Mini Pick Up Rebuild - Warning - Not for Sensitive Veiwers

[Miniac]

Amazing workmanship as always Rich, keep up the excellent craftsmanship and you'll soon have another show stopper of a car to cruise around in.

[MiniGTS]

I really admire your tenacity and workmanship. Car is looking great

[Richie Rich]

I built a sheetmetal bender to assist in the next step in the build.
Quite happy with the outcome, but needed work as I used it more often I suppose a bit of customization

Started by making templates of the rust affected areas which were shown earlier. 1mm mild steel sheet was purchased and primed before surface rust started.
The rear arches were marked and then cut out, these will be tubbed to allow for better clearance



The rear mudflaps were also removed due to rust and some brass brazing from previous repairs



An area of the tray was marked and cut off, a new panel was bent and welded in









The section under the tail light was badly repaired and rusted. Marked and cut out this section, later cutting out more to make a better repair



A new panel was measured and cut, welded to a new base and then welded into place and primed





With access a bit easier, new rear subframe mounts were made and welded inside the rear crossmember





In the below picture, you can see the wheelarch removed and ready for tubbing.



Mocking up a couple panels to start making the new mudflaps and wheel arches





Will keep you posted as soon as I manage to get back in the garage

[Leykor]

Always an inspiration seeing the work you do. Keep it up!

Please show us this sheet metal bender , I bought some angle iron a few months ago with the same intention but never got down to it.

[Jared Mk3]

Great work as always

[DomMINIque]

Rich how did you decide where to start?

[Richie Rich]

Now that's a good question, and I don't know the right answer but my thinking on this project was
1.) Floor - Provides strength throughout and keeps the car together and straight.
2.) Front - The least amount of work
3.) Rear - Biggest panels that needed replacement

The only problem, and am sure most will agree, the mini is very well assembled and some seams have 3 body panels meeting together to be welded, and a lot of hidden structural boxing etc. The down side is that once you start cutting, its not just the panel you want to remove, but a lot more hidden away.

The downside with this particular build is the various repairs before, it has had brass brazing previously. You have to cut it out before you can even start thinking about welding, hence the numerous new panels.

I will be cutting the rear panel out again as I am not happy with the fitment, so 1 step forward and a couple backwards.

[Jared Mk3]

Check out this Pickup project on TMF if you ever need inspiration with this : CLICKY 

[Richie Rich]

So I decided to take a bit of time off from the build, and deal with some other issues that had come up. After the break, had a bit of a think and now I am ready to focus on the build again.

First job was to tackle the rear panel. I had bent up a section of 0.9mm sheet and transferred a template to create the new panel. Due to the curves, body lines and the tubbed rear arches, it didn't work out to easy. The lower of the panel has the body seam, and the front has the door jam area which all adds up to an intricate panel to recreate, however, a new panel landed is over R 7000.00. So, I did my best.

The view from the rear quarter


The tubbed arches




The door jam




The top seam and some rust repairs




Threw on some etch primer to hold back the rust






The welds did clean up nicely, and with a neat skim of body filler will be good and smooth.

Need to seam weld around the arches to complete the panel, but I am very happy with the result.

There are 2 repairs under the bin to complete, the templates are made, just need to duplicate in steel and fit. Then its over to the passenger side. Still deciding whether a full rear panel is required or if patches will suffice. Will keep you posted with the progress.

[Miniac]

Looking good as always Rich, your workmanship is something to be admired