1961 Austin Se7en

[AustinSe7en]

Now that looks better!
Better protected now for the next 60 years.....
Time to come off the spit roast now to carry on.

[AustinSe7en]

Doing other bits and pieces during the process.
Picked up the engine from soda blasting.
The Aluminium has come up so nicely, that I am in a serious dilemma! Do I just paint the engine in that lovely MOWOG green, or the whole lot as it should be?
By no means am I keeping it “original” (wrong engine and box anyway!) but sort of want it to look “authentic” too.

[AustinSe7en]

Dragged the seats out of their hiding place, but oh dear!
Never intended for them to be in storage for 30 years,
think I should have put them the right way up.

[AustinSe7en]

Amazed at how well they have cleaned up!!!
So stripping them down to have all the internals replaced.
Been talking with Newton Commercial and they have been extremely helpful. Obviously they would prefer to supply new covers, but these have come up so nicely that they have agreed to supply me a couple of meters of “Spanish Red” to have these base covers repaired.
On with the dismantling!

[AustinSe7en]

Frames stripped down, ready for blasting.
Then sprayed ready to be reassembled.
Problem is....everyone’s been on lockdown and decided to do their Minis!!! Newton were super quick delivering what was in stock, but four week wait for the Vinyl and base foams.
Hopefully get the seats and headlining back down to the trimmers at some point so he can at least make a start on them.

[AustinSe7en]

Now on it’s trolley with old paint now stripped back to bare metal.
Any obvious dents hammered, filed up and basic filler work done.

[AustinSe7en]

In the oven ready for a coat of Epoxy primer.

[AustinSe7en]

Outside all Epoxied up!

[AustinSe7en]

Heater showing it’s age somewhat!

[AustinSe7en]

So stripped down for a freshen up.
I just love how “basic” it is!

[Polarsilver]

Noticed your clutch activation arm is well bent .. that was a good fix back in the day. but you could sort that out before it gives problems "again".

[AustinSe7en]

Well spotted!
Before I stripped the shell down I had it running, freed off the seized (rock solid) slave and was amazed that the clutch plate was free as a bird! Drove it up and down the driveway and all worked a treat, well ,bar the complete lack of brakes anyway!!
Took that arm out to try and see why it was so bent and no surprise that there was hardly any of the ball left on the end!
I’ve bought one of the Minispares race spec arm kits to go on, along with a lightened flywheel and clutch assembly.
Really looking forward to get onto the mechanicals, but too much going on at the moment.

[AustinSe7en]

Next step, inside prepped for Epoxy

[AustinSe7en]

Once the Epoxy is on, masked up to do the floor.

[AustinSe7en]

Once the floor coating is applied, demask, prep and then top coat applied.

[AustinSe7en]

Pedal box stripped down for blasting.

[AustinSe7en]

Loads of bits back from the blasters

[AustinSe7en]

Pedal box and heater assembly painted, just got to find a bit of time to clean out the matrix and reassemble.

[AustinSe7en]

Remaining paint stripped back, pitted areas treated with rust converter before priming

[AustinSe7en]

Hinges paint stripped. Fair bit of slack in the door hinges, so new pin and bush kits to be fitted. Just waiting for the 5/16” drill to arrive!
Panels now in Epoxy primer.