Next project - ‘62 997 Austin Cooper

[Lakeland997]

If a body shop is going to pull a car straight, in my experience, they prefer it ‘panels on’ so that they have something to attach onto.

[Dearg1275]

I don’t think the shell is up to being pulled at the moment. It stands a chance of behaving like a chicken wish bone and coming apart unpredictably. I’ve had a good look again today and better understand what has moved. Now that I have the subframe straight and dimensionally correct I will have a go myself and use the subframe as a check.

Thanks,

D

[Dearg1275]

It looked like some extra muscle would be needed to get thing straight again.

502BD58F-7AF2-49F8-AC6C-4862154B693F.jpeg

82F2A039-9A5F-4EAF-AB2D-62039DFC0B64.jpeg

With another shove beneath the parcel shelf to push the top of the crossmember forward the parcel shelf straightened out. You could see the inner wing rotate forwards and down. I stand a chance of having the wings sitting level now. With the A pillar pushed forwards I dollied what remained of the high spots flat. Even the fold in the top dash rail just disappeared.

It’s the first time I have used one of these and I am amazed how controllably you can move things around.

D32D4652-ACDD-4C2A-A6C4-2B513C5DA9A9.jpeg

4F1E54E3-683D-439C-81D0-D6AC5AFE7339.jpeg

D

[Dearg1275]

Work on the shell will have to take a back seat for a while until I have space in my cramped workshop (no power in the shed where it lives at the moment). My efforts are now aimed at building the engine and fettling parts to keep me occupied.

I’m building up a 997 engine, but not quite to standard spec. It will wear Omega 1100 sprite flat topped pistons at 20 thou over size giving it a capacity of 1082cc. The head is a 12G 295 with larger inlet and exhaust valves. The larger valves requires the block to be pocketed. Luckily the block I have has already had this done. Quite what head was on here before I’m not sure about, however to get the compression ratio up to the 10.25:1 I was looking for there was a fair chunk to take off head and block. This because the 1100 engines had a stroke 100 thou longer than the 997.

I decided along with the guys at Southam Mini Metro Centre to take 50 thou off the head and then do the final measuring of valve lift and clearance before skimming the block. All looked good so a further 40 thou came off the block.

Now I’m of a pessimistic turn of mind so had to check again. I thought that a good margin of error would be the thickness of the head gasket. So, to check I set up the valve train using rockershaft springs with no head gasket. The valve clearances were set to zero. The camshaft was rotated by hand and everything cleared. To be sure I was not missing something I then over closed the valve clearance until I could feel the valves being obstructed by the block. With the rocker shaft springs instead of the real thing it was easy to turn and feel the first contact. Thus reassured I can now get on and build the engine.

43E8B78E-F204-4F95-837F-F0A59B6A4783.jpeg

3856F50D-2ECF-433A-B37A-AA4003F05842.jpeg

D

[Dearg1275]

Well, battle has commenced. With a bit of shuffling things around I made just enough room to get the 997 on the spit.

E48457B7-A509-4399-8E2B-33FF43B945FC.jpeg

The afternoon was spent straightening a much folded inner wing and taking out the last of the impact distortion in the front foot wells. This was courtesy of a very large hammer initially to get things moving.

I usually start my restoration at the rear and work forward but I’m rather keen to trial build the front to check I have the accident damage sorted and the drivers door hangs correctly. I’ll leave the original left hand wing in place until I’m happy with the front end. Better order some panels.

D

[Dearg1275]

The rusty front panel is now hacked off and the acres of braising used to fill the gaps ground away. New panelage is on its way and the left hand original wing is trimmed back to its original contours. The right hand inner wing has been pummelled back into shape but will benefit from having a front panel to control its shape. Final repairs to the inner wings will happen when the new front panel is in position. Somewhere I have a big bucket of self tapping screws.

6A72DAA0-36E0-49DD-AD11-E9D41A227593.jpeg

I will have to cut out the rear section of the left hand wing to allow the new scuttle panel to be offered up and aligned. I know others just cut things away but I like to do things incrementally.

D

[Dearg1275]

The front scuttle is gone, which revealed corroded areas in the top of the bulkhead where it forms the filling in the sandwich between the top dash rail and the scuttle. There was also rot at the base of the inner skins of the A pillars. These will repair and, as this is a Cooper, any join will be hidden beneath the black trim. There was no sealant or lead loading in the lower windscreen edge sandwich so it’s is little wonder things have rusted away.

EAA997B5-08DF-4782-9D4F-5714B23583C2.jpeg

57D474B2-5262-4E91-BE57-DB013724465B.jpeg

920A31AD-3ADC-4DFB-AFC2-9B8595DF11A6.jpeg

This removable section allows me to fit the scuttle and check it against the original wing contour.

The drivers door no longer hangs down at the back. The bottom of the apex panel still needs to be forwards a tad but that will wait until the new ones are fitted.

B20EA326-E647-4C73-A65B-7A711FD28F25.jpeg

D

[Dearg1275]

I ran out of welding gas and other than twiddling thumbs until Monday I looked for more problems to solve.

005861B9-3A31-4FEE-B450-B00809BFF292.jpeg

F0103EC2-55B8-439D-8DDA-FB2B26D2A403.jpeg

The door is otherwise good. A rummage through my panel off cuts turned up the top of a mk3 door skin. There is no flange to dress over but it was too good not to use.

F9A2D806-40AA-4C94-BB97-1AAE2A29E5EA.jpeg

The outer bend needed tightening but otherwise it matches in well.

D

[Dearg1275]

I now have a nice big bottle of gas, enough to do perhaps two more minis! I welded up the door repair section and made a capping for the folded edge so it all lined up. An amateur’s stab at lead loading and I have a result.

8CFA3030-669F-4021-992C-3B1DCA87CE55.jpeg

There are a few low spots in the lead but I didn’t want to go round and round in circles for hours trying to get it spot on. A touch of modern filler will sort it later. At least any porosity in the weld with be well sealed, which was the idea.

D

[billycooper]

Keep the updates coming !, the door repair looks good, keep as much of the original panels as you can !

[Peter Laidler]

Good to see you practising the lost art of lead loading Dave.

[Dearg1275]

Another repair fabricated and fitted.

B8015302-611D-4A57-98C0-C5F2874B7D15.jpeg

D

[Dearg1275]

More rust chasing. Rear screen aperture this time. There is corrosion damage all along the lower edge which was just too much to do in a oner. I tackled the worst corner first to test the repair technique. I’m happy I can save another panel.

AE8356BC-CF02-4F34-B84C-A728AECA8A35.jpeg

A301E7A6-A57C-468F-A593-A67738BE2EE9.jpeg

36C3AB38-F595-40B8-A433-D1C74EEB1F31.jpeg

F618E3AC-F211-4DF5-8FCD-13CB0234AD9D.jpeg

The panels for the front end arrived today which will keep me entertained for the next few days.

D

[Dearg1275]

The first trial run on the front panels today. Sadly the scuttle panel was damaged when it arrived but another is on its way. If the scuttle manages to fit as well as the other panels I will be very pleased. It was well worth spending time getting the shell back to shape.

5D9EE6BC-0D5C-49AF-8B27-AB23EC353907.jpeg

Time for some self tapping screws so that I can locate it all again.

D

[Dearg1275]

While waiting for the replacement scuttled to arrive I decided to have a go at the A panels. I’m using the M-Machine ones that include the pillar. My car had original panels which meant I could check the dimensions of the new panel. It was fine but for the hinge hole positions. The top ones needed moving forwards. The position of the flange had to be dressed further forwards as a consequence. The lower ones had to be moved back (less of a problem).

A squint upper hinge doesn’t help. I’m chasing a replacement (see wanted section). Once the outer A panel is right the inner will have to fit. What ever it takes!

5D6D59FF-B2D0-45A2-BE78-C9F27FF1D1EA.jpeg

I had made a note of the distances between the points marked with tape before cutting away the old A panel as the door was hanging pretty well. Repeating these dimensions with the new helped to keep things looking right.

BC24FF99-74B5-4A24-8B73-C85599C3D4E4.jpeg

No welding until the scuttle and inner A panel are in and sitting nicely.

D

[Dearg1275]

Removing the old innerA panel revealed the usual rot but not too bad,

4D833180-736C-4373-B574-AFFEDE149813.jpeg

F83413B3-88DF-4459-BFBD-2AB89D96999F.jpeg

This will all get a lick of epoxy paint before welding up. With the inner heritage A panel clamped in place and a few final hole adjustments the door sits quite well. The clamp at the top is to compensate for the worn out bottom hinge I have temporarily used a the top to get things lined up. I might try and rescue the bent top hinge later.

8AD61DE1-AF13-4921-8E7F-17A29AA9CCAD.jpeg

D

[Charlynsane]

Very good bodywork

Your car doesn't have body number? is its original shell?

[Dearg1275]

Very good bodywork

Your car doesn't have body number? is its original shell?

Yes, totally original shell with a good continuous history. The car had a frontal accident between November 74 and March 75. The right hand wing and inner wing were pushed back and the floor folded up behind the toe board. Clearly the wing and front panel were replaced resulting in the loss of the body number. The chassis number, however, is safe but removed from the car during restoration. Here’s a picture of it when it used to tow a caravan from the Lake District to Devon or Cornwall.

I had the owner from March 75 until I bought it around for coffee and a chat just last week.

2BD65495-62E7-4386-ACFD-7D9EA7C3F00D.jpeg

D

[Dearg1275]

The replacement scuttle panel arrived this morning. Really good and quick service from Doreen at M-Machine. This evening I trial fitted the scuttle so that I could be sure I had the drivers side A panel correct before welding up.

It turned out that the inner wing where it attaches to the scuttle was still too far towards the centre causing the scuttle to sit on the edge of the bonnet gutter.

4B33C856-4BC7-4110-9132-70DC305F7B3B.jpeg

Action with my new mate the Porta Power did the trick.

9823AA06-E5B9-499F-B800-C873F3406FFA.jpeg

79A6DDCD-7C69-4F8A-BCC0-82C981293483.jpeg

A final check with wing and bonnet leaves me confident that the A panels are good to go and a good front panel fit is in prospect.

F4B2A451-13B1-441E-A2D6-AEA43527B98C.jpeg

And against the original left hand wing

B24172E2-257A-4D09-B312-5C9EBEB1E9FC.jpeg

D

[Andrew1967]

Excellent work David, that's really coming along nicely