13 replies to this topic

[jridge]

I have owned this car since I passed my test in 1997. It was originally a 'Sky' edition, but the powder blue roof and cloud graphic wasn't cool enough to be driving to college in so the roof was resprayed and following a gearbox problem, the engine was swapped for a 1310 built by my Dad with my assistance.

 

 

 

Anyway, I stopped driving it in 2002 when I got a Porsche 944. I forgot all about the mini and it just sat decomposing in my parent's back garden.

 

In 2012, we got it into the garage and started stripping it down to assess the damage.

 

We did nothing more until last month when we decided to save it. I started working my way around the body starting with the os front.

My plan is to get the body sound, spray myself in old english white cellulose with a black roof and create a sort of MK3 Cooper lookalike inside and out, but with 12 inch wheels as I like those.

 

I cut out and replaced rot behind the shock absorber mount.

 

 

 

 

Then a section of the inner wing where it meets the scuttle.

 

 

And yesterday, I fitted a flitch repair panel. Welds not ground down or tidied yet.

 

 

Next is to replace the top part of the flitch and then block the dash vent hole as I won't be needing it.

 

 

[Shawbags]

Hi there , keep up the hard work , can you tell me what the idea of blocking the vent hole up is , Shawbags.

[jridge]

It's always seemed to be an extra place for water and crap to get inside the car and when i removed the old plastic mount from the wheel arch, loads of trapped road crud had collected and was causing the worst rust. Unless I was bombing along the motorway, they never seemed to offer much of a breeze anyway. The older cars never had them and I just prefer the more uncluttered look of the dash too. Plus the binnacles always loosened and started vibrating!

[jridge]

Some more horrors......rear valance......

 

[jridge]

NS rear window to gutter...

 

[jridge]

And below where the window meets the waist stiffener.

[miniboy1993]

Got any pics on how it used to look mate ??

[jridge]

got pics somewhere...It was a basic mini sky but I'd only sprayed the roof dark blue and the plastic hubcaps silver. I liked they way it looked like nothing special - back in the day it would beat my college mate's Fiat Uno turbo and keep up with my Dad's Peugeot 205 GTi 1.9 with it's 1310, Piper fast road cam, lightened flywheel and LCB exhaust.

[Ben_O]

loads of rot to play with!

 

Have fun... 

 

Ben

[jridge]

Thanks Ben.

 

Not much today. Made up and welded on top section of flitch after treating metal behind with kurust and zinc primer.

 

 

Then welded in a circular patch in the air vent hole.

 

 

And then seam sealed it all. Not too pretty, but I didn't want too grind too much off as it needs to be strong.

 

[jridge]

This is the kind of look I think I'm going for in the end - minus the bonnet buckle and with 12's instead of 10's...

[jridge]

Both flitch panels replaced, shock absorber mounts repaired and front edges of inner wings rebuilt.  Bulkhead taken back to bare metal.

 

 

...and then etch primed.

 

 

Now rolled over onto the less rotted side to tackle the inner/outer sills and door step.

 

 

Door step replaced after a bit of bracing. I'm not sure if this was enough to correctly brace, but figured once the doorstep was solid, that would hold everything together while the floor was out. I took measurements from the bar to the doorstep to make sure it stayed the same and it seems to have, so far...

 

Then made a kind of jig from dexion and a couple of plates on the car, before checking it lined up with the old subframe mounts. I'm hoping I can use this to bolt the heelboard end repair panel to before attaching to the other end and welding in place.

 

 

Made up a repair for the end of the crossmember where it meets the inner sill. A bit wobbly, but a skim of filler might help. I was planning on fully carpeting it anyway...

 

 

Replaced the n/s rear floor under the axle stand mount where it had gone through. Also chucked some paint into the door bin and any places that I wont be able to access with the inner sill on.

 

...and today started to weld the inner sill in. I was going to butt weld, but the more I read, I decided to fully seam weld on both sides of a joddled edge. There shouldnt be any moisture getting between the two as I'll be covering it with seam sealer. I made up a stiffener panel for the inner wing too.

 

 

 

 

Next, I'll finish off the spotwelds to the door step and replacing the missing bit of floor pan at the front.

 

It feels much better to have some metal in - it's quite amazing how heavy the scrap metal bin is now!

[Ben_O]

Good going!

[jridge]

Only a small update.

 

Spot welded the step to the inner sill...

I've left the crossmember to inner sill spot welds until the car is the right way up again.

Replaced the removed section of n/s floor from part of a whole pan and seam sealed. I might try and make this a bit neater, but it might not stand out too much under the stonechip. I didn't want to remove too much weld.

 

Before I replace the heelboard end, I'm going to patch up part of the boot floor/seat squab.

 

Hopefully get some more done in a couple of days. I've now got a proper 9ltr co2/argon bottle for the MIG that my Dad has modified to accept and hold the larger bottle safely. The little bottles from Halfords were starting to get expensive and it was really annoying to have to stop mid-weld to pick up another.