Rusty bits
Turbo Mini Forums

After having a trip in jons car yesterday,I thought I'd have a look at the mini,I was going to get a brand new shell but now I think I will just do it as a track car so It won't need mot

What panels do I need to fix up here,theres a hole which goes into the sill(in red)and pretty rusty by whre the vents were

Oh and how do I maintain the correct door aperture size

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

On 02/10/2005 10:30:40 Dangerous said:

Oh and how do I maintain the correct door aperture size

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the the universe.

mate where the door bolts on is 3 panels spotted togeter, you can buy the inner panel cheapish with the hole in for the vent and holes for the door and is fairly easy to fit, where you have marked in red i would let in a home made section i dont mind helping where i can if you like?

with regards to door apiture if the inner panel is removed carefully there should be no probs, and if theres a little distortion fron the welding whack it with a fcuking big hammer till the door fits or add/remove hinge spacers

Edited by wolfie on 3rd Oct, 2005.

Yes agree with Wolfie 100%. A hole where you have indicated in red is very very common, patched loads of Minis up in this spot. It is what I call a "high impact" area, e.g. it gets a lot of road debris, water, muck, thrown at it, so aggravating corrosion.

To keep the door aperture right, normally you only have problems with this when doing major repairs e.g. inner and outer sills. Make sure the car is well supported on axle stands and is nice and level, and you should not have a problem. As wolfie says you can also adjust the door fit to some extent with shims etc.

I cross-braced a door when i removed both inner and outer sills. Deffo not needed in your case!

The top one is a difficult repair with the panel above it fitted (as this one is). Personally, I'd cut off the scuttle panel corners again, and make the 'air vent' panel good again, before welding on new corners and closing pieces. As/If you do both sides, consider purchasing the complete heritage scuttle panel and replacing the lot. It's actually a pretty easy panel to replace, and means your scuttle looks perfect - unlike the tell-tale ripples and mis-shapen lines of the lousy scuttle corner panels on the market.

Well restorable that one for sure!

Edited by turbodave16v on 3rd Oct, 2005.

The scuttle is not that bad (I dont think)


Planing on cutting nice square holes up top and plates to fit



Bottom a bit worse but thick bit which door bolts onto ok,Thinking about a 1/2" X 1/2" angle For where the a panel goes welding that to the thick door panel bit full length then plating the whole lot about 3" wide



Cars an 82 by the way had a bit of a rebuild in 98 new inner/outer sills and bottoms of rear quarters

Edited by Dangerous on 3rd Oct, 2005.

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

You can get a full panel that also has the (essential) return lip for the A-panel to mount to for that repair (as someone mentioned)

Well worth the couple of quid. I'd cut it right back to good metal (just to the left of those two drilled holes looks about right. You'll be fitting a roll-cage presumably? well this bottom corner is where you want most strength from. Make it VERY strong.

Yes I have a multi point with about 200 bolts that I got of dan

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

Nice one, should do the job then. Don't forget to get some 4mm plates (MINImum) welded to the floor for the cage mountings. Get some ready cut at a machine shop to save trying to hacksaw them out of a big plate!

dave, why 4mm minimium? i was under the impression that even to be fia approved, they only had to be 3 mm top and bottom? or are you only talking about doing one side?

And on the 7th day........... God created turbochargers!

That is meant to be 3mm!

must be my big fat american fingers...

How big are these plates meant to be,and is it worth bending them so they go up the innersill/wheel arch by say an inch or so

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

when i fitted my cage only had plates for the inside! if its a saftey devices cage you can order the fitting kit off them which is plates and bolts, so youl have 400 bolts then 200 spare for mounting seats etc

no longer a series, but still 1.3 turbo.