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I am doing some sill rust, and want to do the a-panel too, but i have noticed that the aussie a-panel appears to be part of the shell ? not seperate like the UK ones?
im used to the UK kind....
so, what do you do to fix em? patch them up?

im tempted to plate over them with a uk mk1 outer.

(UK mk1's use an inner and outer, both replacable!)

any hints?

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

Over here on da BIG island they seldom rust right out, I've never had one that a nice patch wouldn't fix.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

that damm dry west island!

ye, the outer is fairly well rooted. Ive cut it off, the inner has a few holes, i will fill(steel) these up then bung the new outer on, hey presto, nice new a-panel.

also rusty is the inner sill, outer sill, front of the sill, and the door step....i'm not looking at the other side !!!!!

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

I'm in the process of doing the drivers side. I did my passenger side, along with some deseaming. If you were to deseam it makes getting the panels aligning much easiest than without doing them!

But assuming you're just chacnging them, 'tis no big deal. With help, I made a new outer A-panel and repaired the inner although I've since been told be the guy who's been helping me that making a complete new one is easier than patching. But I'm going to patch the drivers side anyways.

I'm not sure wh at you mean by 'part of the shell'? Mine has an inner and an outer.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

Yeah I've been wondering this too as I've got to do mine... The last owner just welded a plate over it and it's completely rusted out.

I think he means that the A panel is still joined at the door frame where the UK internal hinge A panels aren't. So where do you cut to replace?

I replaced the A panel on my cooper this time last year.... they have the same structure as an english MK1/MK2



I am right now doing the prep work to replace both sides (and just about everything else) on another car - I've got UK inners and outers for it

EDIT: scratch all that.... my cooper had already had an english inner A panel put in it, which had subsequently rusted out because whoever put it in there was a cock... and the other car I'm prepping is a UK car!

though... the white piece in the photo above came out of an aussie clubman, and here it is from underneath, almost ready to weld in place. That inner A panel you can see is the same as the ones I have for my UK car

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

A good trick to positioning the exterior A-panel before welding it on to put bolts through the 4 holes, it makes it very easy and you can get away with a lot less clamps than you would to hold it on without the bolts.

For example.



Another good trick that I've been taught is to strengthen and seal off the hinges with little triangle cut outs. I forgot to take pics off the car, but I'm doing the otherside at the moment so I'll take some more pics.

Basically like this. Next step on that is to use some silicone seam sealer then cover in undersealent to make it look nice.





In the pics above you can see where some "cutting and shutting" needed to be done to the inner A panel to remove the smal holes and lots of rust pitting. The replacement steel was zinc coated 1.6mm steel, whilst the outer A panel was made from 0.88mm steel, I think.

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1964 Morris 850, 1330 Supercharged - 81.8hp atws.
1975 Leyland Mini S 1100S powered - Nice and reliable.
1977 Leyland Mini LS - Project LS-T

Thanks Guys,

ive got it sorted now, the problem i was having is, that all the seams are missing, like at the top of the A-panel, and the lower rear edge, where there are usually clear edges & Joins, there are none, well, were none...There are now!

UK mk 3 ones are soooooo easy! i love them!

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speed costs....how fast do you want to go...

Yeah, but, well, then you've got a MKIII