9 replies to this topic

[dottythemini]

Hi all! Have been reading a fair few posts with adulation. It's time I bite the bullet and throw my hat in. 

 

I have recently acquired a Mini City E that on the surface, looked OK! 

 

But... things have taken a turn. 

 

I decided I wanted to pull the engine and have a good poke around. I poked too much.....

 

https://ibb.co/C2cCkSx

I found this hiding behind seam-sealer and what looked like rubber underseal. It looks horrendous and now I fear what else has been bodged. 

 

I was hoping for a weekend tinkerer, alas, this may become a bigger project. Currently perusing the web for a welder so I can start practicing on some scrap! 

Nice to meet you all. I am hoping to sponge as much knowledge as possible and share progress along the way. 

[dottythemini]

Forgot to mention, I’m based in Ashford Kent if anyone’s local!

[dottythemini]

Forgot to mention, I’m based in Ashford Kent if anyone’s local!

[DeadSquare]

Hi all! Have been reading a fair few posts with adulation. It's time I bite the bullet and throw my hat in. 

 

I have recently acquired a Mini City E that on the surface, looked OK! 

 

But... things have taken a turn. 

 

I decided I wanted to pull the engine and have a good poke around. I poked too much.....

 

https://ibb.co/C2cCkSx

I found this hiding behind seam-sealer and what looked like rubber underseal. It looks horrendous and now I fear what else has been bodged. 

 

I was hoping for a weekend tinkerer, alas, this may become a bigger project. Currently perusing the web for a welder so I can start practicing on some scrap! 

Nice to meet you all. I am hoping to sponge as much knowledge as possible and share progress along the way. 

I'm not sure, what we are looking at in your photo.

[dottythemini]

@deadsquare, from research it looks like the flitch section of the inner wing, I found this when removing the dash panel 

Edited by dottythemini, 15 August 2023 - 09:24 AM.

[Aly-g]

Hi and welcome to TMF, don't worry it's all doable, I had exactly the same with my mini but started by lifting the carpets and discovered both the front floors were rotten and went on to discover the same as you that the air vents were also very rusty. So I bit the bullet got a mig welder and a lot of cutting discs ( don't forget to always use goggles with your angle grinder) watched loads of you tube videos on welding and finally have a lovely mini, a lot of work but very worthwhile, a word of advise , make sure you protect the glass and trim inside from the sparks of the angle grinder, I'm over 70yrs old and do all my work on the car on my drive ( no garage) so if it can be done , where there's a will there's a way, good luck with it and don't let it beat you, any questions there is always help on this forum.

Allan

[stuart bowes]

with areas like that an angle grinder just wont get in there because of the angles and everything in the way.. in some ways it would be better taking the A panel and wing off and doing it from the outside, but then that adds a lot of work as well..  this is obviously why it's been bodged rather than done properly

 

if you're insistent on doing it from the inside then obviously you want to get rid of the bit that's been glued in (if im seeing that right? )  you might be able to get in there with a dremel and take your time milling out the grot, or maybe using a finger sander to file away at the edges until you've got rid of the rusty edges

 

then take a temple of the hole and cut the right shape out from the piece that they've glued in ? assuming that's metal and over sized enough.. then you can weld that in properly..  it's all like patting a dog through the letter box though it's not gonna be easy from that angle

Edited by stuart bowes, 15 August 2023 - 10:15 AM.

[dottythemini]

Hi and welcome to TMF, don't worry it's all doable, I had exactly the same with my mini but started by lifting the carpets and discovered both the front floors were rotten and went on to discover the same as you that the air vents were also very rusty. So I bit the bullet got a mig welder and a lot of cutting discs ( don't forget to always use goggles with your angle grinder) watched loads of you tube videos on welding and finally have a lovely mini, a lot of work but very worthwhile, a word of advise , make sure you protect the glass and trim inside from the sparks of the angle grinder, I'm over 70yrs old and do all my work on the car on my drive ( no garage) so if it can be done , where there's a will there's a way, good luck with it and don't let it beat you, any questions there is always help on this forum.

Allan

 
Thank you for the warm welcome, Allan! That's reassuring. This morning I've removed all the windows + stripped the interior and stored them all away. I'm going to attempt to strip away all the sound deadening on the floor plans and see exactly what I'm going to be dealing with. How far did you have to go with yours? 

 
 

with areas like that an angle grinder just wont get in there because of the angles and everything in the way.. in some ways it would be better taking the A panel and wing off and doing it from the outside, but then that adds a lot of work as well..  this is obviously why it's been bodged rather than done properly
 
if you're insistent on doing it from the inside then obviously you want to get rid of the bit that's been glued in (if im seeing that right? )  you might be able to get in there with a dremel and take your time milling out the grot, or maybe using a finger sander to file away at the edges until you've got rid of the rusty edges
 
then take a temple of the hole and cut the right shape out from the piece that they've glued in ? assuming that's metal and over sized enough.. then you can weld that in properly..  it's all like patting a dog through the letter box though it's not gonna be easy from that angle

Thanks for your comment Stuart. I've dropped the entire subframe with all the bits so I now have clear view on the inside of the wheel arch... looks like a complete panel with a couple of plug welds and lots of glue

https://ibb.co/gS4KnCP

I've seen a few posts on inner wing repairs and this looks fairly destructive (wing, scuttle, a panel), how much more difficult would it be to just lop off the whole front end and build up a new one from the bulkhead forward (tacked together then welded up fully when in the correct place)? Or is this bad practice

[stuart bowes]

that would be HUGE amount of work not to mention getting it all correctly aligned would require building a frame inside the car to match to all the various important geometry, like subframe mounts and steering rack locations, holding the A pillars and floor pan in the right place.. not to say it's impossible but it does seem a little over kill to me 

 

compared to that, taking the A panel and wing off is a minor job, obviously depending on your budget you would then probably want to replace with new (definitely in the case of the A panel which is cheap anyway) the main thing there is getting the door and bonnet gaps right, but that's not a huge drama..

 

with those two panels out of the way, and if necessary by cutting the end of the scuttle off (depending on the state of that you can either get replacement ends or weld the old one piece back in..) you would have full access to the whole flitch panel and the job would be 100% easier from that side (apart from all the work required to get to that point and then putting it all back again)

 

as a plus point, with the A panel off you also get to check and repair / clean up the A post which probably has some grot on it (see my build thread link below, page 5, post #67)

 

----

 

edit.... if you weren't talking about removing the bulkhead itself, just the wings + front panel then sorry yes that can be fairly standard procedure but again it's probably more work than you really need.  also getting everything well lined up as ALL new panels could be a bit of a pain as opposed to matching up a couple of panels to existing fitted front panel and bonnet

Edited by stuart bowes, 15 August 2023 - 02:09 PM.

[Aly-g]

I had to replace both the front floor panels plus the offside air vent like yours , I did the vent from inside the car with a panel I fabricated from steel sheet, also i had to fabricate two other panels where the floor meets the rear wheel arch each side , I agree with Stuart it would have been a lot easier to fix the vent panel with the wing and A panel removed especially as you will have to replace the small panel that is fitted at the top of the wing at the rear to stop the crud and water corroding the air vent panel like it has , i think its called a scuttle closing panel, I only had to repair the o/s vent but it was not easy welding it from the inside so maybe heed Stuarts advice and remove the front wing. hope it all go's well .

 

Allan