'72 Mini Clubman Estate

[Joker]

sorry for my ignorance, but what's the point of those fins beneath the car? How do they help the hinges?

[Tupers]

sorry for my ignorance, but what's the point of those fins beneath the car? How do they help the hinges?

They're mostly there to support the rear valance but will add a bit of strength to the captive channels when there's load on the tailgate.


I haven't been able to work on this recently but I managed to get down today and knock off a couple little jobs.

I started out by finally welding the captive channels and closing plates in then linished the welds down and sprayed some primer.




Something that's been bugging me about moving the subframe up in the car was that it made the towing eyes sit out of centre in the front panel. Even though it's hard to see with the car on the ground I decided to do something about it.


I made up two rectangles and swaged a 25MM holes in the centres then cut out a hole in the front panel and welded them in.




It's doesn't make a huge difference visually but I like it.

[C-Hutch]

haha if you keep nit picking at things like that you'll never finish it!

[forloveandglory]

Subscribed. Love to the detail is always right.

[Tupers]

haha if you keep nit picking at things like that you'll never finish it!

Shhhhh don't say things like that.

Subscribed. Love to the detail is always right.

Thanks dude.


I had been thinking about making a whole new frame for the tailgate on this but after talking with my brother about various options I decided to have a crack at making at Mini pickup frame work.
I grabbed an old tailgate that he'd started chopping up and stripped it with a massive wire brush on the grinder.




When I fitted the hinges I used the same spacing as a pickup, this meant that the frame went straight on.






Now for the modification I'll need to make.
The pickup tailgate stands vertically and the frames are parallel where as the estate is angled and the frame is pinched towards the top. It wont be too much work to make fit but just enough for me to pull my hair out over.




I also tried on a set of pickup check straps, these will be getting lengthened to work correctly.




One saving grace with this tailgate is that the only rust that needed repairing was two holes in the bottom so I got to cutting and welding.








I use a lot of 3M Roloc discs so I decided to make an nice divider to sit them in one of the drawlers on my rollcab.


It's also my 22nd this weekend and my parents bought me a new Dewalt 18V drill driver.

[Androctonus]

such a sick build! will follow this for sure!

[willis]

Awesome work on this, I can't wait to see the finished product!

[martinm13]

I use a lot of 3M Roloc discs so I decided to make an nice divider to sit them in one of the drawlers on my rollcab.

They are the best! Good work, I love watching this thread!

[Tupers]

such a sick build! will follow this for sure!

Thanks dude, it's cool to know people are taking an interest in my work.

Awesome work on this, I can't wait to see the finished product!

Me too.

They are the best! Good work, I love watching this thread!

I hadn't used them until I got a die grinder than came with a few but I've been using them ever since.


I've bought a set of MK3 Cosmic wheels that should be with me on Wednesday.


They've been blasted and are in raw aluminium at them moment but this is what they'll look like when painted.

[C-Hutch]

You're only 22?!?!? And those wheels will look awesome.

[Tupers]

You're only 22?!?!? And those wheels will look awesome.

Yeah only 22.


I'll need to get the wheels polished but I'm thinking about leaving the four spokes coming from the centre cap in black?

[Tupers]

I started a bit late today but got straight onto cutting the original skin lip off each side of the tailgate.


Once that was all cleaned up I folded two 90 degree sections that would become the new skin lips.


After running them trough the shrinker and a lot of trimming I had two of these.


A bit of Celco action to make use they fit properly and then it was on to welding.






They still need a little finishing on the outside but soon you wont be able to tell it's not an original part.


I also got some shinny stainless steel front subframe and door shims for the final build.

[fresh.gen]

yessir. coming together very nicely. excited to see the end result!

[forloveandglory]

Are you going to put it on polybushes, alloy teardrops and all the other nice but loud pieces?
Had my long gone Mini running a fully adjustable and stiffened suspension set up.

[Tupers]

yessir. coming together very nicely. excited to see the end result!

Cheers.

Are you going to put it on polybushes, alloy teardrops and all the other nice but loud pieces?
Had my long gone Mini running a fully adjustable and stiffened suspension set up.

The front subframe is completely solid mounter but the rear is on standard rubber bushes. I've also got stiffer suspension cones and a set of race dampers to go on along with all adjustable arms and brackets.


My new wheels turned up this morning. One needs a bit of repair work and one needs a new insert but for the price I paid I can't complain.


I think the face depth of these is really cool.