131 replies to this topic

[Sprocket]

Right, it is now that time of the year when the Mini needs a New MOT. This will be a problem as on each sill there is a hole big enough to get all your fingers in ( no way it could have passed last year either ) not to mention there being a hole in the boot floor, the rear valance only held on at the corners, the passenger door is some what blistered at the bottom because of a dodgey weather strip and the front, although sound, is looking somewhat tatty.

So, i am starting early to get it ready for Brittish Mini Showdown. The car will be totaly stripped, body work sorted with some extra mods for clearances of wheels and exra room under the bonnet for the 16valver turbo later on. Removal of all under seal and sound deadening, total respray with stone chip on the underside and engine bay first, with plenty of dynamat or similar on the inside.

Once the body is sorted, subframes will be modified for anti roll bars and powder coated, all running gear overhauled and painted up,

Once the car is back together the 1400 should be complete by then and will be installed, set up and then everything checked over ready for the MOT.

MOT, fix any issues and then a trip to the rollers to check that my mods to the injection system are adequete to stop the 1400 melting as it would normaly have run out of fueling at 90BHP (I'm looking for 100BHP+)

The start of the project is now complete. That was the preperation of my Mum and Dads garage, installing shelving and work benches to get all of my dads junk off the floor, he realy is a hoarder, bit like me realy . The paint needs redoing on the floor to freshen it up but other than that its done and ready to go

Stage one complete

[Pooky]

Sounds like quite a task mate but you've made a good start already! A decent garage is a must with a big proj!

Good luck with it all!

[The Matt]

sounds like it's gonna be a good un!

Any room in that garage for my Mini?

[Sprocket]

Project started. I'm going to report on this each day of work so i have a good idea of how long it has taken

Day One

Todays task was to remove the engine and get the car on axle stands ready for the subframes to be dropped next Saturday. The only snag I came across was the bolt that attatches the gear selector top steady bar to the gearbox had siezed to the metal sleave of the rubber bush . There was no way this was going to move > . One hour, a hack saw and a lot of swearing, the gear selector was removed . This task set me back so the car is not on axle stands and is not ready to drop the subframes >

Still the engine is out. It came out all in one go which made things a bit quicker.

[ed4ran]

Looking good,
I like projects with lots of progress pics
as opposed to lots of talking of "Im going to do this" but never really getting around to doing it.

[Sprocket]

Day Two

Well today went well. Only one bolt was siezed, one of the rear subrame rear trunion bolts. Not too much of a problem, just undid the bush suport nut and revoved the bush. The subframe then just pulled out of it leaving it attacthed to the car (will deal with that again when I have the cutter going).

So both subs are off, fuel and brake lines, doors off, fuel tank out and wiring disconnected ready to be removed in the engine bay area. loads of other little bits.

Found some rust that I was not expecting, some of which looks like its going to be a little tricky to repair. The drivers side subframe mount on the toe board has cracked a fair amount, this I suspect due to rust weakening the area.( wondered where that knocking noise was coming from(solid mounts used)

Day three should see the car as a stripped shell ready for work.


The car at start of day two




Car at the end of day two




Rust on the car














Looks like this has been repaired before, there is filler here which has bubbled up because the metal was still rusting. Doh!




Heres the problem area on the drivers side toe board. Not looking forward to fixing this




Heres the crack, Highlighted between the two red lines. Folows the out line of the mount funily enough.

[m3ntalist]

Seems a lot of work, keep us updated. I am interested in how you go from here. Wish I had a nice garage like that to work in!

[marksmini]

i too had this probelm what started off as a small bit of work once striped down its very supriseing just how much more work you can find...

have a look if you want at my mini city i started last year (see my sig)..

same sort of thing as your finding....

good luck iwill be watching your updates

[Mincento]

Looks a nice project and good luck with it

on the front mounts subject on my mates 79 city which we put minisport solid bottom toe bourd mounts on even after plenty of abuse it never cracked the metal but it did dent/push the metal in on a couple of occasions :confused:

wayne

[Sprocket]

Looks a nice project and good luck with it

on the front mounts subject on my mates 79 city which we put minisport solid bottom toe bourd mounts on even after plenty of abuse it never cracked the metal but it did dent/push the metal in on a couple of occasions :confused:

wayne

Good choice of car mate! Seat Arosa, bought the wife one back in 2002 new and its been a great little car with the usual Volkswagon reliability. Yours looks to be the blue, We have the Green with the rear optional spoiler. Its one of the nicest looking little cars on the road to date, that as well as the new Suzuki swift.

[Mincento]

Thanks mate yeah its the Seat cannica blue i travelled 800 miles to get this car but it was worth it, ive had a few problems but still love it i know the green you mean if its the one below (mines the one at the front)


but oddly got the mini bug again so im soon selling my project black cinq in my sig to get a mini project

anyway your topic does look good it attracted me to it due to the rare choice of engine as its not the usual 1380 etc so good luck especially with that part

good luck with the project on the whole and hopefully see it a show in the future

wayne

[Sprocket]

Day Three

The car is now totaly stripped to a bare shell ready for the cut and weld. Started to prod around with a screwdriver to find the serious rot. The inner sills are little worse than i first thought but not extreme.

The only problems I encountered today were the shear bolts that hold the stearing column and pedal box to the dash rail and the air vent base screws which are made of the softest metal screws should never be made of, heads dounder off with very little effort. All these are again going to be left for when I get the cutter and grinder going.

Other tham that, i made a long list of things to search for at the show at Himely hall this coming weekend

Pictures to follow as I cant get the camera to work for some reason.

[PhoenixSimon]

its amazing to see what looked such a clean car have as many rust probs as youve found, I cant believe the amount of progress you make in such a short time, takes me ruddy hours to do one thing let alone have the whole car stripped in a couple of days.
keep up the good work and get some more pics up.
oh the arosa is a cool car the mrs used to have a 1.4 16v sport 100bhp job, was well cool but a bit too small to fit out lardy arsed great retreiver in, her cupra leon does the job nicely now though!
Simon

[Mincento]

its amazing to see what looked such a clean car have as many rust probs as youve found, I cant believe the amount of progress you make in such a short time, takes me ruddy hours to do one thing let alone have the whole car stripped in a couple of days.
keep up the good work and get some more pics up.
oh the arosa is a cool car the mrs used to have a 1.4 16v sport 100bhp job, was well cool but a bit too small to fit out lardy arsed great retreiver in, her cupra leon does the job nicely now though!
Simon

i know the feeling on it taking ages to get one job done :'( then come on here and see what these lads have been doing in a day and think what the fcuk have i been pi*sing about at all day
and your wife has very good taste in cars

back to topic hows this one progressing now? not found any more rot i hope

wayne

[Sprocket]

Day Four

Well this was realy a cumulation of a the hours worked through the week stripping the sub frames and cleaning the components. One radius arm/ brakes and both front habs left to strip and clean ready for paint. Sub frames are ready for powder coating (Satin black don't you know:wink:)

Day Five

Most important part of the job, ordered the panels from Somerford Minis, all genuine where you can get them, and you know what, the only thing that wasn't in stock were the sills. They are waiting for the delivery from BMH. They better bloody be here by monday the 15th.:frown:

Built the tressle for ease of moving the shell and getting it to a better working hight.

Also removed the rear valance while I was at it.

Tomorrow sees us going to Himley show to collect what ever parts I have on the list, then the rest is getting ordered at MiniSpares.

The serious work starts next Saturday right through the week, a full 9 days 9 till 6. See how it goes, if theres any problems.

Who said no chance for Avon?:wink: All depends on the problems encountered.