104 replies to this topic

[Andy autogass]

now that the subframes are all fitted and bolted up and the car is rolling our minds have turned to the bodywork. over the last couple of nights i have been out in the garage and have started modifying the rear lights to take standard Mk2 lights. here are a few pictures of the first side cut out and the basics done...

what does everyone think??

[Down&Out]

still think round lights would of looked cool but all in there own

[minibazzer]

looks like i am going to be busy this weekend - as im the only one that'll fit in the boot....!!!

[Andy autogass]

Well done my skinny mate, if anyone in the Bristol area fancy a chat and a cupper as on saturday myself and Si will be in the garage all day, all welcome just pm me for directions.

[Andy autogass]

After another highly successful saturday spent out in the garage (despite the heavens opening every 5 minutes) my mate and i have managed to do some more work to the rear of the Domino. Both of the rear lights have been fitted and today has been spent fettling the n/s one. The o/s has had filler applied so that we can start working that one in the week. We have also fibreglassed in the brackets that will hold the lights in too.

Also, the mini badge that i bought on eBay this week arrived today, so the holes for that have been drilled and we trial fitted it. My mate also bought down the bonnet that he had for me and we put that on the car...

(note: numberplate is not the one for the car - it's and old one my mate had that we used to see what it would look like with a black and silver plate)

Edited by Andy autogass, 05 July 2008 - 08:54 PM.

[lewis]

that looks so cool with mk2 lighting! its the doors and the lights im usually not sure of on dominos but this is a stunner!

looking forward to seeing its final building stages

[Gazza211]

Hi just a quick observation, as the mini rack and column does not have a Universal joint you need to ensure that the column and spline are sitting in line other wise you will induce unnecessary stress at that joint, the only way of adjusting is to rotate the rack and use a lowering bracket to raise or lower the steering wheel.

Gary

[Andy autogass]

Thanks for your comments Gazza...

We have managed to find out where the column is meant to be positioned and have installed it now. The next thing is to install the drop bracket to lower the column...

Thanks again...

[Andy autogass]

Hello all,

well, another weekend gone, another saturday of events...

Saturday started off with an eventful trip to a local scrapyard. Si (my mate, who is able to find anything) managed to find a Mini in the corner which the owner didnt even know he had!! It was sat on top of a vauxhall combo van and we found a few bits that would come in handy for the build. My skinny little mate decided that he'd climb the van an get into the mini to get the parts. After removing the bits needed, he started rifling through the bits on the floor. I was stood on the bonnet at the time. Then, the mini moved about 6 inches towards me. The funny thing was Si's face! He almost poo'd himself!! Then the Mini moved again!! He decided to leap out of the side before it went any further.... We had a good laugh anyways....

In the end we came home with the door latches from a Metro that we needed to fit the doors, shown in these nice piccies...

[Bean]

Looking great, Si and Andy!

Glad to see that you've got things lined up nicely!

Well done!

[Tomf]

Ah this mini is soooo sexy, once iv sorted out paying for the last few bits for my mini ill be looking for a fiberglass mini

Keep up the good work.

[minibazzer]

it was a great weekend - thanks to everyone for all your comments...

just thought that we would also mention the fact that the trestles that we built to hold the Mini on until the subframes were fitted are now no longer needed. they are really solid and would take much more weight than a mini, but would be ideal for anyone doing a build or restoration. obviously you'd need to come and collect them unless you were local to either andy or me and then perhaps we could arrange something...

anyways, here is a pic of them...

[Andy autogass]

another weekend gone, another milestone complete...

this weekend my skinny mate and i decided to bite the bullet and make the insert that we need for the t-bar (or rollover bar). now, one thing i should mention is that skinny si has the patience of a saint, and therefore doing this was right up his street. earlier in the week i had "obtained" some thick paper for this purpose and si set about making a template that we would later use to cut the plywood.

si decided to make the template in sections, as handling small sections of paper was easier than the whole thing. here is a pic of the template all made up and taped together:



we then got a bit carried away and forgot about taking photo's for the record. the next one was it all fitted up in the car:



we used the score and water method to achieve the curves required at the top of the "b" pillars:





earlier in the week i also decided to address the problem of the "a" pillars by the windscreen. on a standard mini this is usually painted, but on a domino there are unsightly structural bars which would spoil the finish we are aiming for. i have made a couple of aluminuim panels which will be covered in leatherette, as per the rest of the car and have been designed to meet the panel that si and i have made for the roof this weekend. here are the ally panels:





finally, the last thing that we did today was create a "to-do" list of things to do before the car goes to paint, so here it is!

[bebbinator]

now that the subframes are all fitted and bolted up and the car is rolling our minds have turned to the bodywork. over the last couple of nights i have been out in the garage and have started modifying the rear lights to take standard Mk2 lights. here are a few pictures of the first side cut out and the basics done...

what does everyone think??

i think that it looks much better with those lights instead of round ones

[minibazzer]

evenin' all....

thought that i'd make a post this weekend of the recent developments since our last post. last weekend i was off at a mates wedding and wasnt able to take the weekly photo's for the update. but im back again this weekend!

since our last update there have been a few things developments on the mini. andy has been working with the fibreglass again and has created mouldings to go either side of the windscreen, into the a pillars. he decided that they would look better painted rather than the alloy.

you can see in this photo what the a pillars looked like before...



and this is what they look like now the fibreglass panel has been fitted and smoothed...





the other thing that andy has been working on is sorting out the lower dash rail. there were a number of imperfections that were caused from the mould which andy has filled, sanded, filled and sanded again. its been a labour of love getting it right, but the desired finish is being achieved. this is what the dash looks like now...



this weekend has been spent sorting the garage out (its amazing how quickly it can become a tip) and clearing things away. after that was all sorted, we managed to get on and do some bits to the mini. the biggest achievement for this weekend is making the template for the interior side panel on the drivers side, and then actually making it out of the plywood that we bought. here is the finished article fitted into the car...





andy also made some more progress on fettling the offside rear light. its looking good and the shape is coming...

over and out... the skinny one