Next project - ‘62 997 Austin Cooper

[mk1]

Just call it Tweed grey & Jobs a good un

[Dearg1275]

Ah, but it needs to be smoke grey, otherwise my existence is forfeit.

D

[Dearg1275]

A while back I repaired the torn seat mounts on the drivers side, but until today had completely forgotten those on the left. Now my usual passenger (brother) is a little on the weighty side. I thought it might just be a good idea to strengthen the upper mounting with a thick plate while at fixing things.

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The cross member is slotted on the top face to let in the plate.

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I also thought this might be a neat way of adding a fifth mount point for a five point harness.

D

[roger mcnab]

very clever it is amazing the ideas that come up on here
cheers roger mcnab

[Dearg1275]

Much work with a clean and strip disc (these I think a fantastic discovery) and a reassuringly solid floor is confirmed. Not bad for 57 years old.

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But ,Oh the dust! Still it beats waiting for months for the local blaster man and a weather window. Now, once primered, I can turn it through 180 degrees and get on with seam sealing and some stone chip.

D

[Old English White]

I know you have had a lot of work to do - and some tricky repairs, but it is amazing how good SOME of the shell is isn't it
It is going to be a grand car once completed!

[Dearg1275]

I totally agree. To find a shell that spent all its active life in the North of Britain with all that foul winter weather and salted roads in such good nick, well it borders on the fantastic. Most of the rust damage above the sills was caused by the wheel arch extensions. Definitely a wonderful find for all sorts of reasons.

D

[Dearg1275]

The floor has paint, and the mandatory grot blown out of the cross member.

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D

[Costafortune]

Were at all tempted to carefully drill out the spot welds, removed the outer sills and repair/refit them?

Original sills mate.

[Dearg1275]

Were at all tempted to carefully drill out the spot welds, removed the outer sills and repair/refit them?

Original sills mate.

No, not tempted at all. I may be mad but I’m not stupid. The inner sills needed fixing anyway.

D

[Andrew1967]

Looks great David, really good work.

No matter how much you try to clear the shite out of double skinned areas and think you have it all out, some always appears when trying to put paint on

[Dearg1275]

I’ve decided you can’t paint a mini floor in one go. First the rear parcel bin inners and the front in front of the cross member. Let it dry. Then block the flutes and do the rear. Let it dry. Block all the flutes and finish of with the cross member.

The other way would be to blast the cross member full of stone chip to start with to lock in the grot.

I know, none of this is going to work because minis just have a malicious streak and they alway find a way to catch you out.

D

[roger mcnab]

hi david you are right minis do have a malicious streak if any thing is in a difficult place it will make it as hard as possible to get it done but not only minis but others my first car was a singer gazelle with the singer engine to get the starter out first the battery then the battery holder then the exhaust pipe then the starter now the rover v8 for my unipower gt replica the front pully on crank sharft is a deep one and to make it shorter you need to get s spanner in an impossible place and use a hex key to try and undo it or try and get the cranksharft bolt undone good luck as it has crank handle lugs on it that get in the way
i think the designers did not work on their own cars
happy spannerring
cheers roger mcnab

[Dearg1275]

Today has not been a good day. To start I had less stone chip than I thought I had.

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I’ve run out of epoxy primer, so couldn’t prime under the wings. I did get some colour on the stone chipped inside of the rear valance.

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I was about to put some paint on the areas hidden by the rear valance but dropped my favourite small spray gun, smashed the cup and now have a smoke grey spotted workshop floor. I’m not even sure if the colour is a good match (only a trial sample though). Turned the lights off, locked the door and walked away. A glass of red wine always helps in this sort of situation.

D

[Daz1968]

We all have off days where nothing goes to plan, but walking away and going back another day is always the best option

[mk1]

Dearg,

To be honest, I am glad to read that even you have days like that! I was starting to think you were superhuman

Hope you have a better one tomorrow

[Dearg1275]

Yep, best not to dwell on bad days. A bit of help needed here if anyone can. I’m trying to match the Smoke Grey.

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This was a section of seat pan, so hidden from the sun. The trial paint is Nexus (ex ICI) and the correct BU15 paint code for Smoke Grey. It’s clearly too green to me. Have any of you found a better match for SG? I have another couple of samples on the way from different manufacturers but any prior knowledge would be much appreciated.

D

[mk1]

Having had a couple of smoke grey cars I have always thought of it as a fairly greenish / bluish grey colour.

[Costafortune]

Were at all tempted to carefully drill out the spot welds, removed the outer sills and repair/refit them?

Original sills mate.

No, not tempted at all. I may be mad but I’m not stupid. The inner sills needed fixing anyway.

D

Er, OK.

[Dearg1275]

Today I started on the passenger door. The skin had bulged along the base with a few rust holes but the frame flange seemed ok from the outside. It looked as if the majority of the skin could be saved. Only one way to find out.

Linnish back to find the limit of the damage and mark out.

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Attack (carefully) with cutting disc.

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And with fingers crossed bust the rust.

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For once the mini god is smiling on me. The frame is sound. I just need to make a repair section. That can wait until tomorrow.

D