rebuilding my son's 1962 Mini

Started by MEhinger, July 21, 2010, 12:41:23 PM

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MEhinger

Well, it started one day last winter. He was moving and living in an apartment while looking to builld a house. The mini was living outside. So he asked me to take it back for a while so it would be protected. And while I had it could we replace the radio.

This is a 62 mini I built from pieces and gave to him when he started to drive. He drove it through high school, but rolled it after his senior year. It was quite a mess but I pulled it back to shape and painted it it 1999. He limped it through the college years gradually making improvements. The ensuing years saw it upgraded to a 1275, rod change along with "S" brakes, new interior, etc. It eventually got to be a pretty nice, and reliable car but the engine was a bit tired. So after a while waiting to do the radio and for the house to be finished he said why don't we rebuild the engine. So he helped me take out the engine and get it ready for machine work.

While the machine work was in progress, he suggested that while the engine was out, why don't we paint it.

Gulp, it looked OK before but with the accident and all, there is quite a bit of paint, and I did the fixing after the rollover in a bit of a hurry as I was up to my ears in work and getting ready to go overseas for a while. So repainting it was going to be a bit of a project and we decided to just go the full route and have it blasted. Well when it came back all cleaned up, I was surprised that the work I did to straighten it so many years ago wasn't all that bad, but there was a lot of room for improvement. So it became a full body rebuild.

Now if I can figure out how to post pictures........

MEhinger



If this gets attached, it is a picture of progress after the rollover. The roof was flattend down  and this was the shot of the hook-up that helped pull it back to shape.

MEhinger

#2
Well, that worked. here is another.



Everything was straightened. No panels were replaced.

And this is "after", as recent as the Mini50 a year ago (with two of its close relatives)


MEhinger

#3
And the strip down and repair begins. This was a little tweaking of the driver's side door fram wich got bent in the rollover and just wasn't "quite right" after.



eventually down to the bare shell.



and off to the blaster





94touring

Mike looks like you figured out how to link photos.  If you need to attach when posting, click additional options and you'll see where to upload. 

Now how exactly were you straightening the bent panels?  Maybe I can save one of my wings afterall.   

macmanron

Keep the pics and progress info coming, I could look at this all day! Very cool, as I saw this car at the mini50. Mike, are you planning for the mini51?
1966 Austin Cooper S,1965 Morris Mini Minor Traveller, 1965 Triumph TR4A, 1965 Triumph Spitfire(project)

MEhinger

#6
Dan, straightening sometimes starts with a pull of some sort but always finishes with some tedious hammer and dolly work.

Ron, this one should be done by the Mini51 and we will be there. I was hoping to have my daughter's car rebuilt by then as well but it is looking doubtful.

MEhinger

I don't have a picture as it came back from the blaster. It turneod out better than I thought. I was a little worried about what i might have covered up when I fixed it in a hurry after the rollover. It wasn't as bad as I thought it migh be, but it has required a lot of hammer and dolly wor to get it like I want with minimal bondo finishing. It does have spots all over so it is takling a lot of finishing time. Here are a couple pictures at the start. Two of the heavily damaged ares from the rollover were the right a front and rear corners and they required some more work.






94touring

Looks like a pretty rock solid shell. 

MEhinger

#9
We had a pretty good weekend of work. It is now on the rotisserie and we got a lot of sanding done. We found the first rust. A small spot on the rear valence which I hope to fix tonight and straightening the valences is tedious. We don't want to replace panels so a lot of "tapping" is always in order. More pictures are coming. But we had to have a inspirational moment so we finished and painted the boot lid. It was still quite a mess from the rollover. Did a lot of panel beating  1.gif and even standing on it to get the original shape back.


94touring

Looks great, what color is that?

MEhinger

Dan, it is a 2010 Ford Mustang color called Grabber Blue. It is a 70's retro color that is solid with no metallic. The code is CI.

The car is on the rotisserie. Tonight was smoothing the rear valence. Still have to weld up the rust on the right end which is the only rust on the car. And tonight I fiddled with the left side door opening which was really crushed in the rollover. I think I have to do a little more jacking which will probably also be part of the activities tomorrow. But getting close to doing the final sanding before complete paint. I'll start with the bottom. Maybe this weekend.


MiniGene

Looking great!  I haven't touched my Mini in nearly a year.  I kind of got burnt out and needed a break.  This summer I've been biking a lot but I feel the mini bug building up again.  Seeing stuff like this gets me excited about my project again.  Keep up the good work and keep the pics coming.

MEhinger

#13
MiniGene, I can understand getting stalled. Get out and get going! You can see a van in the background that has been stalled for abot 15 years. It does take a little prodding to get us moving. As Macmanron hints, the push here in the CMU Mini51 in Erwin Tennessee this October. The Mini50 in Townsend in April 2009 was such a great success I can't miss the 51, hopefully with at least 3 of my minis. I had hoped to have my Daughter's car rebuilt for it as well but that goal may be slipping. This is from the Mini50 with the three of us. Macmanron actually took that picture (Thanks Ron). And I will follow up with another progress picture tonight.


azbornmini

A friend of mine did some body work on a roll over Mini last year.  He made a tool to pull the drip edge out.  Seemed to work pretty good.




MEhinger

#15
Azbornmini, nice pictures. I appreciate what you are doing. What are you hooked to? Is it just the door frame or is it reinforced somehow? Nice fixtures to hold on. I could use some of those.

Here are some pictures of tonight's progress. I didn't have as much time as I hoped but I did get the rust in the valennce fixed. I apologize. I won't usually bore you with this level of detail. But I wanted to say that I am really old school and I really admire you guys that are so good with MIG. I haven't mastered it yet. I have always done my work with oxy-acetylene. I did this patch with that technology because that is what I have always done. I have even patched rust in big American car hoods that way. I will keep trying to learn MIG but this is what I did tonight with the old school technology.

The rust cut out.



and with the oxy-actylene patch welded in,



and with a first coat of bondo skim.



on to tomorrow's progress

94touring

Just curious how long it takes to use oxy acetlene on something that size?  Never tried that before. 

MEhinger


94touring

I can see how that would be useful in certain situations, I'll have to consider that method.  Do you think you'd run into issues with it warping flat panels?

94touring

OH also meant to ask if your boot lid is BC/CC, and if so how did you think it sprayed vs what you were use to?

MEhinger

Dan,

It sure can lead to problems when gas welding a flat panel. I have worked on that for many years and can do it pretty well. But that is also why I am trying to learn MIG and have invested in a panel spot welder because i don't get as much practice as I used to.

On the issue of BC/CC, I withhold judgement. It worked really well on the boot lid. I could lay down the paint and I provbably used too much of teh base coat. This weekend I hope to get to doing the bottom and inside. It will be a little more difficult to have good access to all the spots in those areas for even coverage. But I think I like the BC/CC.

MD-IN-UK

Quote from: MEhinger on July 30, 2010, 07:31:09 AM
Dan,

It sure can lead to problems when gas welding a flat panel. I have worked on that for many years and can do it pretty well. But that is also why I am trying to learn MIG and have invested in a panel spot welder because i don't get as much practice as I used to.

On the issue of BC/CC, I withhold judgement. It worked really well on the boot lid. I could lay down the paint and I provbably used too much of teh base coat. This weekend I hope to get to doing the bottom and inside. It will be a little more difficult to have good access to all the spots in those areas for even coverage. But I think I like the BC/CC.

I told you I'd look this up at that other website. So far your repair/refinish Mini looks to be going well. I said it before and I'll say it here also, if your painting a car complete like this, don't waste good money on painted areas no one will see. Use the lower priced products in those areas, and save the good stuff for the areas it will be most appriciated. If it's covered with carpet and other products, that's more than enough protection from the elements.


Your Mini and your choice of color is awesome.
THE BITTERNESS OF POOR QUALITY REMAINS LONG AFTER THE SWEETNESS OF LOW PRICE IS FORGOTTEN

MEhinger

#22
MD, I now agree with you. But this time I already had the paint and went the way of good paint everywhere. As you say, It is not worth it for the inside. I have been told the BC/CC is more durable against typical fluids so I would still try to use in the the engine compartment. But I agree with you for the rest of the "hidden places". Thanks for the advice. Here is where I am after the weekend.




94touring

Great pictures.  Looks like you're moving right along and will have the whole thing done in no time. 

MEhinger