Spring rebuild
Turbo Mini Forums

He will have it done for avon even if it means i go and help him!

Manchester Minis

Wow. Lot's on there....
I'm about to get REALLY stuck into mine aswell. Fun Fun fun!

Day Four

Well this was realy a cumulation of a the hours worked through the week stripping the sub frames and cleaning the components. One radius arm/ brakes and both front habs left to strip and clean ready for paint. Sub frames are ready for powder coating (Satin black don't you know)

Day Five

Most important part of the job, ordered the panels from Somerford Minis, all genuine where you can get them, and you know what, the only thing that wasn't in stock were the sills. They are waiting for the delivery from BMH. They better bloody be here by monday the 15th.

Built the tressle for ease of moving the shell and getting it to a better working hight.

Also removed the rear valance while I was at it.

Tomorrow sees us going to Himley show to collect what ever parts I have on the list, then the rest is getting ordered at MiniSpares.

The serious work starts next Saturday right through the week, a full 9 days 9 till 6. See how it goes, if theres any problems.

Who said no chance for Avon? All depends on the problems encountered.

Edited by Sprocket on 6th May, 2006.

shit, you don't mess about do you colin?

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

Nope

Just wait till I have finished this, been to the Download festival, been to Avon and painted the out side of the house, that 16valver will be next

oh and the subs are at the coaters and be ready by the end of the week

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

Day Six

Today was a half a days work as i was up till the small hours on a mates stag doo, so not feeling the best either :dozing:

Aim for today was to remove the front end ready for replacement. I kind of got a little behind what with lack of sleep and dodgey guts, but did get the front end off and found some more rust too :ermm: on the scuttle closing panel and shock absorber mount, everything else is surface rust that can be cleaned up.

Picking up the subframes from the coaters tomorrow as I'll need the front one to rebuild the front end. Also going to pick up a spot weld punch as there is no way I'm drilling hundreds of holes in the panels.

Bits for the scrap


The shell as at the end of the day


The rusty shock mount, this has been cleaned up but it is nearly all the way through, so going to be cut out and patched


This side just needs a bot of a clean up


This side is pretty much rest free, got to remove the underbody seal to check


Here is the rotten scuttle, this will be cut out, replicated in new steel and welded in

Edited by Sprocket on 14th May, 2006.

Remind me, what year is this mini?

1995

Thing is that most of this rot is in places that never see day light and go unchecked. The first signs of this rot is usualy blistering of the paint on the scuttles and water on the floors when driving in the rain.

This will be the fourth mini we have had and the third that has been stripped to a bare shell. This one will laso be the first to be going back together out of the three as it realy is in good condition.

There is no rot in the problematic areas like there usualy is in the bottom of the bins or around the rear sub mounts.

I think this was the right time to do this rebuild, catch it early before its real bad, hence why the other two were scrap and one of those was aged ten back in 1993. It better last more than another ten years when i'm done. I'll make sure of it, bollox to the weight, i've probibly taken about ten killo of dirt off the car to start anyway

It really is shocking how badly some of the more modern shells go rusty, a friend of mine recently had some light crash repairs done to a 1998 Sportpack, the guy doing it is fastidious in his work, it came back needing repairs to both inner and outer sills, a patch in the boot, plus a few other bits and pieces.

It makes me think that mine will NOT be going out in the salt, and will get waxoyled to death every year.

"light crash repairs done to a 1998 Sportpack"

Or should I have said "light trike crash repairs to a 1998 Sportpack".............

Edited by Tom Fenton on 15th May, 2006.

Day Seven


Still not at my best after the week end and again didnt get as much as i wanted done. Got stuck in traffic coming back from chester where i picked up some spot weld puches.

The powder coaters let me down as well, he's had the subs for a week and done nothing, he said they will be ready tomorrow. I NEED THE FRONT ONE TO BUILD THE FRONT BACK UP AGAIN, dam it!!!!

Any way, worked on the boot today, got the hinge panel and battery box fitted, but the floor panel is a total different shape, GGGRRRR, so that will need fettling. Early start tomorrow to catch up.

Oh and the right hand sill turned up today, the left, the manged to send out with the other panels, everything to complete the job.

Looking good. keep it up.

Manchester Minis

Day Eight

Spent most of the day welding up the holes I blew in the boot floor and grinding it down GRRR No good this 0.8mm wire, going to try the 0.6mm that i should have started with

Also took ages fettling the non genuine boot floor panel to get it to fit. Any one who says that the non genuine are just as good as the genuine, is having a laugh

Well I collected the sub frames today, Hurrah


Finished the boot floor


Removed the rotten scuttle closer and made a new one and welded it in


Trial fitted the front end. Its surprising how the genuine panels still need a little beating to get then to line up, but no where near as bad as the bloody non genuine boot floor was


The front subframe with solid mount kit

This is brilliant. You've done more to your car in eight days than I've done to mine in 2 years!

Those subframes look well sexy! If mine looks anything like that when done ill be well cuffed :), just need to start on it more after the hols.

Manchester Minis

Day Nine

Half day again as was waiting on delivery of a sofa Picked up o roll of 0.6mm wire and set to the task of fiximg the toeboard. Cleaned up the winscreen aperature while i had the wire brush on the whizzer.

Finish of the toeboard and floor panel tomorrow along with the nearside shock mount.

The offending sub mount/ toe board. The outside.


And from the inside


New metal. The outside.


The inside


Glad I caught the rust around the windscreen aperature befor it was through. It was like this in three places

Edited by Sprocket on 18th May, 2006.

are you gonna double plate that heelboard area? i cant really tell from the pics, but has the weld fully penetrated where it meets the floor?

cos the subframe mounts here, it will be under considerable stress/flex, so id go over the top now while your there...

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Yeh, replicating the original plate on the inside and plating a large area on the outside on both sides too. I have made sure that it is all the way through, ran a bead on the inside and on the out side because it is the mounting area, Im not daft you know

infact

I might put a larger plate on the inside too, both sides as the sub is solid mount through out

paint goes on this week



And if anyone is interested, that tar shit thats all over the floor pan on the inside weighs 7Kg and there is still some on the car as well as the underseal. For those on a wheight shaving excersize.

Ive put 5 tins (four tins on the front inner arch and sills, one to tidy up the rest)of stone chip on the bottom to reseal it from the elements and 2 tins to go on the boot and floor on the inside. Its lighter than sound deadening, not as effective but gives a decent finish when flashed over with paint. Ive used 1/2 litre of brushable seam sealer and one tube of urethane sealer, two litres of wax to go in the cavities when the paints on. Sod the weight, I dont want this to rust again.