1983 Mini City

[NeilRichmond]

You should have been supplied with the inserts for the Poly front pear mounts.

Depends on supplier

I have the bolts / washers / nuts and additionally poly mounts - not all -and rubber too

http://www.richmondclassicscarparts.co.uk/

[woody]

You should have been supplied with the inserts for the Poly front pear mounts.

Depends on supplier

I have the bolts / washers / nuts and additionally poly mounts - not all -and rubber too

http://www.richmondclassicscarparts.co.uk/

Good to see an Irish based supplier .Your link above should be .ie not .co.uk.
Will items be posted from Ireland or UK and attract duty?

[colinf1]

You may need to post a photo of what you have.

This is the mounting kit I got from minispares - http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... tings.aspx



That site seems pretty good on prices, be interesting to know the same as what Woody has asked.

[colinf1]

An hour or so at the mini this afternoon. Chopped the remaining part of the closing panel on the RH inner wing off, also the top part of the inner wing that's above that closing panel.





I'll make a cardboard template from the LH inner wing and try to patch it that way.

There was also a small amount of rust just on the top of the inner wing, just below the edge of the scuttle panel, patched in a small piece of fresh metal.

Seemed to weld in fine, but had a few pin holes that I ended up chasing.

Went to attach the teardrops to the new front panel, using the bolts from the old panel, bolts felt tight so cleaned up the threads with 5/16 die, offered them up again and the captive nuts broke off the panel! They look to be 5/16 unc rather than unf that was in old panel! Tried the opposite side and it was the same, so new nuts and bolts needed for that...

[NeilRichmond]

They indeed use a 5/16 UNF nut and bolt. The part number for the bolt is GFK5184 for your year of Mini.

[colinf1]

Made up a small patch panel to close off inner wing. Still having issues with my welding, blowing through very easily whatever I'm doing wrong...

[ctwomey]

My problem is that I am putting too much heat into the panel when grinding down the welds and warping my patch panels.

Won’t be touching any new panels until I get my technique right and I can do this butt welding with confidence. Damn it’s a different set of challenges compared with thicker steel.

[daniel garry]

Made up a small patch panel to close off inner wing. Still having issues with my welding, blowing through very easily whatever I'm doing wrong...

clamp a bit of flattened copper pipe behind the joint, it'll act as a backing for the weld and will take some of the heat away

are you grinding with a grinding disc or a flap disc? the grinding disc is quicker but not quite as forgiving! i prefer a little slower but not thinning the metal or putting too much heat in

[colinf1]

Old sealed beams cable tied in, old bumper sprayed silver and the old grille pop riveted back together, the beginnings of a flower planter...

Gonna stick in a wooden frame to give it some strength, then maybe 2 old wheels and tyres just to finish it off...



Cleans out some of the old parts from the shed. Looks like weather is picking up so might be able to get something done on the car.

Cleaning my welds using a grinding disc, then finishing it off with flap wheel, but maybe I'm trying to take off too much material in one go, I'll try and reduce the amount of material I'm grinding back, hopefully reduce heat build up

[woody]

That will make a nice garden feature

[colinf1]

I cut the A-post/scuttle panel too high compared to the replacement scuttle - magnum panel so it doesn't go as high on a-post as genuine panel.

Offered the old one back up and scribed what I needed to keep, was about 30mm on RH side, 10mm on LH side. Took my time tacking it back in, then turned the grinder speed right down to reduce the amount of heat transferring into the welds,worked out much better with only a few pinholes to sort.

I am going to cut out and redo the patch on the inner RH wing as the material I used was slightly lighter than the actual wing, so maybe that's why it was blowing through so easily. I have a good section of the old LH inner wing to cut from.





Got my planter finished, ready for flowers

[colinf1]

Got a centre cap for the steering wheel, matches the emblem on the replacement grille I got...



I think originally it would of had the 2 spoke steering wheel, but this steering wheel is in pretty much perfect condition and the centre cap is much better than that heavy disc of polished stainless that was wedged in there!