37 replies to this topic

[antidigerati]

Along with discovering more rust, I also managed to do a rear-quarter repair by the window. It took me forever with lots of trial and error to hammer-form that piece of sheet just right... but I'm fairly happy with how it came out. It will definitely need some pinhole fixes and some filler to make it all smooth, but hey, no more rust in that specific area anymore =)

 

 

 

 

[pete l]

Could you take onother picture of this, but further back ? there is a lot of weird body panels on your car !

 

Edited by pete l, 13 September 2018 - 07:09 AM.

[dasupersprint]

Could you take onother picture of this, but further back ? there is a lot of weird body panels on your car !

 

 

Pete,

I know these brackets, they are another thing only found on the Canadian Minis. It's meant to bolt the higher than standard rear bumper. Look at the first pictures of my project page if you want to see what they looked like.

This car here has been converted to ''normal'' and better looking chrome bumpers in it's life. These brackets are not available new anywhere to my knowledge

Edited by dasupersprint, 13 September 2018 - 12:49 PM.

[Risky]

Regarding the subframe, I'd go for a good used or a new one. They are quite important for the safety of your car as they carry your suspension.

[antidigerati]

Could you take onother picture of this, but further back ? there is a lot of weird body panels on your car !

 

 

No problem. How is this? As @dasupersprint said, it is likely because it is Canadian. 

 

[antidigerati]

Regarding the subframe, I'd go for a good used or a new one. They are quite important for the safety of your car as they carry your suspension.

 

Thanks. I appreciate this. I'll see what I can find.

[Avtovaz]

looking good mate! keep at it!!

[antidigerati]

Thanks, @Avtovaz!

 

I've got some calls out about a replacement rear subframe. My local Mini parts shop doesn't have any right now so I'd need to cover the freight from MiniSpares to the west coast of Canada. Pricey.

Possibly have a lead on someone on the mainland that custom builds compatible rear subframes out of stainless steel. It sounds good to me, but I've no experience with large structural components made out of stainless. Is theere anything I need to be concerned about?

 

Been reading a lot of TMF threads lately. Very inspiring... but I now think I need to repair/replace pretty much every panel. I kid... but not really =)

 

Spent an annoyingly long time removing some ill-installed (by me) Dynamat (sound deadening) from the firewall behind the parcel shelf with a heat gun. Still not complete though. What was I thinking? I was on a mission to reduce noise and didn't understand the purpose of the mats.

 

Pulled my wheels off and was met with extremely rusty hubs/drums. Is it common practice to paint those before they go in? They looked so nice 5 years ago. Hmm.

 

Did some more test welding, then repaired a section in the rear left quarter window. Getting better in some ways... overthinking it in others. I opted to use a dremel to do the final surfacing of the welds thinking I could finely control how much material I was reemoving.... instead I just created a gouged up surface where the weld line was. I'm leaving it for now thinking I'll just clean it up with filler later. It's only my fourth welding attempt so trying not to get too frustrated. I may opt to cut it out and try again. We'll see.

 

 

 

 

My super rusty hubs, steering arms etc...

 

[pete l]

Nice metal work you did there.

[dasupersprint]

For the subframe, I bought mine from Moss Motors. They are in the US, and surely there is some British car shop in BC that can order from them? Or you can order directly from Moss. I'm in Quebec and the subframe came to about 800$ I think. Probably better than shipping from the UK for such a heavy part.

[antidigerati]

Nice metal work you did there.

 

Hey, thanks! Far from perfect, but I'm pleased with my progress.

 

 

For the subframe, I bought mine from Moss Motors. They are in the US, and surely there is some British car shop in BC that can order from them? Or you can order directly from Moss. I'm in Quebec and the subframe came to about 800$ I think. Probably better than shipping from the UK for such a heavy part.

 

Thanks for the info. I checked out Moss and a few other options and ultimately decided to work with my local parts supplier to split the shipping from MiniSpares. I think if I had to cover all the shipping myself this wouldn't have made sense. Thanks for the info though.

[antidigerati]

Haven't made any significant progress to report, so instead thought I'd share some photos of some of the work that needs to be done.

 

I bought a ceiling-mounted winch to help me lift out the electric motor and transmission. The motor is only about 110lbs and this winch can apparently handle up to 400. Here is a photo of me lifting out the motor with the adapter plate and fly wheel still attached.

 

 

Also dropped my (very modified) front subframe. Found a place in town that will sandblast and powder-coat it. Just waiting on a quote. It's got some rusty bits, but I think it is fairly superficial stuff.

 

 

I pulled off my upper suspension brackets... and although they looked pretty darn good from the outside, they definitely need some new metal behind them and possibly the brackets themselves replaced.

 

 

 

I have to patch up the holes/rust from the left rear repeater similar to what I already did on the right.

 

 

I have replacement flitch panels and "A" panels for both crusty sides ready to go... once I wrap my head around exactly how they'll get installed.

 

 

 

My left inner wing is needing some attention. Since I don't have a radiator and would prefer not to have all these vents into the engine bay I have a few ideas on how to just seal the area up with a larger piece of sheet. 

 

 

My D-Series Honda Transmission needs some cleanup, some new seals but is otherwise alright.

 

Also plan to cleanup the rust and paint on the electric motor and red-flaking adapter plate, fly-wheel, pressure-plate and clutch assembly.

 

 

 

With the rear subframe removed, inspected and deemed in need of replacement, I could then get a good look at the surrounding panels.

 

The back of the floor and panels above on both sides need some rust eradication.

 

 

 

The rear lights and bumper area had a lot of filler over rust so I ordereed a replacement panel for those areas as fabricating something to fit that curve and lip is beyond my tools and skills.

 

 

The rocker panels / sills on both sides have been deemed bad enough to warrant replacing.

 

 

Oh. And I also need to cleanup, repair some boots, check for leaks etc on my axles (Hybridized with Honda inners and Mini outers) and the steering rack as well.

 

 

 

To get a slight win under my belt, I decided to remove and refurbish my upper suspension bars. 

 

 

 

So, hopefully that provides some sort of framework for the larger next steps I need to take. Cheers.

[Bat]

Hi,

Whilst there's a fair amount of rust correction work to do if it was a UK based car you'd still be sweeping it up off the floor!

It looks like BMW like your idea too..

.

https://www.slashgea...rsion-28524866/

 

Cheers 

 

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

It's been really interesting following your progress so far.  Keep up the good work

[jamesquintin]

I would replace the full inner wings on both sides. If you get the latest injection ones, that would remove the radiator holes and fix all the rust in one go.

Patching it just ain't worth the time, trust me!!

Q