62 replies to this topic

[CobraV8]

Sorry to see your car damaged. Just as a pointer for the younger guys, you need to go find a quiet bit of road or a car park, and get used to lifting off when the wheels lock up, ie pump the brakes as they lock up. A lot of these accidents can be avoided pretty easily. You need to practice this so when a panic situation happens it is second nature.

As in
Wheels lock up
Lift off
Brake again
If lock up
Lift off and so on...

But it will be fast action and natural obviously??

Id love to have some driver training for all kinds of situation!! I'm 18 and one of the younger owners of course

Yep - exactly as you said. Basically it lets the tyres grip the road again, once they are locked up you wont slow down much at all.

Try it in an empty bit of road somewhere (so you dont get rammed up the backside), especially on a bit of wet road in a shopping carpark. You will be amazed at how well it works, even if it does feel and look silly. Effectively this is how ABS works.

Another tip that I must admit I didnt know and heard from a driver training day they did for students here - if you are sliding (as in about to spin) - dip the clutch, apparently the action of the flywheel can help to stop the inertia (and must admit it has worked on a slippy bit of road before).

Another obvious but often overlooked one, if you find yourself going too fast into a corner, look at where you want to go - not at the lamppost or fence that you dont want to hit. It is often second nature to steer etc once you focus on where you want the car to end up. How many times have you seen skidmarks leading straight into the only solid thing in the area? That is cause someone thought 'aghhh im going to hit the post!' So... locked up and went straight at it.

One last tip - if you are heading into a corner and have too much speed on, brake, stay wide, turn in late, and at worst you can 'straight line the corner more' and cut off more speed across the corner. You will have a lot more space to cut of speed than if you just drive around the centre of the curve.

If you can afford it - get along to a skid pan, a race day or a gymkhana (if thats what you call them). Getting used to speed and what to do when it all goes wrong is a great way to improve normal driving skills, and lots of fun.

Edited by CobraV8, 30 September 2012 - 08:53 AM.

[skoughi]

http://www.minispare...Wings.aspx|Back to shop
Try these, they'll bump up the costs a bit but will be worth it when it's all finished. Keep practising with the welding, read about all the tips you can find and be patient, you'll get it sussed.

[minidaves]

the braking thing, yeah if its skidding it aint stopping, pumping the brake is manual abs, most important thing is when its going wrong is dont panic and try and avoid the most painful impact.

[MarkMcc]

http://www.minispare...Wings.aspx|Back to shop
Try these, they'll bump up the costs a bit but will be worth it when it's all finished. Keep practising with the welding, read about all the tips you can find and be patient, you'll get it sussed.

Aha!

Still, I'll try and batter the existing one straight. Save £50 for something else.

At least now I have a good picture of what it should look like!

I have given it a bit of a hammer/ crowbar action and it seems to be moving. I reckon it will straighten out.

Time will tell. Unfortunately I don't have a massive amount of that at the moment.

[MarkMcc]

looks like a bad repair in the past is part of the problem, 1st thing is push pull the front about before you cau the panels off, you will be amazed how much will come out and how easy it will be using the old panels to belt bang and push.

Any techniques or tools that you recommend for the whole push/pull affair?

I have been using blocks of wood to spread the hammer blows and a 3' crowbar to bend panels back etc.
It's not moving too easily, might I add.

[MarkMcc]

So I had a spare hour this weekend and I have attacked the thing!

First I removed some of the front panel to get a good grip on the inner panel to bend it back into shape




I sanded off the paint on the joint between the headlight panel and the inner wing.



It's only tacked in place! Also the bottom section of the inner wing lip isn't there!


Then I took off the rest of the near side section of the front panel:



I think those holes are the spot welds where the original panel was attached to the inner wing.

I will need to replace this lip and the one along the top of the inner panel (you can see it at the top of this pic).

That repair section is looking better and better as I get further into this!
Unfortunately, it wouldn't go far enough back to save me all of the repair lips.

Then I had to help the wife wash her car so game over for MY tasks!

[mk3 Cooper S]

If you remove the wing the flitch panel will straighten more easily. Apply some local heat when pulling it to ensure it the right bits straighten out,

[minidaves]

i would have as said tried to straighten that out at least a bit before removing the panels.

[MarkMcc]

The front panel and wing were pulling in different directions so I have let a bit of the tension off now!

I reckon leaving the wing on for now will help get the inner wing in the right position. At least I can get in about it now.

Got plenty of time because Moss don't have the panels in stock
Wish I'd known that prior to ordering.

[Spud_133]

A tip when straightening bodywork is to pull the panels out the way they went in, they will come out a lot easier. To straighten that properly, I'd like to use a winch and portapower, of course with a trusty hammer.


Many people on here complain about stock car racing, but it has learnt me so much in the way of driving abilities and how to handle a car

[MarkMcc]

Sounds good!

Don't have a winch, unfortunately. What's a portapower?

[valve bounce]

http://www.ebay.co.u...=item19c6515567

portapower, these are very very useful when repairing crash damage. if you dont have a winch then try using a big ratchet strap, tie it to a big tree or very strong post and pull the damage straight ish

[MarkMcc]

Hmm, ratchet strap might be the answer.

Thanks for that, I'll investigate.

[MarkMcc]

Further paint stripping this weekend has shown that the inner wing is in a worse state than I thought.

I will probably have to go with the repair panel suggested above. It will save a ton of fabrication and guesswork on my part.

I reckon I can fit this ok without removing the engine. If I'm wrong, please don't hesitate to put me right!

Also, do I NEED to replace the radiator cowl thing fitted to the inner wing? Would the cooling be hugely afffected?

I can't seem to find a Clubman specific one (sort of bent edges?) So would I fabricate one or modify a round-noser?

Actually, Minispares do one of them too, but it is nearly £40!

Mine never had the rubber seal thing so was it actually doing anything?

Edited by MarkMcc, 15 October 2012 - 02:03 PM.

[sonikk4]

You should be able to do that with the engine in place although it may make things difficult to clean up the welds on the engine bay side.

I would recommend getting some intergrips to hold the panel in place when you go to weld it up



You can get these from Ebay or Frosts.

As to the radiator cowl it does help to direct air flow so i would say refit it although somebody may say different.