Postby marc2131 » 29 Sep 2015, 13:59
Firstly thanks for Simon, Geoff, Jo and Christian for your advice. This has been an old project (10 years) which I have been wanting to tackle but was hampered due to lack of time and money. Feel rather sentimental about this car. Is my first ever car, brought 2 of my 3 kids back from the hospital in it, done loads of intra state travel. The car has lots of good memories.
Christian, the A-pillar rust hole is a bit of a worry for me. The A-pillar holds up the driver side door. Personally I think the welding of a new piece of metal in that area should be okay. I've already checked the surrounding areas and there is no filler or rust. However if I wanted to play it safe, I'd get an entire new A-pillar and weld that on. The only problem is getting the parts to fit - new panel to old body.
My Mini is a bit like your Renault, Christian. The body numbers and engine numbers don't match. So I doubt if this will ever make a good concours car show competitor. Previous owners have also made some modifications (which actually make it work better) like installing boosted Cooper S disc brakes and a twin fuel tank. So while I would love the car to look like a million bucks, I am not too bothered if it doesn't too. Nothing a millimetre of silicone surface filler can't hide.
I am not too worried about the aesthetics of the weld in the footwell rust hole. This area is covered up with carpet anyway. At the moment I am thinking of a good quality tack weld job here. I've got most of the dolly hammers.
My only problem is the welding equipment. I own a 40litre air compressor which I believe can handle basic jobs.
Still very much in the early stages of planning for this basic restoration.
Last edited by
marc2131 on 30 Sep 2015, 11:34, edited 1 time in total.