99 Mini Cooper Refurb

[Darran]

Hi everybody,

Well a couple of weeks ago i sent my mini away for a few little bits to be freshened up including a pair of new sills, but as always with minis, it is turning into a full blown respray now and repair some horror holes found lurking underneath
Ive got a very good s/h bootlid also as the original one had a lot of corrosion along the bottom of it.
I also got a s/h bonnet as the old one had some dents & creases in it that would have been hard to repair.
Hope to have it back to former glory by St Paddys day hopefully.
Heres a few horror pictures from today











Ouch








Eeek
















Thats all for now, will keep ye posted on progress in the near future.

Darran.

[Billy]

Welcome to my world Darran. That looks scary, and expensive. What harm but that Mini looks spotless in your Collection thread.

Billy

[Darran]

Welcome to my world Darran. That looks scary, and expensive. What harm but that Mini looks spotless in your Collection thread.

Billy

Cheers Billy, i feel your pain! To be honest the body isnt too bad,red has always been a great colour to hide those annoying marks, but bodywork man reckons it easier to respray than touch up all the little bits that had to be done.
The worst was under the sills, where you would never see, but it had to be done at some stage, i hadnt expected it to be that bad though. The guy that is doing the job has a great knowledge of minis and is already getting the metal fabricated for the floor repairs, hes confident of repairing it back perfect.
It probably looks worse now than it was as he has been cutting away the rust before i took the pictures.

Darran.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

that's some nasty rust for just an 11 year old car

[dermosmini]

Looks like a fair bit of work involved Darran,but will be worth it when its back in shape.Have mine stripped to the shell almost now its a 91 but there seems to be less rust so I'm hoping it wont work out to expensive to repair.Notice your based in Laois,where abouts are you getting it done and would you have a contact number for the chap who's doing it or would he even be interested in taking another one on?
Cheers Dermot

[kerryminigringo]

Good to see it getting a bit of TLC Darran.I have to say I am shocked by the amount of rust on it as it looks so clean the last time I saw it,just goes to show what is hiding beneath.Plenty of Waxoyl when its finished and it will be good for another 11 years.

[Darran]

Looks like a fair bit of work involved Darran,but will be worth it when its back in shape.Have mine stripped to the shell almost now its a 91 but there seems to be less rust so I'm hoping it wont work out to expensive to repair.Notice your based in Laois,where abouts are you getting it done and would you have a contact number for the chap who's doing it or would he even be interested in taking another one on?
Cheers Dermot

Hi dermosmini, just read your own project, looks like a good one alright, best of luck with it. Im based in Abbeyleix and my bodywork man is based around there too. I'll pm you his number if you want to chat to him, im sure he is hungry for work!

Darran.

[Darran]

Well i paid a visit to the body shop today and was pleasantly suprised not to see daylight shining up through the floor at last!
Still a long way to go, but he has 90% of the holes patched and repaired as you can see in the photos but it needs to be grinded down and made flush with the rest of the body.
He also has fitted 1 of the new sills to the drivers side and reinstated jacking points etc.
Also, as the second hand bonnet was off an older mini, he had to cut, grind and relocate the bonnet catch etc. The bonnet is preped now also,just awaiting spraying.
He has also removed the front windscreen to do some minor repair to the scuttle panel. it wasnt bad but better to deal with it now rather than later.
Heres some photos of progress so far. .

Passenger side of the car - patches welded in but but not tidied up yet.






Offending scuttle panel waiting to be completed



Drivers side cleaned up with new sill fitted and jacking point reinstated.






Picture of second hand bonnet with bonnot catch relocated and preped.




Just a few inside floor pictures next, just patched but will be cleaned up, grinded down and sealed up later with lots & lots of waxoil







Thats it for now folks, i'll keep ye all posted on progress later on.

Darran.

[StanO'Toole]

Theres a fine bit of work going into that Mini! Keep the pictures coming, its a really cool project! I still find it amzing how scary it looks now and how mint they end up at the end of the resto!

[Iwill]

And i thought my brother 2000 Ford transit was bad but good luck mate i will be watching it might get me to ask about the rotten mini up the road from me

[Darran]

Well things are finally starting to take shape now and i can finally see light at the end of the tunnell and not through the floor anymore
Floor was completely repaired and new sills fitted up after. It has since been stripped and just been painted yesterday.
I also took delivery of a new back bumper, new bonnot strips, new side strips & decals etc for when its finished.
Here are a few pictures of it in the spray booth today, dont mind the way the colour came out in the photos, i had no camera so i took them with my phone and they came out a little pink.

Darran.












More pics in a few days hopefully.

Darran.

[Laurna77]

Looking good Darran

[Darran]

Thanks Laurna, its getting there now.

[keith]

Darren, thats looking fine.... I'd be very keen to have a chat with that place.. can you PM' the details? hopefully my yoke wont need too much!

[Darran]

Darren, thats looking fine.... I'd be very keen to have a chat with that place.. can you PM' the details? hopefully my yoke wont need too much!

No bother Keith, you have pm.

Darran.

[Darran]

Called in today and its getting a little closer again, the putting back together always takes longer! The car still has to be machine polished yet and interior fitted back also.
Also got a tow bar fitted today (thanks to Billy for collecting) and will have a nice little surpise for the mini in the next week also, currently "work in progress" also and will post photos probably next week. . .







Darran.

[keith]

Darran, it looks really, really well.. fair play to you and Eugene. did you prepare it in any way yourself by removing carpets/seats/glass etc? and will it be waxoiled/chip coated etc as part of the job?

[Darran]

Darran, it looks really, really well.. fair play to you and Eugene. did you prepare it in any way yourself by removing carpets/seats/glass etc? and will it be waxoiled/chip coated etc as part of the job?

Hi Keith, Eugene did it all himself, to be honest we both thought it would only be in for a few days to get a few rust bubbles sorted and a pair of sills fitted but you can see what it turned into.
He has chipcoated the whole underside of the mini and sealed it up alright but he wont be waxoiling it. I am going to try the waxoiling myself when i get it back, i have chatted to a few people about how to do it and it seems fairly straight forward, maybe just a little messy.

Darran.

[Darran]

Well i called out to Eugene's this evening and its all starting to come together at last.
He was putting the bonnet strips on when i called, all that is left is the bonnet chrome strip to be fitted and cooper laurels at the end of the strips. It also needs a good cleaning inside but im looking forward to getting stuck into this myself!

Heres a few pictures as it stands this evening, i'll post more up maybe at the weekend when i have it back and shined up in all its glory!






Darran.

[Tony Cooney]

Looking good Darran

Tony

[Laurna77]

Looking very good Darran

[antodeco]

Thats some turnaround! Can you PM me on the details/general cost it was for you. Thanks

[Darran]

Thanks everyone, yeah it got done quite fast after in the end! I'll pm you on some details antodeco.
Well its home now and after a good rub down here are a few pics of it, im delighted to have it finished. Looking forward to giving it a good run next week on the "Hillbilly Run"!!










Darran.

[dermosmini]

Its looking stunning Darren,he's done a great job.Could you pm me please aswell with an idea of costs and where ya got your panels and stuff,just haven't got a clue of what I need to get yet for my one.Cheers

[Paulspill]

Hi Darren would you have a contact and a general area for the person who did this for you if you don't mind.
Thanks.
Paul