So I've just stripped down one of my Clubmans for a ground up resto. The shell is going down to get diamond blasted soon (http://stripped-bare.com.au/) and then coming back to me for repair/paint prep. Now my question is, is there anything I should do to the shell while it's all stripped apart to make it stronger/better or make things easier in the future? I read in another post about rewelding the parcel shelf to make it a bit stronger, these are the sorts of things I'm after. I'm also looking at putting in a weber box just in case. Is there anything else that people would recommend be done like cutting little holes here and there to make access to something easier, or welding up holes that aren't needed? Essentially, I want to do it to the best of my abilities at the start so I don't need to break it down in the future and ruin a hopefully nice paintjob.

So hit me with your ideas guys!

Cheers,
Keels

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-Wasabi
1972 Clubman - Daily Driver
1962 850 - EW1 Powered

Parcel shelf is a good start, I'd also look at:

-reinforcing top engine steady on firewall
-consider a hole in the drivers side inner guard for access to the front brake hose nut
-know what wheels you're running incase you need guard mods.

I cut holes / made existing ones larger on both sides for the front brake hose unions.
Also cut a hole in the rear bulkhead for the passenger side top shock mount (behind the fuel tank) Nor sure if that applies to your tank location tho.

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'98 Mpi Sportspack + 7 port alloy head

Export Mokes had a removable plate at the bottom of the inner guards to make changing the hoses easier. Why this wasn't adopted for any other variant, I have no idea!!

Cheers,

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Brett Nicholson
Greendale (near Ballan) VIC.
1971 Morris Mini Moke
1966 Austin Mini
1965 Morris Mini Traveller
1973 LR Series 3 88
2007 LR Freelander 2

In my 76 clubby I welded up all the holes in the floor and rear seat base where normally their would be rubber or plastic bungs.
Do you want to remove the gutter extensions? I remove them on my cars and I always find rust in between them and the gutter. Their simply spot welded on so a gentle cold chisel or grinding disc will make a quick job of it.

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Respect mine and I'll respect yours.

all the stuff suggested so far are all good things to do to make stuff easier & quicker in the future

but i`ll add another while we`re on the subject--> what i used to do,,, (havn`t done it in years tho) is cut a hole in the passengers side firewall, under the baulk-head, to make access to the mech fuel pump & the speedo drive a bit easier

i havn`t bothered to do it for ages because people were getting up me for wrecking the originality of the car,,, whoop-doop,,, it makes thins pretty easy later hey?

you can easily fit hinge & a catch & it gets covered with the carpet etc so won`t be obvious

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

tilt front

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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying "Damn...that was fun!"

Wow, thats a smart idea

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Tim
Dusk Blue
1964 850

How.... Practical? Can tell you're a spanners person! Good idea though,,, I like it

I like your idea of throwing in that Weber box - especially given it's a Clubby (i.e. you're not messing with the centre binnacle). My car has a Weber box. The PO had a Weber, but kept it and sold it to me with twin HS2's. So I've got my catch can in the Weber box. Underbonnet space disappears really quickly, that little bit of extra space can be very handy.