Chassis repairs

THE CAR HAS NOW BEEN PAINTED !!!!!

As you can see the sills, both inner and outer, were in very bad condition so they were all removed ready to have new ones made and fitted (pic's to come )...

Now the new sills are in place. The rust damage was quite extensive to the outer sills, the inner sills were not so badly damaged, but I chose to replace them anyway..

Left hand side sill's removed   Right hand side sill's removed

 

New left inner sill welded in place    New left outer sill welded in place

New right inner sill      New right outer sill

 

While I was replacing parts and had the car near a welder I re-repaired some work done by the previous owner to the kick panel and the floor panels...

Next I repaired the rust damage to the suspension mounting area by cutting out the the damaged areas and welding in new fresh plate..

 

Rear Sub frame

With the sub frame removed I could see the extensive rust damage, a quick sand blast of both sub frames revealed that the rear one was too far gone to be able to do anything with, and will need to be replaced. The front one on the other hand was perfect and will be coated in epoxy primer and eventually an appropriate colour (probably black but that can change at any time ).

 

BEFORE

AFTER

A few pictures showing the extensive corrosion to the rear sub frame.

 

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR PICTURES OF THE NEW REAR SUB FRAME...........................

 

 

............................New sub frame awaiting shipping to Sweden and assembly......................................

 

 

Body

With everything removed labelled and boxed it was time to start on the body panels. I have started by rubbing down the right hand side of the car, around the windscreen, and boot.

 

My son helping dad to fix the mini

 

 

 

After borrowing an oscillating sanding machine I was able to take away all the old paint and leave the bare metal showing..

 

All I have left now is the roof guttering and the seams. I will probably sand blast these!!!!

 

17-08-2008 I went to work today with the car and took it outside to sand blast the parts that needed doing.

 

 

And I also did the engine bay as it was covered in oil and grime and would be a long tedious job to grind clean

BEFORE 

 

AFTER 

 

And a quick picture of me proving that I had all the proper safety equipment 

 

I also blasted the inside of the boot for two reasons,

After blasting the boot I found that the spare wheel well was corroded and would need to be replaced  

 

 

 

So it was out with the old and in with the new  

 

While I already had the blaster in my hand I decided to blast the remaining parts of the front and rear suspension plus some parts that I will be taking to have chromed.(pictures of that to follow)...

BEFORE 

  

AFTER 

 

  

I have made some new stainless front shock absorber mounts.

BEFORE                                         AFTER

 

I have fitted the doors only to find that neither of the A panels or the front would match up....

 

        

Left hand side                                                                    Right hand side

It looks like a previous owner has tried to change these but fitted them wrongly so they had to come off and some new ones ordered.

And now the new A panels are here

I have borrowed a welder and fitted them here are some pictures of them now along with an extra lip that I have fitted for the fibre glass front to rest against when shut.

When I have re-fitted the doors I will take more pictures of the correct gap between the doors and the A panel's.

 

While I have a welder at home I have been able to get on with some more of the small jobs I have had left to do, for example the hole that the air vents connect into. This is will not be necessary as the vehicle will be mostly used in the summer time.

Before                    After

 

I have received a package from Minispares which contained all the parts needed to get the car to a fully rolling chassis.

I have set to work building the front suspension with the new adjustable kit and knuckle joints, top arm repair kit and wheel bearings

This is the front sub frame built up and ready to fit to the car

So then on to the rear sub frame, again new adjustable suspension this time with new rubber cones and knuckle joints, new radius arm axle repair kit.

With all this fitted to the car it was time to finally bolt on the wheels and move it out of the main garage into its new winter home

 

 

 

02-04-2009 I have received my chrome work back today so here are some pictures

Before                                                                             After

       

 

More blasting done!!!

Here is some pictures of the latest of the sand blasting that has been done

hinges                 pulleys                 heater box

 

Primer !!!

I have spent the last few weeks grinding and filling and priming all the panels of the car here are a few pictures of the car chassis so far, it has a temporary coat of primer that will be rubbed off before the epoxy primer is applied

 

 FINALLY EPOXY !!!!

I have sprayed the first coat of epoxy primer to the chassis, doors and boot, Its starting to get exciting now.......

 

 

In this picture you can see in the shine that there are some dents and high spots that I was not happy with and would show when the final top coat is applied so...................

Out came the filler again and I filled the entire roof smoothing it all and taking out all the imperfections.

 

 

this was then primed and sprayed in white.

but of course I was not happy with either there was a couple of runs that I didn't like so after the car standing in the garage with a heater on it baking in 30ºC for a couple of days, I rubbed the entire roof down with 400 grit wet and dry paper and then masking off the car and back in to my make shift painting booth.

 

 

this is the result that I am much happier with and it is much whiter that the last time as a bonus.

 

as I already had the wet and dry out I have rubbed the primer as well to get it as smooth as possible ready for the metallic paint to go on next.

More welding (hopefully the last)

I have been back at work this week and been able to bend some metal to replace two of the floor cross member that have been annoying me too look at now for a while. So I have cut the bits out and welded in new pieces.

this is what the old pieces looked like, at sometime in the past they have had a patch welded over them and some black sticky substance painted on to them.

and this is hot it looks now i have drilled the holes following the old parts as they were cut out and welded washers and stainless nuts to the inside so that they will be easier to remove the fixing bolts for the seats later. I think you will agree a vast improvement even if this is a part that will be covered by a carpet later

And so the time is finally here paint!!!

Yesterday the 19th of june I had the car at work and painted it metallic cherry red COG (BLVC843)

Pictures of the car just before I painted it including the flip front that I had already painted on the inside black

Here is the car painted in the base coat of red before the clear coat was applied

And here is the final result after the clear coat was applied

These are some pictures taken out in the sunshine as I was unloading the car showing the unmasked white roof

this is my favourite picture at the moment

 

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