Door hanging

I was very keen to try out the nearly completed hinges so I spent some time fitting them to the drivers side door. After a bit of fiddling I managed to hang the door and everything lined up properly.

I still need to counter-sink the clevis pins in and cut them to size but the doors/hinges are getting there now.

I continued working on the MK1 hinges over the weekend. I drilled all the holes out to 10mm and did I trial fit if the new clevis pins. I'm pleased to say that they work a treat.

Hinge pins

These arrived a few moments ago. They are M10 clevis pins that I will be using as replacement pins for my MK1 hinges.

I will need to cut them down a bit and re-drill the holes but it shouldn't be too much work.

Disaster with MK1 hinges

Last night I spent some time building a jig to enable me to drill the pins holes on the hinges. The first worked perfectly but then disaster struck... I noticed a crack on one of the hinges, which snapped under pressure!

I don't know what to do now. I could try and get another one or I could cut my losses and buy a new alloy set. I'm going to continue working on the other hinges and I'll wait to see if I can source a replacement n/s top hinge.

Mini Cooper passed the MOT

This is not related to the Retromini project but my other mini (Mini Cooper) passed the MOT without any major problems. I had an oil seal on the gearbox changed whilst it was in as well as a service, so hopefully it will be the end of the oil leak. I must say that it drove home much better than when it went in, which wasn't bad in the first place.

MK1 rear light

The rear light I purchased from Bingley hall needed the bolts drilling out an the threads re-tapping, so I deceided to add some Allen head bolts.

Hinge brackets

Today I did a trial fit of the hinge brackets I fabricated. The bolts
are M8 Allen head with nyloc nuts. I'm very pleased with how they look.

Nuts & bolts

I have just taken delivery of these stainless nuts and bolts. They are mainly for the carbon door locks and hinges. The long M4 bolts are for my MK1 rear lights as I have retapped the threads to M4.

I haven't got any pictures to upload mainly due to the fact that I was filling and sanding all afternoon and I didn't want to get my camera covered in dust.

I have made fairly good progress with the filling of the rear wheel arch on the drivers side, the MK1 rear light clusters and the boot floor area. Over the next couple of days I will sand it all down and take a few pictures to upload.

New welding mask

I've just bought this auto-darkening welding mask. I couldn't resist
the urge to mod it so out came the stickers.

Hinge clean up

The first picture is what the hinges looked like after they had spent 12 hours soaking in Deox-C. The yellow bits are dried on Deox-C.

The second picture is what the hinges look like after being polished by a polishing wheel in a bench grinder.

The next job to do is fitting the brass inserts and pins. I'll probably need to use a combo of Loctite and brazing to hold them in place due to the holes being very worn.

Rust removal

I mixed up my first ever batch of Deox-C last night and tried it out on the MK1 hinges. Deox-C is a rust removal substance that is mixed in with water. You simply stick the rusty bit in, wait a while and bingo...no rust!

Check out my links page for details of where to get hold of some Deox-C.

Original boot hinges

Because I have been paying so much attention to hinges at the moment I thought I would clean up the original boot hinges.

I started by removing the pins that hold the two halves together and then I set about removing the old paint. A dremel was quite handy for this job.

I intend to fit some split pins to hold the halves together to allow easy removal of the boot lid when it's fitted so that I can gain easy access to the fuel cell and fuel pump.

Brackets

I fabricated these brackets from some 2mm steel. They are to strengthen the A-panels for when I fit the MK1 external hinges.

Progress

I've made loads of progress over the last couple of days. It all started with taking Friday afternoon off, I set about writing a list of things I wanted to acheive.

The first thing I did was cut some plastic using a jigsaw like a band saw. The plastic will be bonded to the carbon doors to make a channel for the glass to run on.

I also drilled the bolts out on the MK1 rear light I bought from bingley hall and I re-tapped the holes to M4.

Tap

I purchased this on eBay so that I can re-tap the holes on the MK1
hinges. It's a 1/4" UNF tap for blind holes.

Bondage and poly windows

First picture is of the polycarbonate sheets I picked up today that I will cut into MK1 sliding windows.

The next couple of pictures show the metal plates I made being bonded to the one of the carbon doors. These plates will spread the strain that MK1 hinges will put on the door. I've used Tiger Seal to bond them.

Polycarb windows

Quick update. I have just picked up 4 pieces of polycarbonate to make a set of MK1 sliding windows. I purchased it from Chris Roach Trade & Retail Plastics along with some 20mm angled plastic that I will use to make a sliding window channel after failing twice to make one out of steel. Pictures to follow later.

Hinge parts

A set of new pins and new studs have just arrived for the MK1 hinges purchased from www.minispares.com

Before I am able to fit these parts I still need to remove the old studs, which is probably going to require me cutting them and re-drilling/tapping the holes.

MK1 hinge refurb

Last night I spent around an hour removing the old pins holding the hinges together. It wasn't an easy job requiring the use of a hammer and centre punch.

Next on the list is the removal of the threaded studs and then I will tap the threads out to metric M6.

MK1 Hinges

They've arrived! I purchased these from a member of The Mini Forum. They require a refurb bit should look good when I'm done with them. Watch this space....

Carbon doors

I have a set of MK1 door hinges on the way so I thought it would be a good time to get the carbon doors sorted ready for fitting.

First job was trial fitting the lock on the drivers door. I made a metal spreader plate to and some strength and take the strain away from the carbon.

I also spent quite a bit of time marking out the centre lines for the hinges and I made a couple of template for some a-panel support brackets.

Smooth backside

The model came with a foreign style number plate and a hole in the boot lid to suit. As I want this to look like a MK¹I filled it with P38 and smoothed it over so I can now fit a normal looking number plate.

A coat of primer

A quick coat of primer on the scale model. Hanging out to dry for a
few hours.

A quick rub down

I rubbed the paint down on the scale model so that I could give it a
coat of primer ready for the colour change.

Rear parcel shelf

I finished off the rear parcel shelf tonight in readiness for a carbon
shelf to be fitted. I welded in a piece of flat bar to add a bit of
extra strength.

New compressor

I picked this up at the weekend from a guy on The Mini Forum. It's 50 litre 2.5 HP.

Carbon Copy - roof

I started covering the roof last night of the scale mini model in carbon fibre. It doesn't look to bad but I think I'll need a heat gun to set it in place properly.

Carbon fibre

The carbon fibre sheet I ordered for the scale model project arrived. I'll try and make a start on it tonight.

"Carbon Copy" scale model project

This is the first pic of my sideline project to create a 1:24th scale model of my Mini project. I will modify this kit to incorporate as many features as possible so that the finished item looks as close to my vision as possible. I have already ordered some carbon fibre so watch this space....

A build page can be found here Scale model