383 replies to this topic

[Verderad]

Not taken many pictures lately, didn't seem worth it, however had a couple of productive sessions. 

Firstly, A Post / Windscreen was too wide, about 8mm, the scuttle panel didn't work,  how can it be out?  its fixed by the top dash rail and the roof. 

Took ages to work out what side was out, I had an idea as I was having other trouble with the off side, already had frame in to hold front in place whil I changed lower A post,  used a ratchet strap and large hammer to move it over. 

Then moved the A Post forward slightly.   Door on, looks ok

 

Put the inner wings back on screwed scuttle on, wings on. 

Fit is terrible, left it again and came in, posted couple of questions on here and sat and read Project Paddy for inspiration.  Found the exact pictures I wanted,  @RustyAutoCityE posted link to Budget Clubman restoration.   

 

Turns out that the front panel needs adjusting so it can move back, little trim, wing on, looks reasonable, front is terrible

Start trimming front wing, just near the headlight surround, removed about 5 mm in 1mm slithers, fit wing check, remove, rinse repeat.

Starting to look good

Just sort out these bits, twist, skim, hammer

 

 

Long story Short 

Front is on, its looking reasonable 

the A Panels were already fixed to inner wind, didn't quite line up with the wing, so Ive removed them, couple of small holes to wield in 

 

Turns out that the front of the car was not high enough, out with the laser, undo the screws holding floor to toe board, jack up front of sub frame, moved up 15mm. wound screws in, suddenly inner wing to toe board looks great, floor lines up, A Panels fit better.  

 

Its looking good 

 

Then onto the A Post closers and the lower dash 

 

just need to fix the small bracket onto the A Post closer, 

 

The other side needs more work, Lower dash rusted through, so spent ages making up a repair section, stretching and shrinking with molegrips and a hammer

then into position

 

Then put the end of the tunnel on, made it months ago

 

Will finish off the lower dash, weld in the end of the tunnel, go round fill up all the screw holes.  then its back off with all of the front and off for it to be aqua blasted and epoxy primed,  all of the panels are covered in rust spiders under the eCoat. 

 

Starting to look like progress.  

the look of satisfaction 

[Verderad]

Anyone would think I've abandoned this project, fear not, progress has been slow, frustrating but its not all in vain. 

The whole front end has been on and off many times, a little grinding, fettling back on.  The gaps are where I want them, had to make the wing to bonnet gap wider at the front to even it up!!

 

Put the grille in to check that it all looks even (this might be the pic with ends the wrong way around

 

With the front on and all lined up, I needed to get the Toeboard welded in, before I could do that it needed all the eCoat stripping off 

It was full of rust spiders 

Light touch with wire cup, revealed the rust 

 

All stripped off 

 

Then treated

 

Cleaned up the bulkhead 

 

 

Weeks have past since I treated and painted the toe board!!

 

This weekend, finished welding the end of the tunnel back on, 2 patches applied onto the tunnel to clear the way for toe board to go back in

 

 

Lots of holes ready for plug welding (next week, Maybe!!)

 

 

 

Then finished wilding on the A Post closers,

 

tidied up a the Sill to step at the front both sides and welded the lower dash onto the little brackets that I fabricated and welded onto the Post closers, had to remove the inner wings to get them in with brackets on!!

[Verderad]

I'm back on it, Weld the toe board in at the weekend, then strip the front end back off, its being sent for soda blasting and epoxy primer having seen what's lurking under the eCoat.  

 

Whist that's off the bulkhead cross member needs a couple of patches adding and the bonnet hinge brackets putting back on after the bulkhead has been stripped back and treated. 

 

Have the door skins waiting to go onto the doors whist front is away being treated.  

 

That will then leave the roof panel, just the sun roof to delete!!

Looking for a good roof cut, looking forward to the hours of careful grinding. 

[exuptoy]

@petey81 is selling one here.

http://www.theminifo...lass-roof-skin/

Edited by exuptoy, 03 October 2020 - 02:11 PM.

[Verderad]

Sometimes I wish I did the updates each day....

 

Get the toes board welded in 

 

Weld fest, followed by grind fest...

 

Strip the front end back off to get to the welds behind front sub frame on the Toeboard / Bulkhead 

 

Few dodgy looking plug welds and more rot to remove. 

 

Then onto bulkhead repairs, cut out the root and damage from engine tie bar mount 

Clean out as much surface rust possible, then liberal coating of Kurust remover. 

 

Patches in place and then welded 

 

Amazing how days of work in the garage can come down to so few pictures!!

Edited by Verderad, 22 October 2020 - 11:09 AM.

[Verderad]

Grind day, had all the plugs in the floor to clean off, spent an hour cleaning those, filling in holes and grinding again. Then that dreaded moment, just one little weld to fill missed edge of plug and boom great big hole, don't stop keep trying to fill it, bigger hole!!!

All done, wire brushed, treated with Kurust.

Then onto the bulkhead cleaning, previously wire wheeled the top half, removing paint, rust etc then covered in Kurust.
Time to clean that off back to metal


hours later



cleaned off (old petrol) although it lifts the remnants of Kurust off so cloths all look like its removing grease


then a wipe down with white sprit

Before coat of SAS Zinc primer, must have a dodgy batch 2 cans where it needs constant shaking to get paint to come out, shook it for ages, put it in warm water, shook it. still came out thick and bitty in laces



Just got to find the safe place where I put the hinge brackets now.

All of the front Panels dropped off at Custom Classics in Barry for media blasting to remove all the rust spiders under the eCoat and a nice coat of epoxy primer

Also picked up a roof chop from Weston Super Mare
decided i'm going to try and remove the roof panel rather than cut A, B & C posts

Grinding off the seam weld from under the roof gutter, loaded 3 cutting discs onto the grinder. Then remember not to get carried away its only 1mm.
Seemed to do a good job, came away along one edge, leaving a little bot of flap disc action to finish off.



feels like its all coming together, might, just might get it into paint in under 3 years!!

Edited by Verderad, 22 October 2020 - 11:09 AM.

[Ben_O]

Well done on the roof skin splitting.

They are a hell of a job to do and require lots of patience and perseverance.

[Verderad]

Well done on the roof skin splitting.

They are a hell of a job to do and require lots of patience and perseverance.

Ben, I need to remind myself to be patient, too easy to hold it on a little longer than needed and end up with a thin section or a hole. 

[Ben_O]

Last roof skin I changed, I discovered a small tip for making it a tad easier to get the old skin off. 

 

1mm cutting disc and cut the bulk of the skin off first cutting just above the edge that sits in the gutter.

then you can stand inside the shell and grind the edges off with relative ease and comfort. 

Just don't cut through the cantrail!

[Verderad]

Off this week, time to make progress... 

Continue on with removing the roof skin from the remains of the roof.  

 

 

Almost went ok, just 1 area where I got carried away, will need to weld the lip back on, damp cloth to cool it, copper backer.  Hopefully the the radius into the gutter will be enough to prevent  distortion.  

 

 

 

Couple of rust holes, can't decide if I should just treat it and filler or attempt to fill with weld?

 

Tidied up the odd rust spot and treated 

 

Looked at the roof for a minute, my mate Tim dropped in, stood at the end of the garage and said, better cut that off then, so out with a fresh disk 

 

 

 

Gone..  

 

One corner full of filler, didn't notice before, lots of holes along the edge of windscreen. 

 

 

Lots of cleaning up to do 

 

hour of wire wheel action later and then 30mins picking seam sealer out of the gutter 

on with the rust converter 

 

The side of the roof with the holes in the panels, has caused the cant rail to rust through, always another job to do 

 

 

Luckily the roof cut has a cant rail, will use part if that, off with the rusty one.  Why do spot welds always proved difficult??

 

 

Made a bit of a mess removing the corner piece of the cant rail 

 

 

 

All the front panel back from media blasting with a coating of epoxy primer.   Are areas to touch up in the corners of the wing, coat of zinc primer then a primer, will give it a top coat for Blaze Orange while its easy to get to.  

Inner wings done in the background 

 

Starting to come together, how far by the end of the week?

[Verderad]

What happens to time and progress when you enter the garage?  Time passes, progress doesn't feel like it happens.....

 

More grinding to remove last remnants of old roof skin,  then removed carefully the part of the Cantrail I needed and the corner piece that connects the front and side  the

 

Then strip back to bare metal, weld through primer, normal primer, on Cantrail and door surround (this must be where the time goes...

Weld Into place and clean up

 

Then onto the roof panel, fix the over zealous grinding when removing and the couple of rusty holes. 

 

 

wrapped some copper around a piece of steel to match the radius between the roof and the flange around the edge.  Stop it blowing through

 

Cut out a thing section and added in new steel 

 

tack  it in 

 

clean it up

 

well pleased with all the roof repairs, took my time, made sure the copper backers had good contact with steel.  no holes blown, good penetration. 

[JXC Mini GT]

Great progress, keep up the good work, before you know it will be ready for some blaze paint.

[Verderad]

Wasn't expecting the roof panel to take so long, over 200 plug welds and then grinding, done now, need to revisit couple of spots but that can wait for another day. 

 

Can't state that you can never over clamp!!

 

found that the bar that goes between door handles works really well to clamp roof panel down well 

 

For every plug, I used the spit weld removed tool to clear away the weld through primer, ii'm not convinced you get a good weld if the metal is not bare.

 

 

lots to do !!

 

 

lots of plugs done, first pass at cleaning up 

 

last through to clean up 

 

glad it was over then onto adding the front back on, happy that it lines up with all the original holes 

 

 

Then onto the hinge brackets, I drilled small holes that to use to realign them, however one of the brackets looks wrong, no job is ever a simple job. 

need to know what the gap between the hinge brackets are, luckily both of the right angle brackets lined up with the holes perfectly, will use those to align the other with a spacer.  

 

now on to panel alignment, bonnet to wing gap, which I had set great before taking it all apart for media blasting and paint is just not right. yet screws are in the same hole??

 

One for next time, just need bonnet hinges and a better bonnet. 

[I hate Brian]

Wow some hard work gone into this mate

[Jase]

Looks fantastic, why didn't you spot weld the roof skin on?