131 replies to this topic

[TJenkos]

This is one hell of a 'general overhaul'

I'd be too scared to take my mini to a bare shell, I'd never be able to put it back together. (Along with losing lots of bits!)

[ed4ran]

Its alright you only ever loose the good bits, the rusty bits are always left!!
and if the mini is in the state to get stripped then chances are that most bits are rusty. Therefore you loose very little but you replace most of it!!

[pikey7]

losing bits is never a problem. It's the worry at the end looking in the box of bits you have left over and wondering where they came from.......

[Sprocket]

losing bits is never a problem. It's the worry at the end looking in the box of bits you have left over and wondering where they came from.......

At least if you can recognise the part its not a problem.

Its not recognising them that worries me

[ed4ran]

I just left mine in a box or two so if something falls off i can find the bolt i needed to put it back on.

[Guess-Works.com]

Excellent diary.... well worth the read... keep it up and you'll soon be back on the road..

Will be doing much the same with the cab shortly, hopefully that'll be ready for the showdown too..

Edited by GuessWorks, 08 May 2006 - 08:09 AM.

[markrally]

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

I got a new pair of genuine MPI heritage wings if you need them??

Cheers

[Sprocket]

awe mate, the panels are now in transit

thanks for the offer though

[Sprocket]

oh yeh and the subframes are now at the powder coaters and should be done for the end of the week, which is good because ill need the front one for rebuilding the front end next week.

[miniboo]

i like the way that you certainly aint hanging about with this!

[Sprocket]

GRRRR

just been checking over the MIG and fount that the nozzle has shorted with the shroud and melted the nozzle and contact tip had sagged, due to a massive piece of *woman of ill repute* (LOL what the hell, that was suposed to be s l a g, so much for the politicaly correct, there is more than one meaning to some words. DOH )that was between them. Wonder what the hell my mate was doing to bugger it up that much. Going to have to get a new nozzle shroud and tips.

Good job I found it now and not when I wanted to use it

[Sprocket]

Day Six

Today was a half a days work as i was up till the small hours on a mates stag doo, so not feeling the best either

Aim for today was to remove the front end ready for replacement. I kind of got a little behind what with lack of sleep and dodgey guts, but did get the front end off and found some more rust too on the scuttle closing panel and shock absorber mount, everything else is surface rust that can be cleaned up.

Picking up the subframes from the coaters tomorrow as I'll need the front one to rebuild the front end. Also going to pick up a spot weld punch as there is no way I'm drilling hundreds of holes in the panels.

Bits for the scrap


The shell as at the end of the day


The rusty shock mount, this has been cleaned up but it is nearly all the way through, so going to be cut out and patched


This side just needs a bot of a clean up


This side is pretty much rest free, got to remove the underbody seal to check


Here is the rotten scuttle, this will be cut out, replicated in new steel and welded in

[markrally]

my cooper was rotten on the n/side shocker mount aswell, it looked ok till you do a bit of digging, i ended up cutting it all out and welding a new peice in aswell.

Coming along nicely mate!!!

cheers

[Bungle]

makes me think how much rust is in my mini if i realy looked :'(

[Mincento]

Yeah the scuttle closing plates are common i think, i had to make them for my mates mini and it was reasonably easy apart from it being three totally different angles we then seam welded them in and seam sealerd them to stop it happening again

also had to do shock mount and both plates inside and out had rotted through

looking good progress though

wayne