Stan's 78 mini restoration

[MiniDave]

I would just glue them down, why make more holes in the car? Did you get the shift boot screwed down? I couldn't find the right clips in your boxes of stuff......

[stan360]

I think i will do that. The snaps that they include in the set look high speed and the anchors are already along the bottom of sill area but i have to rivet,  not my specialty ha.
No on the shift boot. I have a leather boot to install and just havent done it yet. Maybe tomorrow

[MiniDave]

If they are just Pop rivets, I can loan you a tool to install them....I have one with an adjustable head, so you can get down into tight spaces or corners.

[stan360]

I have an adjustable rivet tool, i am just not sure of rivet size and super clumsy

[94touring]

"Dan new problem, I riveted the bonnet to the roof"

[MiniDave]

I have an adjustable rivet tool, i am just not sure of rivet size

Just glue it down then, if you decide you need it riveted you can always do it later.

[stan360]

Yeah Dave, I think I will tack it down up to the edges and decide on that rivet part a bit later.  I did get all the other pieces installed.  Hole poked for shifter in front pad and I have yet to cut out the steering column and seat brackets. I will get to it tomorrow and finish all this up.

I am looking for pictures of how the carpet is cut for the manual shifter now. I just cut a small hole for now to flatten it out  .   The auto has just a very  small hole and the box rested on top.

I see some carpets with very large cut outs all the way around the manual boot where the edge is showing , some with the shift boot and plate screwed into the carpet and no obvious carpet edge, some where the plate is under the carpet , I will figure out that part out tonight

[MiniDave]

Starting to look like a car!

So you have seats on order?

[stan360]

I do , they are going to be two color, brown with cream beige centers  with an edging trim that is a tan orange color. Beige cream  matching door panels so this should bring the bracken paint, the brown carpet and that cool headliner together and with the magnolia gauges I think it should look sort of classy and retro at the same time.

[stan360]

I have the carpet in good enough for dan to cruise it with a seat. The main mat pieces i didnt tack down yet because ibwant to figure out the shifter area, but i did get tothe dash pad.  I initially ordered one from minispares and it had a small dent, so i ordered another and guess what, another small dent , so its on with a small dent, dammit ha. I will wait and have dan hold the quarter windows so i can attach them before the trip and not f up the other quarter panel.  11.gif

[MiniDave]

Sometimes you can apply a little heat (like from a hairdryer) and those dents will come back out. Dash panel looks great!

[tsumini]

Well done!

[stan360]

I will try a hair dryer Dave, I just couldn't bring myself to buy a 3rd dash pad.  Ugh.   I can live with it otherwise, I am just ready to drive this mini !
Less than a month I know at this point.

[MiniDave]

Don't overdo it, heck setting the car in the sun will do it sometimes......

It's been a long haul, I'm glad you can see the end of it at last, now it's time for the fun part - driving it!

[stan360]

Yes, so close to finish line.  I am excited. Thought for a minute this morning when we loaded it i may be peddling flintstone style with a hole in floor. Ha, shit, so funny. This damn car. And dan spots a dent in upper front fender i probably elbowed in at some point. Well, dan is the man, he can sort all the things and it will be perfect and tearing up L town in a few weeks .

[94touring]

Turns out I can do paintless dent repair.  Two elbow dents gone.

[MiniDave]

Just pushed up gently from underneath with the dollys?

Hot up here today 80* and the wind is blowing like crazy - supposed to snow tomorrow or Sunday!

[94touring]

Yeah bought a dolly and hammer kit. A little brute force over the area and away they went. 

Have the garage door open today it's so nice out.

[Willie_B]

I have the carpet in good enough for dan to cruise it with a seat. The main mat pieces i didnt tack down yet because ibwant to figure out the shifter area, but i did get tothe dash pad.  I initially ordered one from minispares and it had a small dent, so i ordered another and guess what, another small dent , so its on with a small dent, dammit ha. I will wait and have dan hold the quarter windows so i can attach them before the trip and not f up the other quarter panel.  11.gif

On my car I installed the shift boot completely. The carpet had a nice oval hole for the shifter and the boot hung low enough that I put the carpet in the around the boot and it is hid by the boot. Can take it out in a minute if needed.

[stan360]

Stan good to see your progress!  I finally got my mini on the road last week, so all is moving nicely now.


The red interior looks great with tweed paint.  Such a nice looking mini.  So cool

[stan360]

Wille B,  I am going to do some fiddling with this thought.  I have to work with the 2 bolts that come up through tunnel and hold that shifter in place.  They are right close to cross member and cause the carpet to stick up. So some trimming on the jute backing and a bit o scotch 90.  I have a leather shift boot I like, but the bast is not small like to rubber factory boot.  So I may just put the plate on top of the carpet , but that may also cause the 2 bolts to stick up into carpet farther .  I  will work out the bugs when Dan is done fixing all my f ups to  his nice paint job.   I am going to do the dash pad again...I dont think I can live with a very visible dent and maybe I really want to glue it on firmer.

[stan360]

Now I am struggling to find seat belts. Black is easy to find , but I want beige.  I can only find nice front belts so far.  The car never came with rear belts but has holes for lap belts.  I did find some beige rear belts but not sure if i will be happy with them as they seem to be a universal belt that is I hope is not crazy long after adjustment.

[Willie_B]

The lap belts I put in the rear of mine were way long. A trip to a shoe repair place got them shortened just fine. They have the heavy duty sewing machine needed.

[94touring]

Got Stan all fixed up today.  Color sand and buff tomorrow.

[stan360]

Thanks Dan,  i was so sick when i scratched the car.  Got the seat foams , etc and a third dash pad today. No dents in the dash pad this time, they packed it well. So i will redo the lower dash  when dan is done.
Going to prep the seat frames this week and my covers should ship monday. And i ordered some cool dsn door harware. I had to do some digging to find beige seatbelts for the car. No luck finding brown ones.The back had no belts and the front were grey originally.  Didnt realize how pricey the belts could be.