3 replies to this topic

[dave21478]

Hi, Im now at the point in my van rebuild where I need to order up the new panels - a couple of floor repair sections, a-panels, valence and a few other bits n bobs, nothing too drastic.
Thing is....I live in the south of France, where parts availability isnt as good as back in UK. Yeah, i can get hold of most of the stuff, but its at least double the price of uk stuff and of unknown quality.
Im currently waiting for a few UK suppliers to get back to me with shipping quotes.

aaaanyway....why not re-use old sections of floor? there are a few minis in my local scrappy, and they are in good solid condition (warm, dry climate and no salt on winter roads). Im sure I could persuade the scrappy to let me in there with a generator and disc cutter to get the floor sections I need out.
This would save me the hassle, delay and expense of ordering these parts, but would I be creating needless extra work for myself? Granted they will need paint removed etc, but I cant see the fit being any worse than aftermarket repair panels anyway?
Obviously I would still need to source the van-specific panels I need, and I dont fancy re-using a-panels or sills, but every little helps for the budget!

Any thoughts?

Edited by dave21478, 13 May 2008 - 05:21 PM.

[Guess-Works.com]

I've done it before... and also used various other bits of metal for making patches.... fridges / dish washers etc are great sources of flat pieces of steel

But for the van floor you really need specific panels, either from a van or an estate, unless it's common sections to the mini saloon.

[dave21478]

yeah, the parts I need are the at the front where the floor meets the bulkhead, part of the seat crossmember, a section of the exhaust tunnel - all of which should be common between the models) and a few inches at the back where the floor meets the heel-board. I know the full rear sections are different lengths, but I dont see why I couldnt just cut the needed last few inches and weld that into place, unless the re-inforcing ribs are different between models?

[jayare]

Van and estate floors were actually the same as saloon ones of the same age - the only difference being the lip which stands upright at the very back end of it is flat on the Vans and estates. To this is welded an extension panel (part number 14A9023) which is about 4 inches wide and runs the full width of the car. The Van, traveller & pickup page here: http://www.bmh-ltd.com/miniparts.htm# shows it clearly.

JR