1330 Aspirations

[Jared Mk3]

Use a heat gun on that floor - it gets all that crap off quick and easily. Quick progress too

[Quinny1293]

nice progress there! Body looks in good condition considering the age

[Grant]

Five months on and I’ve got a couple of updates to post. I just got the body back from the shop this past weekend so excitement levels are high to get the project moving along again.

Body getting sanded down: 

   
   
   
   

There were loads of layers of paint to get through so now that they are gone the mini should be even faster when I get her back on the road.
I must be honest I was also expecting some nasty surprises under the paint but was pleasantly surprised when there weren’t any. The only metal work that needed to be done was a new battery box which was pretty badly rusted through.

Primed and ready for paint:

   
   
   

First coat:

   
   
   

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Final coat and an initial polishing:

   
   
   

I opted for a traditional almond green with old English white roof. From what I can tell so far the paint shop really did a great job - the pics don’t do it justice, but maybe I’m a bit biased. 

I was expecting the job to take at least 6 months or more so when the shop said they would have it out in three I had big doubts but they did it – I dropped it off end of August and it was finished end of November. I dragged my feet in picking it up because I knew I would have time to get anything done over December.

Back where it belongs (for now) – at my folks house where it can sit under cover and where I have some space to work:

   

[Jared Mk3]

Stunning choice in colour!

[minitim]

Looking fantastic. What's your plans for the finish of the wheel wells and undercarriage?

[Vinay-RS]

WOW! That colour is gorgeous! Stunning, absolutely stunning!

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Given the Cooper style body colour, it would be sweet if you made your car into a Mk3 S replica

[Sooper]

wow thats some great body work there, this car is going to look amazing

[Grant]

Thanks guys.

The undercarriage and wells were sprayed with a rubberzied application by the bodyshop - I can't remember the name of what they said it was offhand.

[Miniac]

That looks superb

[Grant]

Another quick 4 months has flown by and I’ve made some progress.

Subframes before …

   

Subframes after sandblasting and red oxide primer

   

Painting in my makeshift spray booth

   
   

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Many coats and many days later …

   
   

After a fair amount of umming, ahhing and researching I opted for smooth black Hammerite out of aerosol cans. So far I am pretty happy with the finish but application wasn’t the greatest having to leave a day in between coats for the paint to dry completely. In all I did 4 coats using 9 x 400ml cans.

Since painting the subframes I have started using Rustoleum for some smaller parts like brackets, control arms, etc. It dries very quickly and the finish looks good but I’m not sure how hardiness compares to the Hammerite.

The only thing I would have done differently with the subframes is I would not have had them painted in red oxide after the sandblasting. The advantage is you buy yourself some time to get painting before the bare metal starts rusting but the disadvantage is that if you scratch through the black paint layer the red oxide stands out like a sore thumb. In hindsight I would have planned my collection of the subframes from the sandblaster so that I could paint straight away and would have used some kind of a black primer.