62 replies to this topic

[1984mini25]

They look fine to me. As long as the welds have decent penetration thats the main thing.

I think the welding looks ok. At the end of the day its a rear window lip nothing structural.

They look fine to me. As long as the welds have decent penetration thats the main thing.

Yes I agree. I'd be happy if mine was like that every time!!!

thanks guys, makes me feel a little better. i was quite pleased i was able to do that after a quick 5 min demo!! but i know they are supposed to flow nicely into each other etc etc, but after a grind up and filler it did the job fine.

I’ve seen a hell of a lot worse.

[john1.2pearl]

LOL'd @ midridge2 Back down fella , the guy's trying and there's nothing wrong with that, im very sure that 40 years ago you wern't an acountant trying to weld for the second time and getting perfect welds time after time. Well Done for trying is what i say and you'll get better as time goes by

Rant over !

[mike.]

Mate, i know its not what you really want to hear, but i really would ask on here or similar for someone to come out and weld a partch in there and on your roof. otherwise you will be fixing them agian in 6 months and the rot will just be worst...

i'm going to have a quick ring round some welders in the morning but to be honest i don't think anybodys going to be able to do it at such short notice. Plus i can't really afford to pay somebody to do it either.

That hole in the roof has been there since i've had the car and its been kept really dry. There was no sign of moisture getting in at all from the outside. I think the roof i'll definatly have to leave it be and just repair it as best i can.

The lip on the window i wouldn't mind having a crack at welding it but i barely know how to weld and haven't got time to practice.

The rust on the parcel shelf and underneath inside the boot is too far gone to treat, it will need welding at some point but it'll have to be done in the future after the respray.

Right now i think my only choice is to bodge it until i'm a decent welder and feel confident enough to weld it myself.


So i'm going to use fibreglass but which will be stronger:

Pure fibreglass built up to form a lip

or

Should i cut a piece of metal to shape to fill the gap, then fibreglass that into place then add fibreglass over the top?


Also - midridge2: Wind your neck in, nobody asked for your opinion of his welds.

[Tomf]

Well if you are going to be fiberglassing, using a metal plate will give a bit more strength, but to be honest you wont really need much on the rear window lip, can i ask why you are getting it re-sprated, if your just going to chop it apart about 6 months down the line, so would need another re-spray then? Surely its worth delaying the re-spray until you have the rot sorted out...

[mike.]

Well this is the problem, i'm not sure what to do. As you say waiting till everythings done would make more sence, but i've already prosponed the respray before, i can't keep fobbing the guy off at short notice.

Also because of how far i've gone now with the stripping, the car will be stuck off the road (will full MOT, tax and insurance) until i can afford to buy new panels and pay a few hundred quid welding bill. Judging by my budget at the moment i can just about cover the cost of the respray. If i keep my car off the road it may well end up staying off the road for ages until i can afford to get things sorted.

Another thing is i'm off to uni in september so i'll have minimal time to work on the car so to be honest its now or never.

The roof and boot area i can get repaired pretty easily at a later date, and the cars going to be black so won't be too hard respray the repair areas. Even if i took it back to the bodyshop i can't see it costing over £100.

[Tomf]

LOL sounds a bit like what i did, my mini had full MOT tax and insurance, and iv had it off the road for about 4 months

Also black shows up damage most out of all colours... but i guess if its a solid colour it shouldnt be to hard to make it look right. can the guy whos spraying it not weld?

[mike.]

Well he told me top get any rust and welding done first. He just want to do the prep and paint. I'm going to ring him though and see...

[roxy28]

fibreglass is probably your best bet, filler will just crack.

if you are seriously depserate then use some ready mixed fibreglass as it is less messy, the mesh you can buy and maybe mix metal filings into the fibreglass mixture to add extra strentgh.

had same prob with mine but was lucky to have a skilled panel beater to hand who fab'd up a new section that went about half an inch down the back panel. got a pic somewhere!

Found them :

Theres nothing wrong what so ever in that welding, infact VERY GOOD indeed & even more so for your first few attempts !! any more and you would of distorted the body... And YES im an M.O.T tester and have 15+ yrs experience in bodywork..Well Done !!!

[Teapot]

As the self-confessed forum bodger I'd say it's your car and your choice, and your success lies in having a go in the first place. It's not as if you're doing the job for someone else for payment. Well done

[midridge2]

ok, lets look at this from another angle, if the pictured showed that he had bought the mini and had ground down some repairs and found that, he would have said look at the plate that had been welded in, its terrible and you all would have posted back yes its terrible. now think about it and dont lie.
40 years ago when i started in the trade i had to sit and be taught to oxy/acety weld before i was allowed near a car, then mig welders came out and again i had to be taught.
for a allegedley sp mot tester to say it is good welding then does it not say that the weld has to be continuese sp looking at the picture thats got gaps in, would you pass it as a tester if it meant you would loose your testers ticket. sure it can be filled over with bodge but its still C**p welding.
note i have not edited my post as there is no bad language but your was edited then you call me,
i stick by my guns and still say learn to weld before you attept to weld up a death trap.
even on this forum there has been loads of posts about i have started to do repairs on my car and some muppet has had a go at welding in a patch/panel and its rubbish so i am having to remove it and start again, why, because its C**p weld. then you all have a go at me because i say its C**p weld i get shot down in flames. double standards.

people have said that looks ok to me, are you proffesional welders, what experiance are you basing sp that on.

[mk3 Cooper S]

I have 25 years of welding mini's and other choise classics for MOT. It is not a structural point and an applied piece of Duck tape would pass an MOT !!!

I am not the tidyest welder but all of my joints are strong and have decent penetration which is what matters.

Come on then superstar lets see some of your super highly skilled welding so we can all see what 40 years in the trade gets us.
All of my experience of trade welding is very poor and it looked like it had been done by stevie wonder and then coated with a thick coat of underseal.

Edited by mk3 Cooper S, 02 July 2008 - 11:42 AM.

[WiredbyWilson]

my mini is not a death trap and there were no gaps in the welds after i had ground it and checked for gaps / welded further.

think you need to appreciate that that area of a mini is NOT strutural therefore a patch is totally acceptable and that welding does not have to be 100% perfect to be safe.

to be honest your making yourself sound totally anal about something that has nothing to do with this thread - i was merely illustrating how I rectified a problem similar to the topic.

im with mk3 cooper s - lets see your perfect welding everytime.

Edited by Wilson1275, 02 July 2008 - 12:03 PM.

[midridge2]

sadley i dont weld much now as i am blind, rather a sweeping statement to say all trade welders weld like stevie, you seen all welding done by all trade welders.
it also nice to see you started welding at 13 years old, i started at about the same age welding up gates for pig pens.

[WiredbyWilson]

sadley i dont weld much now as i am blind

now im totally confused ...........................

[mk3 Cooper S]

Me too.

How can you asses the picture of the repair then?