1990 Mini Cooper Resto & Lows!

[ionz]

hell, seems like you're building an entirely new mini.

really digging it.

[Marsss]

so much great work.. you've basically built your own Mini

[Minuki]

This is lookin great! My father has a few minis that I have done some body work on.

Are you planning on refurbishing the minilites?

Yes, they'll be getting refurbed.

Awesome and inspiring work!

looks great!

hell, seems like you're building an entirely new mini.

really digging it.

so much great work.. you've basically built your own Mini

Wow. Thanks guys! Didn't expect so many comments, appreciate them!

My new panels came today. Big update next weekend!

[Rally]

Damn, dude, you're really doing work on that rust. Looking good!

[Mini 360]

Getting there mate. Be good to see it all together again though! Going to make the Thistle?

[Minuki]

Damn, dude, you're really doing work on that rust. Looking good!

Thanks Andrew! Appreciate it.

Getting there mate. Be good to see it all together again though! Going to make the Thistle?

Yeah, definitely. Going to try and make it, trying to get it as near enough ready for paint in the next 2-3weeks!

[Minuki]

Had an absolutely fantastic day on the Mini yesterday.

My floor panels arrived during the week which allowed us to crack on with the restoration. Initially, I didn't plan on doing this much work (I don't think any Mini owners do!) But I'd much rather have a solid car, instead of having one I need to patch every so often...so new floors it was!

Going to replace the sills whilst I'm at it. They've been replace before, but were not protected in anyway from the rust, so they're beginning to rot.

As you can see here, pretty bad! It's actually pushed up/bent as someone doesn't know how to use a jack properly.




So, the first job was to remove the God awful sound insulation. The good old hammer and chisel came in handy here!



(Forgot to upload the photo of it chopped out!)

But here it is pretty much in place.



And almost fully welded on. Still to do some little bits, it was a tad windy, which kept blowing the gas away.





No more Fred Flintstone floor!

Well, I'm away back out to work on it. I'll update again soon!

[Minuki]

Just a small update this morning. Got a little bit done yesterday.

Before I put the inner wing on, I decided to make up a new panel as I wasn't happy with the one we were about to weld to. So it was quickly replaced. It also gave me some more access to the bolts that were stuck in the threads.

The pretty rotten panel. That big hole needed to be filled anyway!



And there we go, a new panel



On the original inner wing it came with this little circular tube thing which connected a pipe to the heater, but the new one didn't come with one. So this gave my Dad a chance to test out his new Panel Bending tool thingy! Came out pretty nice I think.









Once that was welded in, we finalised the placement of the inner wing and held it in with the panel clamps.







No more holes! Well apart from that wee on the right...

Hopefully get the Inner wing welded on today and then the Scuttle Panel on this week

[Minuki]

Another reasonably big update tonight.

Yesterdays task was to finish welding up the floor and the inner wing that we fitted earlier. Also finished grinding the doorstep and gave it a light skim of filler to even things out.

A good job done.





Some decent welding on the floors! Thanks Dad!



Todays task was the Scuttle Panel. Didn't plan on replacing the whole panel, as I'd fitted a repair panel to the corners, but as i'm awful with big grinders, I messed it up! So I took the plunge and bought a whole new genuine panel.

It didn't need much adjustment as it was a Genuine panel, but we did take our time lining it all up.



Fitment was good on the new inner wing!



Near enough spot on. Did some more adjustment and got it perfect



The other side was a good fit too. So I'm pretty happy with my decision to replace the whole panel.







After some more tweaking, it didn't take long until we had it tacked on and ready to go.



We jumped about on the panel when welding to reduce the chance of warping it.







Got some grinding/finishing done and once there is a small skim of filler, you will never notice that it's been repaired



Next job was the front half of the LH Inner Wing. Planned on keeping and re-using the fan, but it disintegrated when I tried taking it off. I'll need to source a new one.



Again, we made a new panel for the shock mounts to mount to as this one was a little rusty. Not to mention the number of panels that were still there!

And the new one tacked on. We cut it a bit too much, so a small panel was made to fill the gap.



Whilst my Dad was cleaning the panel, he found some more holes. Luckily, the floor section I have covers this up. I think I'll make up a panel for the outside too.



Tomorrows job is to finish welding up the inner wing piece, get the RH door fitted and fit the A-panel.

I'm over the moon about the progress we're making, really, really appreciate my Dad's welding skills. If all goes well...the front end might be finished this week!

[jimmybacon]

Looking really good, cant wait to see the finished product!

[Minuki]

Looking really good, cant wait to see the finished product!

Thanks man. Neither can I, it's going to be great having it on the road!

[Kielan]

Mind = blown, incredible stuff dude.

[Minuki]

Mind = blown, incredible stuff dude.

Thanks dude! Appreciate it.

Not sure if I'll get on the car today...pissing down with rain

[P78]

good one mate

[Minuki]

good one mate

Cheers man!

No progress today. Bloody rain!