522 replies to this topic

[colinf1]

Inner wing is now fully attached to the car, apart from along toe board and floor which I'll do when new floor pan goes in.

Longer arms in spot welder didnt have enough clamping force to pull panels together in parts, so had to revert to mostly plug welds with spot welds done on A-post, cross-member end and the seam along the toe-board.



Welds ground back and plenty of zinc primer forced into all joins. Now I should be able to get front end and scuttle panel sorted!

[colinf1]

Prep'd the bulkhead this morning, getting in where the sandblaster couldnt with the scuttle in place. Some pitting along the crossmember which I addressed by adding some welds, also added some extra weld to the engine steady bracket.



Gave it a coat of rust convertor, just waiting for that to react then get it zinc primed ready for welding on the scuttle.

[colinf1]

Bulkhead now zinc primed and some top coat applied, just to seal it from any corrosion until its painted properly...

[Viktor]

That looks awesome!

[colinf1]

Midweek welding! Got my scuttle panel on, fully welded! Bit of filler needed on passenger side as the piece that I welded back in (that I accidently cut off many,many months ago) was a shade too low. Drivers side looks fine, minimal filler needed this side.



Spot welder worked good, bit tricky around vents in top dash rail, and very heavy to be holding for a long time but worked quite well. Next up will be wings and front panel and it should start looking like a mini again!

[Viktor]

Brilliant! I guess you don't need anymore to go to the gym, if you are welding every now and then. That thing is very heavy, are you using the strap or anything else to hold it?

 

I'm hoping to start using mine this weekend!

[colinf1]

A bit of prep work done on the inner wings and front panel this evening. Just the A panels and wings to prep now.

I had bolted the front panel to the subframe, but I hadnt got the rear brackets on, went to put them in this evening and had to loosen the subframe off a good bit to get them in, so we'll see at the weekend what difference that will make to fitment of everything...

[colinf1]

Starting to look like a mini again...



A really frustrating hour at it last night, couldnt get the wings to sit anywhere near to being close with inner wing and front panel, came really close to calling it quits on it...

But went back to it this evening, armed with several hammers, self tappers and lots of reading on here about having to get rather physical with magnum wings. Some bashing and snipping later I had it on in an ok position, took it back off to prep the edges, back on and spot welded along the inner wing edge first, then managed to get a few spots along the return fold to scuttle to keep it in place, then onto front panel edge. It involved lots of lifting the spot welder while sat awkwardly in the wheel arch, lots of vice grips and lots of swearing!

Have roughly a 5mm gap along bonnet edge hopefully I can get similar on passenger side...

[colinf1]

Front end is on!



Scuttle needed to be pulled outwards slighly on drivers side to make the A-panel line up. Passenger side was a right pig to get on. The lip where it meets A-panel was tiny, like 6mm, so hard to get it spot welded. Every panel needed brute force to get it to fit, and lots ansd lots of vice grips to hold it in place.

Its on now and gaps dont look too bad, both bonnets I have are a bit out of shape, so might try pick up a better one.

[Viktor]

Looks like a Mini again! Bravo

[ctwomey]

Great work Colin! 

[colinf1]

Getting a few hours at the mini in the evenings this week, got the tabs on front panel spot welded to the inner wings, all thats needed on the front now is the scuttle closing panels and dressing back any plug welds.

Got the shell emptied, hoovered out as much grinding dust and sand blasting grit as I could, then got it on the rotisserie and on its side ready to get the floors and inner wings finished.

Made some sill reinforcing panels from some of the good pieces of the old panels, crossmember extension piece was tricky to fold but looks like it will do the job. Not intending on putting the jacking reinforcement in it as I have already welded the opening in the sill for it.

Pieces need to be wire brushed down and zinc primed, offer up the rear subframe to determine the location of the captive nuts then I can get driver side sill on!

[colinf1]

Remade the body tag thats on the slam panel, 3d printed mould that I sandwiched a light 0.5mm aluminium sheet between and squashed it in a hydraulic press. No identical but not too bad either..



Next to the remains of the original one..

[stuart bowes]

that's a good idea I would never have thought the 3d print would be up to that, I've used it for my RC car parts over the years but generally mostly just the cosmetic parts, mechanical tend to break

 

like the pair of track rods I made for the TT01 that let go at full speed on a bend and rolled the car about 12 times lol

 

loving the sheet metal folding templates, do I spy a solid works theme there (same here)

[colinf1]

Good run at it today, got all the small brackets inside the sill and sill offered up to make sure everything was in correct position. All parts primed and some top coat applied to inside of sill panel and in the cavity of the inner sill.



Then got sill welded in place and front section of the floor finished. The shape of the flutes were different, so had to resort to a lot of fettling to get them close enough to weld.



Made a start in the inner wing to toe board, but that will have to wait for another day!