Hey all...
Attacked the van yesterday to try and work out wheather or not i'm brave enough to cut Some holes in him...
Here is the worst of it.....







There is more but thats the worst.

Who thinks what..... worth it?

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One Lill-Red 1100
A project morris van
One rusty assed delux shell
and a clubby van

I've seen (and owned) worse! Bit of work and she'll be right.

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As long as you own and are fairly competent with a welder its worth it, just do it bit at a time, cut out one damaged section and replace it. The good thing about minis is compared with other cars, the steel is quite thick and easy to weld. Either that or you could give the van to me .
Chris

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I can only please one person per day,
Today is not your day,
Tomorrow is not looking good either.

CJ_DT
I'm a apprentice fitter and turner so the welding skills are on the up, And i'm working toward's a mig, so that will be all good eventualy.
oh and HA,HA,HA (worth a go though)

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One Lill-Red 1100
A project morris van
One rusty assed delux shell
and a clubby van

Oh well then with that said... it's well worth fixing up! It's well away from the scrap heap, that's for sure!

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My van used to look a bit like that, now it looks like this.

Just keep at it, good things will come

Doogie

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I won Hay once, here's the pic to prove it..


Hay, it's not about the car, it's not about the venue, it's about the people that come here. Peter Dwyer, Mayor of Hay NSW.

Grrrrrrr shininess.

And SOLID SIDE VAN TOO

In which case go for it, and if you are a fitter and turner I expect all sorts of machined bling to appear on it from "bored" moments at work. Good luck and have fun, and roll the shell onto its side for the underneath repairs, nothing worse than lying under a car as a lump of welding splatter enters an ear or burns through your trousers.
Chris

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I can only please one person per day,
Today is not your day,
Tomorrow is not looking good either.

That's how I started my working life......don't worry, you still have time to change!

I actually enjoyed welding the most from my apprenticeship! I didn't sit my final welding exam (had car accident the night before it) but still came 3rd in my class!

That van should be an easy repair for an enthusiastic welder. You can fix that one no worries! Good luck with it.

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Website: www.justanothermini.com

First of all, apologies to all those that have seen these before. I'm going to make this thread really dialup unfriendly.

My van was about in the same nick when I started.

Lots of rust holes in the floor:




Worse tho, most of my rust was festering under bog:



Give the worst bits a hit with the wire brush in the grinder:








You will need to cut it back to good steel:



Then get stuck in with the MIG:





You can pick up most of the story here:
http://zizzle.blogspot.com


On the whole, set your expectations reasonably. It won't be easy or quick, and you probably wont end up with a show winning car.

But if you enjoy time in the shed, using all your tools & buying new ones, learning new skills, perfecting old ones, and would like to be able to say you restored your car instead of signing a check for someone else to do it, then give it a go.

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"Life is not like a box of chocolates... it's more like a jar of jalapenos. Whatever you do today, may burn your arse tomorrow."

soooo jealous...... will be lookin good in the neer future..... good to see that ur puttin in the hard yards tho...

keep us updated ..

cheers

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CJ_DT... Workin on the plans for a spit. I dont like the idea of welding above my head, while flat on my back.

http://minimikebc.tripod.com/rotiss.html

Zizzle.... Already found, and had a good look through your site. lots of hard work's gone in there. Hail to the.... god of rebirth

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One Lill-Red 1100
A project morris van
One rusty assed delux shell
and a clubby van

Definitely go the rotisserie.

I whish I had have built one when I started. I could have knocked one up in a couple of hours.

I'm still tempted to do one now now that I've pretty much finished welding. It would probably make painting easier.

But if you have about 8 mini wheels & tyres, sit your mini on them and you get used to rolling it side to side on those. A stripped shell is pretty light.

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"Life is not like a box of chocolates... it's more like a jar of jalapenos. Whatever you do today, may burn your arse tomorrow."

Yea i'm just a little paranoid about buckling a pannel i've just spent ages getting straight

Should be ok though. Bit by bit i'll just pinch the steel from work......

Hopfully i should be able to use the same one for lil (the red one) when i am done. She is starting to crack and peel of off what looks like about 3" of spray putty

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One Lill-Red 1100
A project morris van
One rusty assed delux shell
and a clubby van

Have you thought about sending it off to be acid dipped, I always swore after restoring the EH there is no way I would tackle another project without this step. Bead blasting is another option but you have to be pretty carefull who you choose to do the job, as I'm sure you know they can do more harm than good with a bad operator. Extra dollars I know, but at least there will be no little surprises a year from know when you have that fresh paint on.

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69 mini K and a really hip 82 poo brown nissan urvan