What are the structural concerns about repairing this;

It's cut down to the bottom of the bulkhead on the inside of the fire wall, and obviously half way down the front of the bulkhead and a fair section of the firewall. I do have two spare firewall sections I can use to repair this hack.
Also the parcel shelf has been cut up but that should be a fair bit easier to repair. So if I cut, weld and grind smooth a repair into this mini will it be strong enough?

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

I would weld it and grind it smooth on the inside, and weld it on the back aswell.

If you grind it smooth, the welds might end up quite thin.

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You're so square
Baby I don't care

Yeah I'd grind the engine bay smooth and have a good weld on the inside, the inside would be hidden behind the dash.

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

the mind boggles at why someone would cut that out.....

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did I tell you that I won a trophy?

been a LONG time since i looked at any welding theory, but I'm assuming there's some boily's out there amongst us?

what's the theory with welding in a patch like that?

tack corners
stitch one inch welds on all sides until it's all filled in?

I'm assuming if you tried to run a weld from one corner to the next it would pull out of shape like crazy, or can you run said weld from one end to the next in stages ie couple inches, cup of tea to allow cool down, couple inches, sandwich, couple inches, beer, couple inches, watch the telly, couple in.. you get the idea.

any suggestions on the welding process?

It helps if you have some of these...



I make my own.

The story I have so far is the mini was inside a house and a wall built over it (half in one room half in another room). It looks like they had a TV and console game set up in the passenger foot well, the person that did it needs a good clip on the ears and a kick in the shins.

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

What.The.Fuɔʞ...

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Another option when welding long runs is to use a damp cloth and hold on the weld after every 25 to 30mm. That keeps the panel cool and stops major distortion.

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1969 Cooper "S"
1967 Mini Deluxe
1973 Clubman Van (the fleet spare)
1978 ex 1275 LS ("Wizard" Eaton Supercharged)
2015 HSV GenF GTS(occasional drive & tow car)
2019 MINI F55 Cooper S

Classy