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A year ago yesterday I started this thread. At that time, we were all in our first lockdown. The situation has not really improved since then. On the contrary, we are now at lockdown whatsoever and today we would be happy if we had the figures from a year ago.
You have been able to read about what has happened to me in the past year on a regular basis, and you will continue to be able to do so. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your encouragement during the last 12 months, which also carried me through the one or other low motivation, especially in the cold season.

I am especially happy that some of you even scraped together your German language skills to send me your encouragement in my mother tongue. I feel very honoured.

Since the pandemic will stay with us for some time, I'm rolling up my sleeves again and continuing. After all, I don't want to let the flow break.
I continue with some sheet metal work:

Since I also want to sit as comfortably as possible in the Broadspeed, I had already welded in the internal cross member rotated by 180°. The seat mounts are now at the back. Of course, this doesn't help much as long as the seat doesn't get enough space to the rear. I therefore shortened the rear side pockets by about 10 cm. I had kept the pieces I had cut out so that I could use them again. But then I decided to rebuild them directly. I folded a suitable piece of sheet metal, then bent the radius over two gas bottle caps, formed a bead at the top for the chrome strip and finally welded them in. Now this also gives the seats enough space towards the rear.

Outstanding

That is some serious dedication, congratulations once more Doc.

When everything fits and looks coherent on the outside of the modified bodyshell, the interior will also need to be done at some point. Many things have to be build new or modified. The next thing I did was the headliner. Often, in such projects, a bit of carpet or other upholstery material is simply glued into the roof from the inside. Of course, this is the easy way. But since I always liked the removable headliners of the early Minis plus they are incredibly practical for maintenance purposes, I didn't want to do without these headliners on the Broadspeed. Besides, I've put so much effort into the inner cant rails, I like to keep them visible.

I carefully removed the cover fabric from an MK2 headliner frames. I started with the front frame. In the area of the A-pillar, I had to modulate the right upward swing so that it would follow the height difference between the door and the window frame. I could leave the first strut in place. I had to reduce the height of the other struts towards the rear because the roof is lower in that area.


The rear part was much more complicated. Here I had to reduce the height of all the struts and at the same time form a stronger radius over the whole frame. Once that fit, it was a matter of creating a clean finish to the rear window. With a bit of trial and error and shaping, it now fits under the stiffener of the rear window. Since the struts have remained in place and the sides have only become slightly shorter, the of the shelf MK1 cream crackle headliner material should fit again later.

Fantastic!!!

Wow. Attention to detail. Thank you for your updates.

That is truly INCREDIBLE!

You look at 90% of restored cars & the head lining isn't fitted correctly. You have managed to make a frame that will fit on a roof that is impressively complicated!

Try doing it in a Radford with a sun roof. Nightmare. Must try better!

Continuing with attention to details

Even with such an extensive project, the final result stands and falls with the little tiny things. One extremely small detail are the tabs on the radiator shroud that hold the seal to the radiator. Since I welded the old radiator shroud back in after sandblasting, it is of course not as perfect as a new one after a good 50 years. In this case, one of the small tabs on the top was missing. And since these are right in the visible area next to the FIN plate, I would have been annoyed later every time I looked into the engine bay if I hadn't corrected or replaced it

By the way, this task is also a very nice example of how precise one can work with the oxy-fuel torch.

To replace the tab I used a small piece of sheet metal. I deliberately left some extra material on all edges and welded it carefully to the frame. Then I cut away the excess material and shaped the piece into the correct form. Afterwards, it was neither necessary to grind nor to planish the tab.

Absolutely outstanding attention to even the smallest detail, well done sir.

The bodywork has now been completed. As with all other restorations, there is also work to be done on the mechanics and the add-on parts. For years I had an old Benelite grill lying on the shelf. It is now to be used. However, the grill was cracked in several places, especially in the area around the headlights, and there was a lot of corrosion in the area of the mounting holes. I was able to repair most of the cracks with doublers, which I riveted to the original material with solid rivets. The solid rivets have the advantage that they have a countersunk head on one side so they are flush with the surface and the back can also be formed very flat. In other places I had to cut out the corroded aluminium and rivet in new filler pieces.


After the basic structure was repaired, I completely stripped the grill of its paint, then straightened it slat by slat and sanded out small scratches and damage. Since the plated aluminium cannot be polished, I had to completely remove the plating so that I could polish the slats. Then I masked everything off and repainted it.


About 40 hours went into the complete refurbishment of the grill.

hi doc
what an awesome grill the effort was well rewarded it will look great on the car
keep up the good work
cheers roger

the grill (also the car) is a very nice work !!! looking forward to more updates . Wonderfull topic

WesleyB wrote: ↑Mon May 24, 2021 11:17 am the grill (also the car) is a very nice work !!! looking forward to more updates . Wonderfull topic

Thanks, I'm working on it

A question out of interest? In the 5th image with the lamps added is the brightwork painted?

Another question Herr Doktor... Did you ever consider having the grille stripped, bars polished and then re-anodised? Polished alloy always needs re-polishing.

hanlminiman wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 5:53 pm A question out of interest? In the 5th image with the lamps added is the brightwork painted?

Hmm, to be honest, I don't understand your question.
The bars als polished and the area between the bars and the full backside ist painted satin black. So what part is the brightwork?

Peter Laidler wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 8:59 pm Another question Herr Doktor... Did you ever consider having the grille stripped, bars polished and then re-anodised? Polished alloy always needs re-polishing.

I must admit, I never considered to re-anodised the grill because I did not know that this might be possible and were or how this could be done. Frequentliy repolishing is the price for the second life of the grill I thought.

I think i would have done it the same way as you Doc!

As an factory option, the Broadspeed GT had two tanks, analogous to the Cooper S, which were filled through the central filler neck. I thought for a long time about whether I should also go this route. In the end, however, I decided against it because I didn't want to sacrifice a right tank that you wouldn't see later anyway. Instead, I decided to use a large left tank from the later Minis. Of course, I had to modify it so that it could be filled via the central filler neck.

O my, it keeps going on and on again.
The result must be stunning but for now your topic is very nice to follow.

Kees