91 replies to this topic

[inkyjamesdee]

Hi all so I picked up the mini today to begin the resto work on it. As I mentioned in the noob area its for my fiancé. Getting married in summer 2015 so hopefully plenty of time. Its my second attempt at buying a mini and this one looks like its going to need a lot less work. Its partially striped last owner gave up on it mid way through striping it out but was a complete running car before that. Was last on the road 2 years ago. Got it home today with all the parts. And started by getting the subframes off. That was about all I had time for.
Few pics more to follow.

Edited by inkyjamesdee, 06 October 2013 - 09:22 PM.

[SecretSugar]

Looks good so far...

[minimissions]

That doesnt look like a bad project at all :)

[miniyellowmini]

Good luck with it

[inkyjamesdee]

Done I little bit more tonight. Took the rear subframe off the red mini and managed to snap a bolt off

 

Cleaned the old subframes up and bolted them on tho the yellow mini and got that rolling

 

 

Need to get that moved asap as the shed is cramped with two mini's in there. If anyone is interested in the yellow one pm got most parts to make a complete car minus engine and box and few other bits. Will be posting it up in the for sale section when I have done a few more post if no body wants it I'm going to turn it into a trailer.

 

I also took a picture of the new subframes but I can't remember why as its not relevant at the minute but here they are too lol

 

 

 

Rollover Jig is ordered and now I have to save up for media blasting and I'm off for a ride to DSN Classics in Attleborough,
Norfolk on friday as I booked the day off work to go to the London Tattoo Convention but I'm in 'mini mode' so decided to go to DSN instead

Thanks for the replies

Will update soon

Edited by inkyjamesdee, 25 September 2013 - 10:08 PM.

[a_woolhouse]

Nice base to start with, will look forward to some more pics :)

[inkyjamesdee]

Went for a ride to DSN Classics today as they are to closest specialist to me. They were extremely helpful and gave some good advice regarding panels. So here is a plug to them especially if you live in the east anglia area, https://www.dsnclassics.co.uk/

 

Brought a stack of panels so that should keep me busy. Pictures....

 

Thats me pretending to be happy but in reality I have just blown all my spare cash lol

 

Thats pretty much everything I need for the front end as far as I can tell.

I'm pretty sure the rear only needs small repairs but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Hopefully more up dates over the weekend and I will with any luck done some actual work to the car.

Edited by inkyjamesdee, 27 September 2013 - 07:06 PM.

[mk1leg]

Good man I will keep an eye on this.........and if in dout cut it out....

[inkyjamesdee]

Had the missus round on monday and she gave me a hand stripping out the inside of the car was going to post this up tuesday but my pc took a direct hit from a mop and blew the power supply unit

Luckily thats fixed and nothing else broke and this post gets much more content.

 

This is Abbie and the dog Bobby who looked thrilled to be stuck in the work shop

He is more excited about going out for a ride than Abbie

 

Abbie was a great help and really got stuck in. I was suprised as I thought she wouldn't know what to do but she was pulling parts out left and centre and boxing them up neat and tidy, she even put the tools back where they belonged.

 

Ok now the serious stuff.

The car was stripped out in good time.

 

and I decided to take a wing off (Needed replacing) But I wanted to have a play with my new tools

 

Then my roller jig arived so I set about welding that about. My dad said the welding wasn't strong enough but I think he just wanted to do it so I set about the frame work with some nice stong slugs of weld for piece of mind

 

Then finally today whilst I was baby sitting my nephew and taking the dog for a walk at the woods I recieved the following pictures from my dad who couldn't relax on a sunday.

 

 

So I got home as fast as possible to get stuck in.

Started getting the drivers side sill sorted as well but didn't get any pics yet. I don't work on mondays so a whole day of it tomorrow and another update hopefully going to takle the full inner wing as it is terminal on the drivers side should be fun...

 

Edit. Thanks Dad appriecate the help don't think I could do it alone.

Edited by inkyjamesdee, 06 October 2013 - 08:28 PM.

[Petrol]

Looks like you have the space and gear to sort it. That spit looks a proper piece of kit. Subscribed and will be following the progress.

 

 

Pete

[inkyjamesdee]

Looks like you have the space and gear to sort it. That spit looks a proper piece of kit. Subscribed and will be following the progress.

 

 

Pete

Thanks Pete, I finished the workshop this year, took me about 2 years to do it and I had to sell my mk2 escort and my pride and joy Caddy to pay for it :-(
 Was hard work getting it built but it was well worth it having the space and being warm and dry. The mini is its first full resto.

[inkyjamesdee]

Update:

I was working on the mini all day and honestly don't know where the time went. Got a picture of the sills in place then had a good tidy up and sweep as I had left a massive pile of rust and dust on the floor.

 

Next on the agenda was getting that rotten inner wing out. What a complete pig of a job that is but got stuck in and managed to get it out

 

Then after all that thrashing hacking and swearing finally started to fit the new panel

now waiting on these little secret panels that fit under the scuttle to come

 

Then the next jobs are is to work on the opposite side (which is in much better condition thankfully) cut out and fit the scuttle inside and out then will be fitting the front subframe and lining the wings bonnet and front panel up and then moving on to the back which is worse than I originally thought but not to bad. With any luck getting that inner wing removed and refitted will be the hardest job in all.

Edited by inkyjamesdee, 07 October 2013 - 11:22 PM.

[Jared Mk3]

That looks to be a good project and you're cracking on too. Good luck with it - will be following. 

[mk1leg]

wow when you said  its for your girlfriend I thoudht it was a simple resto.....thats a full on project...........good work by the way......

[inkyjamesdee]

wow when you said  its for your girlfriend I thoudht it was a simple resto.....thats a full on project...........good work by the way......

Thanks mk1leg, to be honest the car was a bit worse than I originally anticipated but I wanted it to be perfect for her and for it to last. She is a sentimental old bean and I can't imagine her wanting to ever sell it so I thought best get all the grot out while it is stripped and on the jig.

Also been looking at petrol's thread. Really good stuff and he has been going to town on rust proofing his mini build its given me some food for thought so work has slowed slightly as I want to get me self a boat load of zinc primer. Not to concerned about seam sealing at the moment as the mini is in the dry and I can go about that in time when the welding is finished.

Most people have probably seen his thread but just in case here is a link to it http://www.theminifo...er-13i-rebuild/