Mk2 Cooper

[Callum]

Started this build thread on the turbo minis forum, thought I would copy it over on here as well as I will hopefully be attending Blyton at some point. Been working on it just
over a year now, will hopefully be on the road next year.

Its a 1968 mk2 cooper, will be sticking with the A series but I'm going for a turbo conversion, not to everyone's taste I know but there will be no body mods so can be taken
back to original if I ever feel like it. It was very rough and my first restoration so a big learning curve! Some pictures for you...











Been working on it for a few months now, so far its had the front roof corners repaired, gutter repairs, a new windscreen pillar and now I'm working on the back, done the boot hinge panel and the corners. Got half of the full floor painted in epoxy mastic at the weekend...

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[Callum]

[Callum]

[Callum]

The roof corners had rotted out so I repaired them a while back now, sealed inside last week and cut the cant rail from a spare roof as the original had a few holes in it.

[Callum]

Then I made the most of the sun on saturday, dragged it out into the yard and bare metaled inside the boot, the back end and all of the inside bar the front bulkhead.



Didn't want to sandblast the roof so used a DA sander and then a kurust type stuff where it was needed



Got it all painted in epoxy primer yesterday. Brush painted the seams and gutter first with the rust proofing epoxy mastic then sprayed the lot with the epoxy body primer







Picked this up from turbophil on monday, the one he put up for sale a while ago, bargain at £200!

[Callum]

Not had much time on it this past week so havn't had much to update. Got the repairs to the cant rail back in last week



Today got it mounted on a spit which will make it easier for me to do the floors. Took me all day to get it mounted as there was no one else around so not a very productive day :-/

[Callum]

Got the boot floor cut out and all the edges cleaned up





Clamped the boot floor in place to see how it fits.







Took a lot of persuading to get it sitting where it is and its still about 3mm too far over towards the drivers side. Had to slice the arches to get it in. Will get a bigger hammer tomorrow and have another go

[Callum]

Managed to get the boot floor sitting in the right place, just cut the bottom inch or so off the
arches and it fitted straight away, going to be putting new arches in anyway so it doesn't matter about them.



Whilst it was in I clamped the rear valance and bumper in place to see how everything lines up and its pretty good.
Took the floor out and started to alter it to make it look like the original one.

Cut this piece out the new floor



Made the piece up like the original



And got it tacked in





Should get it fully welded tomorrow

[Callum]

Finished welding and linishing tonight, my welding is getting better now but still far from perfect, was embarrassed to show it at the start of the restoration





This is the next part to alter where the fuel pipes go through the floor, wasn't going to bother with all this messing around but I think I will regret it at a later date if I don't do it now, only a few hours extra work. Cheers

[Callum]

Got it tacked in tonight quite please with how it fits

[Callum]

Boot floor is now finished got all the new parts welded in and managed to buy a spot welder the other week so could
get all the brackets and and other bits spot welded on





Will hopefully get the boot in over the weekend

[Callum]

Painted both the floors on saturday in epoxy mastic primer, thought it would be easier to do before they are fitted.





Tonight I got the boot floor partly welded in, need to finish off spot welding but at least its sitting in there without clamps.
Feels good to get a big panel fitted, should start coming together a bit more now



Cheers

[Callum]

Finished welding the boot floor, nearly 100 spot welds so I'm glad I bought a spot welder. Did
them a bit close where the bulkhead joins the floor but I would rather have too many than not enough





Next I have got to seam seal inside the sills and then the floor will be ready to go in.

[Callum]

Bad news! Trial fitted the floor tonight and it doesn't fit! Looks like its been crashed into at some point
on the drivers side B pillar so its been pushed in towards the passenger side. You can see it with a straight edge from the rear arch
to the A pillar...on the p/s the B pillar pushed the straight edge out so it can't touch the A pillar,
but on the d/s the B pillar sits about half an inch off the straight edge. Not sure if that makes sense so
took some pictures to show it...





How do I go about repairing this? If I cut the bracing out the B pillars will move independently so I could
just pull the pillar out until it sits over the floor? Or is that not the right thing to do?

Any thoughts?

[Callum]

Been working on getting the floor in for the past couple of weeks. Took longer than expected
because of the damage to the B pillar but everything lines up now so tonight I put a few welds
to hold it, will do all of the spot welding when its the right way up





Will do the arches next so welded a bolt where the damper sits as a reference

[Callum]

Been working on the arch all week, just got it spot welded in tonight. More welding still to do where it meets the quarter then on to the other side. Some pictures...









Cheers

[Callum]

Been working on the passenger arch and rear quater over christmas



When the arch was out I could see how bad the rust was on the quarter, repaired it using a
piece from an old front wing as the profile was pretty much the same.







When that was done the arch could be spot welded in





That's where I'm up to now, its back on the spit so I can make a start on the door steps. Cheers

[Callum]

Got the drivers side door step in tonight, still needs some more spot welds to finish it.







Cheers

[Callum]

Got the door step finished tonight and some more panels got delivered today, will keep me
busy for a while longer

[Callum]

Got the passenger side step tacked in tonight. Took a bit longer to do this side, don't think the pressing was quite as good as the drivers side, it was a bit too narrow.