Irish Mini Owners Club

While taking off the A panel on the RSP I had a little poke around the fresh air pipe and the scuttle gusset panel.Looks like the welder will be out for longer than I thought.

Not good. Will you be going further than the A panel?

Try poking upwards to the windscreen scuttle panel, another favoured place for tin worm on that era of Mini

Ah TMG thats were the screwdriver went to the butt of the handle.Not to worry,should have that side sorted by Sunday but I have not looked at the other side yet,I,m afraid.But the 74 estate had it in the same place and it,s 17 years older.The man with the waxoyl must have been on holidays the day those two rolled off the line.

You were right Dave,I,ll need more that an Apanel.A wing and scuttle gusset panel along with a bumper mounting bracket for the front panel will be ordered on Monday morning.It,s turning into more and more of a project as I go along but better to catch it now.It,s a pity you can,t just stick on the bits but it wouldn,t be a project then.I must order some shiny bits to stick on just to keep the non technical side of the brain working.And before TMG says it I did not say which Sunday it would be finished on.

But if you stick a load of shiney bits on, then it won't be original.

I should have said shiney new bits as in brand new.I,m taking off the torpedo mirrors and getting new oe mirrors.I,m also taking off the wiper chrome kit and putting on the oe black kit so it will be going back to original in places.

Ah right, I think I might have a standard Rover radio/cassette player if you need it.

Thanks TMG but I,ll past on the radio/cassette for now.

Well if Billy is giving an undate on the Hornet,I,d better give an update on the RSP.I,ve finished the scuttle repair and the scuttle closing panel along with the Apanel and wing are all back on.I still have to put the bumper mounting bracket back onto the front panel as there was rust coming up between them and it,s far easier to replace the bumper bracket than a whole front panel.I took off the rear bumper to sand off a "bit of rust" on the lip where the valance,boot floor and back panel are spot welded together.Half an hour later I had a whole in the boot floor big enough for a small child to get out through and a full width repair panel ordered from Somerford to repair the back panel.I,ll post up pictures later.

it keeps me up at night knowing rust never sleeps.

I,ve two small childen that do that for me.

Here is a pic of the wing and Apanel on.


Rust on the rear rear panel.



And here,s one of the rust removed from the boot.Waiting for a rear panel repair panel to come from Somerford and I can get it finished up and ready for spraying.

Good work, Aidan. Must pick your brains on this welding lark

I might not be the best welder in the world but with mig even a beginner can pick it up quickly.The most important thing with mig is to have the surface you are about to weld spotlessly clean and to practice with wire feed and current settings before you start to weld.I,m looking into buying a better quality welder as the wire feed speed can be a bit eratic on mine leading to welds that need alot of dressing to please the eye.

Nice work, I have got some of same rust issues but I am putting it of for the moment I just want to drive the dam car and have some fun.

spicooper out

I was putting it off for too long and the Apanel was very rough so I bit the bullet and started thinking it was a small job.How wrong wasI but should have all the welding finished soon.I just want to get miles up on it now.Might do MTM in it.

Good car to do the MTM in lots of power and quite compared to the old stuff. Nice to see the winter project season is alive and kicking, hope to have my estate back on the seen in 2009 just in time for the IMM.

Early this week.

And this

The rust in the boot floor was caused by accident damage when it was in the care of a previous owner.So I got the grinder out and started to repair the boot floor.




And this is what it looks like tonight.Still not happy with the bootlid fit,it was never great,I think the previous accident has something to do with this but with a little bit of hole enlargement and the use of gentle force and a few blocks of wood it should be better.

With the impending IMM and the need for seat belts for the kids,I got stuck into the RSP last week and stripped out the interior,remaining glass,petrol tank and lights.Having had enough welding and grinding on the van to last me for a while I loaded it up onto the trailer last thursday and took it the 1/2 mile up the road to the same lads that did the work on the van.It needed a drivers side scuttle closing panel,A panel,wing,air vent repair and I decided to change the front panel as it had rust behind the bumper bracket.It also needed a front floor pan on the drivers side and a small repair to the drivers door step.I also decided to get a full boot hinge repair panel put on because I was never happy with the fit of the boot due to previous accident damage so they were going to correct this also.I also sent up a bootlid off a volcano orange mini that I bought in Mini In The Park for £10 to replace the one on it as it had a dent and holes for non standard badges and it was cheaper to just paint the new bootlid.I called this morning and except for the doorstep all the welding is finished.




The panel repair just to the back of the rear wheel arch it where a jack put a dent from the inside after some spirited cornering.

Boy, then lads don't waste time do they !!!

Aiden any chance you could PM me that lads address and number again ???
The lad I had to do the pickup is after going belly up last week, good job I rang as I had a trailer booked to go down to cork to collect it this thursday.

Arrived home from holidays yesterday and as promised the boys in the body shop had this waiting for me.



Pressure on now to get it ready for the IMM.

Looks gorgeous. Well done.

thats beautiful Aidan.... a lovely homecoming gift!