Welding - Where Would You Start?

[cobolman]

It's been a few months since I last posted. In the meantime, I've had my 1960 Mini blasted and primed and it's allowed me to see problems I hadn't seen before as they were hidden under Tetroseal. There's so much going on here that it's hard to know where to begin so, I thought I'd seek advice here.

Below is an image of the underside. To my untrained eye, there are many patches around the NSR wheel arch and some patches around the OSR wheel arch. Some small holes are evident in the boot floor too. What would you do here:
1. New entire boot floor?
2. Patch the areas near the arches (M-Machine have a patch specifically for this) and weld fill the holes in the boot floor?
3. Something else

Going forward, there are patches at the rear of both sills and patches at the front of the floor pan as well as dents where someone has tried to jack the car from the floor pan. What would you do here:
1. Complete new floor pan
2. Sill and part floor pan (M-Machine have a specific patch for this)
3. Something else?

I welcome reading your ideas and opinions

Marty Underside.jpg

[miniminor]

Localised repairs only where needed. That car certainly does not need a full floor pan and it would be a shame to cut out so much originality.

[MiNiKiN]

My credo is: keep as much original metal as possible.

From the photo alone it is difficult to say what the quality of the patch repairs is like. If in doubt - cut them out. ..and replace them properly.
The LH rear subframe mounting definitely shall be renewed, there is quite a lot of rot within the 3 layers of sheet metal. Don't know if you can save the rear valance in that case.

BTW: small pin holes I tend to fill by MIG brazing with CuSi-wire. This method is also great for brazing patches in, as less heat is involved and hence less wrapping of the metal. It is a very common and proven means in car production to MIG or TIG braze.

[mab01uk]

I am currently restoring a 1959 Mini with my brother and we are trying to keep as much original metal as possible doing localised repairs only where needed. Usually cheaper if you are doing most of the restoration work yourself and you do then end up with a more original car with most of its history of survival and a few battle scars still intact. We have even kept a 1970's front passenger footwell repair that had been done well with a small pattern panel, not factory correct but part of its long owner history. Not always possible if things have gone too far or been done badly...or if you are the kind of person who wants better than BMC factory fresh or are out to put mirrors under your Mini at shows and win lots of concours show trophies....

[cobolman]

@minikin

Thank you for the advice on the pinholes. There are a LOT of them in this car, especially:

1. The boot floor (image below)
2. Some sill patches (especially below the companion bins)

I've never heard of MIG Brazing but thanks for the tip - I'll be researching this one heavily.

Pinholes1.jpg

[cobolman]

...or if you are the kind of person who wants better than BMC factory fresh or are out to put mirrors under your Mini at shows and win lots of concours show trophies....

Very much no. I've seen people become completely consumed by concours and that's very much not me.

I hear the many calls here to retain originality and so I'm really glad I asked the question as I'm rethinking my approach to the work.

Thanks for your response. Not just here, but on a number of other questions I've asked in this forum. Much appreciated.

[cobolman]

The LH rear subframe mounting definitely shall be renewed, there is quite a lot of rot within the 3 layers of sheet metal. Don't know if you can save the rear valance in that case.

That sounds like excellent advice to me. Here's a close up of the underside of the RNS of the floor pan, showing the subframe mounts and fuel line holes. I wonder at why there are so many patches, especially when they don't appear to be connected to the wheel arch (when viewed from above):

RNS Floor pan.jpg

[cobolman]

That car certainly does not need a full floor pan and it would be a shame to cut out so much originality.

Thanks for this response. It's guiding me away from new panels and more towards patching where required.

['S'-type]

The LH rear subframe mounting definitely shall be renewed, there is quite a lot of rot within the 3 layers of sheet metal. Don't know if you can save the rear valance in that case.

That sounds like excellent advice to me. Here's a close up of the underside of the RNS of the floor pan, showing the subframe mounts and fuel line holes. I wonder at why there are so many patches, especially when they don't appear to be connected to the wheel arch (when viewed from above):

RNS Floor pan.jpg

I have to say that is not the best, to put it mildly. It can be worse sometimes trying to undo previous bodged repairs, than starting with an untouched car.
That is fairly typical of the kind of patches that might have been done just to get through an MOT test in the bad old days, though that was presumably not the intention here. Covered with load of underseal it would have looked fine!
However, while that MIGHT just be strong enough, it is pretty poor welding, both structurally and cosmetically. Using so many patch plates together is not good practice, I don't know why they have done that. Some after market part panels are a available for that area. There is also a void showing in the picture. Patch by all means but use pre formed panels or try to make up decent fitting ones.
I'm afraid, on that section, it's a case of rip it out and start again.
If you can't do this type of work yourself, it can get expensive to get it done properly. Concourse is kidney selling territory.

[mab01uk]

The LH rear subframe mounting definitely shall be renewed, there is quite a lot of rot within the 3 layers of sheet metal. Don't know if you can save the rear valance in that case.

That sounds like excellent advice to me. Here's a close up of the underside of the RNS of the floor pan, showing the subframe mounts and fuel line holes. I wonder at why there are so many patches, especially when they don't appear to be connected to the wheel arch (when viewed from above):

RNS Floor pan.jpg

Take a look at the Mini-Machine panels catalogue here as they do some useful part panels for doing localised repairs:-
http://preview.m-machine.co.uk/wp-conte ... or-web-pdf


The panels listed below from the M-Machine catalogue (PDF file download) may be useful to replace the patchwork of repairs in your photo.
11.41.00.27 LH Side Repair, Boot Floor, LH
11.41.00.27 RH Side Repair, Boot Floor, RH

[cobolman]

11.41.00.27 LH Side Repair, Boot Floor, LH
11.41.00.27 RH Side Repair, Boot Floor, RH

Yes, I agree. They look perfect