Time lapse of “Brittas Cooper” Restoration

[Dr.Mabo]

Another modification are housings for dashboard speakers.
The speakers should stay as flush as possible with the speedo panels to keep the classic look. I beat the metal in to a shape of half a ball.

[Dr.Mabo]

Then I build a ring to extend the housing and to form the flange for the speaker.

That's it for today
the Doc

[rich@minispares.com]

im starting to like the custom modifications to this car - I will let you park it next to the er-cooper s when its done


the 'er' has a mk3 heater in it with the plastic pipe through the inner wing. it certainly keeps the engine bay neater

[Dr.Mabo]

Other modifications to the inner wing:

• Service hole for brake hose on r/h side
• Service hole under shock absorber bracket for corrosion protection. This will be covered by the bracket and sealed with flexible sealing compound
• all unused holes closed
• and an 18 mm hole in the r/h inner wing inline of the crankshaft. This allows, in case of clutch replacement, to undo the flywheel nut with a proper and powerful ratchet from the wheel arch.

[Dr.Mabo]

R/H inner wing fitted to the front end.

[Dr.Mabo]

And the L/H inner wing went in too.

Inside the A-post and the sills I used “Mike Sanders” anti corrosion grease before I closed the sections.

I love to work with a spot-welding-gun.

http://www.mike-sander.de/

Just click on the British flag to get the page in English.

so long
the Doc

[swifty]

Very competent work . Well done . Like the speaker mods ... Ken

[Dr.Mabo]

Very competent work . Well done . Like the speaker mods ... Ken

Thanks Ken

[GraemeC]

The brake hose access hole is a good shout - I'll be doing that next time I have to work in that area.

For the flywheel bolt hole I went big enough to get the socket through, much less messing - also gives plenty of scope to get a twating bar in there and give some wiggle room for misalignment if you haven't jacked the engine up by the same amount each time too.

Remember the holes in the subframe to get to the wok bolts

[rich@minispares.com]

a twating bar

is that a technical term??

[GraemeC]

Of course - I'm sure you have a few.
To be used in conjunction with various calibrations of testing stick!

[Dr.Mabo]

Later I fitted the outer A-Panels and aligned the doors. But I wasn’t happy with the radius of the lower quarter panel. Hence I corrected the radius according to the shape of the door.

[Dr.Mabo]

There was also some work at the rear side quarter window frames. A bit of cutting, beating and puzzling and the frame was nice and free of corrosion. Same on the other side.

So long
the Doc

[swifty]

That's great work , very neat ... Ken

[Dr.Mabo]

Some more modifications of the floor section.

I have seen plenty of terrible cutouts for the remote gearbox. This is the correct shape for MK2 and MK3 Minis.

CIMG3538.jpg

CIMG3539.jpg

CIMG3540.jpg

I extended the inner groove on the right hand floor by about 5 cm to use it as a cable channel.

CIMG3552.jpg

As you may notice on the photo I also turned the cross member around. Now the seat mounts are on the rear side. That gives a comfortable seat position for tall drivers and passengers without those funny extension adapters

CIMG3556.jpg

so long
the Doc

[spoon.450]

Fantastic work.

[rich@minispares.com]

As you may notice on the photo I also turned the cross member around.

that COULD have been one of those 'ohhh fuuucccccckkkkkk' moments couldn't it!

[GraemeC]

Not yet Rich, that wouldn't come until after the paint was on, carpet in and you were lifting the first seat in the day before the MoT was booked.....

[rich@minispares.com]

Not yet Rich, that wouldn't come until after the paint was on, carpet in and you were lifting the first seat in the day before the MoT was booked.....

of course, how short sighted of me!

[STG95F]

Was MK1 Cut out different to MK2 & 3 then ??