MK1 bodge to Cooper replica

[Philsa]

Hi GraemeC

Yes just too bad they hid alot of rust and faults under all that.

I had to shower twice to get all the paint/filler mixture, properly washed off.

The panel list is certainly growing, but I have a spare later round nose body that will donate some body panels.

[Philsa]

So update time.

I have started to source the needed panels what I could locally.
Found a LH wing and later a-panel outer. and some trim strips.

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Stripped the whole backend.

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[Philsa]

Had a shopping spree and sourced some other panels that is needed.

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Then stripped the front end further.
Wires are soldered, no plugs.....

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This is the gaps between inner tray and wings, before paint/filler stripping.

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[Philsa]

This is what filler and lead under that looks like.

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After some time...

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Other side is better, but still welded on skew...

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[Philsa]

The RH wing is still in good shape on the head lamp side, not so much on the a-panel side...

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Drilled a pilot hole and used the spot weld cutter.

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Next thing the lead kept getting in the way of trying to remove the wing without too much damage, so....

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This is how far I got to, before calling it a day.

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[Philsa]

Next I did what should have been done already....

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Removed the brake and clutch masters and found the last strayjob remains behind them.

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Stripped the shock absorber top brackets off and found nice metal under neath and also took the disc brake setups off and fitted brake drum items.

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That was my saturday.

[Philsa]

Had some spare time this afternoon.

Really wanted to get the nose off completely.

Started to remove the strip that was left on the left inner tray.

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The valence was not welded on by this 90 degree bracket above the triangle shaped bracket, so just wedged it loose.

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Then split this seam

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Finally

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Drilled the 90 deg brackets out.

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[Philsa]

This is how I left the body for today.

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[Philsa]

I do not like the speaker holes in the parcel shelf so, started to split the seams and found the lh side was loose in the middle part.

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Kept going ...

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Had to get creative to remove the rear spot welds.

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[Philsa]

I have this mangled mk1 shell that was shortened.
The parcel shelf here was in better shape than the one off the other shell.

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Came off without too much of a fuss.

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And a new panel to fit for the pile... after some attention and filling in the holes of the hoop, it should work fine.

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[trevorhp]

Really good progress and you are lucky to have a source of replacement original panels.
Pictures are great and a permanent record.
Thanks for posting them.

[Peter Laidler]

Yep, certainly making progress. I'm wondering that as you have a good selection of new and used panels, all in good condition whether it's worth restoring it back to a more valuable standard Cooper. You've certainly made a bluddy good start......

[Philsa]

Hi Gents

I always take pictures of everything whether it is for me or for a customer. Although I have a day job now again, so cannot work on the mini full time, nor work on a customer's car atm. I still had to place quite the order from the UK for yet more panels as I could not get a new RH wing locally.

Peter as far the standard Cooper goes, well I was priviliged enough to work on a customer's 1963 997 Cooper some time back, was a really original car, even replaced the discs on the 7 inch brakes. What really let the car down was the fact that a genuine BMC 649 cam was fitted to it, so on low rpm it was not so nice to drive and once the cam went into the power band it took off. I have always wanted a Cooper S and have not been lucky enough to find one in SA in all my mini ownership, since I have the choice of either a 1275 S or 1071 S engine to build at my disposal well... I do however own a pristine immaculate, well almost concours restored 1978 1275 GTS that I drive with regularly that keeps me more than happy.

[Philsa]

Just for interest sake the build thread for the GTS on the SA mini forum http://samini.co.za/showthread.php?tid=209

[Philsa]

Update time, between the rain and the day job did not get much done.

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RH inner quarter panel, just a test to see the colours and history.

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Roof gutter...

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RH door step not aligned with outer sill.

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[Philsa]

Started to paint strip the bonnet.

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Found a hole on the left hand side right through, damn.

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On a better note had a panel delivery.
Some new outer sills.

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Boot floor repair, boot board brackets and outer a-panels.

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Made a mistake on the wing, but oh well.

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[Philsa]

Stripped the wiring loom, cluster and switches out.
The bottom dash rail has really been messed with.

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Removed some of the stone chip from the boot....

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Was hiding some cracks and loads of horrors.

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On the inside one of the layers was peeling off....

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[Philsa]

So I just got on with it.

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Got a pneumatic scraper and it worked well to remove the stone chip.

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Little bit of wire wheel later....

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[Philsa]

I then proceeded to split the body panels

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Then I cut the sides and above the boot closing panel.

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The boot lid hinge mounting points was in realy bad shape.
Looks like a crinkle cut chip.

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[Philsa]

Had to drop the sub-frame next, to remove the rear valance.

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Getting the rear valance loose from the boot floor.

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Was also really rusted and in bad shape.

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Now are these closing panels standard to early cars or what?

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