118 replies to this topic

[scaffers]

Love this thread

Can't wait to see it all done


Scaff

[Tupers]

Sorry tupers for waffleing on on your thread .
Great work on the floors so neat & tidy also.
I agree with surfblue that it should be on the road in no time in your capable hands .

Thanks fella I found the waffling quite amusing.

Looking good so far

Thanks Chris

Hi,

really, really nice work, and a bloody lot of nice plug welds too, nice one.

Graham

Thanks Grahama, there's something quite soothing about getting into a good rhythm while plug welding.

Yeah thats a lot of plug welds!! Spode you have to do them for toe panel etc. but for the door step etc can you not use a spot welder? So easy! Can put sills on much much faster!

I would have liked to have used a spot welder but I killed out a few weeks ago and I'm still waiting to find out if it's repairable.
In the mean time I'll resume plugging and grinding which I quite enjoy if I'm honest.

Love this thread

Can't wait to see it all done


Scaff

Me to, it'll be cool it see it out and about.



So more welding has been done and the Crayford now has two floors and the arches are attached to the boot floor.






I thought I'd get some of the inevitable grinding out of the way and flushed off the repairs of the rear panel and plug welds along the bumper rail. The corners still need getting into with a burr but I've left that for another day as I was going deaf.






I also did the step sills while I had the die grinder out.




The next major step will be to fit the flitches so I set about unpicking what was left of the the old ones and the A-panels.




Now all that's left to do is a few final repairs to the toe board flanges plus some treating and priming and I can start lining up a mass of panels.

[Tupers]

So in preparation of the new inner wings I thought I should probably remove the rather tar like seam sealer from around the ends of the bulk head.
I popped the front stand off and bolted my trusty steering rack stand on and used a wire wheel, blow torch and paint scraper to clean everything up.






Then a nice coat of zinc.




The rest of inner structure was given the same treatment.




The shape central hump in seat crossmember was way off so I cut the flange off a made a new one.


After forming a new flange I clamped the crossmember in and tacked the two pieces together.


Then a little welding and yet more zinc.


I also had the inner sill stiffeners arrive as well as the rear valance and valance closing panels.


The sill stiffeners had hole for a rubber bung that I deleted to keep them correct.




Then they went right in, just the added Crayford stiffeners to do now and it'll be ready for new pockets.




I drilled holes in the closing plates and started lining them up to the the valance. Everything went together nice and easy so it shouldn't take long to get them all welded up on Monday morning.






Say tuned for next week's work. :)

[Artful Dodger]

Top work (it's becoming habit with you, it's not your job is it;) )

Massive amount of plug welds on the closing panel ad subframe supports, necesarry?? Suppose you do know what you are doing though:P

[mk1leg]

wow thats some stirling work your doing there........My friend has a Crayford convertible and he wants to send it to the UK for a full resto so PM me your buisness address and I will give it to him as far as I can see his was garaged for many years when he purchased it 15 years ago.........this is a rare Kellogs give away prize from the late 60s............will try and get some pics......

[hughJ]

Wow this is superb and very brave. What care!

Hugh

[surfblue63]

This thread shows what can be done with a shell, and that reshelling cars is not really necessary.

[toplessmini]

If only..............

[blue blood]

love this build the quality is great but....... I still prefer your estate build ;)

Regards Blue

[Tupers]

Top work (it's becoming habit with you, it's not your job is it;) )

Massive amount of plug welds on the closing panel ad subframe supports, necesarry?? Suppose you do know what you are doing though:P

I could have gotten away with a few less but it doesn't hurt to have them firmly attached.

wow thats some stirling work your doing there........My friend has a Crayford convertible and he wants to send it to the UK for a full resto so PM me your buisness address and I will give it to him as far as I can see his was garaged for many years when he purchased it 15 years ago.........this is a rare Kellogs give away prize from the late 60s............will try and get some pics......

Thanks Mark I'd love to get stuck into another one.

Wow this is superb and very brave. What care!

Hugh

I'm not sure if it's bravery or stupidity at some points but it's worked for me so far.

This thread shows what can be done with a shell, and that reshelling cars is not really necessary.

Indeed, there's nothing you can't make fore Mini if you give it a little thought.

If only..............

Start raiding barns there must me more Crayfords out there somewhere.

love this build the quality is great but....... I still prefer your estate build ;)

Regards Blue

Me too but this pays for the shinny bits on the estate.



I couldn't save the old valance closing panels but fortunately we've got another early MK1 that I was able to copy.




I started out by removing the latter curved plates.




Then a added the extension to the vertical part of the closing plate.




The valance closers also had a small folded section on the end, I measured up an original one and made two new ones.




Here are the closing panels now, all ready to weld onto the car.

[jonny f]

Looks great.

I spy a promotive.

[Tupers]

Looks great.

I spy a promotive.

You do indeed, I'll have to get a panoramic shot of the work shop with some of our other projects in it.


I repaired the ends of the Crayford rear inner sill strengtheners.



They're just tacked in until I get the pockets and can check it'll all fits together correctly.




The outer sills and seat cross member are also welded on.

[freaker]

any updates ?

if there would be one bodyshop id trust my mini too, for restoration it would be yours....


freaker

[Tupers]

if there would be one bodyshop id trust my mini too, for restoration it would be yours....


freaker

Thanks Freaker that really means a lot to all of use here. We put a lot of our selfs into these cars and I'm glad I'm able to share this resto with everyone on the forum.



The last job to do before welding on the new rear valance was to clean up and refit the captive nut and bracket for the fuel tank strap.
It started like this.


Then I removed the old bits of floor, treated it and gave it a good coat of zinc.


We borrowed a tank from another customer project and got the bracket lined up and welded on.




With that in place I was able to weld the rear valance on after very carefully laying the car over.


The final job for the underside of the car was to linish down all of the welds then zinc prime the whole lot.


As I type this a pair of Heritage MK1 flitches should be on their way to us from Mini Spares and our next job will be fitting the front end, A-panels and doors.

[steven]

love this build lovely work !