How to Modify Your Mini' book.

Done properly, it will be strong and, according to Dr Vizard, your Mini will lose over 40 square inches of frontal area. Not an insignificant amount when you consider how aerodynamically alike the Mini and a housebrick are!

I left the roof seam for the reason mentioned - it keeps the water from pouring down your neck as you get out.
Mycarsbothe featured removable steel front ends, so I only deseamed the pillar sections; I needed the A-panel seam to butt the wing edge up to.

I also think the bumper seams are a matter of preference. One I did with, one without. Both looked extremely good IMHO.

As for the method, I stripped out all the interior, including headlining, wiring, glass and fuel tank. Don't forget the little bits of foam that Leyland stuck everywhere to soak up water! They burn very well. Ask me how I know this!
Remove the seam finishers, and mark the seam at 6 inch (150mm) intervals. Like this...



Then with a hacksaw, cut through the seam down to the body at each mark. Starting at the top of the pillar, leave the first 6 inch section - No 1, and grind away no 2 so it's almost flush with the bodywork. You should have a small ridge of metal from each body panel exposed. this should be gently beaten inwards with a flat body hammer until it is just below the level of the surrounding metal work. This can now be welded. Don't forget to remove the wiring from the left hand A pillar - it will catch fire. Ask me how I know this too!
While that is cooling down, you can start on grinding no 4 section. Doing it this way means that the poor unsuspecting Mini won't spring apart when you cut it! Once you've ground and welded your alternate (even numbered) seam sections, go back to the first one you left, and fill in the gaps with the odd numbered sections.

Once they're welded, you can go inside the car (only at the back of course - you can't weld inside the front pillars!) and once you've removed the seam sealer and paint, weld small parts of the seams, but don't dwell too long, and move around to minimise distortion.

This will be stronger and no less waterproof than the original. Depending on how carefully you welded and how gentle you were with the hammer, a slight skim of filler will put the contours back into your Mini.

Point of interest. Some Minis don't deseam too well. Go to the back of your car and get down level with the waist-level body pressing. On some cars these don't line up from the factory, and it will be nearly impossible to make good the pressing where the seam used to be. Ask me how I know this as well! "

[Spoonz]

how do you know this ?

lol


thats briliant, thanks alot just what i needed, that was pretty much the way i was going to do it ,

when you are on about grinding, do you mean take the joining metal strip out, and with the two body panals that are spot welded together grind them back and when there is only a small amount left hammer them inwards into the car ? or what .... need a bit clearer if you can ?

Spoonz

[discodavor]

lol, i might have been a bit mis leading, in my fisrt line of the post i said taken from another forum, i meant quite literally, post was not done by me, ive just copied and pasted it! glad it helps!

[Madmax]

i have a de-seamed mini, with a full cage, not had any problems with it, and with regards to strength, deseaming was an old method used to increase structural rigidity in older race cars, still being seam welded from the inside

i might just like to point out, any mini that wraps itself around a telegraph pole isnt going to look much like a mini anymore is it...

[Jammy]

The only things i'll say is that it'll be alot more difficult should you ever have to replace certain panels, your insurance company will want to know about it, and the roof gutter stops rain water collectin on top of the door!

[marc]

Glad this has been brought up, i've been toyng with the idea for mine for a while.

[Bagpuss]

I have looked and podered on how to deseem the mini shell, i have cut the wings off the mini already for the flip front,

anyone know the site for the guy who did the step by step on how to flip front a mini, because i want to check what i have cut already , before i cut more,<<<<

so does anyone have the same type of step by step on de-seeming the mini shell ? or help ?


thanks spoonz

Personally, I found it easier just to buy a shell that had already been done, saves alot of hard work in the long run

[Dan]

I thought that good practice when deseaming was to weld strengthening plates accross the back of the join rather than just butt welding the two panels together? Other than that this is how I've heard it's done, in small sections. The deseamed shell will need a bit of filling where the seams were as the panels aren't designed to join up like this so they don't look great next to each other. Lead loading the seams would be the best method of filling. If you deseam the roof it needs a lot of work to get the curves right, the roof doesn't fit to the body well (visually) without the gutter between the two.

[miniboo]

I believe gmcmeeking has a deseamed rol.ling mini shell for sale.

[discodavor]

i beleive alot of that info has been takn from vizards so i would imagine it would be more than strong enough

[Steve Rowe]

was talking to a young lad last nite who said he tryed to de seam his with the oxy bottles ..... nuff said really ...

[scars]

anyone think de-seaming just takes the mini a step closer to being any other car, i mean i think it's part of what gives the mini it's character.