'72 Mini Clubman Estate

[SOURCEB5]

love this.

[Tupers]

Cool looking Mini. Any time I see an old mini for sale, I always wish i had the resources to dive into a project of this size....

Cheers, having the resources and equipment for something like this is nice. I just wish my wallet could keep up with all the parts I need.

love this.

Thanks due, it should be something fairly special when it's done.


I made a start on the exhaust flange for the supercharger with some 6MM plate.


Then I made a template of the inside of the flange and laid it over the blank.


I tried using the plasma cutter but it wan't up to 6MM steel so I resorted to a hole saw and grinder, still lots to go.



Everyone was getting a bit bored of me being noisy I turned my attention to the top dash rail.

The original had studs for mounting but I needed to changes it over to captive nut so I made a couple new brackets and got them welded on.






I'm still swinging between a 2 or 3 gauge dash but decided to go ahed with the 3 and see where it goes. I started by making another gauge hoop and mounting it up with the other 2 I'd already made.


I'm quite happy with the distance the gauges come out from the dash but I think I'm going to move them up by one more inch.


I'm thinking the final product will look something like the top drawing but with 3 gauges instead of 2.

[MartinsElerts]

Dude, Awesome!
You have some propper set of skills.
This build makes me want to buy a MINI clubman.

[Tupers]

Dude, Awesome!
You have some propper set of skills.
This build makes me want to buy a MINI clubman.

Thanks, believe it or not before I started this project (2 years ago) I'd only ever done 10 minutes welding and has never used any kind of metal shaping tool.


And now more pictures to illustrate how I can spend an entire morning doing not an awful lot.

I thought I'd give the plasma cutter a chance to redeem its self and used it to cut out a plate to mount the gauge hoops to.




Got a bit of a rough cut as the tip needs replacing so I cleaned the edge up with a pair of aviation snips.


After a little fettling I got the hoop to sit where I wanted them and got them welded in a tidied up.




They all sit in rather nicely, now I need to figure out how to make everything else.

[Tupers]

Not really a proper up date in fact this is a bit a jump backwards.

After getting the back end up on stands to have a look at how to route the exhaust I decided to cuts out the whole tank/battery box assembly and start again. To get the original system to work I would have needed to notch into the already small tank box so I'm just going to make new bigger one and position it better.
Before:


After:


Instead of running from side to side the new box will run length ways and should actually clear the exhaust.


In brighter news we got a new MIG welder and I thought I'd put it to work making an stand for our spare vice.




And I got a nice leather shot bag, now I just need to figure out where I can get cheap lead shot.

[Stupid Kid]

All this fab work is rad...

Also, your oil pan is going to live a very short, tragic life..

[Tupers]

All this fab work is rad...

Also, your oil pan is going to live a very short, tragic life..

Cheers, I'm certainly going to have to avoid speed bumps and cats eyes.


Back onto chopping large chunks of steel from my car. I realised the rear floor was just going to end up looking like patch work quilt so it's all coming out and I going to start afresh.


I got most of the floor out from behind the subframe and tomorrow I should be able to pull the rest out and start making patterns for the new floor.

I thought I should probably add a bit of structure before I go too far so I got the window frame/seat mounts welded in. It's amazing how much the stiffen the back end up.




The new rear step sill arrived from M-Machine in record time. It's a very nice pressing so I'm sure it should go in without too much trouble.

[Tupers]

After chopping out the majority of the boot floor I was still left with the corner sections to remove.




A bit of tactical drilling and dring saw then gone ready to for new ones to be made.




There was a little section of the lower C post that need some attention so I tackled this before moving any further.




With the C pillar sorted I was able to move along with the step sill. It took a couple attempts to get it centred but the fit is really nice.




I replaced the panel clamps with a few self tappers on each side until I'm ready to weld the sill in.


Now that the sill was in I moved back to the corner section of the floor/sill.







And finally my brothers MG metro race car that he finished off last night to race at Silverstone on sunday.

[M.Burroughs]

Killer build!

[Rally]

This build has me giddy. Mike just showed me. Keep up the great work and keep us updated!

[Tupers]

Killer build!

This build has me giddy. Mike just showed me. Keep up the great work and keep us updated!

Cheers guys. I'm trying to find out about shipping the car over to the states and doing a driving holiday once it's done. I've heard there's a Mini run that goes across the country between two shows that's I'd love to do.

[Tupers]

I got bored of watching the F1 after about 5 laps this morning so I thought I'd go down to work and finish up the rear sill.

Before I put the sill on I added a small tag to each side that would slip into the door frame and get plug welded in place to add a little more strength.


It all went together fairly painlessly bar the moment where I burt my self while plug welding upside down.






Once I get round to body work I'm going to braze this joint as it'd be a pain in the arse to try and MIG it up and then grind smooth.


I also had some shinny bits arrive, namely 3 jetex tight 90 bends for the exhaust and a thermostat housing from a 1275 MG Midget.


The stat housing will point backward and feed into a swirl pot (illustrated by the Rock Star can) which will have an exit at the bottom feeding into the top of the radiator.


This is my first thought for the exhaust system. The first two bends will be cut so they're closer to 70 degrees and I may replace the last on with a mandrel bent piece.

[Tupers]

I did a bit of work on cleaning up the rather grubby rear cross member this afternoon. A few minutes with a knotted wire wheel on the grinder and a lick of zinc primer saw it turn from this:




To this:




I also added a small closing plate at each end of the cross member to keep the subframe fixing plates shielded from any grime that works its way in.

[P78]

proper build thread

awesome job man

like your thinking

'floor will look like patchwork, so i took it out completely"

[Tupers]

proper build thread

awesome job man

like your thinking

'floor will look like patchwork, so i took it out completely"

Thanks, I figured I'd rather do it right now than regret a bodge job.


Well the whole boot floor's out now.




The turret tops came off as well to sort out some rust that was hiding underneath them.


While I was at it I made up a profile template for the centre section of the new floor. The new tank should take somewhere in the region of 6 imperial gallons.