'72 Mini Clubman Estate

[Dutch]

you have my attention... :O

[STU?]

such an awesome build, inspirational to say the least. Keep up the good work mate .... were are your from? i only ask as there is a mini specialist fairly local to me.

[Bert75]

Amazing fabrication skills! Just read through the whole thread. Please keep those updates coming!

[Tupers]

Thanks guys, I'll keep the good work up.

such an awesome build, inspirational to say the least. Keep up the good work mate .... were are your from? i only ask as there is a mini specialist fairly local to me.

I'm in down in deep dark Devon Stu.


I tried watching the F1 this afternoon but nearly fell asleep so I thought I'd pop down the workshop and get the new seat hinges tacked in place.


They don't swing forward by a huge amount but it's certainly more than it had originally and should dissuade any monsters from trying to get in the back.



Seen as I was in the mood to play with seats I picked a pair of head rest out my pile of parts and tried them on the rear seat. They're from an '80s Mini originally are but exactly the same design as the rests on the front seats so should compliment then nicely.


They don't do much for rear visibility but I'm not sure I'll be seeing much more than bumpers with the ride height I want.

[TWM Performance]

This is such a rad project! Love the progress

- Renato

[Tupers]

I decided to stay on at the workshop this evening and get some long awaited work done.

I've have the headlight backing panels kicking around for a while but finished them off this evening with a little filler piece on the inner corner.




It's really good to see them welded in a linished down. Now I just need to put some rivnuts in to mount the headlamp bowls.





One of the big stumbling block as far as progress goes was the mechanism for the rear side windows. I've had a play with a few modern OEM options as the majority of side windows are curved now so none of them really worked. Fortunately I was able to pick up a set of these straight tracked universal mechanisms.


They do need about 8 inches chopping off the top but aside from that they're perfect.


Now that I know what I'm building the windows around I've started making more pieces for the side window frames starting with this piece of steel with lots of lines on.


After lots of folding and twisting I got this tapered section with a different profile at each end.






It's hard to see in the light but the profile is flat at the top and then rotates 45* at the bottom to push the bottom of the glass away from the body like it is on the doors.



It's all looking like something that might actually work now.

[Tupers]

So I'm back on the side windows again. My sheet metal folder is only 1 meter long so I had a fabrication company around the corner fold some 2 meter long pieces to hold the window channel.





I notched the corners and folded the ends in to make one continuous frame for the side window.


It fits in the back quite nicely so the next job is to make mounts for the window motor.

[Tupers]

I've had a bit of down time between customer project at the workshop recently so I decided to jump back onto the roll down side window project.

I started by making a new intermediary pillar to support the back half of the drop glass frame. It also incorporates the flange for the rear quarter window seal and is tapered to account for the angle of the window frame.




Here you can see how the outer face of the pillar transitions from 90* the to top of the frame to 45* at the bottom allowing the glass to sit away from the quarter panel.


I wanted to move the drop glass frame as high as I could within reason so elected to remove the strip that the old window channel screwed to and cheat another 15MM of room.


With the strip gone the frame can sit right up against the cant rail.


I then marked out the remanning over hang and cut it off below the black line to reveal the entire wind opening.


The next issue to deal with was the step between the top of the quarter panel and frame.
As the frame will be welded in I elected to cut the outermost section off allowing the top to sit further out effectively using the quarter panel as the 3rd side of the channel.




The top of the frame and quarter panel are now flush and will blend into one another once everything's welded.


Another challenge having the frame welded in threw up was that one side would need to be removable to allow the glass to be fitted.
To save the removable to section from flapping about I made a brace to hold each side together using some flat steel bar.


This end is doglegged to stop the fittings from interfering with the glass as it moves up and down.


Each brace was welded on before the frame was split just bellow waist height at the B-pillar.



So here's how it will be assembled.
You start with the 3/4 section of the frame permanently welded into the body with its felt runners fitted.


The window can then be slid in from the front and pushed to the top.


Once the window's held at the top the remaining 1/4 section is bolted in place completing the frame.


After I lot more trail fitting, fabrication and head scratching I got the universal drop mechanism cut down to size and bolted in place.


I also folded up and new waist rail which will be welded in continuing the profile from the back and locating the inner weather strip.


Here it is in action.

https://youtu.be/CGEFgtuM_p0

https://youtu.be/WC48VR_WsEI

-------------------------

I've also been messing about with some slightly more detailed work for the interior Allegro/Marina door pulls I'm using.
The pulls themselves are nice chromed pieces but the original surrounds were black plastic which I'm not fond of so I started making templates for new steel replacements.


Once I'd settled on the new dimensions transferred them onto some 4MM steel and chain drilled out the centre section.


It was then clamped in the vice and I used a rotary bur to remove the excess before finishing it with a few files.


A quick test fit to make sure I was heading in the right direction.


The bucket on the back was a simple piece to fold up and was then gas welded on.


The pulls are nice and snug in their new homes. The plan is to have whole lot chromed and paint the inside black to add a little contrast.



I've also managed to finally get ahold of a set of innocenti door windows with opening quarterlights to add to the luxury theme I'm going for.

[Tupers]

As I was happy with the fit on both window frame I warmed the MIG up and get them all welded in. I do enjoy welding thick steel.


There was a lap joint between the quarter and the section that holds the weather strip so I brazed it up.




I also welded the new waist rail sections in at each end and brazed the top edge


With most of the structure and mechanism sorted I moved onto deciding how to hide it all.
To try and keep an OEM feel to the conversion I decided lengthen the channel that holds the quarter trim in a Mini saloon.


Each side took 1 & 1/2 channels to equal the new waist rail and were clamped onto my bench to be welded together.


They were then clamped into the body and brazed on in a few spots.




Here's a test fit of an saloon quarter trim, obviously I'll be making new cards to span from the B-pillar to the seat back mounting post.