My original Mini - My Project Log

[joshwa]

Drivers door:


Drivers door - filled at top, rust at top, and bottom of door rusted through.


Spare drivers door (Orange + Pink!?!)


New random orbital sander


Mmmm lovely brown primer...

Sorry about the (lack of) quality of the pics - using a Sony T280i while my C905 is being fixed.

[joshwa]

Drivers door continued... Sanding was taking too long to remove the paint.



More drastic action was needed... So I turned to my friend Nitro Mors...



This is the Delorean impression.



Covered it in Kurust



Then I cleaned it and left it to dry in the garage. I'll need to try and clean off as much as possible from the other side as well to get a smooth finish, then I can kurust the inside as well, and spray with waxoil, then start priming the outside. I also kurusted under the car. When I was inside the car I spotted some rust in the back near the edge of the carpet so I may need to take the carpet out and have a look at the condition - any ideas how carpet is normally stuck in a mini? If I take it out will I need to glue it back in?

Took the mini into a real garage to have a few things looked at: exhaust manifold leaks in the engine bay, battery keeps going flat, and have asked them to look at undersealing under the car.

[joshwa]

Well, a minor update, the door is nearly ready for priming / spraying (been sanding the back) and I've had the exhaust replaced (leak on join from manifold to exhaust, apparently a knackered join filled with sealant), and had a new battery fitted and mine died on a trip and was apparently stuffed. Will post some pics when I start with the primer

[joshwa]

Today I've sanded some more, kurusted the door (inside but mostly outside), sprayed waxoil inside, sanded, tried to remove a dent Father Ted style (but from the inside with a hammer and screwdriver), but will probably still need to fill a bit, and sprayed anti-rust primer on the outside. Pics following on from last time:

Sanding some more:


mmmm shiney:


t'other side:


more sanding:


kurusted (wet):


dried off (looks good in black):


sanded and dent "repair":


then sprayed with anti-rust primer:

[joshwa]

Had a reconditioned alternator fitted as mine wasn't up to the job of charging the battery! Also primered the inside of the door, and will need to sand some more and then primer some more

[jimbouk]

How much of a job is fitting the door going to be? I think mine is dropping on the hinge a bit and it's rubbing on the front edge towards the bottom. I'm currently just ignoring it as it's out of the rain most of the time, but it will need sorting properly at some point.

[joshwa]

I took the Mini to a Mini show last year - July 09: but it's been Sorn since Feb this year

And I've still got the doors to do The only update since last time is that I've sprayed the spare door with red-primer, and it's almost ready for spraying red! (although it's been in this state for months!)

And all the picture now live here: http://picasaweb.google.com/joshwa/Red_mini#

[joshwa]

Fired up the mini today! Checked all fluids, put air in the flat tyre, and with a bit of encouragement (mostly jiggling cables and hitting things) it fired up! Sounded great like cars are supposed to sound Might even take it for an MOT soon!

[ctid]

Looking good! Now get it finished

Time to put some pics up of my project I think. It's mostly pics of fighting the dreaded tin worm though!

[kalniel]

Excellent! Do you do audis?

[Madafwo]

Or Ford Fiesta rear arches

Nice to see some time being taken to do a good job on a Mini, if you ever get out of the cycle of following the rust around the car and get it taxed and tested you planning on doing the London to Brighton?

[joshwa]

LOL

Hardly have time to do mine - so no don't do other cars - although my Mondeo 2001 MK3 might be catching up with the Mini in regards to having more rust on it!

Anyway - here's some pics just to show it's current state as it's slightly updated since the last pics I put on:


Engine - rubber gloves to cover the thing that does the first spark. Newish alternator.


Passenger door - filled - still needs sanding smooth and spraying.


Some polishing done - only had time to do this much! (the grey parts have some polish applied but haven't actually been polished yet)


Red-primered drivers door.

[joshwa]

Tiny update: I've been prepping the door (sanding the primer) and will need to do another coat of primer, and then once that's done I should be able to start spraying the final colour on - pic below:



I've also bought some "Mini lite" alloys from ebay - currently at my parents - they will most likely need a respray - I'm thinking White

[Behemoth]

Thats the trouble with these old cars isn't it ? (and I guess part of the fun) you do one job only to find you have to another.

Will be interested to see the final outcome with the doors completed.

[joshwa]

Mini project continues in slow motion... these are the wheels - they're in much better condition than I expected, and it's mostly just the very edges that have any damage from curbing: may not have to respray after all...



and another pic here:

[joshwa]

Managed to do a little bit more this evening - filled the small dents in the door:



Then started tidying up the insides of the alloy wheels as they were quite bubbly and dirty. The bottom two in this pic have been sanded, and the top two are the before condition:



Carried on okay, until I reached the last wheel, the paint came off in huge 5 inch chunks, and it looks like I may have to refurb / respray the front of the wheels as well