'70 Mini - Rust repairs to Daily Driver (hopefully)

Started by Bahowe1, January 04, 2017, 12:48:55 PM

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Bahowe1

#75
This weekend some exciting things happened on the mini.  For the first time in over a year, the wind blew and the mini rolled right side up.  It was fantastic!  (Sills and rear valence are not welded on yet). 
So then I became best friends with the grinder.  My mini work hours are almost always when the kids are asleep, but Saturday morning I got in a few hours.  My neighbor comes over ...
Steve : 'Hey Dan (after three years, he still thinks my name is Dan)'. 
Me:  "hey Steve (because I actually know his name)'. 
Steve:  ' I was just telling my wife, you are going to have more invested in grinding wheels than the car is worth'!
Me:  'Are you tired of hearing me grind yet?' 
Steve:  'Naw man, You ain't bothering me, just noticing you've been burning lots of midnight oil... and grinding wheels." 
Ha!  I'm thankful for the big trees in the neighborhood, and thankful we are all spread out a bit.  And no HOA.

Lots of time spent, but not many pictures worth seeing.  Lots of grinding inside and filling in pin holes.  I did manage to fill in the spare wiper holes and washer jets.  Probably the smoothest repairs I have done yet.  Also, the right side, rear window base was rotted out, so I repaired it. The boot lid mount areas were rotted out, and had pseudo repairs on that area, so I repaired the repairs.  Just lots of cleanup with the grinder really.



MiniDave

It's a great feeling when it get's to start looking like a solid car again, isn't it?

I remember grinding down welds on my Jag - I had a self imposed limit of 11 pm, and that was with the thick wooden garage doors closed - fortunately I lived in Sandy Eggo where the temps were moderate in the evenings.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Bahowe1

Yeah Dave, it is a great feeling.
My self imposed grinding cut off time is midnight.  The garage door is always up, but thankfully, we have a good bit of distance between houses.

I have another question... I have to re-skin a door and a boot lid.  What is the best way to get the old skin off?  I was wondering if the answer was to carefully grind around the edge of the door??  Are they crimped on?  Or crimped and spot welded?

94touring

Good question.  I grind the lip till the skin folds back easily.  The corners by the window frame I cut off below the welds a bit, then go back and cut/grind it clean.  You will also need to chisel a few spot welds on the skin/frame.  When you reskin put a good adhesive on the bottom of the frame to keep it water tight. 

jeff10049

Might be the same as what Dan is saying but, I grind through the edge until the skin falls off leaving the inside folded over part that has spot welds. I then grab that with pliers and roll it back to each spot weld then chisel, pull, bend, break, grind them off one at a time. Panel bond adhesive can be used for a weldless install of the new skin or some welds and adhesive.


Bahowe1

Perfect.  Thanks fellas, that makes a lot of sense.  Any recommendations on 'adhesive'?  I had just planned to put seam sealer after I got it spot welded back together, but open for ideas.

So, I got a little more done over the weekend.  More general cleanup with the grinder, chipped out the rest of the sound deadening (terrible process), welded up a couple more holes on the firewall.  Got one side a-panel back on and the door to aide in alignment.  It's coming together!  The other door is the one that needs skinned.  I'll do that after I get that other side a-panel back on.

It'll be a couple weekends off work on the mini upcoming... little vacation time.

SomethingNew71

I know you are talking about your mini but can we instead talk about this?

;D


94touring

I use 3m 08310 on wing and scuttle seams.  You should apply it or panel bond or even a very strong caulk on the door frame bottom 3rd or so just prior to fitting the skin.  Also a gun is required for this 3m stuff but since the guns are expensive and you really will use very little per car, I just apply pressure on the ends of the tube with the handle end of a hammer. Mix it up, wear gloves, smear it where needed.  Tape up a clean line along the seams then pull the tape after it dries.  That will save you a couple hours of cleanup if you just slather it willy nilly.

MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Bahowe1

Thanks Dan.  I'll get some of that.  Just curious... why is it exactly that I am doing that?  Why is it any different than just seam sealer everywhere else I'll put it where I have overlaps - like floor pan to flitch panel, etc (In your previous post you said 'to keep it watertight').  You mind elaborating? 

Cole, Meet the 'super gaucho'.  I like cars... I like for my kids to have cars too.  That is ride on car #4 (only 3 kids, only 2 of which can drive).  Haven't paid a dime for any of them...  Well... I did have to do some fixin on each of them.  It's a little ridiculous actually. 

94touring

This stuff is stronger and won't crack along exterior body seams.  Floors and whatnot don't need anything too special.

Bahowe1

After a trip to S Korea, some tree work (thanks Irma), and a rebuild of my real daily driver brake system, I am back on the project (hopefully for a few straight weekends again).  I got the other side a-panel lined up and welded on, but have a question.  I plan to make this car a removable front end (using all metal).  I've got a plan, but I need to understand where the top of the fenders line up relative to the doors.  Do the top of the fenders line up with that crease going across the top of the door?  (the one maybe an inch or so below the window opening) See the first picture where I have it lined up.  Pay no attention to the door, that'll get re-skinned.  Or is the fender edge supposed to be higher?  Like maybe at the top of that hole in the gusset closing panel?  Any tips for lining these up? 

And... the last picture gave me a good chuckle.  Never seen this one before...

94touring

What you have appears correct. Here's one of mine.

Bahowe1

Perfect, thanks Dan.  I just hope I can get the gap that tight again.

94touring

I've done a flip front on the 66 I'm building for a guy.  I got the gaps that tight, however I extended one side a little to get it perfect.  It was a good bit of work. 

SomethingNew71

Just found this video @bahowe1 of your mini doing some horsing around back when it was just holes to the street below it!  4.gif

https://youtu.be/4rY9zidyLB4

Bahowe1

SomethingNew... thanks for the reminder of the video.  I can't wait to drive this thing again!
So... updates... lots done in the past two weekends.
I messed around with the front end for a while and have a plan on how to make it removable, but I have some more work to go on it.  I figure, I needed the subframe on to help me make sure it is positioned properly, so I quit messing with it and moved on to rolling over the mini (again).  So, It's back on it's top.  I prep'd the areas for paint (well - epoxy sealer) where I put the outer sills and rear valence.  Got those areas epoxied, and welded on the parts.  Then, I prep'd and epoxied the whole bottom and seam sealed. Thought I was done with epoxy for a while, but decided I needed to do the firewall area too, so I prep'd and shot it and still need to seam seal.  Next up... position the subframe to drill some new floor holes and then flip it back upright and decide if I need to do anything else before I build it up (sorta). 
The plan is to build it back up and drive it (before Christmas!!).  Make sure I have everything like I like it (and maybe add AC!), tear it back down and send it for real paint.
Questions:
I cut off the door skin that was previously repaired (Terribly - see the way they did the patch?  put a half welded on backplate).  Dan, you mentioned using 08310 on the bottom 3rd of the door before fitting the skin.  But then you said to tape it up.  Where am I taping?  Or was that only a step for scuttle seams and such?

Also, does anyone have a picture of name of a tool they use to grind in really tight areas?  I have a dremel, not sure if this is the right tool, and if so, which bit?  It's a weld in between two seams on the rear quarter, a very tight area.   

MiniDave

I use a die grinder with a burr bit in it..... you can also buy small stones instead of the burr. It's like a dremel but much more powerful - Harbor Freight has all sorts of them including right angle and extended nose styles, none are very expensive.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Bahowe1

Mini Dave, burrs are the jam! Thanks. Wish I knew about these sooner. Controlling them is tricky though.

Dan, I got my 3m panel bond in for the door skins, what exactly am I to do with it?  Apply it before I put on the skin, then bend the skin around and use normal seam sealer on outside edge?  Any tips on tools for the bending?

Update... the wind blew the mini over again. Got on the rear subframe... then on to the front... front subframe and engine assembly in!!!... and some wiring in. Getting super excited now!! She's rolling and steering... hopefully soon to be vrooming... completely rust free with no holes!!
I'll still need to loom up the wiring once I figure it all out again.

94touring

Yeah so apply the bond so when you press the skin it forms a water tight seal against the frame.  Water tight = non rusty door bottoms 2 years from now.  Clamp in a few areas and use a hammer to hit the lip till it's bent over a good bit.  Then if you are without any fancy tools, take a large pair of vice grips, a thick piece of metal plate, and pinch the lip the rest of the way. Place the metal plate on the skin as you do this so you don't dent up your skin.

MiniDave

Wow, you are really making progress!

Glad those worked out for you.....what color are you going to paint it?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Lone Star Mini

Inspired!!   I'm curious as to how you kept your shell square after removing so many panels.  I didn't see any temp bars welding in place to hold the shell square.  I'm I found this post.. 
Lone Star Mini
1982 Morris Mini 1000HL (heck of a lot of work ahead of me)
1992(?) Mini Cooper
1964 Austin Cooper
1980 Mini 95 (Pickup)

Bahowe1

Dan, thanks! I'll do exactly that.

Lone star, it's  a mini, I'm not sure if it's ever been square. Ha! Kidding. I only took out a panel at a time. The only temp bracing I welded in was when I took out the front half of one side (so basically a quarter) of the floor between door opening. That kept it from spreading apart... basically it held the door width. It would have been much easier to cut it all out at once, but I couldn't do that.

Mini Dave, I'm not completely sure yet, but I used to have an 'original' mini and it was 'harvest gold', but a repaint. The family really liked that color-ish and have been pushing for the yellow family again. We really like the bracken that was posted on here a few months ago and may go in that direction. They definitely want a brighter color to help others see it.

BruceK

#98
Funny, I was at a red light today and next to me was a new MINI in bright orange and I thought to myself how much I really liked that color and how good it would look on a classic Mini.
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

I agree with a really bright color, our cars are hard enough to see - anything to make it stand out so they don't run over us in their SUV's!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad