The Mistress rebuild - March 2009 >>> Present

Well... it's definately been a while since I posted an update...
ha, it's been a while since I did anything...

So..
I sent my unfinished shell to Dirk (minirenegades old member for those that don't know him) and he finished off doing the welding work I was never getting round to.. and then painted it too

I got some piccies of his work from him last weds and here they are:



The last few 'holes' i found before 'giving up again!'...








Repairs to the rear corners...




























Seat achorage points damaged in accident...






Bonnet 'slimming' and modifying to Mk2'ish spec...




















A-panels on...








Front all tidied up...




Bit more prep and smoothing...














Roof painted...




Prepping back for paint...












Freshly painted in Yukon Grey...










Back painted and car turned around for painting the front...








Not long now...
(arranged to pick up completed shell on weds 21st...)

Just got nice little wageslip from the 177hrs O/T last month too... time to start buying bits to repair/replace rest of car now lol

I must say that looks pretty nifty ....... Dirk should change his name to Divinci .....

Can't wait to see it in the flesh ............... slim

Looking very good! Lots of hard work going into this one! Nice wheels and paint colour.

Are you going for a MK 2 look? With lights, over riders etc?

Have you used 2K paint? Just wondering how to do mine.

I want my project "Phoenix" to be a similar to this. I was going for tweed grey myself. Proper old school looks.

Please don't spoil it by putting wheel arches on it.....

Sorry mate - have to have arches - wont look the same but at least they'll cover the 10x6's (not the 10x5's in the pics...)

It's generally gonna be the same as it was before, just grey...

Mk2 back lights, mk1 boot lid, mk1 grill with moustache, twin filler necks, overriders (but no corner bars as 4 spots are too wide..(unless I can modify them))

Dirk likes 2k paint, so yes.

The arches will spoil it. Why not use the wheels on it now? I also think putting spotlights on will spoil it. Why I not use the halogen replacements but no spots

Thats my opinion, please don't be offended.

The Mini will be great when finished.....

i like they grey theme too...

No offence taken mate

The wheels on it now are fubar'd (also, i like em wide and small lol - got 3 sets of 10x6's!!)

As you can tell from Nicola, I prefer the modded theme to classic looks - tried to get the classic looks with the colour and some of the trim, then take it more modern with certain 'features' (more details to be forthcoming lol...)

Looking forward to seeing her "back on the road " Dale

Got some pics of the completed shell now it's back home again...

Had a couple of days last week to play about...

Subframes removed and back on the trolley


Safe place for bonnet and bootlid lol


Rear subbie all painted


Front subbie all painted


On her side with most of the floorpan painted. Waxoyl'd and brake line/fuel line/battery cable run too


Then back away till I get another day free.....

i bet you were nervous taking the shell off of the trolley .... its looking great Dale ..keep us posted

It looks really nice Dale.

Think this is the first time I've ever had a shell in this kind of condition...

11 Minis over the last 19 yrs and this is the first that i've had to strip completely due to a rebuild instead of scrapping/donor'ing

The Equinox had a good shell, but that was only 21mnth old when I bought it...and then it only lasted me 8 more month anyhow

I don't understand why you have it on it's side after getting it painted. I would of either got the jobs done underneath before painting or put it on stands and work on it then. It could end in tears....

I got all the repair work done to the shell underneath before I got it back form Dirk, just wanted to make sure I got ALL the underneath painted properly right into all the nooks and crannies before the rust can start to take hold again... The car isn't actually on its side as such, the roof line is padded away from the grass by about a foot, maybe more, and the weight of the empty shell is only on the sill edge (the wing and rear quarter are not touching the grass).

I was looking into a 'spit-roast' for doing the job, but at £250ish for a bought one, and far too much effort for a 'Do It Myself' build just to use this once, not to mention having nowhere to store the item afterwards, it seemed like an extravagant waste...

I was surprised at how little the completely stripped shell weighs.. with the doors removed before tipping it, there were NO removable parts on the shell except the boot hinges and the pear drops for the front subbie

OMG - I finally got some more time to work on The Mistress!!



On Monday I rebuilt the front subframe, and fitted it onto the car..





On Tuesday, I re-fitted the rear subframe..



And then started on replacing the hub ball joints..



On Wednesday, I completed the balljoints and fitted the hubs and brakes..
(the front hub bearings will need cleaning, so new seals to purchase..)



Then I fitted the rear suspension assembly using some old items..



As I need a 13/16" reamer for the radius arm bushes on these..



Then the old wheels were fitted..



And she was dropped onto the floor..



I can now get on with rebuilding the rest of the car, whilst I earn enough to get the parts I need to carry on with the rear suspension.

Oh and when fitting the front hubs I noticed that the drivers side steering arm on the hub was badly bent due to the accident too.. so that needs replacing now aswell.

And just to make matters worse, I had planned on getting a new set of tyres for Nicola as June will be a very busy month mileage wise, and now her exhaust manifold has blown - due to the cat being built in to it there not too cheap...

HO-HUM!!

She Lives ........................


its really coming on Dale i wish i had the knowlegde and patience ..... a pat on the back ....

MORE piccies...

Rear lights and dummy cap fitted




Hydrualic masters fitted with pipes and a couple of shiny bits




Stainless steel runners on the cleaned windows...




...which had to be modified to enable these to fit... leccie windows...




The offending 'bent' steering arm (as it happens, the other sides was just as bent too!)

At this point I stripped the hubs and cleaned and re-greased the bearings and replaced the seals too




Back window in place




N/S rear quarter glass in...(didnt fit O/S because it is a sundym type - strange how I never noticed it before...)




Mk1 sytle number plate mount




and tilted slightly..




Chrome number plate lamp fitted



Old plate fitted just for the look of it



Bumper in place







She's starting to look more like a mini now lol

Looking really good this Dale. Love the old looks of it.

I've just bought an old bumper with over riders for rear of mine but the Mk1 boot lid looks the proper business.

looks really good .... i see a kneeling pad ..... thats a sign ...Dale ...

slim wrote:

looks really good .... i see a kneeling pad ..... thats a sign ...Dale ...

LOL

That's what happens when you dont have a kneeling pad... used mine for the last 15yrs...

Today was a little warm...

Had a nice lie in for a change, then went to pick up Nicola's manifold - still not been delivered!!
So, I went and had her tyres fitted seeing as they had come in..

Then when I returned home, it was even hotter.
So, I decided I would be better working in the shade of the garage, and I set about cleaning all the spare windows so I could see which would be the best to replace the 'Sundym' one I had for the O/S rear...

Hmmm... I have a few...



Front sundym's...



Left - fitted to ALR655Y back in 1997
Right - fitted to Mistress in 2009



Fitted O/S rear glass



Then fitted front sunvsisors and mirror mount so that the headlining would stay in the right place






Manifold for Nicola 'should' be in tomorrow, so I may not get back on The Mistress till Saturday.
And then it's onto the front windscreen and the dash etc..






PS.... ANYBODY WANT ANY SUNDYM TYPE GLASS???

Well....

I had another little trip to Minisport on the 4th to have the Mistress's engine rehoned and new cam bearings fitted...

Unfortunately, the block was too far gone to re-hone, so on the 9th...

I took over an A+ 1275 block to be taken out to 1293, with new cam bearings, new core plugs and a repaint (remanufactured block basically..)
I have got them to take the A 1293 out to 1310 and have the above again done to it
Also i have got them to fit 1310 pistons to a decent set of conrods..
..and they're still to modify the primary gear (originally in the mistress when i purchased her) bushes to fit the new crank purchased in Feb.

I couldn't pick all this up till the 20th due to work, but at least i'd be able to get everything ready for the rebuild for then..

On the 20th, I went back over and picked up the blocks, pistons and crank, then went back into the shop and bought..

ARP 11head bolt set with rocker shaft bolts (bloody expensive)
stainless spotlamp bar (chrome one rusty now)
long speedo cable from a moke (to give alittle more room)
4 pin diff assembly (to replace destroyed one by P&L)
plus a couple other odds and sods bits

total outlay... £975!!

DAMN i gotta stop this...

Then on sunday evening I decided to make a start..

first job - fit new main bearings then crank... FFS the bearings are wrong!! (A+ instead of A)

Engine build stopped at first hurdle..

So then I went to Minispares on monday and bought an A set of bearings.


Now its a waiting game again whilst I get some time to start the rebuild...

Last couple of photos I never got round to uploading

Front grill and bumper fitted



Rear seats fitted

Eventually had time to start the engine build I was supposed to start a month ago..

The block as it came back from MiniSport



New bearings fitted and crank in place



Pistons and con-rods fitted



Camshaft followers and camshaft in



Timing cover backplate fitted with new gasket and sealant left to cure overnight