Lone Star Mini Restoration

[MiniDave]

In my many boxes of odd tools I found a drift with a shoulder on it that just fits those bearings perfectly, but I use the press to push them out instead of a hammer like before. Still have to ream the bushing of course. Dan did you have a look at the bronze bushing he made for the reamer setup? Fits perfectly.....of course the plastic one worked just fine too........

[94touring]

Yeah those bronze bushes look slick!

You don't have an issue of pushing the old bearings into the arm cavity? 

[Lone Star Mini]

Dan,  while it may be some time away, I would like to hire your services for the rear arms and other things as I learn no doubt.  With that said, I'm trying to learn myself, therefore is the refurb of the rear arms a day job?   If you permit,I would prefer to deliver the arms in person and learn how to do what you will be doing. Even if I never do the job myself, I will at least learn the process along with correct nomenclature.   With that said, I will need to know how clean and whether or not I should do the refinishing ahead of time

[94touring]

Yeah bring them on up.  Doesn't take long to do them.  I have a parts washer if you need to scrub them here. Best to paint afterwards as they may get beat up when I clamp them down.

[Lone Star Mini]

Great. I will have to check back and schedule something when you have time available.  Of course I will have to schedule with my wife and girls

[Lone Star Mini]

I was making good progress removing rust until my grinder quit on me.  Perhaps I was removing too much material, but it sure was doing a great job removing the rust and paint.  There was a section in the middle that looked like bondo, glue or some filler.  I know I should probably spray the bare metal with something to help prevent the surface rust from creeping back in, but I'm not sure what and I don't have anything at the moment.  Then too, there are little pits of rust that the grinder could not reach w/o taking too much metal off.  All in all, the bare steel looks nice compared to the dirty painted rust areas.  When the grinder quit, I diverted my attention to the dang headlight bowls.  Those suckers are rust in way too tightly.  Rather than bust a third screw driver tip, I elected to cut the heads of the screws off.  I then popped the bowl out from the inside.  By cutting the screw length off on the inside of the wheel well, I manage to get one screw out w/o much of a problem.  The other would simply not budge.  I'm now down to drying to drill the bloody things out.  When I get new bowls, I'm curious to know if I can use a nut on the inside or perhaps tap the hole to a large hole size.. All I know now is that it's going to be a pain in the butt to drill those screws out.. darn it all..   

I did video a couple minutes of how easy the rust came off...which can be seen here.    https://vimeo.com/236010589

[Lone Star Mini]

Anybody.. please tell me if that form of rust removal is too aggressive.  At points you can see sparks flying..  Thankfully, the engine bay itself was not horribly greasy.  It is as you see it there.. dry rust.  Now the components (steering rack, suspension arms, etc.. ) are very much greasy and grimy. 

[MiniDave]

I would take it and have it wet sand blasted or soda blasted.....if you don't get the rust out of all those pits it will continue to eat the metal.

[Lone Star Mini]

I would take it and have it wet sand blasted or soda blasted

I think there is a place fairly close..  will this get the rust in all the pits?  Any risk with the Mini skins being too thin in warping anything?

[Nicholasupton]

if you are going to keep stripping yourself, get some OSPHO and a scotchbright to wash the area after you strip it. it will remove the rust from the pits and leave you with a surface that is ready for epoxy primer, or can sit without rusting for about 2 weeks depending on humidity. (I can get away with over a month in the summer here in california)

[Lone Star Mini]

if you are going to keep stripping yourself, get some OSPHO and a scotchbright to wash the area after you strip it. it will remove the rust from the pits and leave you with a surface that is ready for epoxy primer, or can sit without rusting for about 2 weeks depending on humidity. (I can get away with over a month in the summer here in california)

thanks Nicholas..   I will google this OSPHO and I have some scotchbright medium grit (purplish color)

[Willie_B]

When you put the headlight buckets back in use "speednuts".

[Lone Star Mini]

When you put the headlight buckets back in use "speednuts".

I like the thought of that, but since it would need to slide/clip over the lip the body shell, this would make the bowl stand-off the body by the thickness of the clip.  Maybe that isn't bad, but I'm wondering if the headlight bezel would cover it.

[94touring]

"Metal prep" at the hardware store is a phosphoric acid like Nick mentioned.  It's a blue color.  Grinding and sparks are just part of a restore.

[Lone Star Mini]

Thanks Dan.  I will look today or this weekend

[94touring]

Here's a thread where I learn the best method for me using acid and a wet blaster. Pics of the acid included.

http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=988.25

[Lone Star Mini]

Dan,  thanks. Concerning your wet blast thread, I was doing good until the very last post.   Did I understand your comment correctly in that you only used water (no sand) on the doors only to be followed up with the Hold Tight?  Or is sand still required?

Scratch that.. multi tasking here at work and reading you post introduced fictional elements....confusion cleared

[94touring]

Sand required.  Water optional.  I mainly do it this way because it's dustless and produces no heat. Still messy though.  Plus I have a sweet pressure washer to wash my cars and shop with.  I suppose if anyone is so inclined they could buy the sand and rent my pressure washer and have at it. I personally don't like doing it, but it's a requirement on some jobs.

[MiniDave]

It does make a mess, but it also gives the metal a good clean tooth to apply new prier and paint over, and you can really see what needs to be done to straighten it out. Lot of work tho.....

When I blasted my old Jag I had it pretty well balanced on the rotisserie so once it was done I could literally spin the car to throw out all the sand, even out of the nooks and crannies.....

[94touring]

On a mini the sand accumulates in the rear bins, which feed intp the cills.  Also gets under the cross member and in the roof gutter.  Takes some time with a hose to wash it all out.

[gr8kornholio]

Well now I know what I have to look forward too.  Hope it's warm on that day.  LOL.

[94touring]

I have rain gear, rubber boots, and a face shield!

[Lone Star Mini]

Today was spent mostly working with the steel rotisserie support beams.  I decided to make the support beams so they could be disassembled after use.  Therefore it required angle iron and more work.  Managed to drill all holes and assemble everything.   I even managed to fit check both front and rear attachments.  Made a couple trips to Home Depot because I either forgot something or got the wrong size bolts (length).  To end my Mini work for the day, I temporarily attached the rotisserie to the shell and lifted it up off the dolly.  All seems okay, but tomorrow will be my true test.  I still have to remove the support beams and finish them up so they don't look so rough, but tomorrow will start with trying to figure out the rotisserie.  It's not exactly user-friendly, but I'll figure it out.

[MiniDave]

I don't know that it's needed but all the rotisseries I've used had a connecting beam between the two ends under the car.

[Lone Star Mini]

Hey Dave,  thanksand I do have the lower attachment bar. This was more of a check fit than actual use. I need to take it all apart and clean up the spotty metal work.  Plus I need two more 3 1/2" bolts before I test spin. I will use the lower attachment when I put it together for final use.  I've been out there tweaking it and I believe I have all the numbers figured out for my test tomorrow.   It was a tricky balance getting both front and back units at the same height for proper rotation.