Lone Star Mini Restoration

Started by Lone Star Mini, August 31, 2017, 10:25:30 AM

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MiniDave

You need a welder.

You don't need a high end one, but get one with gas and get an auto dimming helmet. Then, before you try to weld anything on the car, grab some sheet metal and practice.....lots!
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Lone Star Mini

agreed..  I have a small stock of thin steel to practice with.  I also removed the front panel w/wings in one piece.  I plan to make some wall art out of it and practice my welding on it before I touch the car.  I have a friend (Kris "Cooper") who is going to come over and give me lessons since my local college does not offer night classes any longer.
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)

Lone Star Mini

Hey Now..  I've been off the grid, but not off the Mini.  I've been practicing welding as I can't touch the Mini until I am semi comfortable with welding.  Spot and stitch welding .020" thk metal is much harder than thick metal, but I'm making progress.  I was going to take a night course on welding, but the school no longer offers it.  Meanwhile I've collected parts, panels and tools.  With a little more welding practice, I will be ready to replace the entire floor panel.. quite excited about it.  In addition, i've picked up a '79 Mini Pickup which I'm currently having unleaded heads put in overseas.  i will ship later this year.  In 6 weeks time I will be taking my daughter on an extended father-daughter date where we will end our trip at the IMM 2019 there in Bristol - most excited about that!  I will continue this restoration project with pictures and progress.  I've learned so  much over the past few months.. 
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)

BruceK

Hey Randy, good to hear your progress.  Where did you find the pickup?   Hope you have a great trip to the UK. 
1988 Austin Mini
2002 MINI Cooper S
1992 Toyota LiteAce (JDM)
1997 Jeep Wrangler Sahara

MiniDave

You have really embraced the Mini madness! That makes 4 in your fleet now, right?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Lone Star Mini

@Bruce - Thanks.  My progress is slower than most, but I'm determined to make my first restoration a success.  I simply do not wish to rush it.  I'll get there and perhaps have a restored mini to enter in the 2020/21 All British Show.  I found the pickup via a friend in England and it will be my first R/H (finally) drive Mini.  The small attached pic is when he picked it up for me and brought it to his house.  I will be visiting while in England and I'll get better pics for sure however it's a restored pickup (body wise) and the engine runs good.  The guy I bought it from also sent me loads of old brochures and Mini manuals.. kind've neat.

@Dave - Yes, it's crazy.  I currently have 3 at home and the pickup in England.  Although I've told my wife that I would sell the newest one since I found the pickup.  I'm reluctant to put it up for sale though. .ha.  I wish I were able to go up and meet some of the guys stateside for the USA 60th.. I have yet to meet anyone here in the States outside of Bruce and Dan briefly.
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)

MiniDave

Come to Virginia for the CMU 60?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Lone Star Mini

Wish I could.. I don't remember what time of year it is, but I do remember the time frame was not possible for me.
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)

MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Lone Star Mini

ah yes..  October.  At least while our girls are still in High School, I will never be able to make an October time frame which is unfortunate because I would LOVE to go.  I believe the last CMU meet was also around the same Sept-Oct time frame.  If you are going, I do hope you have a fantastic trip.  I'm being told that the IMM 2019 is expecting the largest amount of Minis, possibly up to 10K.  I will at least get to see just about every type of modification there.
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)

Lone Star Mini

In case anyone reads this post, I would like to seek the advice of you experienced folk.  To date, I have the entire floor pan cut away and a new one cleco'd in.  The heelboard is also removed with a new one cleco'd in.  I also have a new toe board to fit.  Therefore my question is:  If I remove the existing toeboard, I believe with my bracing and the other dash and firewall, there is enough rigidity to hold the car in place.  My question however is what to look for when replacing the toe board?  Are there certain aspects to enure alignment is correct?  Currently I have two supporting gussets coming down from the jig/rotisserie attaching to holes in the toeboard, however this is not a sure bet as those gussets could sway inward/outward easily enough.  I could rig up something from the internal bracing to match up with the steering linkage perhaps.  Any thoughts?  Many thanks in advance.... 
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)

94touring

Do you have a picture of how much you have cut away?

Lone Star Mini

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)

Lone Star Mini

Here you can see the new floor temporarily cleco'd in place.  I'm now wanting to remove the toeboard... 
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)

94touring

Looks like you're braced pretty good.  How much toe board are you planning to cut out?  You could probably go ahead and spot weld most of that floor in place and build up your sills if they aren't there already to keep things really solid. 

Lone Star Mini

#390
I am replacing the entire toeboard with the steering bracket already installed on the Heritage panel..  Thanks for the input.. Are there any alignment consideration with the toeboard that I need to consider?   I guess my last post did not make it so..  there is always more to the story and w/o writing a book, here goes..  The door sills will be replaced as they are eaten away with rust.  Therefore I cannot get a solid weld/connection between floor panel and door sill just now.  Also, the front inner curved panel (not sure what it's called) is also eaten away with rust, therefore I won't be able to get a solid weld/connection between it and the floor panel either.  Nearly everything around the floor panel is being replaced..  baggage bin pockets, panels inside the bins, door sills, both L & R inner front panels that lead into the inner wings....  Right now, I'm concerned about alignment consideration..   
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)

94touring

Went back and looked at some previous pics you posted.  I see now you need all of this, inner wing, door attach panel, ect.  I didn't see how bad your bulkhead/steering rack panel is from the engine bay side.  Does this red circle really need cut out, because it sure would make things a lot easier if you could leave it there and weld to it now while you work on the surrounding areas.  If you do have to remove the entire front essentially, I might leave it there for the moment, make some temporary welds to it to holds things, do those inner wings/door attach/flitch panels, and then come back to it.  You're going into some deep territory tearing it all out at once.  When you build the door attach/inner wing panels, you will need to mount the doors so you know they'll align and open and close.  I'd do those and the sills to make the body rigid and go on from there.  The rear subframe attach panel will need welded on before the sill covers it up because it will have tabs that weld to the floor inner sill inside the companion box areas.  I'd want to mount a dummy subframe to help ensure alignment.     

Lone Star Mini

understand and thanks for the input...  No, the area of the toeboard you have circled in red is all good. In that same picture, look down on the L/H inside where the curved panel (flitch?) meets the floor panel, you'll see open air where there is no panel left for attachment there.  The tunnel of the floor panel was attached to the toeboard with about 50 spot welds.  Perhaps I can use a few spot welds and keep the toe board in tact.  Yes, I'm using the rear subframe as the perfect jig in replacing the heel board.  I will pull the shell out in the sun tomorrow and have a look all the way around.  I'm certain starting on the heelboard is where I'll begin.

As for alignment consideration, are there any with locating the toe-board? 

Thanks for your input Dan... 
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)

94touring

#393
I can't keep up with all this toe and heal talk lol.  Front section shown first is referred to as DOOR JAM AND FLITCH.  2nd panel is SUBFRAME MOUNTING REAR PANEL.  The red circled area is just part of the bulkhead panel. 

When locating the door jam and flitch panel, the main consideration is your door closing.  Which is why you'll need to mount the door to it when you fit it.  Ideally a door without the glass and guts so it's lightweight and easy to work with.  Don't forget an A-panel folds over the lip of this panel too, so gaps are important.


Lone Star Mini

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)

Lone Star Mini

Today I removed the new magnum rear subframe mount panel and compared it to the new Heritage panel.  The Heritage panel is an exact fit with my new Heritage floor panel. So glad I made that purchase vs trying to cut, kerf and make the magnum panel fit.  I don't have enough metal craftsmanship to accomplish this, therefore purchase the Heritage panel was perfect for me..   I will work the rear subframe mount first before I move around and forward on the floor panel.
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)

94touring

Didn't even know magnum made a rear subframe attach panel.  I've only ever used their repair patch panels for that.  Good thing you have a heritage one that's a direct fit since that's a pretty important area!

MiniDave

Randy brought his Pup home from England....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

Lone Star Mini

Hey Now Dave!!   Yes..  and this also where all my restoration $ went.  I simply could not pass up on the opportunity...     You beat me to the punch as I was going to  post it... thank you
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)

Lone Star Mini

the speed of my restoration is certainly below par, but I've made good progress.  My welding has improved and I've picked up a spot welder.  While I've not welded anything in at this point, I have the basic floor pan and boot floor located.  I spent some effort trying to be careful and think through the process.  Thus far, I've not hit any major problems although the more I take out, the more I see needs to be repaired or replaced.  To date:  I will have a brand new floor panel, Boot floor, companion bins and all the new related brackets.

Before fitting the boot floor, I added a horizontal beam to both act as a support as well as an alignment jig for the boot floor.  I failed to consider supporting the rear lip in the fwd/aft direction, but this was not a major mistake as everything else went in nicely.  I have it all cleco'd and/or clamped together.  I think I'm going to have the rear subframe cleaned and powder coated so that I can go ahead and assemble the new trunnion bushings and use the entire assy as a jig for correct placement of heelboard and floor panel.

I honestly believe I will have enjoyed the journey far more than having a beautiful mini sitting in my garage for months on end.  With that said, I've set a goal for 2 years to have a completed mini.  Also I have decided to take the 1275 out of one mini and use it for my restoration mini vs the 998 that I pulled.   It's slow, but progress is being made...
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)