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6 minute(s) of a 66 minute read
2-5-2012
Mini Pickup Restoration Project No.2! Finally Underway!
Compliments of pickupmad87 @ http://www.theminiforum.co.uk
2-5-2012
Right i have finally got the time and some panels to make a start on my pickup No.2!
heres a few pics of what she looks like.
this pickup is needing much of the same sort of work that my dads pickup went through! there isnt a lot of the front floor pan left and what is is badly bodged repairs! the rear load bed is pretty rotten as are the rear quaters and bottoms of the wings!
so ideally i could do with another mini van base that we managed to acquire for my dads pickup resto!
Hmmm i think that was a once in a lifetime find!!
heres a link to our previous restoration project. http://www.theminifo...__fromsearch__1
so over the last year ive been looking for a rotten saloon mini that has got a fairly rot free floor pan! not easy to come by, but have managed to get one!
before you ask, i know the pickup is at least 6 inches longer than a saloon mini, but when the made the pickup they didnt make a longer floor pan they just made an extension panel which is available from the likes of Moss and Sommerford.
right after digging the floorpan out from the depths of our workshop we investigated it and came up with a plan of what to do and where to start first.
after looking at it it was apparent that the front footwells need some work on them, they arent totally gone but need some metal cutting out and replacing. because im a bit tight on money at the moment i cant afford to buy the floorpan replacement panels so ive had a go at cutting repairs out of a left over van floor panel from my dads mates body shop.
i templated the panel for the floor pan with some strong card then cut it out of the left over panel.
once i was happy that the panel was bent in the right places and fitted properly i scribed round it with a knife and cut out the rusty metal underneath.
i procceded to tack the panel in place making sure i moved around the panel to minimise the distortion.
once this was done i turned the floor pan over and seam welded all around the panel.
with that done i turned my attention to the other floor pan which didnt need so much cutting out!
next i turned my attention to stripping off the old outer sills, so the floor pan was taken outside and sandblasted along where the spotwelds are so i could see them to drill them out. using our new toy we bought the other week!!
with the spotwelds revealed, i drilled them all out then removed the outer sills.
with both sides removed, the floor pan was taken back out side and sandblasted all the rust off from the inner sills.
after i had sandblasted the rest of the pan i noticed that the heel board was in pretty good condition so i decided to carfully drill out the spot welds and pick it off. i can now take the new one ive got back and get some different panels with the balance!
having picked the old heel board off succesfully, i started to weld it to the floor extension piece. i used an old rear subframe bolted to the heel board and some 10mm packings to keep the heel board nice and flat when i welded it to the extension piece.
once i had plug welded the heel board to the extension piece i un bolted the subframe and started to grind the plug welds down.
i got bored of grinding down the welds so i thought i would position the heel board and extension piece on the floor pan!
if i dont bother going to work tomorrow ill do some more work to it. ( lets hope the roads are too icy to travel on!!!) if not it will probally have to wait till next weekend!
