my mark one shell resto............
Discussion
due to the small bit of interest show in the photos i posted last week of the shell i am doing, i thought i would try and take some photos as i go along and try to keep a 'current' thread about my progress.
so.
couple of months ago i swapped two gearbox rebuilds for a ratty mark one hybrid shell. i had to walk around it a few times before i worked out what had happened, but basically some toad has welded the front half and roof of a pre 64 mark one to the floors and lower sides of a mark five. its actually very well done, the problem is that the 'doer' patched all the inner wings up and covered most of the welding with a mixture of bathroom sealer and household paint!. it did actually run as a complete car, the cone had it visit his garage for a mot (he told the guy to clear off!!) but the state of the inner wings had already marked its cards!
by the time i got it, it was a bare stripped shell.
first i hacked the rotten front wings and front panel off and removed all the rubbish and smashed glass. once id got access to the inner wings it became apparent that id have to swop them, they where just patch after patch of welding.
i decided to weld a frame into the front to brace the front as i was removing so much metal.
this is august time, frame is in and the rh inner wing is hacked out.
you can see how rotten all the edges are, i hadnt yet removed the door post as i was unsure what shape any of the new panels where and didnt want to get to 'chop-happy' before i bought them!
once i got the panels i found that the inner wing needed a bit of modding to suit a mark one, its a heritage panel thats 'kind of' right!
still, after some sheet metal repairs and careful measuring i ended up with this.
the end of the lower dash panel is actually wrong, i boobed and used the measurements of a mark three shell, which is different! curses!
inner wing is in, and welded nearly 100%, ive not welded around the top to allow a little bit of final tweeking once the external panels start to go on, they actually line up very well at this point using clecos to hold them, but better safe than sure!
rh engine side, i had to remake the end of the bulkhead box and the bulkhead, which was fun, but at least it gave a nice fresh edge to butt up to. triangle just clecoed in for no until i check the fit of the bonnet.
and that was my week off work!
so.
couple of months ago i swapped two gearbox rebuilds for a ratty mark one hybrid shell. i had to walk around it a few times before i worked out what had happened, but basically some toad has welded the front half and roof of a pre 64 mark one to the floors and lower sides of a mark five. its actually very well done, the problem is that the 'doer' patched all the inner wings up and covered most of the welding with a mixture of bathroom sealer and household paint!. it did actually run as a complete car, the cone had it visit his garage for a mot (he told the guy to clear off!!) but the state of the inner wings had already marked its cards!
by the time i got it, it was a bare stripped shell.
first i hacked the rotten front wings and front panel off and removed all the rubbish and smashed glass. once id got access to the inner wings it became apparent that id have to swop them, they where just patch after patch of welding.
i decided to weld a frame into the front to brace the front as i was removing so much metal.
this is august time, frame is in and the rh inner wing is hacked out.
you can see how rotten all the edges are, i hadnt yet removed the door post as i was unsure what shape any of the new panels where and didnt want to get to 'chop-happy' before i bought them!
once i got the panels i found that the inner wing needed a bit of modding to suit a mark one, its a heritage panel thats 'kind of' right!
still, after some sheet metal repairs and careful measuring i ended up with this.
the end of the lower dash panel is actually wrong, i boobed and used the measurements of a mark three shell, which is different! curses!
inner wing is in, and welded nearly 100%, ive not welded around the top to allow a little bit of final tweeking once the external panels start to go on, they actually line up very well at this point using clecos to hold them, but better safe than sure!
rh engine side, i had to remake the end of the bulkhead box and the bulkhead, which was fun, but at least it gave a nice fresh edge to butt up to. triangle just clecoed in for no until i check the fit of the bonnet.
and that was my week off work!
a couple of weeks later.
i started on the passenger side.
its like a jigsaw, most of the welds remain, but the patches have rotted, so its a case of slowley chopping the patches away, then the welds, finding the spotwelds, dirlling them and slowley unpicking the original panels. this side was quicker as i just hacked the entire inner wing and door post out in a onner - it still took hours to do though..........
door post bottom, a study in rotten metal, filler, bathroom sealer and household paint!
the easy bit, hack the big bits out, then pick, grind, pick, grind....
nearly there, god, it takes hours............
i actually got to the point of nothing to do, id run out of things to grind and panels to weld.........
so i chipped all the undertar off the floor, after a while we found (actually i lie, my dad pointed out a better way) of doing it, tip the car on the side, heat the underneath with a blow lap, whilst a sucker (me) sits inside scraping it of with a blunt chisel.
this took about an hour, it still needs a bit of petrol swilling around inside just to remove the residue, but was miles quicker than chipping it cold!
i started on the passenger side.
its like a jigsaw, most of the welds remain, but the patches have rotted, so its a case of slowley chopping the patches away, then the welds, finding the spotwelds, dirlling them and slowley unpicking the original panels. this side was quicker as i just hacked the entire inner wing and door post out in a onner - it still took hours to do though..........
door post bottom, a study in rotten metal, filler, bathroom sealer and household paint!
the easy bit, hack the big bits out, then pick, grind, pick, grind....
nearly there, god, it takes hours............
i actually got to the point of nothing to do, id run out of things to grind and panels to weld.........
so i chipped all the undertar off the floor, after a while we found (actually i lie, my dad pointed out a better way) of doing it, tip the car on the side, heat the underneath with a blow lap, whilst a sucker (me) sits inside scraping it of with a blunt chisel.
this took about an hour, it still needs a bit of petrol swilling around inside just to remove the residue, but was miles quicker than chipping it cold!
i scurried back to work after my week off determined to get all the panels i need, then arrgggggg, lh inner wings are on backorder!!! curses.
so, this weekend all i could do was sort the door post out. using the measurements from the other side i decided that i could do it with no inner wing for reference, the wing actually fits to the post, and as the post sets the door gap, its the post, rather than the wing which needs to be right.
i had (as on the other side) to buy a full door step and rear quarter repair panel just to get the first 6", but its just beyond a self taught metal basher like me to make, so i took comfort in paying 20 odd quid for a full panel as 'time saved'
im sure a pair of half door repairs and rear quarters will appear on ebay soon......
then it was just a case of careful measuring, punching the holes for the plug welds and wham, bam, thankyou mam.
two hours later.
done.
its does need some finishing, but i need to get the inner wing and a panel on to make the little closing panels at the top.
once the frame is removed, i can get inside and finish the welding, im too old and lazy to contort myself into the car!
and thats it as of today.
just need an inner wing...............................
so, this weekend all i could do was sort the door post out. using the measurements from the other side i decided that i could do it with no inner wing for reference, the wing actually fits to the post, and as the post sets the door gap, its the post, rather than the wing which needs to be right.
i had (as on the other side) to buy a full door step and rear quarter repair panel just to get the first 6", but its just beyond a self taught metal basher like me to make, so i took comfort in paying 20 odd quid for a full panel as 'time saved'
im sure a pair of half door repairs and rear quarters will appear on ebay soon......
then it was just a case of careful measuring, punching the holes for the plug welds and wham, bam, thankyou mam.
two hours later.
done.
its does need some finishing, but i need to get the inner wing and a panel on to make the little closing panels at the top.
once the frame is removed, i can get inside and finish the welding, im too old and lazy to contort myself into the car!
and thats it as of today.
just need an inner wing...............................
saturday night, whilst the rest of england watches the rugby, im stuck in the garage hacking the sill of the lh side of the shell.
the sills are actually in very good condition, however, they are the wrong sort for a mark one, as they are the later six vent type.
first i cut the main part out and flap wheeled where the spot welds are, this leaves a very clean surface with paint remaining in the sunken welds, this makes it very easy to then find them and drill them out.
unlike the mess at the front this was uoriginal factory steel so it was actually fairly straight forwards - though once the sill was off i was surprised to discover that the rear triangle inner bracker, the bit which attaches the shell in the factory jigs and to the production line, isnt actually welded to the shell!, its welded to the sill, but shows no signs of ever been attached to the inner sill/floor. and people wonder why the dimensions of mini shells are all over? a quick weld job and its as it should be.
close up of the spot welds, with a decent spot weld drill its simple to drill these out, then a nice sharp chisel soon gets rid of whats left
finally a quick sand down and prime, prep and punch the new sill and its ready for sunday morning!
after a bit of carefull lining up its a quick job to plug weld the new sill onto the shell, a mixture of clecos and mole grips keeping the edges from distorting.
once done, a quick grind over to flatten the plug welds and a coat of primer
close up, nice and smooth, a little filler will take care of the tiny marks left, but thats in the future!
the bit under the rear quarter isnt welded yet as im probably going to get a new pair of rear quarters made, this will get round the mess where the mk1 'b' posts have been joined into the later rear wings.
just got the other side to do now...............
the sills are actually in very good condition, however, they are the wrong sort for a mark one, as they are the later six vent type.
first i cut the main part out and flap wheeled where the spot welds are, this leaves a very clean surface with paint remaining in the sunken welds, this makes it very easy to then find them and drill them out.
unlike the mess at the front this was uoriginal factory steel so it was actually fairly straight forwards - though once the sill was off i was surprised to discover that the rear triangle inner bracker, the bit which attaches the shell in the factory jigs and to the production line, isnt actually welded to the shell!, its welded to the sill, but shows no signs of ever been attached to the inner sill/floor. and people wonder why the dimensions of mini shells are all over? a quick weld job and its as it should be.
close up of the spot welds, with a decent spot weld drill its simple to drill these out, then a nice sharp chisel soon gets rid of whats left
finally a quick sand down and prime, prep and punch the new sill and its ready for sunday morning!
after a bit of carefull lining up its a quick job to plug weld the new sill onto the shell, a mixture of clecos and mole grips keeping the edges from distorting.
once done, a quick grind over to flatten the plug welds and a coat of primer
close up, nice and smooth, a little filler will take care of the tiny marks left, but thats in the future!
the bit under the rear quarter isnt welded yet as im probably going to get a new pair of rear quarters made, this will get round the mess where the mk1 'b' posts have been joined into the later rear wings.
just got the other side to do now...............
no photos of the shell this weekend as i only welded the other sill on, so nothing new to see. i did spend about 4 hours with a flap wheel chewing off the fricking sprayed on rubber coating that the factory attached to the underside of the shell. one foul job.......
i did go and collect a really rotten 1962 shell that i bought to chop up for a couple of the panels, so had a noisy hour hacking it into 'lumps' to unpick later
it was raining and i only had my phone, so photos are poor. not that a sunny day and a good camera would make this shell look any better!
still, it made it very easy to break apart!
i did go and collect a really rotten 1962 shell that i bought to chop up for a couple of the panels, so had a noisy hour hacking it into 'lumps' to unpick later
it was raining and i only had my phone, so photos are poor. not that a sunny day and a good camera would make this shell look any better!
still, it made it very easy to break apart!
minipete said:
Don`t sills need to be seam welded on not just spot welded?
they where spot welded by the factory, all ive done is put the sameish qty of plug welds back in the same places.as long as both surfaces are fresh and clean there are no issues.
i think the mot view that patches (not panels) should be seam welded is due to the pi$$poor welding that most bodgers do when laid underneath cars! im sure if some people could get away with tacking sills on with six little bits of weld, they would do!. ive bought minis like this in the past, with sills brazed on with a spot on each corner and a couple more on the length! i had another mini that the entire front (i.e both wings and the front) was held on and together by about 20 little dabs of mig!!
the firm 'seamweld' rule means that there is no excuses.
any patches i put in will be / have been seamed
this one should turn out ok, no flattened out quality street tins in this bad boy!
another weekend of unpicking fun, saturday night i got most of the panels from the scrap shell unpicked and cleaned ready for use, sunday i was a bit stuck as i still have no inner wing, so cant finish the passenger side off.
i decided to crack on and get the remains of the rear bins out, as i had previously just hacked the large bits out.
the drivers side before, note the mess round the b piller from the previous owners belief that its better to do a half assed job and then try and hide the resultant mess with loads of bathroom sealer than it is just to actually do the job properly in the first place! all this will be sorted when my new back quarters arrive.
here ive cut the remains into little lengths, its then possible to hammer them flat, drill the spot welds out and either chisel the bits off, or worry them with a pair of nippers until they break away.
after an hour or so i ended up with this, all the welds from the new sill are ground down, and the lip of metal where the seat pan, companion box, and subframe closing panel meet has been ground flat, welded and smoothed. a lick of primer to show its done and onto the other side.....
and...shazam! done.
i guess you can see why ive used this shell, the floor is mint, as is the boot.
just need my inner wing now!
i decided to crack on and get the remains of the rear bins out, as i had previously just hacked the large bits out.
the drivers side before, note the mess round the b piller from the previous owners belief that its better to do a half assed job and then try and hide the resultant mess with loads of bathroom sealer than it is just to actually do the job properly in the first place! all this will be sorted when my new back quarters arrive.
here ive cut the remains into little lengths, its then possible to hammer them flat, drill the spot welds out and either chisel the bits off, or worry them with a pair of nippers until they break away.
after an hour or so i ended up with this, all the welds from the new sill are ground down, and the lip of metal where the seat pan, companion box, and subframe closing panel meet has been ground flat, welded and smoothed. a lick of primer to show its done and onto the other side.....
and...shazam! done.
i guess you can see why ive used this shell, the floor is mint, as is the boot.
just need my inner wing now!
do you fancy a swop clumbo?
both my other minis are surf blue - the best colour i think!, it was actually the second most unpopular colour for mk1s, the first been fiesta yellow
i still havent decided what colour to do this one, a third in surf will be too much i think i might do it almond green.
any more photos?
both my other minis are surf blue - the best colour i think!, it was actually the second most unpopular colour for mk1s, the first been fiesta yellow
i still havent decided what colour to do this one, a third in surf will be too much i think i might do it almond green.
any more photos?
this weekend i had my new lh inner wing to fit, despite it been a heritage panel its a modified later pressing, so like the other side had various bits to remove. unlike the other side the pressing was terrible and it really didnt want to fit. the entire back edge was all mangled up as if the press tool had made it wrong, so it was a foul job.
the first trial fit, the top edge is in the right place, so the outer wing and a panel fit, but thats about it. its took about 2 hours of nibbleing and twisting just to get it to this point. shortly after i gave up and retired to some cans of stella!
i then spent all sunday slowly pulling the wing into line up with all the panels. once it fitted to an acceptable standard i fitted the shocker mount reinforcing panel. this is a panel from mini-machine that is about 75% finished. it needs a bit of tweeking to get it to line up with the inner wing and the triangle stiffner that goes onto the bulkhead, but is an easy task.
shock plate welded in and smoothed off. once this was in i could mark the inner wing to remove the large 'bump' thats pressed into it for a later wiper motor. a bit of marking and a 4" square of jag xj40 roof saw to that.
once that was done it was a boring task of marking all the holes for the plug welds and either drilling or punching the wing or the appropriate seams, then a quick linnish and a final cleco into position. then all i had to do was hammer and dolly along all the seams to pull the cleacos and the panels as snug as possible ready for welding.
the sharp eyed amongst you will notice that the inner wings have the bumps for air vents still in them, ive left them as is for now, i may change them later, but doing them 'off' the car would have twisted the panel even more. they dont really get in the way either.
the first trial fit, the top edge is in the right place, so the outer wing and a panel fit, but thats about it. its took about 2 hours of nibbleing and twisting just to get it to this point. shortly after i gave up and retired to some cans of stella!
i then spent all sunday slowly pulling the wing into line up with all the panels. once it fitted to an acceptable standard i fitted the shocker mount reinforcing panel. this is a panel from mini-machine that is about 75% finished. it needs a bit of tweeking to get it to line up with the inner wing and the triangle stiffner that goes onto the bulkhead, but is an easy task.
shock plate welded in and smoothed off. once this was in i could mark the inner wing to remove the large 'bump' thats pressed into it for a later wiper motor. a bit of marking and a 4" square of jag xj40 roof saw to that.
once that was done it was a boring task of marking all the holes for the plug welds and either drilling or punching the wing or the appropriate seams, then a quick linnish and a final cleco into position. then all i had to do was hammer and dolly along all the seams to pull the cleacos and the panels as snug as possible ready for welding.
the sharp eyed amongst you will notice that the inner wings have the bumps for air vents still in them, ive left them as is for now, i may change them later, but doing them 'off' the car would have twisted the panel even more. they dont really get in the way either.
had a bit of a sense of humour failure with the shell, took a week off work with high plans, spent sunday and monday struggling with the lh inner wing.
i finally got it welded in, but the fit was such $hit quality that i nearly cut it off and ordered a new one from mini machine. i dont actually know how heritage have made it so bad. the pressing is so wrinkled that the metal is like tissue in some places. once it was actually in, i had to chop a big bit out and make a patch as it was so poor, trying to plug weld it, the metal would just fizz away leaving a perfect plug weld and a big hole round it. i actually think its some kind of factory second.
the other problem is that whilst all the measurements are correct for the sills and floor (side to side) there is a huge gap at the bottom (which will be hidden by the inner a panel, but thats not the point)
anyhoo, for my own good i decided to move onto another project for a couple of days so needed my garage back.
the only place i had to store the shell is shown below, quite apt really as i was ready to throw it off a cliff.
still had a happy half an hour humming the theme tune and shouting 'get the wheels in line, the wheels in line' as the winch pulled my trolley up the ramp, by a quirk of fortune the castors where just wide enough for the ramps........
and thats gonna be it for a few weeks folks, so when i get started again there will be more photos..........
i finally got it welded in, but the fit was such $hit quality that i nearly cut it off and ordered a new one from mini machine. i dont actually know how heritage have made it so bad. the pressing is so wrinkled that the metal is like tissue in some places. once it was actually in, i had to chop a big bit out and make a patch as it was so poor, trying to plug weld it, the metal would just fizz away leaving a perfect plug weld and a big hole round it. i actually think its some kind of factory second.
the other problem is that whilst all the measurements are correct for the sills and floor (side to side) there is a huge gap at the bottom (which will be hidden by the inner a panel, but thats not the point)
anyhoo, for my own good i decided to move onto another project for a couple of days so needed my garage back.
the only place i had to store the shell is shown below, quite apt really as i was ready to throw it off a cliff.
still had a happy half an hour humming the theme tune and shouting 'get the wheels in line, the wheels in line' as the winch pulled my trolley up the ramp, by a quirk of fortune the castors where just wide enough for the ramps........
and thats gonna be it for a few weeks folks, so when i get started again there will be more photos..........
Fatboy said:
guru_1071 said:
the only place i had to store the shell is shown below, quite apt really as i was ready to throw it off a cliff.
What is that old Coach? And why do you have one lying around? Does it work.Sorry for going off topic!
ive restored it from a complete wreck, it still needs a few jobs doing but should be out and about next year.
the front half is a camper, the back takes a car
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