it's had metal strips welded behind the seams in the boot, dunno about the c pillars though. isnt the beaver panel, the roof, and half way up the sides probably enough to hold the car together a bit?

the head lining and c pillar linings are new, it's possible some work was done.. I'll try have a look.

I think the seams have also been welded on the outside.

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

That really isnt funny. Its a great idea to have a mini to bomb around in and have on the cheap.
And it may hold together alright as it is but what happens if you get sideswiped in a crash? And those seams that sort of held it together burst open like a can of baked beans?

_________________
Simplify and add lightness

that may be true, I'll see how I go, but I havent chosen the right cars if I'm looking for safety.. I drive a niki alot of the time.

I'm not really worried about the c pillars, but the a pillars are also deseamed.. theyre probably more worrying since theyre at my end of the car

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

Get off this young blokes back, he has got another mini back on the road and is fixing its problems and making the car safe, far more than what others are doing to there cars on this forume. And all you experts on de seaming a mini, how many of you have done it? I have and I know what work is involved and I know it would be quite hard to do a bad job, without making it look like crap. Lets give this guy imput on how to make his car better, rather than crap canning him, what other first year apprentice's are out there that are interested to restoring a Mini, most young guys these days want a rice burner or a fully sik commodore.
Good on you mate, keep up the good work.

_________________
Have a Nice Day.
If already having a nice day please disregard.

haha thanks:D

it's true, I dont really know anybody else my age (I'm 22) who's interested in old cars like I am. this is the third car I've saved from death now. my morris 1100 came from upullit, and It was one of the nicer ones at the birdwood classic last year, you can turn crap into something respectable if you want to.

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

No. Wrong. It is hard to make it safe, it is easy to to something that looks okay from the outside. Given that it is a major job to deseam a mini, the fact that this car has a lot of modifications done already which look decidedly dodgy and it has significant rust, it would be criminally negligent to not warn him that his car is probably going to kill him.

If you're not into safety, so be it. But that car wouldn't be allowed on NZ's roads and I assume Australia would be the same. It looks from the photos and description to be lethal.

The other aspect is that if you're doing the repairs, you are responsible for the safety of any passengers you carry. You're also responsible for the safety of any subsequent owners and their passengers. This is not an issue to be taken lightly. If you sell the car in a year's time (somehow convincing the authorities to allow it on the road), and it's involved in an accident, your repairs are going to be scruitinised. At a forensic level.

I am not picking on you. I am trying to alert you to a world of hurt. Looking at something and thinking "That will probably be okay" is not enough. You can't rely on guesswork here.

I strongly suggest that you get someone who knows minis or a very experienced panelbeater to inspect this car before you waste any time or money on it.

Yeah I'm aware of most of that. I'm confident It'd never get back on the road if it were to be inspected, theres just too much rust in it. luckily for me SA rego is silly and I just walked in with the paperwork and they registered it. it's registered now:)

it's true that you can deseam a car and leave it barely hanging together but still looking good. I dont think a deseamed car is even meant to be on the road with out an engineers certificate.

I've gotta go, I'll post back later.

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

Cool, sounds like you're well aware of the issues. I was just being the 'cautious dad'. Much better to be safe than sorry. Good luck with the project and upload some more progress photos

yep I understand:P

I'll upload more photos soon if my front end repairs dont turn out like ass.

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

I started deseaming one of my minis (started, but not finished!) I am extremely cautious with it, asked a billion questions all over the joint, did google research, etc, etc. Being as cautious as I am with it, it takes me approx. 4 hours to do roughly a foot of deseaming.
That includes the weld in the seam, cutting the old seam of, sanding smooth (externally, not the internal weld), glassing up, soft nikki over the top, blocking back, and priming.
Not including welding in a strip on the inside!
There is plenty of info on here, (and opinions as well ) dont be scared, too proud, or too stupid to ask if you need to.
I sometimes ask the most idiotic questions.

_________________
Chuck Norris is the only person alive who can kick you in the back of the face!!
mooo, I'm a pig!

I had another go at the front end last night, did a coat of fibreglass and filled some other holes. Also removed the lip under the roof gutters.
Photos to come.

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

Hey Phreak

Awesome price there, and even better you got it running. Dont let anyone get to you, if you want to fix it and drive it and do whatever go for it.

I hate people that say no chuck it, reshell it etc when the owner can see the value in it (i have been there.)

Well said 850 man. lets help rather than bag.

Plus its not your job to say whether its safe or not, its the rego check man's job, if it all fails i would think it would fall back on him (i think)

Good luck with and i mean theres a lot of other worse thinks you could be doing and as you said its great that younger people are getting into them to keep them alive.

At the end of the day they arn't making them anymore so the more that can be saved the better.

Cheers Brenton

_________________

thanks for your support:)
I agree with saving as many as possible too:)

one thing you got wrong though.. it is actually my responsibility to make it safe, SA has funny rego regulations.. it's a giant pain to register a car initially, but once registered it never has to be inspected ever again. mine was registered in sa in 1994, so it didnt need to be inspected to register it again now, nor will it ever need an inspection unless I get pulled over and defected by the police. awesome for me, but it seems a bit silly.. I just hope they dont change it any time soon cos alot of perfectly good cars would head or the wreckers.

_________________
The fleet:
1949 Fiat Topolino
1965 Morris 1100
1966 Mini Van (project)
19?? Morris 1500 (for sale)
1979 Chrysler Regal
1990 FSM Niki

Hiya,

Is that right?

In SA, once a car has been registered, it never has to be checked/roadworthy inspected again?

So a mini registered in say, 1965, and dumped in a paddock a year later doesn’t have to be inspected before going back on the road 44 years later?

Do you just go and hand over paperwork without anyone ever seeing the car?

Christ!

I thought Vic was lenient not having annual MOT type checks, but at least here when it has been out of rego for 3 months or sold on, a new RWC is needed.

Must be some absolute gems over there.

Cheers! jon

I'm not sure about these things in recent times but yes that is / was correct. In fact to get it registered in the first place it wasn't even necessary to have a RWC (as you and I would expect) to be done, just a visit to the cop shop, some paperwork, an inspection by the copper of the engine number and your on your way. If it ran out of rego, it was / is only a matter of paying (without back payment) the rego again. As far as I could determine, there never used to be a time limit for the time it was out of rego, but I think that has changed and I seem to recall that you now have only 6 years to re-register it.

Theoretically, if it is kept in rego and never sees a defect, then it will never be subject to RWC.

HOWEVER, the SA coppers are very quick to hand out defect notices which usually (but not always) means a visit to Regency for a full pit type inspection and these guys are quite thouough.

_________________