92 City, My First Rebuild by big-jay

14 minute(s) of a 358 minute read

Update,

Been doing quite a bit of fillering and painting. Not my favourite job but these things have to be done !

Painted the closing panels and inside the valance -





Sanded down the outside of the valance, no need to go back to bare metal everywhere as the E-Coat on heritage panels is good stuff -



Primed -



Gravigard applied, you can't see the texture of it in these photos but it looks good in the flesh -



Then gravigarded the underneath of the battery box -



Then I done a bit of fillering underneath the light area where I'd made a small repair, then filler primer on top of that, quite pleased with it -



Where you see the crack in the filler underneath the boot lip has nothing to do with me, that's a previous 'repair' by Mr Bodge. Will be dug out and done properly -



Then the real graft started, took me three hours to sand down the whole boot area, some pictures -





Found another patch of rust, so cut it out and will repair it at a later date, no welding for me this weekend, couldn't be bothered



Then I primed the lot -



And sealed her all up -





That's it so far, might get a bit more done tomorrow providing it doesn't lash it down !

5-2-2014

Parts Update,

I managed to get myself a nice set of Exacton wheels last weekend, had to travel down to wales to pick them up but was worth it for the price I paid. They're going to need a refurb as they're a bit tatty, considering they're 30+ years old, and I'm also planning to make them into two piece split rims.

I was planning on using a courier to take them down to Force Racing to be split, but my dad has found a place that's local to us called Prestige Wheels that will dip, blast, refurb, paint and split them for what sounds like a very reasonable price, so we're going to take them down tomorrow !

Anyway here's a snap of them -



I've also put down a deposit on a nice low milage 1275 Engine. It looks to be in very good condition, nice and original and from what I can see unmolested. I've also heard it running and it sounds great. I've just got to wait for the guy to take it out now and I will admit I can't wait until we go and pick it up. I'm not after massive speed, just going to tidy it up and fit a few nice extras, maybe a nice cam and flowed head and a few other bits and pieces !

I should also have a few very nice interior bits and pieces coming through the post shortly so will put pics up as soon as I've got them.

Going to be helping my dad do a bit on his Mini over this weekend as he hasn't got a lot left to do welding wise so shouldn't take us to long. I'll also be doing the finishing bits of fillering and painting I've got left to do on the drivers side and rear end of my car in between, so will still have a few pics to update with, then next weekend turn the car around and start cutting out the passenger side.

It's also Himley Hall Mini show on the Sunday next week so will be spending some more hard earned cash

5-4-2014

Update,

Spent most of the day yesterday disconnecting my engine and labelling the loom ready for removal. Quite enjoyed it to be fair, nice to do something other than bodywork.

But today I was back at it, repaired the small hole I had in the boot and made some bracing up and fitted that ready for removal of the passenger side floor pan.

The repair piece in place -



Welded in -



Zinc primed, primed and then tiger sealed, same goes for the underneath -



That's officially all the welding done in the boot area now, feels like a milestone has been reached !

Then it was time to fit the bracing, you can see how bad the passenger floor is in this pick, properly bodged -



And across the passenger door frame in preparation for the doorstep to be removed -



That should keep it all in place while the work is carried out. That's all for today anyway as was giving my dad a hand with his car, may get the boot area painted up tomorrow !

5-6-2014

Update,

Didn't do too much yesterday, being a bank holiday and all, but did get my boot area in red primer ready for the top coat.

So here it is primed -



May be applying the top coat the weekend, but I'll see what happens as I may be quite busy. I also took delivery of Mr. Vizards finest -



That lead to me getting EVERYTHING I own Mini related down stairs and laid out on the floor. Wanted to see what all my money's been spent on over the past few months !

So, here it is, laid out -



A few close up shots -







And that's actually still not all of it, I've got two sets of four pot calipers and I'm not including all the panels I've got and the consumables I've bought. I've also still got more to come, just ordered a stainless steel heavy duty steering drop down bracket, a whole black seat belt set to match my interior, a load of smiffys stainless bolts and I've still got a 1275 engine to pick up, AND, it's Himley Hall this Sunday !

I don't think I'd want to count up the receipts and there's still a hell of a lot more to be bought. My wallet needs a break

5-8-2014

Parts Update,

Received my drop down bracket today from Kiddspeed. I went for the polished option, Purely because I can't resist shiny things, and the workmanship looks to be of a high quality.

5-11-2014

Big Update,

Made some great progress on my car yesterday. Here's some pictures.

We started off by removing my 998 engine, this will be stored away as I'll be fitting a 1275 when the cars finished -





Next was the front subframe assembly -





Then i got the grinder out and what was left of the front end was removed -





Bottom corners of bulk head and toe board corners are shot so will need replacing -





State of the passenger side flitch and inner wing -









I'm going to be buying the whole flitch and inner wing heritage panel as it's just too time consuming patching it up like I did with the other side.

State of the drivers side inner wing -



Again I'll be buying the front half of the inner wing, M Machine do a panel and it looks decent to be fair so I'll give it a try, should be a lot more tidy then patching it up.

Then it was time to remove the dreaded over sill -









I CAN NOT emphasise how important it is that you do not fit oversills, these are only two years old and look at the mess they have made !

Layers of Bodge -



So Ive roughly cut all that nastiness out and this is what I'm left with -





All of the rot that was cut out of my Mini -



I did feel as if I was getting somewhere with this but now I've chopped all that rot out it feels like a massive step back. Got to look on the bright side as my drivers side is now solid and my rear end is also solid. I've ordered the full front to rear floor pan from Minispares but will have to wait until next week to pick it up as there made to order.

After all that, depression had set in big time. So today I went to Himley Hall and had a splurge of spending to make myself feel better. It's the last time I'm going to be able to buy anything that are not panel related for a while.

Here's a few pics of what I got -



A few close ups -









Ill list the items,

- Top tint windscreen.
- Wipac free form headlights.
- Exacton wheel.
- Stainless bumper.
- Standard arches.
- Black perforated headlining.
- Smiffys bits bolts.
- Standard door lock surrounds.

I also got the old tyres removed from my Exacton wheels, so there now ready to be sent of to be split real soon -



Well that made me feel a lot better about the car so now I've just got to keep positive about it !