Mini project

[RussellG]

A few hours work this afternoon.

Started by finish of the frame repairs to the offside door


4/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


4/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr


4/2/12.3 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Then for a change of scenery I went back to the nearside and added an A-panel.


4/2/12.4 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Fairly happy with the fit so far just needs a bit of fine tuning and dressing off the welds. Time for a well deserved trip to the pub. Might try a bit more tomorrow once the hangover passes

[RussellG]

Well a hangover & a trip to the apple store to have my phone replaced stopped me working on the mini this morning. However I did manage to get a few hours in this afternoon.

Welds all dressed off on nearside and im happy with the panel gap on the door leading edge too


5/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


5/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

The trailing edge of the door is going to need a bit more work but I will do this once I have the offside at the same stage.


5/2/12.3 by russell.grant, on Flickr

I have the offside door skin fitted as well, still needs a few welds dressing off on the underside but not much.


5/2/12.4 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Im quite pleased with the progress this weekend but the offside A-panel and flitch look like they will need a fair bit of tweaking to make it all line up well. Hopefully get onto this next time.

[RussellG]

Yeah thats exactly what im planning on doing. I will probably spot weld the metal in while the doors still fitted. Then remove the door and weld it up properly.

[RussellG]

Not much to show for tonights few hours.

Got the door skin on the offside finished & tested fitted door. the door is a fairly good fit but the A-panel wasnt going to be a great fit on the offside, so rather than mess around I decided to measure up then remove the door and cut the edge of the flitch. After which I ground down the flitch to give me the correct position for the A-panel. I have now tacked the edge of the flitch back in position.


7/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


7/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr


7/2/12.3 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Next time I wil grind the tacks flat then refit the door and test fit the A-panel fit again. Hopefully after that I can remove the door and weld it all back up properly.

[RussellG]

Minor update tonight.


Finished modifying the flitch & I am now half way through fitting the A-panel. I only spent a couple of hours at it tonight but it should mean hopefully I will get time to alter the door trailing edges to give the desired gaps.



9/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr



9/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

miniman said:

Hadn't seen this thread until now, fantastic project!

Thanks.

Getting ever closer to the front end fabrication which will no doubt be a headache but should make for interesting pictures.

[RussellG]

Pixel-Snapper said:

wow proper cracking on there Russell.

I would like to be further on but I rarely get the time to spend on it that I would like.

Any updates soon on your project ?

[RussellG]

I'm going to need to replace all 4 suspension cones although as a bonus there was a set of hi-Los in the car in amongst the mountains of junk that look useable.

[RussellG]

Today I have got the offside A-panel finished and then went to work on the door gaps.

Not a great shape or gap at the trailing edge before any work


11/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Then a couple of work in progress snaps


11/2/12.4 by russell.grant, on Flickr


11/2/12.5 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Which when finished looks like this


11/2/12.7 by russell.grant, on Flickr


11/2/12.8 by russell.grant, on Flickr


11/2/12.9 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

Tomorrow afternoon I will hopefully try and tackle this


11/2/12.6 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Then If I have enough time I might get a chance to use this lot on the underside of the mini


11/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

miniman said:

Awesome job on that door, hats off to you.

Thanks it took a while but I think it was worth the time.

[RussellG]

Had a productive day today.

The nearside door has changed from this


11/2/12.6 by russell.grant, on Flickr

to this


12/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


12/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr


12/2/12.3 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

Then I decided to turn my attention to coating the floor in anti-stonechip because I need to take the mini off the spit to allow me to fabricate the front end.

Before


12/2/12.5 by russell.grant, on Flickr


12/2/12.6 by russell.grant, on Flickr

After


12/2/12.7 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Next Im going to turn my attention to turning the bits in the next picture into a trolley to sit the car on while I make a frontend


12/2/12.10 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

The fumes from yesterdays stonechip painting were still strong in the garage tonight, so I decided I bet got out and open up the front and back doors a bit for a while to while to let some fresh air through the place.

While there I decided I might as well make a start to the trolley to sit the mini on


13/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


13/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Didnt see a point in spending a lot of time on it so an hour or so got it to this stage & less than half an hour should finish the few bits and pieces that still need done to it.

[RussellG]

Just a quick update today.

Finished the trolley for the shell to sit on


15/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Then put the body shell up on it, fitted the front subframe and gave the workshop a tidy up


15/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr


15/2/12.3 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

I havent done any work on the mini to update on in the last couple of days

Today however I have had a delivery of a few goodies that I will start work with at the weekend


17/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


17/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

Not a huge update today but I did get a couple of hours on the mini. Spent a fair bit of the time altering the wing to make them a good fit with the front panel.

I got time to weld the offside wing onto the front panel but the nearside one is only positioned with vice grips till tomorrow.


18/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr

Edited by RussellG on Saturday 18th February 19:57

[RussellG]

Today was hard going but ultimately well worth the effort.

I have both wings welded up to the front panel & all the welds dressed off. I then refitted to the front of the car to double check it was going to be a close fit & to allow me to position the bonnet correctly. Next I removed the bracket that holds the original grille trim on the front of the bonnet & gave the bonnet edge a few repairs.

Then it was time to fit the bonnet to the frontend. I have secured the bonnet in place with a few tack welds along the front and either side just now but I will weld it in place properly next time. All this just left me enough time to sit the front in place so I can double check that it will all fit properly with a sensible amount of adjustment and gave me a chance for a couple of quick pictures.


19/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr


19/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

Started to fit the hinges for the one piece front tonight. I decide to make up a box section on the inner wing to mount the hinge on. Its still very much a work in progress but I have taken a couple of pictures of the work so far.

Without the hinge fitted

22/2/12.1 by russell.grant, on Flickr

With the hinge fitted (closed position)


22/2/12.2 by russell.grant, on Flickr

With the hinge fitted (open position)


22/2/12.3 by russell.grant, on Flickr

[RussellG]

Haven't used any heritage panels. I just accepted the fact that the panels would need a bit of time spent on them to get a decent fit and since there is no rush to get it finished the cheaper panels means more money left for shiny bits and engine work