My first mini disaster: Project BondoRocket

[Merlin]

Last year I purchased a mini from a guy in OKC. I knew that it was not a wise purchase at the time, but I had been looking for one for so long that I impulse bought the car. Needles to say, I was right on...



The first thing I realized once it was home was that the car smoked quite a bit. The gauges did not work at all and the front valance was so caked in bondo that the blinker mounts were nearly smooth flat.

The last straw was when the fog lights were wired incorrectly and the wiring harness burned the insulation clean off of a ground wire.



So, time for a project. First rule of a project car is to define clearly what you expect from the car and how you plan to get there.
I want a car that appears classic and stock on the outside, but performs incredibly well in the corners and can out perform a stock corvette in the quarter.

The Teardown:
I was hopeful that the bondo and bad paint would imply poor but managed rust. It turns out that the bondo and bad paint ment that the car was a previous race car with roll cage. Under the rear wheel well covers was extra padding to conceal the dents created by a bolt-in roll cage. The dents imply a wreck. most of the panels have signifigant dents and the floor was patched and replaced. There are rivet fittings screed in the floor and the door stops are destroyed.

Quite a few of the interior parts were trashed or mutilated. The dash pad was drilled and screwed in multiple places. The three gauge cluster was cut and stretched and trashed. Wiring behind the gauge cluster was in fact a cluster-fuck.

A hole in the firewall was cut to clear a Weber carb and the engine was replaced with a Austin America engine with no change to the gearing. The car barely managed more than 65.












Look at all of the holes drilled in the boot lid for plates.


Old vs New gauge cluster











Step 1: Suspension Repair
The front subframe required the front lip to be replaced as it was used to mount a sump shield. It was dented as well as had a few holes in it. A little plate was cut and welded in its place. quite a bit of hammering was required as well to get all of the dents out of the rest of the subframe. The frame was also seam welded and powder coated with zinc and black.







I also started powdercoating all of the suspension parts as needed.

[Willie_B]

You have jumped right into the deep end. But you picked a good site join. My mini has been a 10+ year rolling project. You seem to getting the work done quick so you might be back on the road soon. Good luck.

[Mudhen]

4.gif

Welcome aboard!

[sparetimetoys]

Looks like a nice project. Thanks for posting the photos so we can follow along with your adventure.

[MtyMous]

I will enjoy this thread.

[94touring]

I seem to recall seeing it for sale.  Nice job on the sub frame!

[Merlin]

Thanks on the subframe Dan. BTW we met a few months ago when I bought the brake booster from you.

I am waiting on a few parts from minispares to finish up the front end, and waiting on the right attitude to finish the rear subframe. I did decided to clean a few parts and cut the front of the mini off. For the record... sawzall over oxy...

Front brake connector needed a little cleaning, so vinegar was used to clean it.



Here is the mini before...

And after...




I think that this was repaired before. I will clean it back to make sure that it is a good repair.

[Mudhen]

Don't leave your car sitting on a ladder like that...it WILL fall off.  Don't ask me how I know... 50.gif  (jk)

Tell us the truth - are you currently working this project or are these file photos...if current - you're busting it out!  I'll take notes.   77.gif

[94touring]

Oh hey, yes I remember you and you talking about this car!   If you need panels swing on by!

[Merlin]

Yea, Imma need quite a few panels... I want to do a flip front with removable hood, but I am debating between carbon fiber or steel. The carbon fiber will shed a few pounds and shove the weight distribution back a bit, but the steel is easy to fit and weld on...

Also, anyone have an A+ 1275 stashed away for sale?

[94touring]

A steel front end is pretty light as is.  I've considered doing fibre glass doors since those tend to be where the most weight can be shaved in one shot.

[sparetimetoys]

Here is a link to a 1275 I was going to get but then the parts car came up. It's only $400 with trans!

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/pts/4482543683.html

[Merlin]

So a little of what I did tonight.

I had shaved and powdercoated my rear arms before, but had not cleaned the grease out properly. It caused some issues, so I stuffed them into our vat at work and shot  them again.



I also started the process of pulling the sheet metal away from the front. There was quite a bit of solder or something to fill in rust gaps. Lots of  bondo as well. Spot welds are sporadic in location which implies that the front has been repaired previously. Burned most of it out with the rosebud. managed to get most if it cleaned off.



Bondo was pushed into the blocking plate. At least a 16th inch thick.


MMMMmm more bondo


bronze solder? used to fill in poor fitting gaps. Had to burn most of it out.


And the other side as well


I have quite a bit of rust between the seams of all of the bodies.  Not sure how to go around cleaning that all up.

[MtyMous]

Love the progress. But I seriously don't miss this stage of my build now that it's over. haha

[Merlin]

This is the fun part! What is more fun than destruction of your favourite toys!

So I decided that it was time to add some new lighting in the garage as well as move some of the motorcycles around and reorganize all of the mini parts. While outside, I took a few pics of the body.

My rear quarter. This will get cut out and replaced. The rear will get flushed.


Left front windshield.  This looks like shit. I am going to cut this out completely and start again. I am not sure if this is even the correct shape.


My seams. They all look like this.  Not sure how to fix these. Any ideas?




More body filler. Wire wheel and blasting will get rid of this.


Right windscreen. This will also get cut and replaced as the panel gap was 3/16". Massive hole as well.


You can see the bronze solder as well as more of the panel holes

[Merlin]

Tonight's progress.
I finished the front suspension on the mini, minus the brake cross over pipe. I had the old one, but it was covered in overspray and was not quite up to my standards. Ill bend another one that will tuck in a bit more. I was concerned that the mamba wheels might rub but they clear just fine.











Once the front suspension was as far as I could go, I decided to tear the metal off of the front again. I found nothing but more bondo.


It wasn't long before I found this little gem... Decided to go ahead and call it a night after finding this massive hole and the huge chunk of bondo.





Should have the rear radius arms complete and Ill start on the back suspension soon.

[Mudhen]

:-\

Suspension looks gorgeous!

[Jims5543]

I am so humbled by these builds, I really wish I had time to do something like this. And the space.....

[94touring]

I like the goop patched hole  :-[

[MtyMous]

Which brake setup are you running?

[MPlayle]

That front subframe looks fantastic!  Although, the shock mounts look to be reversed?  Don't they face the steering arm side (rear) instead of the caliper side (front)?

[Merlin]

Time is always tricky. Sometimes you just have to make time. Space is something that just can't be created. I am fortunate enough to have two garage bays to dedicate to screwing with toys.

The brake setup is the Minispares 4 pot setup. I recommend it as it comes with all of the hardware for the swap. Specialist Components came out with a monoblock setup a few weeks ago, but I bought this last Christmas and probably couldn't afford the SC calipers anyway. http://minispares.com/product/Classic/Brakes/Front/C-AJJ4028A.aspx?0401&ReturnUrl=/search/classic/4%20pot%20calipers.aspx|Back%20to%20search

I got the shock mount position  from the rebuild manual. It  may be backwards, but I did look at the orientation in regards to the shock placement on the car. I may be wrong, but Ill worry about that later as the front frame is now in storage and there are still a few things that need to be completed anyway before it gets bolted in the completed car.

[MtyMous]

Shock mounts look correct to me. Mine face forward.

[MPlayle]

It is just my mental mistake.   :-[  It was so shiny it caught my attention and I was having trouble visualizing the orientation in relation to the upper shock mount on the body.

[Merlin]

Got the mini an appointment for the spa. Blasting specialties will be taking her on Aug 4th for a little plastic facial. They tell me that the plastic will tear off paint, bondo and stone-chip. It wont take rust away, which is fine with me as it will leave enough car behind for me to see what the hell is actually rusted instead of ending up with a roof and window pillars...

In the meantime, I ordered pedals from DSN Classics and am refinishing the clutch and brake quadrant. Somehow that damm thing is bent as well.