114 replies to this topic

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Sounds good mate, well not getting sacked, but that the projects moving on!

You really must come back more often.

[guywithvan]

had a few hours this afternoon on the mini.....and most of you will be glad i can add pictures now



FRK tucked up in the garage



powdercoated 'new' rear subframe hiding under the back



saftey devices 6 point cage ..needs some fettling to get it fitting right



subframe and radius arms out the way..



i make a start to get the rear end naked



some time later this is achieved and i inspect the damage...



nice dent (not dint! as some people put? lol) from the previous owner,im contemplating loosing the rear bumper so this may get de-seamed



then i started on the passenger rear quarter..no rust so far



pleanty of filler though i think a few dents might be lurking behind this going by the inside



getting there slowly..



bit of nastyness here...got a fresh panel waiting to take it's place



further poking about makes me think this side is a little worse than the drivers



just wish i'd got to the damper mount a bit quicker


once bare metal'd i'll be treating any suspect areas with kurust then giving it a coat of etch primer..baulkhead ,drivers side and underneath are already done picture's to follow when i turn it around/flip it over next

more panels ordered from m-machine should be arriving in the next couple of days...and hopefully come the weekend some welding may commence

Edited by guywithvan, 13 July 2010 - 10:20 PM.

[guywithvan]

well panels turned up from m-machine today the means i have the following ready to be replaced

-gen outer cills
-passenger door step
-a panels
-boot floor repair 9"
-rear valence closing panels
-rear valence

also got m-machine to send me two sheets of steel down for minor patches and tubbing the rear arches

got a bit side tracked this morning fixing my uncles metro so half a day wasted there..got back and managed to finish bare metal sanding the passenger side,some nice ripples hiding on the rear quarter but no rust so it'll be a fresh skim of filler.


managed to give it all a coat of etch primer so no it just leaves me with the passenger inner wing and the roof..i'd like to have a carbon roof but im thinking it's going to have to wait till i have another job .

tomorrows plans are...

passenger side

-bare metal then etch prime inner wing
-cut out rot to damper mount & make patch ready to weld
-cut out and prep door step
-cut rear arch ready to be tubbed and cut steel to fit

that'll prop be more than enough even if i can get that far..got to set a goal for myself right!

[guywithvan]

few picture's from yesterday before i head out to the garage






cant quite see the ripples mid way up the rear quarter..little dent below the window but nothing major which is good





around door frame sorted..did'nt bother too much with the step as it'll be cut out soon


hopefully more to update this evening

[guywithvan]

well another afternoon in the garage,not as much done as i hoped but i've got to be ambitious to give myself the motivation to keep this going...

first off i attacked the inner wing..



got it cleaned up pretty good



then i checked out the damage and cut out the rot



first plate made..



second plate..just need to drill the holes

when i blanked of the drivers side air vent i was cocky and done a circle this time a change of plan..



and of course a bit of steel to replace it..



reasonable fit a bit of a gap at the bottom but should still be weldable

whilst i was in this area thought it'd be worth cleaning up the scuttle closer



not bad for 23 years of british weather on a original panel,i'm going to chance leaving it in as the scuttles good but will eventually pump some waxoil in there

next section was the lower of the flitch panel,i could see the dark brown stain on the bare metal so best to get it out the way...well a tiny bit of it



will clean up and treat with KURUST then give it a coat of zinc primer before making a repair panel

now i though i might aswell get the door step ready ..



this took some considerable time but im glad now rather than later,the inner cill is pretty solid maybe just a small section to be plated around the seat belt mounting





definitly use some kurust in here,just before tidying up i thought i'd have a little play and remind me how things will look..




i'm going to get back out in the morning,no more cutting out for now im going to prep the panels with zinc spray and treat any suspect areas with kurust and finish off the inner wing with a dusting of etch primer.then i want to concentrate on getting what i've cut out welded up at the weekend before i move on to the next area for panels.

[guywithvan]

could'nt be bothered to mess with paint today and i broke my rule i got happy with the cutting tools ..well i thought what the hell i'll cut my arch out for tubbing and get a length of steel cut to size and joggled to fit the arch as nice as possible,to be honest it was a damn pita! but think it'll be worth it in the end..


picture's will upload in a bit

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

Looks good mate, really coming on now Should be finished in no time.

Are you going archless then?

[guywithvan]

Looks good mate, really coming on now Should be finished in no time.

Are you going archless then?

will prob be this time next year at my normal pace ...and i said that last year already


i'll be fitting miglia arches over the 13's and it'll be lowered considerably...hopefully not too low i cant get it off the drive but low enough i'd like the extra clearance within the arch

[guywithvan]

here's todays tubbing result's...not welded in yet but i'd rather do all the cutting first..then prep everything with zinc primer then i can concentrate on just the welding.if that makes sense it saves me having a garage floor cluttered with grinders ,welder,drills and paint cans ect all at the same time...just trying to be organised


anyways...



as it stands now







it's hard cutting the rear quarter to exactly match where i cut the centre of the inner arch,and before it gets welded im going to trim a little bit off the top of the rear quarter so it has a better curve.rather than butt the joint in the centre i 'joggled' the edge so it lap's the arch which imo will be stronger and neater.i'll get some more picture's of this during prep for welding

[guywithvan]

yet again out in the garage this afternoon..i could get used to being a jobless bum with all this time on my hands,least the mini gets done

anyways im a bit rusty with a welder and not too confident in setting them up so i asked neil from MMC to come round and give me a hand and some pointers before i start blowing holes in my mini



the trusty welder finally gets some use..



first off i tacked in the blanking plate for the air vent as it gets me started



i'd already treated the inner wing with kurust..



then i zinc primered behind the shock mount,before welding in the patch

whilst the zinc primer was drying i welded up the air vent..



not too bad for my first bit..i've paid for worse welding on a fiesta once

so next up i gingerly welded in the patch behind the shock mount,hoping the zinc primer does'nt go up



once i ground down the weld a bit ,i gave it another coat of primer



and finally the patch on the inner wing



i decided to pulse weld this,like tack over tack as i was getting neater results



after some tea and cake i tidy'd up the rear arch,zinc primed where needed and punch holes for some plug welds as i joggled the inner arch for extra strength.

it's basically welded up now bit of trimming and dressing of the welds to do.at one point i ran off course a bit as my first time welding on my back lol,but i had to give up due to lack of light as time was getting on.

Roll on tommorow

[guywithvan]

back out in the garage again today,managed to get a few bit's done it's all progress



first off made a template for a repair panel



panel made and fitting well..i seriously need to buy myself a vice and a gillotine



panel tacked in and ready to weld up..at this point i got distracted for about 3hrs whilst i fixed a mates quad i just wanted to get on with the mini!



welding done..yea i'm hiding it but it's solid just still getting into the rythm of the welder.got the panel etch primed and seam sealer brushed on



inner cill cleaned up treated with kurust then zinc primed ready for the door step...



i keyed it up and gave a good coat of zinc primer on the underside..

whilst that was drying i went back to the inner wing..

and tried out some stone chip



first coat applied,i'll give it another at a later date when i do the whole car



and finally i got the door step in,again welds not pretty but doing the job i'll clean them up with a die grinder and skim of filler if needed later on.

after this i started hacking off the old outer cill..it's basically off now just need to clean up the edges and treat the surfaces with zinc primer..then i'll get on with fitting the cill and slowly work my way around the car

[guywithvan]

managed to get the outer cill on this afternoon after messing around trying to remove the last of the old one all painted up on the inside with pleanty of zinc rich primer,bare metal first treated with kurust..





on the outer cill i copied a few people on here and welded up the jacking point and the holes at each end..obvious leaving the fluted vents alone no nasty over cills here!!



all clamped up and ready to go..

i'm going to invest in a auto darkening mask as the cheap one i have is seriously effecting my accuracy when in awkward positions



cill on and solid..just need to sort out the seam welds and tidy a couple of my amature plug welds..can do them fine on the bench...when it comes to the car it's 50/50 lol

tomorrow i'll see about sealing it and primer..then finish off the rear arch and i'll be looking at doing the drivers side in a couple of days

[guywithvan]

oh and a little job thats been niggling me ..



welded up the holes left by the pop rivets for the ash tray on the exhaust tunnel forgot to do broken handbrake bracket maybe tomorrow

comments welcome i could do with some encouragment to keep this up

[guywithvan]

no actual work on FRK today thought i'd give myself and the neighbours a break from all the noise..

so i decided to chase up a few things im in need of to get FRK rolling again,i've sourced a 1275 engine complete out of a 91 cooper it's been standing for a while so it'll be interesting to see what condition it's in but it's cheap and i cant see me finding another..

picked up some bonnet pins from M.A Services a little know rally supplies shop in maidstone,whilst there i've ordered some TRS 4 point harnesses in blue with relevant eye bolts and some spreader plates for the rear.

that not being enough i decided to call mini spares and get a few bits ordered

-solid tower mount kit
-longer track rod ends
-lock tabs for steering arms on the hubs
-rack to body seal
-rebound buffers for top arms
-front geometry kit (adj tie bars and lower arms)
-some nipples for the hubs
-s/s caliper pistons

i'm aiming to get the welding sorted by next week and all the underside stone chipped and painted so i can start building the car back up and get it rolling on wheels once again...

[guywithvan]

hmm lot's of views since my last post....but no comments

i'm getting there now and the welding is almost complete

i've got my A-panels ready and fitted some tab's with captive nuts to help with fitting the front end



i just plug welded these on and some rough looking tacks to hold the nut's on,i used zinc primer between the panels and will etch and seam seal once on the car..



then i re-done my drivers side air vent as i was'nt happy with it first time round..



and i made a little repair to the lower flitch panel



just got to weld the repair panel i made on,i did also previously blank off the fresh air feed for the heater..since investigating i will now be putting this back as it should be so i can stay warm in winter

I want FRK back on wheels ASAP so i stuck the front subby on so i can start mocking up the front end...and get it built up with all new parts