1981 Mini City 1000

[ctwomey]

This was the drawing I threw together for the rollover jig clearance.

[ctwomey]

Some progress on the roll over jig

Made the stands and happy with the outcome. Need to get some more steel to finish it off.

[colinf1]

That looks great, plenty strong, is that 50x50 box?

Are you gonna put some form of liner in your pivot point or have you used seamless tube?

[ctwomey]

The box section is (70 x70 x 3mm), the supports are (50 x 25 x 2.5mm) and the circular tubes are (88.9 x 5mm) and (76.1 x 5mm) used for the inside. Given the length I used for the outer tube is only 200mm long I was able to use an air grinder to grind away the weld seam so the inner rotates without any issues. There is also some 50 x 3mm angle and 3mm flat thrown in for other parts.

[ctwomey]

Not looking good on the Brexit front for people getting Mini parts in the future. Looks like we might be getting hammered with VAT and Duty unless some business in Ireland starts stocking the parts and imports them properly i.e. B2B.

Managed to get most of the panels I needed but still need a front wing, quarter panel and 2 x quarter floor repair sections.

[colinf1]

Eeeeeekkkk...just pulled the trigger on my panel order, hopefully it gets dispatched and through customs before brexit day....

[The Marcos Graveyard]

All the old butter smugglers will be coming out of retirement...........

[ctwomey]

Very productive day today. Finally got the mini up on the rollover jig. I still have a few items to complete on the jig including adding castors to the stands, joining up the two ends with 60mm x 60mm box section to make it more stable and adding a mechanism to lock the rotation in any angle.

YouTube video of it in action is here https://youtu.be/7WWHgNd4xDE

[ctwomey]

Had a good look at the underneath of the shell. It's in very good condition.

The main damage is around the driver and passenger footwells. Looks like it was badly jacked in the past too.

The rear valence contains mainly surface rust but it's knocked out of shape.

Usual rot under the front wings isn't there.

Both rear subframe mounting points are solid

I think I have a solid enough shell to get cracking on with now.

[colinf1]

Rotisserie is looking good! The amount of bits that are rattling inside the shell as you spin it! Anything good fall out??

Looks fairly solid all over, have you got your replacement panels for it or are you holding off til you have a good look at everything?

[ctwomey]

Rotisserie is looking good! The amount of bits that are rattling inside the shell as you spin it! Anything good fall out??

Looks fairly solid all over, have you got your replacement panels for it or are you holding off til you have a good look at everything?

Hi Colin

Yes, I found a 1980 one pence coin. The noise is just bits of rust that fell from the driver's side outer sill.

I have the following panels so far:
2 x front wings
1 x front panel
1 x rear valence
1 x battery box
2 x door skins
1 x boot skin
1 x RH side upper outer sill
1 x LH side rear quarter panel

Only outstanding items I need are the front floor repair quarters. They can wait for now.

Regards,
Conor

[colinf1]

All that was in mine was an old 5p,not even a big on at that!

A few less panels than what I have at the moment, I picked up a good 2nd hand boot lid as mine was rusted through frame and skin along bottom.

Boot floor looks fairly solid, did you go genuine or pattern panels?

[ctwomey]

did you go genuine or pattern panels?

I went genuine so far for the simple reason this is the first car I am restoring and I didn't want to introduce extra challenges that sometimes the pattern panels could present. A seasoned restorer would know what is good and what isn't. However, I will go with m-machine floor quarters as I believe these are really good.

Started removing the battery box via the underneath. This way, at least when I plug weld the new one, the welds will be underneath and not in the boot area.

[ctwomey]

Finally created a locking mechanism for the roll over jig.

A lot safer now.

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Nice simple solution.

[ctwomey]

Added castors to the legs and a stabilising bar between the two ends and now it can be moved around the workshop with your little finger. Delighted with the outcome.

Total cost of materials was about €200 plus I learned to weld 2mm - 5mm thicknesses

[The Marcos Graveyard]

Great work.

[ctwomey]

Finally got the battery box spot welds removed. One or two holes to fill but marking out where the plug welds will be made.

Switched the welder over to 0.6 wire and trying out some butt welding on some off cuts. Very different beast welding 0.8mm steel.

Going to need lots of practice to tune in the correct welder settings. I tried 5mm holes for the plugs but they are too weak. 7mm seems to be rock solid.

[ctwomey]

Installed the battery box. Took ages as it was my first attempt at plug welding. Running the welder slightly hotter and getting good penetration. The boot is a difficult space to weld inside

Started removing the old rear valence. Discovered a rusty area on the floor lip. Will cut it out and replace with some new metal. It’s going to be hidden under the valence lip, so a good place to test my butt welding.

Stay safe everyone.

[ctwomey]

It’s a bit too cold in the garage today but managed to remove the passenger side end of the rear valence

Some additional small areas of the floor to be repaired in the corner.
Lots of hidden rust in these cars. It’s like an iceberg what you see is only 10%

[colinf1]

Are you going to reuse those closing panels or did new rear valance come with new ones?

[ctwomey]

I am going to reuse these ones. The closing panels are separate to the rear valence. There is only a tiny bit of surface rust on them that can be cleaned up. The area I need to replace is a small section of the floor that joins with the rear panel. It is perforated in a number of spots.

[ctwomey]

Removing seam sealer would make you cry

[ctwomey]

Small amount of old collision damage that I will need to cut out of the inner wing at the bottom. Some brazing had been used to attach the outer wing to the inner one but that has been cleaned up now. Other side is spot welded correctly.

Those inner wings are a weird shape. Hard to determine the original shape.

Managed to order an 8x4 sheet of 1mm from an engineering shop in Portlaoise who will cut it up so it fits in my car.

[ctwomey]

Some metal will need to be cut from the inner panels and replaced with new metal. Too badly damaged to repair.

Surface rust on Outer sills were suspicious and a quick blast with the wire wheel revealed some rust holes. Time to remove them.

Good news is that inside the sill cavity the metal is very good.

The other side door step is not in the same condition but I have a replacement panel for that.

Planning on getting the shell vapour blasted and epoxyed. Opening these cavities will be a great help to protect them long term