589 replies to this topic

[jamesquintin]

Some more progress.

 

Started sorting the floor. Becuase I was cheap and bought the two halves (NEVER buy two halfs, just get the whole floor in one) I've got loads to still sort. The weld down the middle was the first port:

 

Cleaned up the welds.

Next was the seatbelt mount. Test Fit:

 

 

Zinc sprayed:

 

Welded in!

 

Then I added the weld along the seatbase/companion bin/arch closer as per the factory (although not as neat)

 

 

I had also blown a small hole in the rear valance with the spot welder, so sorted that:

 

I also joined the two halves of the MPI coil bracket. They were originally joined with a peel rivet, so I used the same again. Is my attention to detail overkill? Nah!

 

 

Thats it for today!

Q

 

[minimissions]

She is coming along!

[jamesquintin]

Took a trip down top Kent today to pick up the cleaned parts.

Decieded to get the wiper motor rebuilt. Makes a change to put somethgin together, rather than taking it apart! Anyway, here we go:

 

 

And rebuilt! Looks pretty good to me.

Next up was the inlet manifold:

 

 

 

And partially rebuilt. One of the injectors and the air intake thingy was a bit rusty, so have stripped and re-sprayed them.

I'm not entirely sure if I should get the small bits of zinc plated stuff re-plated, or if I'm being too picky...?

I then turned my attention to the gear selector housing:

 

 

But halfway through putting it back together I noticed the front bush was well worn! Have ordered a replacement, so this part is on hold. I've also misplaced the screws for the bottom and some of the other bolts, so will have to hunt around for them

Q

 

 

[jamesquintin]

Finished off the inlet manifold. Looks good to me   

 

Next up was the floor. I'd managed to bend it with my fencepost based caddy, so came up wit an ingenious solution! I started with a log bolt welded into a spare bit of square tube:

 

Then put that through the hole in the floor where its bent: (tape to keep it in place when I spun the shell)

 

Then used a second longer bar along the floor and past the edge of the heelboard:

 

 

Not sure if you can see, but the floor was quite bent:

 

tightened the nut up gently and the floor come back into shape!

 

I then turned to the toe board. From new this seem was always bent out. Same on both sides, no idea why. I cleaned all the sealant in there, sprayed copious amounts of Zin primer and closed the panel up:

 

 

 

I've also begun the tedious job of finishing all the welds on the flanges.

 

 

That'll do for today!

Q

[Risky]

What a BIG project! It should look better then new once finished!

[jamesquintin]

well, is this done? Can it really be finished? I 'think' I might have finished the floor! Certainly from a welding perspective:

Heelboard is all welded in:

 

 

Then after a marathon session of grinding, welding, more grinding and then spraying, I think we are there:

 

 

 

 

 

I'll be adding a skim of filler here and there on the more visible areas, but I'm happy with what I've been able to do.

This would be impossible without the spit!

All I need to do now is put the bungs in the holes and add the studs for the heat shield. Hopefully I'll do that next week

Q
 

 

 

[Steve220]

Great work, Q!!!

[Junior Mini]

Great work James, Such a milestone to reach

[minimissions]

Great work! Like the above comment thats a massive milestone reached :)

[jamesquintin]

Had some fun with the new bungs from Minispares:

 

 

 

The only problem with them is that the rubber lip around the top is quite high. It doesn't look right and I'm not 100% convinced they need to stay like that. I feels like they need to be heated up so the rubber melts into the hole and seals it up?

Have emailed Minispares to see if that's the case

Q
 

[Junior Mini]

Hi James, yes the ring is like hot melt glue, you need to gently warm them. A little pressure from above will help them bed in.

Do you have a part number for those bungs at all?

Thanks.

[jamesquintin]

Hi James, yes the ring is like hot melt glue, you need to gently warm them. A little pressure from above will help them bed in.

Do you have a part number for those bungs at all?

Thanks.

 

 

Ahhaaa! I thought they must be as the design is too weird if not. Will have a go tonight. The Minispares part is this one:

https://www.minispar...A7081METAL.aspx

 

Q

[jamesquintin]

So I decided to heat one of the bungs up with a blow tourch to see what happened. Low and behold, it looks 'proper'!

 

 

 

 

All nicely sealed! Will put the others in properly soon.

Just need to add the studs for the fuel lines/heat shields and it'll be ready to paint...

 

Q

 

[jamesquintin]

I've pickled the 4 bungs that go in the seat base (they are a different size to the floor ones) to get all the rust and crap off.

Decided to use my glue gun to run a bead of glue around teh outside, then stuff them into teh holes and use the blow torch to glue them in:

 

 

 

 

Q
 

[Junior Mini]

Proper job!