297 replies to this topic

[rich_959]

See, I told you I was talking rubbish! 

[Ben_O]

The other option of course is to repair your boot floor to gain experience and practice. If it goes well then it stays, if you finish and are not happy with the result, cut it out and replace it using your new skills learnt repairing the old one!

[Ben Rose]

All good advice and I take on board everything.  I'm not looking for concourse by any stretch however I'm never letting the car go so as Ben says it does make sense to replace it now whilst I'm this far in.  I think your last suggestion Ben of doing some practice repairs first and see how I do.  Then replace if I still feel like I want / need too, I'm just pleased to be cracking on with it now.   

 

Thanks for taking the time to read and offer advice @rich_959 and @Ben_O. 

[dasupersprint]

While it would be a fairly easy repair to do as the panel in that area is flat, I suggest to replace the boot floor. I would bet that the seams between the floor and the wheel arches are rusty, and you can't see them until you cut them off.

 

That and, any progress is still progress!

[GT Jimmy]

I ended up replacing the whole boot floor after patching the old one up for a couple of days. Was reasonably easy to do and looks much neater

[elliot341]

You'd do well to get these panels from M machine mate. 

 

[Ben Rose]

You'd do well to get these panels from M machine mate. 

 

 

I didnt even know M Machine existed.  Just had a look at their website.  Those are the exact panels I need to be fair.  I will price up and see what the difference is.  If I do end up repairing the boot instead of replacing the entire boot floor this looks like a great option.  Big thanks for enlightening me Elliot.

[Ben Rose]

In preparation for some welding practice next week I prepped the rear valance to use as scrap metal.  I didn't realise it would create as much mess as it did but put it this way, me and the garage looked like we'd been down a coal mine for the night.  Fun.  I spent as much time cleaning up the garage as I did the metal.

[elliot341]

No worries Ben, M Machine sell heritage, magnum and their own panels. A lot of their own panels you can't get heritage/magnum equivalents. Theyre also very good to deal with and decent on price. Give them a ring (not email) and they'll be very helpful and knowledgeable. You might even get a Mini Forum discount on them too. Probably cheaper if you order a load of panels at once.

[Ben Rose]

Apologies for the lack of updates again.  Life is really busy at the moment and I'm not getting much time to spend on the Mini.
 
Last time I posted anything I was about to have a crash course in welding so I bought myself a welding mask and spent 3 hours with a friend practising plug and seam welds.  Frustrating at times but overall I feel I have the welder setup as necessary and my plug welds are great.  Seam welds need practice though.
 
Welding Mask I bought...
 


I have started to cut off the remainder of the rear valance and closing panels...



















I used the hammer and dolly set I bought to straighten out the seam across the back and it looks much better now...rusty in a few small places which I will repair I think.















I will be removing the other closing panel on the other side and then cleaning up all the surfaces and painting in zinc primer before testing the new panels. Haven't bought them yet though.

[Ben Rose]

I can't believe I've not updated my project thread for 2 months.  Coronavirus has put the brakes on my project as my wife and I have two very young children to look after and we both have to work full time from home.

 

Harryrothers93 has done me a deal on his rollover jig so as soon as the lock down lifts I'm off to collect it.  This will hopefully speed up my progress.

 

For now I have re-located the lights in my garage from on the beams to just on the side of the beams.  This is to give myself some extra headroom when the mini is on the jig.  I've added 2 more strip lights too. 

I've also made sure to strip the shell of everything including the front subframe, fuel lines, brake lines etc.

 

Whilst I wait I'm going to start to refurbish some components and get some panels ordered.

 

 

 

Rear arch support has surface rust but is solid so I'm trying to clean it up.

 

 

 

 

Front subframe removal

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of surface rust but mainly solid accept drivers side footwell will need to be repaired.

 

 

 

Still lots to remove to be ready for the jig.

 

 

 

Forgot to remove the front fog light brackets which come off easily.

 

 

Clips for the main power cable to the battery covered in years of gunge!

 

 

Strange mismatch of towing eyes on the front subframe?!

 

 

Main power cable looks OK just needs cleaning.

 

 

Front subframe removed.

 

 

Steering rack and brake / fuel lines next.

 

 

 

Rubber boots on steering rack are shot to pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

More crusty bits!!

 

 

 

How do you store brake lines?!

 

 

And fuel lines?!

 

 

Nearly

 

 

Just a bare shell.  Now how do I convince the police that a roll over jig IS ESSENTIAL TRAVEL!!!!!!!

 

Edited by Ben Rose, 04 May 2020 - 02:46 PM.

[jamesquintin]

Interesting how they fixed the front brake line to the subframe... Mine is just clipped in under a sort of upholstery clip.

I vaguely remember my car having to go into a Rover garage for a recall back in 2002ish (not the rear wheel bearing recall) where they did something with the front brake line. I could never find what they actually did. I can only assume it was this modification but they never actually did it...

Q

[Gilles1000]

Nice to read again from you ;)

good progress, having the bare shell is a big step. The next one beeing cutting it into pieces (of course to repair it).

 

You have one original towing eye, the other one is a "heavy duty" one. No idea if it's original on a late Mini, mine has two original ones.

 

Good luck to go and get the rollover jig, that makes body repair a lot easier!!

[jamesquintin]

Towing eyes are the same as my 97 car

[Ben_O]

You could always p clip the brake an fuel lines to the side of one of those roof beams out of the way.