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1981 Mini City 1000

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ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

This was heavily corroded on both sides so needs repairs to the underside of the gutter and the roof panel

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No corrosion on the inside which is good

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Starting to remove the spot welds

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Patch panel made from the donor roof

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Almost welded in place. Really happy with the finish

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Billy
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by Billy »

So you should be
ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Thanks Billy.

The next two repairs are now lined up. The right-hand side is the upper side of the previous repair.

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ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Working through the other repairs on the roof. It's slow progress and tedious. Had to do two additional cuts to relieve stress on the joint after I did the first couple of tack welds.

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colinf1
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by colinf1 »

I don't know how your welding in this heat, I had to help make some jigs at work so had to have welding PPE on, literally only 15mins and was sweltering!

Looks like your almost there with the roof repairs! Keep it up!
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ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Wasn’t too bad temp wise Colin. The stone walls on the garage keep it cooler.

What do people feel about lead loading vs body filler for smoothing out over the welding? Is it worth the extra effort for the lead loading? Or epoxy prime first and body fill over?
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woody
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by woody »

My painter reckons modern fillers are as good as lead
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ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Yes woody, it certainly seems the consensus out there. Found a decent review of all the good fillers out there - https://everydayshowcar.com/best-car-body-filler/
ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

I am back from holidays and time to tackle the damaged area above the passenger door

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I have cut a section from the donor roof, however, the leading edge of the donor section needs replacing.

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I have cut out the corroded area from the donor section

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Difficult weld to do and get right as it will be very visible on the car once completed.

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Hopefully, I kept the original shape. Next is to cut out the damaged section on the car and offer it up.
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colinf1
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by colinf1 »

Good work Conor, nice weather to come back from holidays, nice weather to be in the garage making progress!
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ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Thanks Colin.

My brother is driving over from the UK in a couple of weeks so I jumped at the opportunity to pick up some bits and pieces including both passenger and driver floor quarter panels from M-Machine and some new stainless steel bumpers.
ctwomey
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Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

It's time to cut out the damaged gutter from the roof. My approach is to cut across the door opening as it is the shortest path for the butt weld. The rest is all spot welded.

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Initial cut is to just leave the spot weld faces to grind down.

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I cleaned up the roof panel edge.

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The edge of the roof panel has a good bit of pitting here so I will need to fix this before welding in my patch panel.

Image
ctwomey
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Posts: 314
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Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
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What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Haven't been in the garage for a good few weeks. Lots of other commitments took priority.

Various stages of tack welding. I didn't weld the ends until the end because I didn't want the expansion and contraction of the patch to warp the roof.

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Controlling the penetration of the welds from the other side

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Blended the welding into the roof. The tag on the lip is to help to pull the edge of the roof to the edge of the rain gutter

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The roof lip cleaned up nicely

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Sizing up the door frame and gutter to the underside of the roof

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colinf1
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by colinf1 »

That's a tidy looking repair, should be fairly invisible once it's welded and dressed down...plenty of zinc primer too, should hold back the rust for a few weeks...😅

Good to see you back at it!
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ctwomey
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Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Carrying on from my previous post, tack welded in place

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Grinding down the welds, it should require very little filler

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All finished inside the door frame

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Before and ...

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After

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and the door still fits in the frame which is a bonus
ctwomey
NON Member
Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

I have started work on the driver-side rain channel. This will be repaired from underneath.

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Remove the existing corner to make way for the patch panel. The lip on the roof panel will need some repair but the rest is solid metal.

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The patch from the donor roof has been cleaned up. I have a small patch weld in to finish it off. I still have some fettling to get it to fit.

Image
ctwomey
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Posts: 314
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Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

I cut out the rotten lip of the roof panel

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I always leave extra metal so it dissipates the heat better

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Tacking it in place

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Follow up with welding the pinholes between the tacks

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Good penetration through to the other side of the roof panel

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Finished up the underside and will spray it with zinc primer in prep for adding the patch panel I created in the previous post
ctwomey
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Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Here is the finished underside

Image
ctwomey
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Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
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What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Patch panel is tacked in place

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Ground down the first round of tacks so I can get to the gaps in between

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All cleaned up and spot welds completed against the existing panels

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Spray of etch primer to keep it rust-free until I get around to epoxying it

Image
ctwomey
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Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Sizing up the patch panel for the rear passenger roof corner

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Initial cut of the corner

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The lip of the existing roof is very badly corroded in this corner

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colinf1
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by colinf1 »

Thats a brave repair! I'd say yor were quite nervous doing that cut!
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ctwomey
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

colinf1 wrote: Wed Oct 04, 2023 11:01 am Thats a brave repair! I'd say yor were quite nervous doing that cut!
Oh yes. The challenge will be grinding out the old corroded lip. At least in the corners you can get behind the roof panel and do a little bit of pushing. Also, the corners tend to hold their shape when welding compared with flap pieces. Fingers crossed.
ctwomey
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Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

Repairing this corner of the passenger side rear quarter has proven tricky. It took hours just to get this patch to fit and align properly.

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It welded in nicely but where it joins the spot welded seams I don't have a tool to grind down the corner. I will need to buy a small barrel-shaped carbide head to get in there.

Image
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woody
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Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by woody »

Looks good. The seam cover will cover most of that weld
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ctwomey
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Posts: 314
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2019 9:44 am
Whats your location?: Ballybrittas, Co. Laois
Region: Eastern
What Minis have you?: I owned a 1978 Mini 850 when I was in my late teens. I owned a 1986 Mini Chelsea that I imported from the UK. Also owned a 1982 MG Metro that was bored out to 1293. Restoring a 1981 Dublin Mini City.
Contact:

Re: 1981 Mini City 1000

Post by ctwomey »

woody wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 1:13 pm Looks good. The seam cover will cover most of that weld
Agree, just need to blend it a small bit. I have an off-cut for the seam cover from another mini and I just need to create a radius in that corner.
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