sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 12, 2009 20:33:54 GMT
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This all started a few year back when we decided to build a go-kart using an old briggs & stratton ride on lawnmower engine, which was completely fubared except the steering wheel, so I managed to blag a suzuki 250cc twin from a guy at work, but again time and effort was wasted as he'd cut the gearbox off to fit it onto a hovercraft! Anyway, a small frame had by then been welded together, and had been fitted with mini rear hubs and a centre seat from a land rover. Another lad at work was breaking a mini, so I traded some offcuts of steel for a near-complete 998 A-plus engine and box. The plan was now to mount the engine to the back of this frame I'd made As usual, we got sidetracked on other projects, then at a land rover show, we picked up a set of four 10" alloy wheels to go onto the superkart, and another land rover show had a set of twin su's on a manifold for the engine. Then a trip to a local mini show landed us an excellent 1275 block, crank, pistons and head. At this point the little frame (4' long by 2' wide) was looking a bit weedy, so it was decided we might as well go all the way, so a quick browse on ebay and this appeared on the drive: It looked really good in the ebay pictures, and on initial inspection was deemed perfect for what we wanted, a straight mini shell with little previous welding only requiring a little fresh metal to get back into shape. The only parts still attached were the brake and clutch master cylinders, boot, bonnet, interior roof light and windscreen wiper motor.
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 12, 2009 21:48:11 GMT
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With the mini then in the garden, we were able to have a good close look over it, poke, prod and grind! Behind passenger a-panel: Passenger footwell: Passenger facia vent: Drivers doorpost: Passenger side pocket: Passenger rear wheelarch: Scuttle removed: Conclusion: I HATE BODY FILLER The whole mini is plastered in the stuff! There is what looks like the original red paint, covered by a thick layer of filler, all over everything, and then a few more coats of red. All the seams had been filled smooth, and huge dollops were hanging off where it had been pushed through the rust holes. The best bit was the passenger floor repair, sorry no pics, but it looked like a genuine repair panel, brazed AND siliconed into place, a total 'inch' above the original floor! The previous owner who stripped it down had to cut a big hole in it to get the subframe off! There are a few other patches around the floor that had been made from silicone, rusty metal and tesco carrier bags The bootlid was beginning to rot out, so we acquired an almost mint lid for the back, and a big piece of filler had been knocked off the front edge of the bonnet revealing a big dent On the positive side, the sills look to have been replaced reasonably well in the past, and all the paint and filler has protected the rest of the metal, so all hope has not been lost.
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 12, 2009 22:15:43 GMT
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Over the past few months we've been slowly getting parts together for the mini ready to get it rolling. It now has a front subframe fitted with spacer type drums, a rear subframe with hi-los, + the hi-los to go in the front, steering rack and steering column. With the new garage completed, it was finally time to get the mini under cover, so on new years eve, we put the wheels on, picked it up and put it on the ground: Then rolled the mini into the garage: Now we can get on with the real work!
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 14, 2009 19:44:03 GMT
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We finally got going on the weekend and made a start attacking the rust, so my brother got to it with the wire wheel on the angle grinder and started on the passenger footwell where the worst area of rust was: Quick change to cutting disc, and back in you go! Thats more like it: The outer sill was only attached to the door rail and the lowest edge under the floor, and as the front corner had no strength left in it, off came the front section of sill: Before we headed in for dinner, I ran the wire wheel over the front edge of the bonnet to see just how bad it was, well through upto 1/4" of filler, it looked to be mostly straight except for two dents in the centre at the front and the rot holes on the front edge: When I have the welder near the front of the mini, I'll cut the grot out and weld in a new section of metal to save the bonnet. The next plan is to clean all the edges in the floor and weld in fresh metal, then put a new a-post in there.
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 14, 2009 21:17:10 GMT
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We have a selection of engines to play with. First is the 998 A-plus engine and gearbox, then the 1275 engine and finally a 998 engine and gearbox. The A-plus has a terminally worn crank, and the mainshaft bearings have gone, literrally gone so thats only good for plates and brackets. The 1275 is in top condition, honing marks still visible in the standard size bores, rings all clean and free, crank journals all spot on standard, and even the bearings had few marks on them. The 998 had been sitting in a shed, but had the correct remote type gearbox for the shell we have, just that the previous owner had cut that off and welded the diff up to make into a rotavator In short, we are using the 998 gearbox, and have been lucky enough to source a replacement remote extension and diff housing for the box. The diff in the A-plus gearbox was salvageable, so I stripped down both diffs, and built one good one with the later pot type joints and fitted that to the earlier box. The 1275 will have the crank and flywheel balanced and will be refitted with all new bearings, followed by a flowed and skimmed head, with twin 1.5" su's off a mgb, and lcb exhaust ;D Here's the A-plus engine sat on the remote gearbox with lcb manifold and modified mgb inlet manifold: Close up of the modified manifold: We took it all apart and set about stripping down the gearbox and rebuilding it, and here it is going back together: Being tested on the floor: Then to the engine. The 1275 block was cleaned and given a coat of bright yellow paint: and the pistons and camshaft sitting inside it ready for the crank to get back from being balanced: The head hasn't escaped either. The ports are slowly being opened up, with possibly larger valves to be fitted? so that it matches the twin 1.5" su's
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Jan 15, 2009 12:43:20 GMT
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Looking very good mate. I know the feeling when you find rust and grot that you wern't expecting.
Thought I'd replace the front end of my mini as it was looking tired, so far i've got to put on a new driver's side door step, door post, repair the inner wing repair passenger side foot well and fresh air vent area and patch part of the scuttle! all bits I could have done without.
Nevermind it's all part of owning a mini I guess!
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 15, 2009 18:52:36 GMT
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Yeah it was more rust than expected, but at least it is localised grot rather than full on rampant rust , the most annoying part is that someone previously siliconed on plates of metal over rust holes, and filled one with a tesco carrier bag in a structural part of the body . The good part is more welding practice for me without the hard graft prep work for once ;D. Anyway, I've seen worse mini's with tax and mot
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Jan 16, 2009 10:30:50 GMT
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Yeah it was more rust than expected, but at least it is localised grot rather than full on rampant rust , the most annoying part is that someone previously siliconed on plates of metal over rust holes, and filled one with a tesco carrier bag in a structural part of the body . The good part is more welding practice for me without the hard graft prep work for once ;D. Anyway, I've seen worse mini's with tax and mot Yeah I've seen worse too lol! Mine was similar the last owner put a new driver's side step on ove the original by the looks of things and the supposedly new wing on the car came off with one pull!
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Jan 16, 2009 13:11:13 GMT
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Yeah this ones sporting a new passenger wing, shame they haven't welded it on properly , but on the bright side that makes it easier to replace ;D. I had a look at it last night, and the drivers side has very little rust damage compared to the passenger side, so I can at least copy that to get the correct number and spacing of welds .
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Feb 15, 2009 19:59:23 GMT
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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With the mini on it's side, it's far easier to work on the sills, so it was decided that my brother would learn how to fabricate all repair panels and do all the prep work, then I'd stick them in with my welder. We'd previously attempted fitting an aftermarket footwell repair panel, well, what a waste of time and money. We now have sheets of zintec steel sat beside the mini, and a supply of cereal packet cardboard for templates. The first repair was to the passenger footwell. All suspect metal was cut back: A small repair panel was made to fit in the bulkhead part of the passenger footwell and offered up. This panel has been put to the side for now while until we decide whether or not to remove the side of the footwell or clean it up: Then the base of the footwell was fabricated and welded in place: We then moved to the back of the sill by the wheelarch. The camera disappeared for a day so there are no pictures of the initial progress in repairing the floor section on the rear. The whole passenger side of the floor has been put in grey primer, except where there's deep pitted rust, where we've used hammerite rust remover gel, and covered over the completed patches in red primer. A small plate needs welding in the base of the outer rib, and the rear closing panel against the subframe has been partially removed to aid in the reapairs to the main floor, and will be replaced in sections when we have the time to work on it Hmmm, localised rusted boot floor: This is one of those situations where good metal needs to be removed to get to the bad bits, only then can sections be rebuilt and completed
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luckygti
Posted a lot
I need to try harder!
Posts: 4,912
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Blimey looks like a fair bit of work that. Love the fact that you can just tip it on it's side to work on the floor Brilliant. Proper weldathon!
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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It's more of a pleasant weldathon for me, all the hard graft is done by my brother, and all I do is stick it together ;D , oh, and no more lying on the floor covered in curse word . The current plan is to drop the a-series in, for now, but there are intentions for a possible change in powerplant, so the shell needs to be absolutely perfect. Some extra bracing will probably find it's way in as we go. It does help that my brother has recently been doing his college work experience with a local tuning centre, except that progress has been painfully slow
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i like the bonnet something different a smart looking project! if your after some parts i have been stripping down my ini, its not a clubman but still i might have some spares you need!
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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I like the bonnet something different a smart looking project! Yeah, I think once the bonnet is finished (low priority right now) it will help this clubman stand out from the rest. I've always loved minis, but the vast majority look to follow the same theme/style/fashion etc but just in a different colour (no offence intended to anyone). It really is hard to do something genuinely original and creative that hasn't been done before, and yet at the same time complimenting the original mini design. if your after some parts I have been stripping down my ini, its not a clubman but still I might have some spares you need! Thanks for the offer but we've almost got an entire mini minus shell in the garage loft ;D
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I like the bonnet something different a smart looking project! Yeah, I think once the bonnet is finished (low priority right now) it will help this clubman stand out from the rest. I've always loved minis, but the vast majority look to follow the same theme/style/fashion etc but just in a different colour (no offence intended to anyone). It really is hard to do something genuinely original and creative that hasn't been done before, and yet at the same time complimenting the original mini design. Yeah i agree is so easy to follow trends, its where sooo many parts are available from manufacturers these days many people find it hard to think for themselves in a way. i admit i have also followed trend but am trying to do some things different as i go, e.g. polycarb windows, i went for alleycats instead of superlights. its just trying to change it that little bit. The bonnet will probably allow you to get a better air flow to the carbs to be honest!
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sowen
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,245
Club RR Member Number: 24
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1975 Mini Clubmansowen
@sowen
Club Retro Rides Member 24
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Nov 22, 2009 20:29:02 GMT
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I welded a few strips of fresh steel into the floor on the rear to finish that end off before the sill and subframe panel get rebuilt: Because of the holes in the floor above the rear subframe, and the need to remove more metal in the rear floor subframe area to get in and repair it properly, I decided we should concentrate on the front and get that built up first. Of course, naturally this meant that more metal had to be removed A plate could then be welded in to repair the base of the bulkhead: Now a plate could be fabbed up to repair the metal removed to repair the bulkhead base, and give us a line to work to so the sill can be replaced and get some much needed strength back into the shell: It unfortunately didn't fit quite as well as intended so had to be cut in two, and extended in the middle. It just needs the welds in the join finishing off, then it can be welded in place.
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Looks like you're doing a top job of it. My clubman was sold to me as a solid rolling shell, that just needed a couple of small patches.... Next job is the roof skin!
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