430 replies to this topic

[Retro_10s]

Coming along sterling fashion, matey!!

[stuart bowes]

well it ended up being a bit more than 2 months due to various daily life occurrences but finally got the floor and bulkhead areas prepped for paint

 

not much to add beyond here are pics of it happening, all pretty straight forward just really time consuming

 

I was focusing mostly on seams and joins for obvious reasons, nothing untoward found (I did actually strip all paint everywhere despite what the pics show, there would have been 10x more pics otherwise and that just seemed unnecessary)

 

stripped, kurusted just for the hell of it, seam-sealed and red-oxide primed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also done same inside rear bins. 

 

The plan is, everywhere that has sound deadening and/or carpet, that's getting hand painted black, for three reasons really - one I have loads of black paint, two you will never see it so the finish is irrelevant, and three I find it easier to paint awkward areas like the bulkhead with a brush, you can really make sure you're getting it right in to all the gaps and tight areas as much as possible with no messy over spray 

 

the bits that will be visible (pillars / dash rail / back seat / outer sides of rear bins / around windows etc) will be sprayed, but in another colour to match the seats and trim (probably a light-ish brown / leathery sort of colour... tbc)

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 November 2025 - 05:50 PM.

[stuart bowes]

also, I have got around to the engine strip down and have just started the long process of getting the parts cleaned up and inspected, bolts all labelled and bagged up, etc

 

flywheel put up a fight with a cheaper flywheel tool, so that got binned and replaced by the Draper one, which does work (https://www.minispar...-mini-act19862/)

 

 

some alloy parts all washed down, sonic cleaned and inspected, nothing wrong here.  Also gave pot joints a good deep clean and after this pic they got a lick of black paint

 

 

and the block, which needs a bit of work to clean up, I think we'll be getting away with just a DIY honing (but we'll see how that goes..)

 

 

waterways look alright to be honest, I've run a load of high-strength white vinegar through it and a lot of brown came out, will do some more on that with toothbrushes etc

 

 

 

 

the bores looked like this, some minor ridges at the top where the rings went up to (as you'd expect) but no gouges or anything that I can see (will see more when honing)

 

 

 

 

 

they look worse than they really are to be honest, a lot of it just wiped out and then a quick play with the honing tool (just to try it out a bit) made them like 98% all smooth and shiny with only one or two bits to look closer at .  more on that later

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 11 October 2025 - 06:48 PM.

[Designer]

Hi Stuart,

 

Being my suggestion I am pleased to see that the Draper puller worked.

I have never had any major problems using it.

 

Paddy

[stuart bowes]

Yep you were spot on with that! Thanks again :)

[Retro_10s]

Looking good Stu, always feels good to see a a repaired section receiving a uniform layer of paint afterwards! Looking forward to the engine refresh   

[stuart bowes]

Sorting out the rear seat base, had to get all that sound deadening off first of course, gave all the seams a good wire-brushing out as usual, kurust for luck, new seam sealer and primer
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

kicking myself a bit now having just realised there's 4 more bung plugs in the seat base and I can't now weld them up having the underside already done and painted (not to mention rear subframe in way of the front two).  Will just have to replace the bungs with a decent bit of sealant I guess

 

Eagle eyed viewers may notice I've wedged some newspaper between subframe and holes as a bit of protection

Edited by stuart bowes, 25 October 2025 - 10:14 AM.

[stuart bowes]

finished the seat / rear shelf area

 

 

not massively interesting, but done

[stuart bowes]

pillars and inner roof rails (? whatever they're called)

 

 

 

just the roof to do now (as best as I can given restricted access at the edges) and then onto the boot

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 November 2025 - 05:46 PM.

[stuart bowes]

roof sorted, zero rust not even surface spots.. lots of sticky gunk from where they glued on the felt stuff, a bit of a rub down with acetone took the worst off, not over concerned with that, just painted over whatever was left

 

 

Edited by stuart bowes, 24 November 2025 - 12:38 PM.

[stuart bowes]

have been working on the doors, firstly make sure the modifications that I've done on the driver side are the same on the passenger side (slightly enlarged access holes and a pivot point for the lock actuator)

 

now that's all done I can strip all to bare metal, and for the inner carcasses I am still sticking with the red oxide.  the outer door skin and the visible parts of the window frame will be prepped and painted in the normal 'paint job' way but the insides are irrelevant obviously anyway and most of the rest has a door card over it (it'll still get a good rub down as smooth as I can but I won't be losing sleep over it)

 

anyway some pics of that happening:

 

 

the passenger side door did need a bit of repair at the bottom I now remember, that needed a bit of dressing down

 

a bit of linishing and a bit of gentle hammering onto that bit of flat bar you see underneath to flatten it out a bit.  I straightened out that edge a bit as well after the pic (against the thin edge of the flat bar)

 

 

it'll need a skim of filler but I've left that one there for now as it needs a quick weld, one of the captive nuts for the window mech came out

 

 

as you can see I worked out the thread size, I didn't have that in imperial but I did have an M6 one

 

 

which tapped out quite easily to 1/4" and seems to thread onto the original bolt(screw?) nice and snugly, it also fits in that square hole perfectly, so I'll weld that in tomorrow

 

later I'll put a normal hex 1/4" nut on the back and tack that on as well I think, that way I have the right square look on the outside and a good strong fixing behind it 

Edited by stuart bowes, 15 April 2026 - 03:31 PM.