MK1 bodge to Cooper replica

[Charlynsane]

Very nice work, keep us in touch,

But you should have save time with a good sandblasting

[Philsa]

Thanks Charlynsane

I did not want to have the body sandblasted.


Next was the top engine steady bracket that was loose and only half welded.

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After some love.

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Then onto the RH inner and outer A-panels

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Yikes needs some attention.

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[Philsa]

Same as other side needs some attention.

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This side I fixed with thicker steel and shaped at better angles.

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Door fitment was not too bad...

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Now onto this rust sandwich.

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Looks somewhat better.

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[Philsa]

Welded the plates in and all of the items tied together.

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Took the outer sill off on the driver side.

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After a bit of a cleanup.

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Trial fitting the outer sill.

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Salvaged the safety belt anchor.

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[Philsa]

Next spot welded the sill in.

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Plug welded as needed.

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LH outer sill removed, before this area was rust treated.

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Test fitting lh sill. Still had to let in some new metal and the jacking point bracket again.

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[Philsa]

So needed to fill in the gap of under the crossmember.

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Fitted the jacking point, welded floor pan in the front to the piller etc. Finished the spot welding of the outer sill.

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Rear end was plug and stitch welded, need to finish the plate with the captive nut for the closing panels for the radius arm though.

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[Philsa]

It has been raining like hell the last few weeks, certain areas even had flooding here in Gauteng. So due to the excess moisture....
Although I did treat all the bare metal areas with a rust preventative...

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I had a quick scrubbing with a scotch brite pad, was not great so I had a chat to my local automotive paint supplier and well since the body will most probably stand a few more weeks before being sent to a spray painter, I had to make a plan till then for the rusting to stop, so a GOOD FEW hours later.

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Roof get some attention next.

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[Philsa]

Some self etch primer was laid down after some panelwipe degreaser.

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Roof was next

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Cleaned rear panel.
Left hand quarter also prepped.

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All done, result for the day's labour.

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[AndyPen]

How annoying, but probably a good idea to get some primer on anyway.

Looking good, and that A panel alignment is better than mine

[Philsa]

Thanks for the kind words Andy.
So took some time off the build...
Made some wiring tabs.

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Had to get creative to move the lh lower corner out for better alignment.

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Spot welded the RH rear first.
This was the inner parts of the top of the panel, RH inner.

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LH inner.

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[Philsa]

Now I thought long and hard about how to weld or only spot weld this top part, so I decided to weld the inner first.

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Some good penetration on the other side, cleaned the bottom lip up for the next bit, I did not want to weld the lower lip, but I am certain that filler would crack if only used on this part.

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It started like this.

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Some grinding and fettling later, will still need work, but item is welded in now.

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[Philsa]

So next was the spare wheel holder that was rusted right through.

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Next up I cut the mk2 onwards light fittings out and fitted the mk1 light aperture plates.

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[Philsa]

RH rinse and repeat.

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Done

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Next I welded the tank bracket holder back and the floor strenghthening plates.

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[Philsa]

Next I painted the inside of the rear valance and once dry, the initial trial fit.

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Let some new metal in on the outer edges of the stiffener plates and clamped rear valance. Looking good. Was spot welded hereafter.

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Next up started to repair the rear parcel shelf that needed the rear lip extended, so ....

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Called it a night once I got this far.

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[Philsa]

Finished the rear lip repair and folded the needed lip on the edge.

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Repair patches for the other ends.

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And fitted.

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[Joel Welsh 4769VU]

You sir, are accomplishing an amazing amount of work in a short time.

Awesome.

[Peter Laidler]

Re one of your photos above, showing the rear underskirt bolted in place. I always thought that was a good idea. I did the same to one of my minis in the late 70's.

The underskirt was held horizontally by the 5 (or 3) bumper bolts. So far so good. At the sides, where it fullows the wheel arch down and round I brazed small, flat headed bolts to two (on each side) to that part of the new underskirt. Drilled same through the corresponding part of the shell and simply bolted the underskirt in place. Almost invisible except for the small 1/4" stainless nuts on the lowest part of the rear wheel arches.

Friend did the same but used the nuts and bolts to hold his mudflaps on! Made access VERY easy

[Costafortune]

Fine progress there.

Any idea on final spec - wheels/colour/badges/trim?

[Philsa]

Thanks for the kind words gents.

Peter using bolts and nuts is a great idea, but ....

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Will do some trimming of the excess as needed.

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Well Costafortune, I have been to see two spraypainters for some pricing and a time schedule, as soon as I am done with the welding and seam sealing and most probably stone chipping/raptor coat for the bottom the body will be going to a chosen paint specialist in the very near future.

I am leaning towards British Racing Green with the blue while mixing which I believe to be a Jaguar colour and not the BMC one with a ICE White roof instead of the usual old english white, but then I look at more mini colours and I must admit I do love the Tahiti blue with the silver roof on a Rover mini or even the metallic green from the same era. Then again I am leaning towards a 60s true Cooper colour, so still deciding. Will definitely be getting the Gold brocade door cards seemingly from Newton Comm there in the UK. I have a Cooper S speedo, just not too sure which one exactly. I will however not be fitting the SA Cooper S bucket seats (with the fibre glass backs), had the chance to sit in a 1071 SA Cooper S and those seats are not for me. Carpets will surely be either black or red depending on final body colour. I do have a lovely 13 inch wood rimmed Moto Lita that I removed from the GTS when that went back to factory standard, so that will surely be fitted here.

A gent had some UK sourced 4.5 x 10 inch Cooper S steel wheels that is brand new for sale here in pretoria recently, was tempted to just buy them and fit it in future. Most likely I will source a USED set of SA Mistral 10 x 5 inch mags and have them painted in gold and fit some 165/70R10 tyres which I have done a few times in the past with other minis I have owned. Attached some partially gold Mistrals from my Panelvan that I had.

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For now once the body is back from the spraypainter I will refurb two other sub-frames and fit the current SA engine that the car came with for now. I do however doubt that I will be fitting the brake booster although I have 3 USED items in stock to choose from to have rebuilt if needed. I will be changing to Hardy Spicer outputs as I have never owned a mini with those before. That is the plan for the next 3-6 months, will see what happens with the Cooper S engine build when the time comes.

[Costafortune]

Proper Jaguar BRG is nice. The later metallics you mention, not so much.

BMC Connaught green (Austin Morris 1100) is good. Jaguar opalescent pale metallic blue looks superb.

Straight monotone black also.

A friend had a 1071 S painted in BMC Maroon B with a silver roof and it looked good - of all the Mark 1 colours, that's one not offered on Coopers which is odd.

I'd avoid using a regular Cooper paint colour. It'll just look like all the rest of them.