1963 Super Deluxe Project

[NotNormal]

Well here's the first pics of the new project following on from my intro thread viewtopic.php?f=5&t=1223.

Grandfathers car purchased from new but now in need of attention to keep it going for another 47 years we hope.

Edit to add, found a pic of the car before work started on the car


Work already commenced by removing some trim and the front arches. So these are the pics I took last night. Work is starting on the body (front to back)

Drivers/Passengers Front Arch Area (looking to get Heratige replacements)





Removed Items


Front Panel (looking to get an M-Machine replacement)


Doors


Rear of the car
Rear bootlid was changed in its life so this needs reverting, as does fuel cap I believe. We still have the black/white plates with the car which will go back.



Engine Bay



Interior
Original seats all still intact under the seat covers. All a bit scraggy and not convined it will clean up so may have to get new covers etc but we'll see. Radio and speaker will be removed though as will the steering wheel which I need to locate an original at some point.



Head Lining, I belive it has the wrong interior light so that will get swapped.


Instrument Panel


Rear Seat Area's




Hub Cap


So thats as it stands now

[sclemow]

Looks like a great project, with very little bodywork to do!
Great stuff, look forward to seeing it progress.

[guru_1071]

that looks to be a great little project, the best colour as well!!

[mk1]

What a FANTASTIC PROJECT!

Your Grandfather obviously looked after his car very well & left you with a beautiful little car that requires minimal surgery.

I see you are doing the front wings, when you weld these back on, make sure you have the bonnet bolted into position, and all new panels clamped or screwed into position BEFORE YOU WELD ANYTHING. One of the most commpn mistakes is to weld the new wings into position without checking the shut lines of the bonnet. Thios leads to all sorts of HORRIBLE PROBLEMS that are very difficult to fix.

[Matty]

That looks like a nice little project, looks surprisingly solid too!

[mk1]

looks surprisingly solid too!

Matty,

Compared to your project a cullender looks pretty solid

[NotNormal]

Cheers guys, at the cullender comment. Fortunately were not that bad on this one

I hear what you say about the panel fit, hence not chopping everything out in one swoop. One bit at a time is the plan so it can all still be lined up with whats already there before we move onto the next panel etc.

[coopertim]

Wow!! what a solid looking little car! I have a Cooper 'S' 1071 in Surf Blue which is a fantastic colour. My car is unfortunately full of the dreaded rot but we will get there! Welcome to this really friendly forum which is full of great knowledgeable people who I'm sure will help you every step of the way.

Cheers. Tim.

[InimiaD]

I'm looking forward to this build thread.
Nice to see a mini with so much family history.

[tomkidd]

As above, what a great car. Looking forward to seeing progress

[NotNormal]

Morning chaps, next update on the car.

Well next up was the removal of the front panel, exposing the underside of the front end






New panels have arrived which include front panel, 2 new wings, inner and outer front rear arch panels and side sills



And here's the sills before work commences



So works commenced on sorting out the rear front arch panels. First we removed the inner skin so that the original door fixing holes could still be used as a guide from the original outer panel. Once these were in place (along with panel to retain strength from pillar to inner arch) the outer's we trimed back. The new outer panels didn't seem to follow the same curve and they also looked like they would finish on the door shut line but we didn't like this. So as the pillar's are good we've left the original door shut so that the door appature remains as it should be and it gave us a better chance to get the panel curve correct as well. Before the outer panels get welded were also going to make sure there is metal packing between the inner and outer skins where the hinge sits. The reason for this is to stop the hinge indentation on the outer panels that can occure as there is no support between the two. Once all done welds will be ground down flush.

Passenger Side



Drivers Side



Next up is engine removal. Craned it out the front as we wanted to leave the subframe in place as its a good guide for re-attaching the front panel. Notice the head is off as this has been sent away to have new valve seats fitted so that we can run on unleaded.





Then we set above removing the interior, removed the seat covers and the seats aren't to bad undernieth. The front seats have some tears in them which is a shame but the rears look good all be it everything is extremely dirty.




And this is where its at so far with trim and engine bay ancillaries removed







Mk1 Steering Wheel turned up in the post today so that one item ticked off.

All in all really getting into it now and loving every minute.

[guru_1071]

those mini machine inner sills combos are great - ive just fitted one! be warned, theres a lot of chopping to get it in and to be able to weld it in all the places - your car does look a lot better than mine tho'!


you need to fit your door before you fit the outer a panel - to make sure the door fits and the gaps are good - anything forwards of the door to a panel gap can be worked around

looking good though

[mk1]

Looking very good!

As Rich says though, fit the door to double check the clearance & shut lines BEFORE welding.

Looks like you had a good weekend though.

[NotNormal]

those mini machine inner sills combos are great - ive just fitted one! be warned, theres a lot of chopping to get it in and to be able to weld it in all the places - your car does look a lot better than mine tho'!

Agreed, they are very good. I'm sure we'll find out what you mean when it comes to fitting them

you need to fit your door before you fit the outer a panel - to make sure the door fits and the gaps are good - anything forwards of the door to a panel gap can be worked around

There will be no more chopping of the outer A panel area from you can see in the pics. We've cut about 1/2 inch away from the door shut line as this will remain to keep the right lines as you say. The outer panel pieces are cut to fill the gap you can see in the pic but havn't got a pic yet but will take some once its fitted.

looking good though

Cheers

[guru_1071]

There will be no more chopping of the outer A panel area from you can see in the pics. We've cut about 1/2 inch away from the door shut line as this will remain to keep the right lines as you say. The outer panel pieces are cut to fill the gap you can see in the pic but havn't got a pic yet but will take some once its fitted.

ive never seen anyone do the outer a panels this way, on paper it looks like a neat solution to keeping the door gap original, however i think that once its done, filled and painted you will have problems with the filler cracking - a lot of load goes through the a panels and the door hinges have to be really nipped up tight (on factory cars the a panels will deform around the mounting holes) - i do wonder that, in trying to save work, your going to make more work later?

lead loading may work, i dont know?

[NotNormal]

Yup take on board the concerns, it will be welded along the whole join and then ground down flat so in theory it will remain all metal with little need to use filler which as you say isn't ideal in load bearing area's.

As mentioned in the picture post, hopefully we'll try and avoid the panel deformation by keeping it solid underneath the whole hinge area.

[mk1]

Notnormal,

I for one will be very interested to follow the progress of the A panel repair. I haven't seen your method before but it looks like it could be a very elegant solution to a tricky problem.

[Pete]

Enjoying this thread... , got a very similar car myself .

[mk1]

got a very similar car myself

Have you been buying again Peter?

[NotNormal]

got a very similar car myself

Have you been buying again Peter?

If its a recent purchase, would it be the green one on ebay that finished yesterday?