Mitch gets a restoration! Now with bonus MOT!
Turbo Mini Forums

After dropping in the turbo engine and having a bit of fun last year I sadly had to take the car off the road as the bodywork was letting it down.
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.p...tid=268971&fr=0

I did have it restored by a "professional" in '05/'06 but the rust soon appeared again in the wing/scuttle/front panel joints. I have now commenced the rebuild to get everything how it should be, with new panels fitted, a fresh coat of paint and a quick check over the engine to make sure all is well.

Whilst stripping things down I noticed a lot of filler and some cracks in the wing/scuttle joints. The wing/front panel seams were sealed with filler!




There are no closing plates under the scuttle ends so water is getting up the a pillar and I think hasn't helped the lower windscreen corners. Also there is a small hole where the a panel/scuttle joins so that is how the water is getting in the door pillar and rusting the sills/tread plates.





All things considered not too much to worry about, there has been a large patch put around the vent holes under the wings, you can see the remains of the old panel from inside the car. Yuk!



I have some problems on the drivers side roof corner, some fairly small holes in the roof itself and two on the front and side of the a pillar. Not being an experienced panel person how is it rusting here? Can I just weld them up or is there a problem to fix somewhere else?



Next it remove the other wing then assess then go panel shopping!

Edited by Jay#2 on 23rd May, 2014.

doesn't look toooooooooooooooo bad buddy.

there seems to be significant differing opinions on how to treat the seam joints. personally, i didn't seal the wing to scuttle joints as every option i've seen end up cracking in the long run. I've put plenty of paint in and waxoiled to seal

I'd fix up that roof corner, spray cure rust from the inside around in there, and then waxoil. I think the water ingress from no closing plate allowed for damp to rise when drying out. causing it to rust from the inside on the drivers side roof corner. Im sure you'll come right

Cut the roof off and fit a carbon one!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Lead the seams!

its easy, it lasts and it wont crack.

Thanks for the advice guys, CR I think your right about the moisture getting up the A pillar, there is some sponge stuffed up there which doesn't help with moisture retention. Joe I like the idea of lead loading, I will look into it. The plan is if I do it right I won't have to do it again for a long time, ha, is that even possible?

Frost do the stuff for leading,

basically start with bare metal, paint the flux on, warm it up with blowtorch till it melts, then wipe with a damp rag to leave a shiny tinned surface, heat and melt on the solder stick then shape it with a lardy (lard is to stop it burning) wooden cooking spatula. let it cool then knock it back smooth with a big file. sand to finish,

for the seam you can shape them nicely with a needle file.

the roof corner panel isn't as bad as mines


i happen to have an offcut of a scrap car to fix mine with.
It actually looks relatively simple to repair just gonna take alot of time and care to get everything lined up nicely

That's just like my car was. Get the roof/pillar sections from a scrap car, cut yours out and weld new in. You'll need bits from a few cars as you won't easily separate the new panels.

No amount of 'rust cure' or 'snake oil' as it's more commonly known will sort that. The only way to properly sort rust is to cut it out and put new metal in. I slapped that sort of thing all over the front end of my old mini. It stayed there for 6 months, maybe a year. Then it was covered in surface rust again. The rust isn't just on the surface, it's into the metal so a chemical coating on the top won't stop it.

The roof will be the difficult bit as it will more than likely warp as you weld. I changed my whole skin, it's not that difficult. Loads of pic's in my build thread if you want to see what I did (and will be re-doing at one side as I'm not happy with it).

Got a bit more done today, I got the A panels off and the scuttle too.











It looks like the water was getting behind the scuttle and down the door pillar. There's a patch along the hinge panel, the original panel behind it has turned to handfuls of brown dust! I'm glad to have found the source of the rusting, if I do a proper job it might last a while.:)

That looks like a similar amount of rust to mine, just with less bodges! Are you planning to replace the inner wings or repair them?

I'll try and repair them, they look sound where they joint the bulkhead forward. I am trying to retain the front end too, it looks OK but we'll see.

I hate rust lol

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

I have the drivers side inner wing repaired, TBH is would have been way easier to just put on a whole new inner wing.



There was three skins at one point!



I started on the passenger side, despite my highest hopes it looks like this side might be even worse. There's more rust in the footwell where it meets the bulkhead and wheelarch compared to the other side, still not too bad though.




looking sad!



Notice the mega fire extinguisher in case things get out of hand! Bulkhead is stripped down, just some surface rust there. I also bought a lead loading/body soldering kit so I'll try my hand at loading the seams when the time comes.

Lead loading? As in the stuff you melt down and fill gaps with like filler?

If so thats meant to be a proper art form and awesomely old school!

Good luck with the resto!

As Joe explained earlier its not so difficult, but a tad expensive, especially the solder paint that is used to tin the metal first.

Unlike filler, it will only go on where the metal is clean and bright so you cant cover up rust with it.

Ahhh so i see. I'll stop skim reading threads soon. Honest.

Crumbs... a fire extinguisher and lead loading, will be watching your thread ) doing everything right ) Hope your quicker with a welder than I was.

I actually have a total of 3 extinguishers in the garage! We will see how I get on with the leading, I am just sick of cracking seam joints so it's worth a try. I was out tonight to clean up the weekends welds, overall I am happy with them but sometimes there isn't a lot of penetration. Of course I am still using the disposable gas (I hope Rod S isn't reading this!) but will open an account in BOC on the weekend.

Jay, there's a lot of places now that will sell & refill proper gas bottles so you dont have to go to BOC,

http://barnet-welding.co.uk/

a for lead loading, well worth it, Frost do all the stuff,

you'll need solder paint,

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-fillers-...lder-paint.html

solder sticks,

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-fillers-...lder-stick.html

tallow (actually I used Lard!)

http://www.frost.co.uk/soldering-tallow-tub.html

somthing to spread the lead, (I used a woden cooking spatula)

http://www.frost.co.uk/automotive-fillers-...addle-flat.html

get the area to fill back to bare shiny metal, paint the area with solder paint, heat gently wth a blow torch till the grey paste goes to shiny balls, then wipe with a damp cloth to leave a shiny tinned surface,

heat panel an apply the solder sticks unil you have enough, then manipulate with a lardy spatula, leave to cool, shape with a coarse body file, then sand to shape.

bits like the seam groove can be put in with a needle file.

After cracking on with it during a week off work I have got a bit more done. I had to do quite a lot of repairs to the inner wings plus bear metal the bulkhead and front panel. They were sound except for some surface rust. It was hard to get rid of all the rust completely due to some pitting, I really should have considered sand/media blasting. I have everything that's repaired in primer and have started seam sealing a few bits,



I am also able to start hanging the wings, A panels and scuttle.





The Waxoyl applied 9 years ago helped but due to some bodges under the wings heaps of water was getting into the sills at the front. It was like my car has two water features!



Plus I have some foxy new suspension bits to look at!



Rosejointed adjustable lower arms and chunky rosejointed tiebars.

Edited by Jay#2 on 30th Aug, 2011.

Good progress buddy my own car will be getting the same treatment this year also.
Keep er lit

That mini is determined to Kill me!!!!

Not a huge lot of progress but getting there slowly. I got the tread plates on, the new scuttle on and repaired the windscreen bottom corners. I got the bulkhead bear metaled and primered/sealed.





I also mocked up the A panels, wings and got them welded on. Then it was time to try my hand at the lead loading, didn't turn out that hard in the end, just was a bit worried about how much heat got into the panels. I think it turned out OK, it stuck very well and should do a good job. Just need to start filing it down.





Then I knocked up a rotisserie out of some trusses and a scaffolding pole. It cost a total of £15!





Should make things easier when it comes to the floor. I need some repairs under the companion bins plus the wheel arches don't look to healthy. I mounted the rotisserie on the parcel shelf on the back so I can cut out the arches or boot floor. It makes it a little bottom heavy when your spinning it around but is OK.



Next step is seal everything up under the wings, scuttle then move down the car.

getting there bud. The rotisserie makes it far easier to get to the under wing areas and the floor.

So I had a poke around the floor and it seems sound down to the rear foot wells where it basically turns to brown dust. Got that cut out and had to make a few repairs to the parcel bin then replaced the footwell then slapped the sill on. Wan't too bad really, getting a bit happier about my welding too.







Through the power of the rotisserie I flipped the car over and found the same sort of issues on the other side.





Pile of rust!



Got it brush primed and then started looking at the boot floor. The wheel arches have had a patch put on from underneath, then liberally covered in filler. I am going to replace the whole thing, turret and arch both sides I think.





It will replace the rear section of the boot floor then around the rear subby mounts up to the heal board.









When I started removing the rear valance I discovered only two layers in the bumper flange sandwich, just the valance and the boot floor, no rear panel flange. It turns out the rear panel lower section had been badly bodged, it has no flange and has been bashed in and welded to the boot floor. Heaps of filler and a mess





Looks like I will need to spend £120 on a new hinge panel

On the upside I got some nice subby trunions and some nice protech shocks.