1972 Morris Mini Van

[Van13]

Ok hope it goes well those rear floors are good but had same problems as you fitting arches

[mini_surfari]

We are getting there now...

After some clean up, and coats of paint inside the door frame etc the side is now in! And we have a door gap for the first time in what must be over 40 years .





Andrew came to the rescue again with a cant rail, so another big thanks to him!



Finished all the final welds for the sides,



Will have to push it outside soon to get a good picture of the gaps.





Rear light mount needed to match the other side





As always some of these photos aren't in order, but the roof came off!



Possibly the most boring and frustrating jobs we have done on this van... grind out the lip from inside the gutter, and then repairing the gutters in places.







The rear brace was then repaired and refitted.









And finally......... the roof was test fitted.








I'll be honest, we were hoping for an easier fit on this. However I think its going to need trimming all round to get it anywhere near fitting. Over hangs near 10mm at the back. But there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Back soon with more!

[Peter Laidler]

If I was embarking on another restoration project I'd run through this thread, Andy's HOY thread and Daz's 998 Cooper thread, once a week, just to inspire me that there's nothing that you can't overcome with perseverance.

[Andrew1967]

Really great work Oli and glad I could help out again.

There sure are some fantastic build threads on here to show that really anything can be done.

To think only a few years ago vans weren't worth a light and even ones needing major work are being saved.

[mini_surfari]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your comments!

This forum has certainly provided motivation, and also pushed the home restoration standards skywards


Now I need to get hold of one final panel, to weld on to the front edge of the load bay. But I'm considering changing the indicator plinths but is it worth it

[mini_surfari]

Well... the roof is on! We finally have a solid, and straight shell





Drip rails went on, I wish we had a shinker to do jobs like this. the desired results were achieved, so no problem.





Load bay edge was finally found, needed a slight repair on one end but not the end of the world.









Now at this point we were happy, just the door gaps to do..... but no. We didn't know there should be a reinforcer on the under side of the load bay on the inside. (no idea why M machine dont put them on?)

Anyway, I became a contortionist to get it on after making the panel up.





So with that done, time to gap the back doors back up.

Well it would help if heritage welded the tabs for the rods in the correct place, measured off the old door they were a way out.



So one was cut off a scrap door and replaced the original.



And that is where we've got to. Sadly work may slow now, as work picks up pace again.

[roger mcnab]

hi you guys are amazing with the effort that goes into your cars once they would be refused in a scrap yard but now are being rebuilt good work
cheers roger mcnab

[Costafortune]

Just needs painting TEAL BLUE now.

[Peter Laidler]

BRILLIANT progress.......... Makes my day to see it! When I'd finished my cop car in the late 80's, I had loads of bits and pieces, odds and sods left over plus good doors....., you know the sort of thing. I thought about doing an ex SEB mini van. Mentioned it to my local garage who were always very helpful and they said that they'd paint it for free if they could sign-write it up in their old UNIPART/Austin-Morris colours.

Ever thought about that Surfari

[mini_surfari]

Cheers Roger!

Costafortune - I'm afraid it won't be teal blue

Peter - We have thought about something similar, but undecided on that part yet. Will make that decision when its a little near the end.


Slightly more progress has been made, the snagging list seems to take so long!

With the brackets rewelded on the back doors the whole in the floor was drilled and swaged.



And the easiest way for me to do the lip on the floor pan was to weld, we did think about brazing, or lead, but not something we've done before.





Quick test fit of the number plate brackets, and would you believe it... we received one that fitted perfectly, and the other was an inch too long and the bends were in the wrong place.... soon solved though.



Standard gapping of the drivers door, building edges up and grinding them down. Also nervously drilled the holes for the safety boss.



Really pleased with this door after the absolute nightmare we had trying the get the gaps after the quarter panel commotion.




Now on to the front bonnet gaps, decided to slit the wing and open them up a little. Same on both sides and we have a good gap now.



After some debate, we went with the earlier brackets for the number plate (not that its the end of the world)



Next jobs on the list are.... Indicator plinths, Andrew has send me some details on making that job as easy as possible. Then on to the passenger door.

We have test fitted the fuel tank, and no surprise, they don't line up properly with the floor either (was to be expected). And once that is done.... start prepping to paint the underneath. We are looking forward to that, as we are now sick to death of welding and grinding

Cheers for now!

[Costafortune]

Cheers Roger!

Costafortune - I'm afraid it won't be teal blue

Damn and blast!

Any period colour is good though.

[LoftyMk2]

Lovely project this, some craftsmanship going on for sure.

Keep up the good work

[Peter Laidler]

I agree. This and HOY are those threads that enthuses me. Call it my weekly mini fix of choice. Clearly mini-surfari is a skilled tinny as we used to call sheet metal workers. Just love to see his progress. More please MiniSurfari

[mini_surfari]

Passenger door now finished... so only the indicators to go. Nearly time to retire the grinder and welder!

[Old English White]

A great deal of dedication going on with this. It will be a great van once finished

[LoftyMk2]

That passenger door gap is perfect!

Keep up the great work, I love projects like this

[mini_surfari]

Pushed it outside for the first time in a long while.



And then finally got some colour on it!

Epoxy primed underneath, followed by seam sealer and U-POL raptor tinted to tweed grey.









No idea how some of you do this full time

[Andrew1967]

Looks great Oli and I agree, I really don't know how people do full on restorations day in day out for a living. Full credit to you guys though

[mini_surfari]

Well progress has been slow recently, repeatedly being let down by painters. Which is frustrating, as there aren't many people in the area willing to take on a full respray.

So in the mean time we decided to push on and door more ourselves.

Bare metalled, epoxy primed, seam sealed, and 2k colour.





In the mean time, we'll keep chipping away at refurbishing parts.

[mini_surfari]

Been a while, and progress on the shell has stalled, hopefully there will be a big push on it in the next few weeks.

In the mean time, cleaning up parts and painting.

Decided to swerve the powder coating and have gone with epoxy mastic instead. With a bit of luck this will hold up well!











Had the rear subframe blasted even though it was new... lucky we did as there was plenty of surface rust under the e-coat.











There really isn't a great deal to do now. Once the body has been painted it should fly together pretty quickly!