42 replies to this topic

[leigh21]

So I've had this idea for a while now and I found a back end of a mini on eBay for £65 and so it began! Here's what I picked up last week






I had a hour on it this afternoon and the rust bug has hit it pretty hard so I've decided to cut out the floor and make a frame from box section and weld the panels to that, at least that's the plan at the minute. So here's what's left

Now I'm only a novice at this sort of thing but as long as it can withstand a bit of wind and a few sausages then I'll be ok ;) progress will be a little slow for the next week or so but after that it'll be full steam ahead!

[dyshipfakta]

Cool I like it. What's going to be the lid? Would make a pretty good pizza oven with the boot lid lol

[leigh21]

I'm thinking about making a polished concrete worktop to go on it with the bbq in that,

[leigh21]

So i imagine there's a few people thinking I'm nuts, but bear with me! I got out in the garage this afternoon after getting some welding gas and had a try on some scrap bits as I haven't used the welder for about 2 years :/ first attempts were well let's say not great, after having a play about with the settings I started getting a little better
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Still room for improvement I think.
After all the messing about I managed to repair the bottom of the rear quarter with a piece of metal i cut from the parcel shelf
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Hopefully there will be more progress tomorrow now I've been and got some supplies. Thanks

[leigh21]

So I started by cutting some sheet steel and once tacked into place looked something like this

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I found it quite difficult to weld it from the inside so I seam welded it from the outside

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I ran out of gas after finishing this bit so I began shaping a piece of metal that will form a 2" lip around the top giving it a bit more strength and also this will give me something to seal the concrete top too once I've made it which will hopefully keep it water tight too

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[Lord Lucan]

Any progress? Looking good

[leigh21]

No progress as of yet been so busy with work and stuff, hopefully more updates next weekend watch this space 🤗

[matthew25]

if you don't mind me asking what have you done with the rear bulkhead and shelf?

[Minimattvan]

Nice project

You can realy get creative with scrap mini shells, so many possibilitys ....

[leigh21]

So after a while of doing nothing really productive I have managed to get back some motivation and got back in the garage. I got given a load of 2mm thick angle iron for free which was ideal as I'm trying to build this on a budget.


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So once I had a bit of a game plan I started welding the angle iron to the body to reinforce it and stop it flexing, which has done the job lovely, then I made a frame up for the bottom which I put some castor wheels on.





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I also removed and smoothed off the number plate light because I think it will annoy me when trying to flip burgers 🤓
Then yesterday I got the whole thing sanded down, filled, primed. Got a few rough edges to sort out then hopefully get the top coat on Saturday all being well. I also welded the fuel neck hole.




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So I will be back over the weekend with some more updates. Need to get this finished before summer ends 😳

Edited by leigh21, 20 July 2017 - 06:05 PM.

[leigh21]

Managed to get some colour on last night, and those of you that have painted stuff in their garage before will know how difficult it is especially when you get dirt and **** in the paint, so here is a little teaser picture, it needs a bit of flatting and polishing and when that's done I will get some more pictures up.


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[leigh21]

So as promised here are some pictures of the finished paint in all its glory



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pretty pleased with how it's turned out, I got the wiring in place for the stealth looking LED number plate lights and got LED lights in the rear lights too. I have still got to buy a bumper and a couple of wheels, and make the worktop to go on. I am aiming to have it finished within the next couple of weeks fingers crossed. So watch this space. Thanks for looking.

Edited by leigh21, 24 July 2017 - 05:02 PM.

[Lord Lucan]

Looking fantastic... Well done. Paint looks ace. Is it going to be a static BBQ or a trailer?

[leigh21]

Thanks, it's nice when you get to the stage of putting bits back on seem to gain a bit more motivation. No it's just going to be static in the garden. I completely re did my garden last year and wanted a nice feature and came up with this idea.
Here's what my garden used to look like

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And this is it now

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(I know you didn't ask to see it, im just proud of it haha)
Thanks again

Edited by leigh21, 24 July 2017 - 05:18 PM.

[Rocket.]

Great work on the BBQ will certainly be a great feature in your lovely garden!