MK1 bodge to Cooper replica

[Peter Laidler]

The reason why maroon was not a Cooper colour, as told to me by Alan Iles, one of the arty BMC people, based in Swindon, who decide these things was that when white or black roofs were standardised as the Cooper norm, neither colour remotely matched with maroon. One of the colours, seemingly, made the roof part of the maroon car look bulbous while the other simply didn't go with maroon. I don't remember which way round it was. That said, maroon was a nice colour. Even better was the darker maroon....., black tulip colour that came out later

[Philsa]

Interesting Food for thought Gents, thank you very much for the inputs. It is highly appreciated.

[Philsa]

So the build continues.

Fitment of the rear parcel shelf.

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[Philsa]

Next I wanted to get all the rubberizing off the inside of the body and just etch prime everything. Rear seat bulkhead cleaned up.

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The insides of the rear quarters and wheel arches was next. Thereafter the inners of the backpanels and the whole part just under the hood lining.

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[Philsa]

Moved onto the upper and lower dash and toeboard.

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[Philsa]

Next fitted outer A-panels back and doors, spot welded them.

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Had to re-shape this little bit to line up with the outer sill.

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Lightly clamped the edge and welded it.

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Repeat on the other side.

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[wantafaster1]

Good work
I'd love to know what you are using to strip the inside of the car back to metal?.
I'm seriously regretting not having my car blasted.

[Philsa]

Hi Wantafaster1

Good work
I'd love to know what you are using to strip the inside of the car back to metal?.
I'm seriously regretting not having my car blasted.

I use 3 baby grinders with 60, 65 or 75mm wire cup brushes to get back to bare metal. Use the first grinder till it gets hot, switch to the second and so on. I can however assure you, I truly dislike the previous owner whom thought it a good idea to rubberize the whole car inside and out...

Cheers

[wantafaster1]

Not having much luck with the wire cups, everything seems to smear. When I get off shift again I'm going to try a heat gun.
If I had the hold of whoever carpeted the inside of the boot he'd get a talking to

[Philsa]

Hi Wantafaster1

Yes for the thick stuff I used the pneumatic air scraper also standard scraper.

So the build continues.

I ground down the welds on the outer A-panels and it went good.

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Then I made the scuttle closing panels fit and welded them in.

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Then I cleaned the engine bay side of the toeboard.

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After some primer sprayed to the toeboard, I had a look at my sub-frame stash and found a fairly straight front item that is stripped of all parts.
Fitted it so that the fitment of the nose can commence.

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[Philsa]

Now the hunt for a suitable bonnet began.

I have the original on the right and a contender on the left albeit a mk2 item.

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Another MK1 item (the hinges here and cross bracing is better than the original) and a mk2 second option with the stripes.

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So after some assessment I decided on the second mk2 option to sand down completely, the mk1 item with the filler on top was just too pitted where the filler was missing and the blue item was rusted and pitted on the very edge in front above the lip for the chrome strip.

[Philsa]

Stripped the inner wings as clean as I could.

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Then I found this little tidbit... Stamped next to the bonnet prop - bracket and I thought I must be seeing things and sure enough my other early MK1 shell has the same stamping in the same place.

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Fitted the valance and wings, the RH UK sourced wing fitted like a glove, the LH darn.....

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The gap towards the windscreen was a serious problem. I fettled for two days in the end I modified the LH wing by drilling the spotweld loose under the headlight bowl and extended the lip right next to the bonnet with about 3-4mm then the fitment was almost okayish.

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[Philsa]

The spot weld that was drilled loose.

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Getting there slowly.

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Had to get creative with my clamps to force the wing over to the centre of the body.

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Welded the RH wing and decided to struggle with the problem side later.

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This is truly the best that I could get the LH wing after alot.... of fettling.

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[Philsa]

After welding.

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Spot welded the inside today where I could reach.

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LH rinse and repeat.

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[Philsa]

All done, except for tabs on the inside and ears at the bottom of valance.

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Naturally the original bonnet fits the front as damn near as perfect.

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Now the dreaded gaps at the top.

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[Peter Laidler]

Your tin-work is amazing......... I enjoy this thread. Can we all assume that you are a panel beater?

[Philsa]

Hi Peter

Thanks for the kind words, but I am not a panel beater, just self taught over the years of restoring various classic minis.
I do however prefer to build engines and gearboxes vs panel work though.

Cheers

[Philsa]

Yep you guessed it, this happened next.

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The brace completely loose.

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Sanded the inside down and the inside of the cross brace.

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Made some marks on the bonnet and the body and accurately measured the gap, aimed for a 3mm gap once done. So cut the LH lip off and let the mods begin.

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Made the needed piece and readied it for welding.

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[Philsa]

All done with the welds.

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Ground it down and started to shape the new lip.

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Wel the gap is certainly much better.

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It was rinse and repeat for the other side.

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[roger mcnab]

hi mate
well that is one way of getting the gaps right well done
cheers roger mcnab