Update by Tim Suddard to the
Austin Mini Cooper S project car
Feb 5, 2014
We mounted the Mini engine to the subframe while it was outside the car so we could continue repairing the bodywork.
We used a patch piece out of the old front end of our Mini to fix the rusty fender. Using discarded pieces from the same car guarantees the same type and weight of steel.
We’ve patched the corners and a hole where a non-original antenna had been mounted. Our fender’s been primed and is now ready to be welded to the body.
Everything had been aligned and adjusted properly, so we started to weld the front end of our Mini together. We’d purchased a new left front fender, but we chose to reuse the original right front fender. Initially, this original fender seemed to be in great shape. Under closer examination, however, we found it needed some work.
There was a hole where an antenna had been and a bit of rust starting in a couple of the corners. This would take a few hours of welding and patch panel fabrication to make it right, but this wasn’t a major ordeal.
This work is much easier to do prior to welding the fender to the body, so our front-end final reassembly would have to wait.
It was an itsy bitsy, teeny-weeny rally-winning project Mini. Subscribe to Classic Motorsports and get them in your mailbox.
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