The Alternative Italian Job - A Classic Mini Build
Discussion
ATM said:
amc_adam said:
I had also bought a VW MK1 Caddy unfinished project, which turned out to be quite a big project in the end as the majority of it was bodged. I ended up respraying it it the garage, made the one-off wheels etc,
Whoah there cowboyWe need a lot more details on this or another thread in its own right surely
So it's a mk1 Caddy 1.6 non-turbo Diesel (the slowest and noisiest turd of a engine) although I have an ABF to go in it eventually,
all the iffy bits to do with the bodywork I could find were cut out, repaired or replaced, it already had pattern front wings which in hindsight I should have binned and replaced (shut lines aren't the best), the bed was already pretty straight it just needed a few little repairs, straightened the original tailgate and reinforced it, I resprayed it in ford frozen white, Coilovers on the front, flipped and blocked rear beam, the wheels were 13" golf CL steel wheels stepped up to 15" with Image dishes/barrels and the rear beam was shortened to fit the deep dishes inside the arches. The interior has a full width bench seat (for two people) retrimmed by RetroRetrims in brown and cream to match the door cards, the gearstick was modified and the hand brake was relocated so it came out the dashboard ashtray. The roof rack and luggage rack are all polished stainless steel with Ash slats.... I'm sure there is more, but I cant think of anything else at the moment
amc_adam said:
ATM said:
amc_adam said:
I had also bought a VW MK1 Caddy unfinished project, which turned out to be quite a big project in the end as the majority of it was bodged. I ended up respraying it it the garage, made the one-off wheels etc,
Whoah there cowboyWe need a lot more details on this or another thread in its own right surely
So it's a mk1 Caddy 1.6 non-turbo Diesel (the slowest and noisiest turd of a engine) although I have an ABF to go in it eventually,
all the iffy bits to do with the bodywork I could find were cut out, repaired or replaced, it already had pattern front wings which in hindsight I should have binned and replaced (shut lines aren't the best), the bed was already pretty straight it just needed a few little repairs, straightened the original tailgate and reinforced it, I resprayed it in ford frozen white, Coilovers on the front, flipped and blocked rear beam, the wheels were 13" golf CL steel wheels stepped up to 15" with Image dishes/barrels and the rear beam was shortened to fit the deep dishes inside the arches. The interior has a full width bench seat (for two people) retrimmed by RetroRetrims in brown and cream to match the door cards, the gearstick was modified and the hand brake was relocated so it came out the dashboard ashtray. The roof rack and luggage rack are all polished stainless steel with Ash slats.... I'm sure there is more, but I cant think of anything else at the moment
R56Cooper said:
Awesome thread, loving the back story and your skills are immense. Defo here for the journey.
Always loved Minis, biggest regret is when I was 18 not buying a couple when they could be had for a few hundred quid.
I know the BINI doesn't really count but I love hooning around in my R56
Thank you, I remember when they could be picked up for next to nothing too... I have some old Mini magazines and often look at the adverts to see how little money they were worth then.Always loved Minis, biggest regret is when I was 18 not buying a couple when they could be had for a few hundred quid.
I know the BINI doesn't really count but I love hooning around in my R56
I have a BINI too, it's an R53 which I use as my daily runabout. Although it's not overly quick, it's one of the best and most fun cars I've owned!
Hashtaggggg said:
amc_adam said:
ATM said:
amc_adam said:
I had also bought a VW MK1 Caddy unfinished project, which turned out to be quite a big project in the end as the majority of it was bodged. I ended up respraying it it the garage, made the one-off wheels etc,
Whoah there cowboyWe need a lot more details on this or another thread in its own right surely
So it's a mk1 Caddy 1.6 non-turbo Diesel (the slowest and noisiest turd of a engine) although I have an ABF to go in it eventually,
all the iffy bits to do with the bodywork I could find were cut out, repaired or replaced, it already had pattern front wings which in hindsight I should have binned and replaced (shut lines aren't the best), the bed was already pretty straight it just needed a few little repairs, straightened the original tailgate and reinforced it, I resprayed it in ford frozen white, Coilovers on the front, flipped and blocked rear beam, the wheels were 13" golf CL steel wheels stepped up to 15" with Image dishes/barrels and the rear beam was shortened to fit the deep dishes inside the arches. The interior has a full width bench seat (for two people) retrimmed by RetroRetrims in brown and cream to match the door cards, the gearstick was modified and the hand brake was relocated so it came out the dashboard ashtray. The roof rack and luggage rack are all polished stainless steel with Ash slats.... I'm sure there is more, but I cant think of anything else at the moment
With the Mini sat on the tressels, levelled and the rear quarter cut off it was time to start making and modifying parts.
When using slightly wider wheels or wheels with a lower offset on a Classic Mini they tend to scrub the upper edge of the rear arch. One way to get around this is to "Tub" the arches. This is where the inner arch tub is cut at it's highest point along its centreline, the rear quarter is then cut to match the new radius of the inner arch and then a curved sheet is welded in place to fill the void. There are a few different ways to achieve this and I've seen some Mini's absolutely butchered trying to do it.
So, the new replacement arch tub panel was marked out, cut and a new piece of sheet steel rolled and fully TIG welded in place. The weld was smoothed and any heat distortion was carefully beaten out.
This is what it looked like, you can see the width of the new sheet steel added at the bottom of the photo where it was left over sized,
Once that was done, a couple of beadrolls were added for strength and aesthetics. You can see the difference between the unmodified arch tub and the "Tubbed" tub,
The Tubbed arch was then bolted to the Jig/fixture in the boot to make sure it was aligned in the original position, it was then puddle welded to parts of the car that weren't going to be modified at a later date,
A template of the arch tub was transferred onto a sheet and allowed extra material for a return to be formed on the quarter, this template/pattern was then transferred onto the rear quarter,
The rear quarter was then carefully cut, you can see the original return had to be flattened in a couple of areas,
The return on the quarter was then added/reworked, this was quite time consuming as it has to be done a tiny bit at a time to eliminate the quarter getting deformed,
As with everything else, it was sprayed with a weld through zinc primer. The quarter was then TIG welded on the pillars and puddle welded in place where the original spot welds were (before I owned a spot welder). The photo shows part way through,
With everything welded and cleaned up, to the untrained eye all the work would go unnoticed,
The same process was repeated to the other side.
That will do for now
When using slightly wider wheels or wheels with a lower offset on a Classic Mini they tend to scrub the upper edge of the rear arch. One way to get around this is to "Tub" the arches. This is where the inner arch tub is cut at it's highest point along its centreline, the rear quarter is then cut to match the new radius of the inner arch and then a curved sheet is welded in place to fill the void. There are a few different ways to achieve this and I've seen some Mini's absolutely butchered trying to do it.
So, the new replacement arch tub panel was marked out, cut and a new piece of sheet steel rolled and fully TIG welded in place. The weld was smoothed and any heat distortion was carefully beaten out.
This is what it looked like, you can see the width of the new sheet steel added at the bottom of the photo where it was left over sized,
Once that was done, a couple of beadrolls were added for strength and aesthetics. You can see the difference between the unmodified arch tub and the "Tubbed" tub,
The Tubbed arch was then bolted to the Jig/fixture in the boot to make sure it was aligned in the original position, it was then puddle welded to parts of the car that weren't going to be modified at a later date,
A template of the arch tub was transferred onto a sheet and allowed extra material for a return to be formed on the quarter, this template/pattern was then transferred onto the rear quarter,
The rear quarter was then carefully cut, you can see the original return had to be flattened in a couple of areas,
The return on the quarter was then added/reworked, this was quite time consuming as it has to be done a tiny bit at a time to eliminate the quarter getting deformed,
As with everything else, it was sprayed with a weld through zinc primer. The quarter was then TIG welded on the pillars and puddle welded in place where the original spot welds were (before I owned a spot welder). The photo shows part way through,
With everything welded and cleaned up, to the untrained eye all the work would go unnoticed,
The same process was repeated to the other side.
That will do for now
Onto the boot floor / fuel tank area.
With classic Mini's the fuel tank is mounted to the passenger side of the boot area, above / around the wheel arch tub (although twin tanks could also be fitted, one each side of the boot).
I'm planning on building a roll cage at some point (once I get a tube bender), and with that I'd like to tie it into the rear subframe and shock mounting points, but with the fuel tank mounted where it should originally be this would cause a few problems.
So relocating the fuel tank to the centre of the boot floor, as low as possible and large enough to hold a decent fuel capacity for the engine that I'm hoping to fit. This also means the battery will now need to be relocated, and the subframe modifying.
First thing to do was brace the boot area to avoid distortion or twisting, then mark out the area I wanted to cut, once this was cut and removed you can see where the exhaust needs to run and the part of the subframe that needs modifying,
After a bit of drawing on cardboard as a mock up/pattern, this was then transferred to mild steel sheet. At this point I had just purchased a Bead Rolling machine, this has a selection of different dies that form pressings in sheet steel/aluminium for either strength or aesthetic reasons.
The bit below is the part that is made to clear the exhaust silencer,
The two parts were then cut, folded and TIG welded together, you can see in the below photo how the sides of the fabricated panel follow the contours of the boot floor,
The existing floor area was corroded under the rear lights and in a few other areas (as with most Mini's). So with the centre part of the boot floor almost complete I decided to fabricate the surrounding panels too. Using the same methods as above (cardboard template etc), the panels were made from steel sheet and have all the returns folded on them as per the original to allow for spot/puddle welding into place.
The new fabricated panels also run through under the rear bulkhead/seat back and repair some crusty areas which would be in the seat base,
With everything fabricated, all the areas that were to be welded were protected with a weld through zinc primer. All the panels were either puddle welded with a MIG welder or TIG welded in place,
Looking back I may have got a bit carried away with the bead rolling machine
With classic Mini's the fuel tank is mounted to the passenger side of the boot area, above / around the wheel arch tub (although twin tanks could also be fitted, one each side of the boot).
I'm planning on building a roll cage at some point (once I get a tube bender), and with that I'd like to tie it into the rear subframe and shock mounting points, but with the fuel tank mounted where it should originally be this would cause a few problems.
So relocating the fuel tank to the centre of the boot floor, as low as possible and large enough to hold a decent fuel capacity for the engine that I'm hoping to fit. This also means the battery will now need to be relocated, and the subframe modifying.
First thing to do was brace the boot area to avoid distortion or twisting, then mark out the area I wanted to cut, once this was cut and removed you can see where the exhaust needs to run and the part of the subframe that needs modifying,
After a bit of drawing on cardboard as a mock up/pattern, this was then transferred to mild steel sheet. At this point I had just purchased a Bead Rolling machine, this has a selection of different dies that form pressings in sheet steel/aluminium for either strength or aesthetic reasons.
The bit below is the part that is made to clear the exhaust silencer,
The two parts were then cut, folded and TIG welded together, you can see in the below photo how the sides of the fabricated panel follow the contours of the boot floor,
The existing floor area was corroded under the rear lights and in a few other areas (as with most Mini's). So with the centre part of the boot floor almost complete I decided to fabricate the surrounding panels too. Using the same methods as above (cardboard template etc), the panels were made from steel sheet and have all the returns folded on them as per the original to allow for spot/puddle welding into place.
The new fabricated panels also run through under the rear bulkhead/seat back and repair some crusty areas which would be in the seat base,
With everything fabricated, all the areas that were to be welded were protected with a weld through zinc primer. All the panels were either puddle welded with a MIG welder or TIG welded in place,
Looking back I may have got a bit carried away with the bead rolling machine
That is incredible work!!!
just one word Adam.................WOW!
I'm currently in the process of replacing outer sills on my lads RSP;- which has now evolved to replacing sections of inner sills and and cutting out sections of floor and front bulkhead. I'm hanging my head in shame having just read what you've been doing! My work (so far is better than the repairs that you cut out but this stuff is on another level mate!
wow!
I'm currently in the process of replacing outer sills on my lads RSP;- which has now evolved to replacing sections of inner sills and and cutting out sections of floor and front bulkhead. I'm hanging my head in shame having just read what you've been doing! My work (so far is better than the repairs that you cut out but this stuff is on another level mate!
wow!
Onto the Rear Subframe,
The knock-on effect of wanting to Mount the Fuel Tank in the centre of the Boot Floor was that the Subframe would need to be modified too. When the Body Shell went for blasting the Rear Subframe went along with it, I knew it would need a bit of tlc from years of jacking up and corrosion, as with anything "Mini" these are full of water traps and rust.....a lot.
The Subframe was blasted and had a light coat of primer to help prevent surface corrosion returning while I worked on it.
The first thing to do was fabricate a Brace to replace the rear cross member that I had previously cut away from the Subframe, Once I've built a Roll Cage it would probably be structurally stiff enough to do away with this but I felt that I'd need something between the back of the car and Fuel Tank (piece of mind, just in case).
The Brace was fabricated from some Aluminium Solid Bar. I'm unsure what grade Aluminium it was (it was a lump I already had lying around) but by the time I had heated each end and pulled it around a Jig to 90 degrees, the heat would have annealed it anyway.
Some holes were then drilled equally along the centre line and had a slight chamfer put on the edges of them, then many more hours were spent putting a radius on the edges of the Aluminium Bar/Brace and the entire thing was flattened back to remove any inconsistences and finally a brushed finish was applied with numb fingers.
Unfortunately I don't have any progress photo's of this, but I'm hoping the finished photo's will help explain.
Onto the Subframe itself, I wanted to get the exhaust to sit as high as possible and this meant removing the Handbrake quadrants (these will need relocating) and a bit of notching.
The Subframe was cut to follow the same radius of the Tunnel in the Floor, a curved piece of sheet was TIG welded in place and then cleaned up,
The Subframe was a bit tired, rusty and dented,
The under sides of the Subframe were removed/cut away and exposed the corrosion inside, I lightly went over these with a few different abrasives (pictured) but then decided it would be best to get it blasted and Hot Zinc Primed to help future proof it.
Two new Panels were fabricated, had some dimples pressed in and some extra drainage holes at the lowest points, these were then sprayed with a zinc based weld through primer and puddle welded in place,
One alternative way around doing the above would have been to convert to a Rear Beam type set up with Coilovers, and do away with the subframe entirely, with no subframe brace between the back of the car and fuel tank.
Rear Beam set ups are significantly lighter than the stock Subframes, but I'm not planning on building a light weight Race Car and intend to keep as much "Mini" as possible.... just without the rust!
The Rear Valance,
This was a Pattern Part, and once it was clamped to the car it was hiding all the work behind it,
The picture above was taken before all the sheet metal work on the Subframe happened, and notice the chalk line on the valance.
After many hours thinking, staring and marking out at the back of the Mini, I decided to chop a section out of the Valance to resemble a diffuser type look. Then, using the Bead Roller I carefully pressed a stepped edge as a surrounding feature.... this was surprisingly difficult bead rolling a preformed panel and maintaining a nice consistent stepped line.
After that, a piece of sheet steel was formed to the same shape as the cut out to create a return and finish off the inside of the "Diffuser", this was then clamped down the the bench to help prevent any heat distortion, then fully TIG welded in place. Once all the welds were cleaned up it looked like this, (sorry no process photo's again, this was a few years ago)
The Valance will be a bolt-on/off panel, so I can clean the road crap and grime out of it. And if it doesn't fit in with the 'look' I'm hoping to have with the car I can just bolt another Valance on and hide everything.
That's all for now!
The knock-on effect of wanting to Mount the Fuel Tank in the centre of the Boot Floor was that the Subframe would need to be modified too. When the Body Shell went for blasting the Rear Subframe went along with it, I knew it would need a bit of tlc from years of jacking up and corrosion, as with anything "Mini" these are full of water traps and rust.....a lot.
The Subframe was blasted and had a light coat of primer to help prevent surface corrosion returning while I worked on it.
The first thing to do was fabricate a Brace to replace the rear cross member that I had previously cut away from the Subframe, Once I've built a Roll Cage it would probably be structurally stiff enough to do away with this but I felt that I'd need something between the back of the car and Fuel Tank (piece of mind, just in case).
The Brace was fabricated from some Aluminium Solid Bar. I'm unsure what grade Aluminium it was (it was a lump I already had lying around) but by the time I had heated each end and pulled it around a Jig to 90 degrees, the heat would have annealed it anyway.
Some holes were then drilled equally along the centre line and had a slight chamfer put on the edges of them, then many more hours were spent putting a radius on the edges of the Aluminium Bar/Brace and the entire thing was flattened back to remove any inconsistences and finally a brushed finish was applied with numb fingers.
Unfortunately I don't have any progress photo's of this, but I'm hoping the finished photo's will help explain.
Onto the Subframe itself, I wanted to get the exhaust to sit as high as possible and this meant removing the Handbrake quadrants (these will need relocating) and a bit of notching.
The Subframe was cut to follow the same radius of the Tunnel in the Floor, a curved piece of sheet was TIG welded in place and then cleaned up,
The Subframe was a bit tired, rusty and dented,
The under sides of the Subframe were removed/cut away and exposed the corrosion inside, I lightly went over these with a few different abrasives (pictured) but then decided it would be best to get it blasted and Hot Zinc Primed to help future proof it.
Two new Panels were fabricated, had some dimples pressed in and some extra drainage holes at the lowest points, these were then sprayed with a zinc based weld through primer and puddle welded in place,
One alternative way around doing the above would have been to convert to a Rear Beam type set up with Coilovers, and do away with the subframe entirely, with no subframe brace between the back of the car and fuel tank.
Rear Beam set ups are significantly lighter than the stock Subframes, but I'm not planning on building a light weight Race Car and intend to keep as much "Mini" as possible.... just without the rust!
The Rear Valance,
This was a Pattern Part, and once it was clamped to the car it was hiding all the work behind it,
The picture above was taken before all the sheet metal work on the Subframe happened, and notice the chalk line on the valance.
After many hours thinking, staring and marking out at the back of the Mini, I decided to chop a section out of the Valance to resemble a diffuser type look. Then, using the Bead Roller I carefully pressed a stepped edge as a surrounding feature.... this was surprisingly difficult bead rolling a preformed panel and maintaining a nice consistent stepped line.
After that, a piece of sheet steel was formed to the same shape as the cut out to create a return and finish off the inside of the "Diffuser", this was then clamped down the the bench to help prevent any heat distortion, then fully TIG welded in place. Once all the welds were cleaned up it looked like this, (sorry no process photo's again, this was a few years ago)
The Valance will be a bolt-on/off panel, so I can clean the road crap and grime out of it. And if it doesn't fit in with the 'look' I'm hoping to have with the car I can just bolt another Valance on and hide everything.
That's all for now!
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff