I have not fitted the front subframe in the shell for over 4 years and when I recently tried to fit it, I found that there was a significant change somewhere in subframe compared to the shell. A few holes in the subframe did not line up with the holes in the front apron panel, the brace bar across the front of the subframe would not bolt on to the front mount plates. The subframe main spars (running forward from from top of the towers) had likely been damaged in transit while moving house a few years ago and it has gone unnoticed until now. Not a lot of damage but just enough for holes to no longer line up
I don't have any thing big or strong enough to bend things back into place so I had no choice but to cut off the front of the subframe and weld things back together where they were supposed to be.
Front brace bar with mounts cut off :
While cutting some of the pieces off, a very small volume of water ran out of one of the pipes. The subframe had been stored out in the elements over an entire winter so not only was it covered in surface rust, a pinhole in a weld had allowed ingress of some water. I decided to inspect all of the welds I had done previously (with a stick welder) and grind back a lot of the welds with a die grinder and redo them with my MIG. The subframe and engine are now installed so I can continue with engine-bay related items.
I have also been doing a bit of work on the lathe lately, making some DIY rivnut tools (after my cheapy rivnut tool broke while attempting to install a bigger M8 rivnut). These are easy to use and make light work of installing rivnuts/nutserts with the thrust bearing in them :
One tool for each size M4-M8
After a mate of mine snapped a driveshaft on his Mini at the drags recently, I figured I'd need a tow ring at some point to tow/move the Mini around even before it's registered. This was a simple job, made from a 700kg-rated lift eye and some tapped/threaded 20mm steel rod. I increased the subframe front bolt size from 5/8" to 1/2" and installed a longer threaded bolt for the tow ring to screw onto. I'll also install a 1/2" captive nut in the rear subframe at a later time so the tow ring can be fitted at the rear too.
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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.