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Misty - '86 Piccadilly Resto

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#1 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 08:13 PM

Where to begin?

 

I bought this car off ebay when i was 17 for 600 quid i think. The previous owner had taken an arc welder to the subframes and sills just to keep it on the road but i was happy with it; freedom, fun, customisation etc etc. 

 

I ran it for a year and a bit keeping it on the road and doing small upgrades (stage 1 pipe etc) with a fairly low budget. Crashed it a few times but minor stuff which i repaired myself. 

Took it off the road in 2010 as i went to uni and its gathered dust and gained rust. 

 

But i love this mini and i want to restore it, although admittedly not back to factory standard. (special edition purists may disagree with this but my car my rules and all that).

 

This will probably be the longest post in my thread, i don't intend on writing anymore essays but obviously i'll try my best to answer any questions you may have. 

 

Enjoy! 

 

3b26cb3b-5cf2-457d-947b-9add79e31ddb_zps

 



#2 ShaunaFTW

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 08:28 PM

Woah that is a beautiful photo! What plans do you have for it?



#3 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 08:37 PM

So i acquired a donor car that had been wrapped around a lamp post sideways (write off) and took the doors, bootlid, interior, front subframe and engine.

 

After a lot of stripping i got this:

WP_000267_zpsacafe0bf.jpg

 

Treated the surface rust and then ground off the old paint:

WP_000301_zps9a79ce4c.jpg

 

Then repainted a few coats of black epoxy paint:

WP_000323_zps61734220.jpg



#4 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 08:50 PM

Next up was to recondition the engine, it ran very well before the donor car got written off so i'm not going to take the head off, instead just a strip and paint. 

 

Filthy, oily mess:

WP_000290_zps9b50052d.jpg

 

Jetwashed with engine degreaser and probably some other stuff, it actually came up quite well, a little surface rust though:

WP_000292_zps05ea45d0.jpg

 

Started rubbing down the old yellow paint as well as the surface rust and masked it up for paint:

WP_000304_zps7171734e.jpg

 

Decided on a blue smooth hammerite, possibly 'royal blue' can't really remember but its good stuff.

WP_000307_zps47edce21.jpg



#5 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 08:53 PM

Woah that is a beautiful photo! What plans do you have for it?

 

thank you! its an old one and it hides all the rust haha. I've got many plans but as you might've noticed i'm currently writing up all the work i've done so far. I'd say my overall aim is to restore it with good quality work but its not gonna be a standard mini.



#6 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 09:27 PM

Came across the opportunity to have some zinc plating done to a few parts, jumped at the chance and was very pleased with the results, its a lovely clean finish although it does oxidise a little bit. Importantly it protects the components, possibly better than paint ever could.

 

WP_000317_zpsd5d42bf9.jpg

 

Got a box of goodies from minisport, mostly gaskets and oil seals for the engine:

WP_000320_zps1a23893c.jpg

 

 

 

Fuel pump gaskets proved hard to find anywhere?!? so i made my own:

WP_000324_zps7f8e1da5.jpg

 

A couple of shots of the engine's current state, zinc plated parts on and new gaskets all round, not sure what colour to paint the rocker cover though!

WP_000904_zps4bf9f3b0.jpg

 

WP_000902_zps13c3569c.jpg

 

WP_000899_zpsc5c78fe5.jpg


Edited by snield, 08 August 2013 - 09:34 PM.


#7 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 10:01 PM

My donor car also had a full set of hi-los which i cleaned up and painted ready to go on the car at some point in the future.

 

Before:

Photo0320_zpsdf8c5893.jpg

 

After:

Photo0328_zpsbbd1de41.jpg

 

Did the same with the radiator, steering rack and various other brackets etc,

 

216260_10150167082790213_4521475_n.jpg

 

267714_10150231703350213_3017374_n.jpg

 

268662_10150231703755213_7345694_n.jpg

 

267460_10150234084995213_4046170_n.jpg

 

269978_10150234085285213_3053037_n.jpg



#8 snield

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Posted 08 August 2013 - 10:16 PM

SO. Time to unveil the car. The front had an almighty dent in one of the wings, and all 3 panels were horribly rusty, so with the help of an angle grinder, this happened:

 

Photo0344_zpseee8ec98.jpg

 

And then she looked like this: 

 

Photo0347_zps3914c6a1.jpg

 

At this point i moved the car to a new location, with workshop and tools nearby, looking pretty sorry for herself though!

 

WP_000265_zps275e1fac.jpg

 

Commence 2nd engine removal, im getting good at this now...

 

WP_000738_zpse8df3643.jpg

 

Deliberated for a long time about whether or not to cut the flitches off, but i want a unique mini and i like the idea of a carbon/fibreglass flipfront soooo, flitches away!

 

WP_000795_zps591bac85.jpg


Edited by snield, 08 August 2013 - 10:18 PM.


#9 snield

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Posted 09 August 2013 - 04:55 PM

So now the engine bay looks like this, lots of old paint, lots of surface rust:

 

WP_000794_zps4aa21e27.jpg

 

 

Treated the worst of the rust with a neutraliser and left it to do its work. Then fired up the compressor and used various airtools to grind away the old paint: 

 

WP_000885_zpsf8450b57.jpg

 

And finally a few coats of black epoxy paint to protect it all.

 

WP_000888_zpsfddb1b73.jpg

 

The subframe in the photo above is going to come off at some point as i have my reconditioned one waiting to go on. Also came across a genuine scuttle panel with a small section cut out of the centre, so after a small repair that will go on too.

 

This post just about gets up to the current state of my project so anything i post now will be new work and not old stuff! 







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