Hi guys,

I am restoring a 1963 850 and am at the point where I need to get the shell done so I can start putting her back together.

I am looking for someone to do some bodywork and cancer repair on it.

I have had one guy quote ~$4000 to do it.

The body is generally very straight. The floor, roof, gutters, door, boot lid, bonnet and firewall have no holes in them and are generally rust free. The bad bits are mainly the seams. All four that run from the roof down the A panels and rear quarters are all completely stuffed. I do not really want to de-seam the car. On the rear left quarter at the bottom of the seam, there is a hole about 2-3 inches wide and around 4-5 inches long. In the boot there are 3 holes around the length and width of your thumb. The battery box looks OK. On the front right A panel, there are two small hole near the top door hinge. It looks to have taken a minor nudge in the rear right quarter as there is a little ripple in the floor of the boot on that side, but the outer body looks to have had a decent panel beating job done on it to repair what damage may have been done.

I have already had the sub frames sand blasted and painted. They were in top nick.

Is that sort of money crazy? I am starting to think I should find another shell for the car. Considering the only stuff that is going back into it that came out is the fuel tank, sub frames, rear seat and switch panel, floor started and dip switch, the only thing that really makes it a 1963 is the shell.

It is going to have a Morris 1100S taken out to 1360 with a Weber 45DCOE and LCB extractors, 10x5 rims, hi-lo's, KYB gas-a-just socks, 7.5" grooved discs on the front, 4 pot alloy calipers, braided stainless brake lines and cooper s drums on the back.

_________________
Morphias.
_______________________________________________
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space...

I am in the same position with my van shell. It was taken away this morning by a smash repairer who is keeping it as a side project between jobs. Lots of rust repair, sound deadener and a few little bits of panel beating and undercoated - $1000

I got quotes from about 6 different mobs prices varied from pay me as we go up to $2000. I considered reshelling as well. But prefered saving the shell from the tin heap.

4K sound too expensive to me - shop around

big holes like that, and a $4000 bill I'd be looking for a new shell, but I'm a wuss - I've got a really straight little deluxe that I've already fixed the rust and dents in if you want to do a deal - owes me a bit more than it's worth tho

My car went in as a bare shell, had both sills replaced, rear valance and some other minor rust fixed. Paint and panel was nearly $8k. Is a flawless job though!!!

for a half decent job it will cost you 3-5k, perfect will cost you much more. I would think 4k is reasonable, but stay on there case. go and inspect the work as they do it. that way you can keep em honest. I know as i didn't. they have been doing fixes to the paint ever since. Get em to do it right the first time. Remember the paint is the biggest item that is seen, so get it right.

Cheers

Aaron

_________________

$4K does not include painting it.

_________________
Morphias.
_______________________________________________
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space...

$4000 without painting sounds too much to me...
Is there going to be any mods or are they just cutting out the rust and welding a new bit of metal in there? For 4k the whole car had want to be rusted. And the real only way to get all the rust out is to totaly strip it back and go from there. If it already has rust spots then it is probably full of bog.... I had my van bead blasted for $1500 and that was inside outside, everywhere and that brought out all the little rust spots, although it wasnt that bad...

_________________
If you want more inches, stroke it
Life's a garden.... Dig It!
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20746

No mods other than a hole for a RH fuel tank. The car needs to be de-seamed and re-seamed. Other than that, there are 3 or 4 spots that need small bits cut out and a new bit of plate welded in. Nothing major at all.

I have been all over it with a screw driver and a magnet and everything else seems to be good. The roof, bonnet, doors and boot lid are perfect. The floor pans and firewall are fine.

_________________
Morphias.
_______________________________________________
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space...

ohh de-seaming and then re-seaming it might be a little expensive...
I heard somewhere (dont know where, or how true it is) in the uk its is very common to have the car de-seamed for about 1000 pound

_________________
If you want more inches, stroke it
Life's a garden.... Dig It!
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20746

I think de-seaming really takes away from the look of the vehicle. It also reduces to rigidity of the car too. I have heard that de-seaming it can be quite dangerous if it isn't approved by an engineer.

_________________
Morphias.
_______________________________________________
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space...

It does change the look of the mini, and it also makes the hinges look really odd, cos they are pretty much the only things left on the outside of the car and they just look left out. And i think the only reason the mini's had seams in the first place was it was alot cheaper to join all the panels together that way. And if it has been de-seamed it has been welded back together anyways, i guess it all comes down to who does the joba nd how good they do it...

_________________
If you want more inches, stroke it
Life's a garden.... Dig It!
http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=20746

$4k geez

Tell me about it!

How bad was your 850? Got any pics? Have you had the body work done?

_________________
Morphias.
_______________________________________________
If you're not living on the edge, you're taking up too much space...

This was what my shell looked like when I brought it home..

It's now stripped back to bare metal. Had a ding in the drivers door which was bogged but other than the body was in great nick. No major rust (just had afair bit of surface rust) no real body work needed..