The Mini is looking quite nice.
Not sure why the high build primer under the car? Only reason I shoot high build is if I will be block sanding it.
The Mini is looking quite nice.
Not sure why the high build primer under the car? Only reason I shoot high build is if I will be block sanding it.
In reply to NOHOME :
I’m not sure either, I’m a complete novice, I just went into my local auto paint supplier and said “I’m painting the underbody of my classic car, teach me about paint”. I blindly followed his advice and bought it there and then.
I’m using Nason SelectPrime 421-19 2k urethane primer.
I guess I read the short description in this tech sheet and it says high build. So I assumed it was high build primer?
It says the dry film thickness is 4-5 mils in 3 coats.
Wednesday August 1st
The UPOL graviguard arrived, 3 cans of the stuff for $55.
I masked off some of the contact points that I don’t want this stuff on, like where the subframes and the steering rack attach.
Then sprayed on 2 coats of the UPOL.
3 cans just got me 2 coats!
Not very exciting photos as it’s the same color as the primer, ha!
But up close you can see the film thickness
Once this is dry I’ll pull the masking tape off and then paint the final coat.
I need to go to the auto paint store and pick it up.
Consider a Shutz gun and buying the undercoat in gallons. Cheap. Messy, though.
In reply to SkinnyG :
Good advice, for my next build I’ll do that.
Wednesday 8th August 2018
I’ve been painting my garage walls the last few nights, but I took a night off to paint the mini.
I managed to find the right paint code for what I want and the very helpful chap in the paint supply store in town was able to mix some up for me.
Gr-4 is actually called Tweed Grey in the BMC colour charts.
But in this old Sherwin Williams “import car” color chart it’s listed as tweed green.
But the guy in the paint store made me a little tester that I could have a look at.
I was pretty happy with the look either way so I just got a quart and decided to go for it.
Here’s what 3 coats of it looks like under the LED lighting in my garage.
Next step is to make a smaller cart with castors for the shell to sit on.
In reply to Chappers :
I get how confusing paint materials can be. The urethanes are relatively new addition to the game and their claim to fame is that many can be mixed either as a high-build OR a sealer/primer depending on the mix ratio. No harm in mixing as a high fill so don't worry. My choice for a foundation is always an epoxy primer with whatever rust inhibiting additives the manufacturer might have added. ( epoxy tends to come in a lot of formulations from the same supplier optimized for some application or the other).
The underside looks really good.
Pete
In reply to NOHOME :
Thanks for the compliment!
Cheers for the info, nice to know I wasn’t misled and it’s done properly.
Saturday August 11th 2018
We went up to New Castle Indiana to swap some mini parts with a guy who’s a Motorsport photographer. He got us pit passes to watch the Super kart pro series.
My son enjoyed looking at the karts up close and talking to the drivers.
He and I were especially impressed talking to Caleb Gafrarar, such a nice young man and a heck of a driver ( he won his race.)
I swapped my old banded steel wheels for an original pair of early mk1 rear windows that I needed.
I also sold him the 7” cooper disc brakes and brake booster that I don’t plan to reuse. He was happy as you can’t buy the correct Lockheed ones anymore, and he’s going for a period correct restoration on his mk1.
Then later in the day I had a big tidy up the garage and made a cart for the shell to sit on.
I asked 3 friends over to help me lift the shell off the rotisserie.
Pretty much 4 years since we lifted the rusty shell onto the rotisserie!
Tomorrow I’ll take the pole out and get rid of the rotisserie for good.
In reply to Chappers :
That’s an awesome achievement!
Good feeling and a major milestone to get off the rotisserie. Funny how much time this all takes.
Pete
Sunday 12th August 2018
This morning was all about hare scrambles, my son did better than last time, it was a lot drier and he didn’t crash.
But that was probably because he went extremely slow. He also got a poor start as his bike cut out just as the flag dropped, everyone was already into the woods while I was kick starting it. (Need to check the idle screw)
This afternoon I managed to get the pole out of the shell and dismantled the old rotisserie.
Much neater and room for activities.
Also I tried one of the new rear quarter windows in the shell. I’m pretty happy they fit really well, meaning the aperture is still in shape after fitting the quarter panels.
I don’t really know what to do next though, I’ll have to think about it.
In reply to Chappers :
Purchase a Hellcat crate engine & figure out how to mate the two?
My brake booster developed a leak where under braking with high engine vacuum, brake fluid would sometimes get sucked into the intake and create a nice smoke cloud. I removed it and found that the brakes work just fine without the booster. I have the 7.5" brakes though, not the 7".
In reply to Pete Gossett :
Haha, wouldn’t that be something!
Im not sure if anyone gets the sense of scale of this car, that engine bay photo above makes it look big enough to stuff a v8 in!
I’ll try and get a photo of me with the car as a frame of reference, LOL
I’m also trying to not cut into the firewall on this build, it should be a completely stock shell by the end of it.
In reply to T.J. :
Yup, I’ve ran the 7.5” cooper s disc brakes on a previous project without brake booster and they stop the car just great, it’s such a light car anyway!
Here’s a project I did about 12 years ago, I mounted the turbo over the flywheel housing and had no room for the brake booster, so I replaced the master cylinder with a 70’s era non vacuum assist, I had 10” wheels and the 7.5” brakes.
Nice air horns!
Adam
In reply to Chappers :
I have those same tires.
So, whats the deal with the oblong hole in the firewall? Not a mini guy at all, but its made me wonder.....
Dusterbd13 said:So, whats the deal with the oblong hole in the firewall? Not a mini guy at all, but its made me wonder.....
It was a rust proofing process called “rotodip”
see 4:00 onward in this video.
I think the hole in the rear firewall was eliminated at some point in the 70s, evidently the rotodip was abandoned as some sort of cost saving measure haha.
The front firewall still had the hole right until end of production as it was used to route the wiring harness through.
It’s been a while since my last update as it’s been a long time since I did any work on the mini.
I had to tidy up the garage and paint it ready to sell the house.
Our time living in a HOA neighborhood was coming to an end, all of us needed more room.
My wife had taken over the basement and some of the garage with her art business and it’s doing really well. She needs a workshop.
My garage needed to be bigger and I eventually want a lift.
My son needs some room to ride dirt bikes around and just do outdoor boys stuff.
My daughter wants a dog.
We found the perfect place and sold our current house very quickly, we even managed to save money in the process and reduce our mortgage. A win win.
so without further ado, here’s the new garage...
It’s 70’ x 30’ and I think 16’ tall.
Middle section is very thick cement, perfect for a lift in there.
About 1/3 will be my wife’s art workshop/studio.
We also have 5 acres of property which is plenty of space for my son to rip around on his KTM 50.
The mini is currently stored in my friend’s barn, but it will be moved here in a couple weeks. However before work can commence on the mini again, I need to organize the barn as it’s full of moving boxes right now.
I anticipate this fall/winter to begin on the mini again.
Thats a nice garage! Congrats! :D
Nice garage. Looking forward to some updates on the Mini in a few months.
Thanks guys, I’m feeling very humbled right now, I keep thinking someone is going to call me and say there has been a big mistake etc.
I started out working on cars in my parent’s garage with my buddies 20 years ago.
Our first house in the UK had a 1 car garage, barely large enough for a mini!
I read garage journal back then and saw the large barns in the US, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would have a garage this size!
There is still work to be done on the barn, it needs the remaining 2/3 of the concrete floor pouring and I need to make a dividing wall to section off my wife’s workshop space.
But it does have power and lights and the walls, ceiling and doors are insulated.
I have some serious garage envy right now! 70x30 is HUUUUGE! Literally twice the size of my old car barn, and you remember how many cars I could cram in there...
Looking forward to some poor vehicle decisions.
In reply to maschinenbau :
Ha! I do remember how many you got it there, Including your wife’s pottery studio!
There will be more crappy cars arriving in the future, I need a cheap truck for hauling crap around, however there was a free truck (dodge Dakota) that came with the house! It’s looking rather forlorn sat in the weeds with dry rotten tires. Not sure what’s wrong with it...
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