1981 Mini City 1000

[ctwomey]

When I was rebuilding the rear subframe I bought a proper greasing gun for the rear arm shafts. However, I heard a pop on both sides while squeezing the grease in. Anyway, those plastic inserts are useless so I bought some (expensive) stainless steel ones from Japan. I don't want to have to put 1/2 a litre of grease into each arm to ensure that grease gets to the brass bush.

The new plastic insert...split


Stainless steel replacement...

[ctwomey]

After reinstalling the rear arm bearing and testing the grease pressure, I shaped and installed the swing arm brake lines.



Reassembled arms back in the subframe with the rear subframe brake lines installed.

[ctwomey]

The only thing missing from the rear subframe is the hand brake cable and the quadrants for the arms. Will need to investigate some nickel zinc electroplating for this.

[ctwomey]

Two areas of the passenger waist rail that needs repairing



Smaller section first...





Larger section second...





Happy with results



Installed the front subframe brake line and it fits nicely

[colinf1]

Does the larger repair piece help with heat dispersion?

Front subframe looks pretty good, nice smooth bends, done by hand or tool?

[ctwomey]

Yes the extra metal helps to pull the heat away. If the piece was the exact size it would warp really badly.

I used a cheap 15 euro pipe bending tool to make the bends. However the length of tubing came as a circular coil that I had to straighten first by hand.

[woody]

In case you don't know the braided hoses are handed left and right

[ctwomey]

I did not know that woody. Thanks for the heads up. Luckily it was just a loose fit for now and I hadn’t tightened everything up because the hoses need to go into the brake calipers first before tightening the nut on the subframe.

[ctwomey]

Started repair of the passenger door as I will need it available when I start replacing the passenger quarter panel.

Bottom of inner door needs replacing



Going to start with the left bottom corner first









Good penetration on the backside



Finish looks good



Next up will be bottom right corner

[ctwomey]

Repaired the other corner of the passenger door









Just the straight section between the corners to do now.

[ctwomey]

Repairing the straight part on the bottom of the door. It's actually curved so I had to make a few slits to get the repair piece to match the contours.





Just tacked up for now. I will finish over the coming days ... long enough weld to complete.

[ctwomey]

Patience, patience and patience. Welding up this section took a couple of hours in order to prevent warping



Still need to knock down the tops of the welds on the inside. Nothing major just to make it tidy given it will be hidden inside the door.

[woody]

Clean up the inside so you can get a good seal of paint on it. Doors tend to rust from the inside out. Great work your doing.

[ctwomey]

Yes agree woody. There is excellent penetration of the weld from underneath and given this inside area will get a lot of water, the flatter the area the better. I am planning on epoxying the door frame and skin before they are assembled.

I also identified the ‘sided’ braided hoses on the front subframe. Turns out I put them on the correct side. There are deeper internal threads on the drivers side.

[ctwomey]

Put the passenger door frame back on and offered up the outer skin. Lines up nicely and I have used a couple of cleco clamps where I plan to put a plug weld to hold the position.



It will help aid the alignment when I remove the quarter panel.

[ctwomey]

Quite alot of pitting on the inner boot frame



Starting the repairs with replacing a section of the upper lip

[ctwomey]

All tacked up in place

[colinf1]

Looking good, nice clean & tidy welds!

[ctwomey]

Thanks Colin. Takes quite a while to get used to the welder and finding the right settings for specific types of welds. I am going to keep going on the boot and driver's door while it's all going well.

[ctwomey]

All welded up



Straight forward grinding down weld on an outside curve



Touch etch to protect



Inside came up well too



A bit faster this time. It took 1h 45m to weld, grind and etch.

[ctwomey]

Not much done in the last couple of weeks but back to it today

Started repairing the hinge part of the boot inner panel.

[ctwomey]

The repair came out well



Just need to clean up the backside of the weld, decent penetration

[colinf1]

Very tidy looking welds, keep it up!

[ctwomey]

I used the tape method to get the curve correct.



New holes for the outer boot skin, lined up from the outer panel.



Strip between hinge holes in place with a neat gap between pieces to be welded



Really happy with the overall results of the repair on this panel.

[ctwomey]

Trial fit of the boot's inner and outer skin



The bottom of driver's door is not as bad as the passenger side