RGB Racer

I’m currently trying to serve two masters. I’m desperately trying to get this mini finished so that it can be drivable in the fine, warm dry, summer we’re bound to have for a couple of days some time between June and September.  And I’m also trying to get the Sabre finished, or at least properly started by getting the chassis powder coated soon.   And it does need to be soon, if I’m to stand any chance of getting out for Anglesey in August.

But for the moment I’m focussing on getting the mini ready for painting.   In the last couple of weeks, I’ve got loads done… but it does seem that I’ve been in the garage getting oily every waking moment I’m not at work these days.  

So what have I actually achieved?

All of the welding at the front of the car is now complete.   The wings are all welded in, all the little jobs like spotting in the headlamp support shrouds and the lower front valance joints are done. I’ve even managed to remember the little angle brackets, that support the A panel to wing joints at the wheel arch edge as well.  Beyond this I’ve also seam sealed all of the inside of the front wings, I’ve sealed the wing to windscreen surround gaps and cleaned and dressed the joint margins on the body seams.  plus I’ve touched up any under wingand paint nicks or scratches.   Essentially in front of the engine bay firewall the car shell is complete.  :-)

All that remains on the shell is to.

• Spot weld the right hand sill join, as I seamed it and tbh I think belt and braces is better.
• Weld in the rear seatbelt mounts.
• Repair any thing else that I find… but the only thing I’ve seen is a small rust spot on the passenger door A post.
• Cleanup any welds or seams that are outstanding, most notably on the back valance.
• Paint (POR15) the inside panels where the existing paint has been damaged by the structural welding underneath.
• Dress back and paint the internal welds on the floor pans and passenger side inner sills.

So we are pretty much done,  once the shell is complete… I’ll take it to my friendly MOT garage, and make sure they are happy with the structure and would pass it  before I start getting paint chucked at it.

So on with the mechanics,  you may recall that I’d rebuilt the front subframe, with all new fittings.  The only thing that was standing in the way of refitting it, (again with new rubbers, mounts, fittings and fasteners).  Was the fact the that I needed to fit the front to back brake and fuel lines.  These had all either corroded or been nicked with an angle grinder…. which had the potential to be very entertaining, when I did it to the fuel line.

So I’ve spent a few “pleasurable” hours cleaning back and POR15 the floor channels where the lines run.  Of course once this had dried actually fitting the lines entailed dropping out the fully rebuilt rear subframe (again!) in order to get the tubes bent over the subframe as per the original fitment.  The underside is now looking very spiffy, with only a couple of areas remaining to be cleaned and painted…. it remains to be seen how well the PO5 15 performs in this areas.  The lines themselves had to be cushioned from the steel clips, and this was achieved with some shrink wrap that I bought to do the cabling for the Sabre.

So what’s left then…. well three main components… engine + gearbox,  front hubs and drive shafts, and the interior.

I’ve cleaned the engine,  but if the car’s going to go back on the road this year, then she will have to be refitted as is and make do with a new clutch, new fuel pump, new water pump, new hoses and all new gaskets and oil seals.  I’ve even ordered the Mini Spares selector rod gearbox seals.  Then next winter I’ll fit the spangly twin carbs and LCB exhaust I had planned for her.

So that leaves the running gear, as I’ll do the interior after the paint has landed.

I spent about 18 hours, cleaning the 30 years of accumulated grot off the front hubs and driveshafts.  Then refitted new ball joints, new main bearings, new bearing seals, new CV joint boots, and new brake disks.   The last thing that’s needed will be a calliper rebuild and I’ve got the new seals already for those.  So this spangly picture is off two fully reconditioned front assemblies ready to bolt to the new subframe when it is refitted.  Also in the picture is a partially reconditioned rack.   The rack itself had no play so it’s simply had new boots, new tie rods and protective coat of POR15, and is now ready for refitting.

Incidentally, while doing the somewhat laborious job of shimming the ball joints I was struck by the fact that the last time I did this was some 18 years ago, with my dear old Dad… when he was teaching me how.   I learned all I know about cars from him and I had a spanner in my hand with him from an early age… Kids these sadly days lack those sort of role models, as indeed so do I as he passed away soon after my Daughter was born ( she gets her driving licence in 3 weeks).  Still,  I use the skills he taught me and tools he left me every single day.  And I often hear his voice in my head  “Stop leaning on it so hard, You’re going to shear that bloody bolt off, a sure as god made little apples!”    Except these days I’ve learned to listen to him .   I might be building this car for my wife, but I I’m doing it in his memory.  Here’s to you Dad.

I expect to get the front subframe and running gear back in this week then she can go back on her wheels for the first time in 9 months  for a final (small) round of welding and seam sealing before we prep for paint.

I reckon I’m well north of 650 Man Hours on this project now…. and about £2000 quid in parts and panels.  Certainly the pile of empty Mini Spares/ Mini Sport parts bags and boxes is growing ever bigger.

Infact since i wrote most of this post last night,and indeed this morning  the subframes went back in, the suspension has been remounted.

After a morning of clay bashing with Katie in the bright sunshine, the rising temperatures gave me some hope that my plan of chucking the new paint at the mini engine bay would meet with success.   So I masked off the rest of the car, degreased,and tack ragged the engine bay. Then I attacked it with some of that denim blue paint I showed you last time.

This is what it now looks like.

Now normally after spraying a metallic basecoat, you topcoat it with clear lacquer.  So what the bloomin eck, is that primer doing on top of the nice shiney new blue paint.

Well it seems that some of the POR15 reacted with the base coat to turn it a nasty crinkly texture. 

It’s very odd as the whole of the engine bay is coated in the stuff,  and only a couple of patches reacted.  Of course these were the tops of the wings which are the most the most visible part of the engine bay.  It is all well over two weeks old and fully cured, and I followed the directions to the letter before topcoating it so I’was more than a little miffed.

So I had  to attack it all with air n a powered wire brush and took it all the way back to the original primer.  Then re-coated it with new etch primer .  This solved the problem, for all the major areas. Even so, there are one or two more areas which re crinkled back again like the one above on the top of radiator shroud.   So I’m going to have to attack this again tomorrow, and then re etch prime.   If I then leave it all a few days to go off properly I’ll chuck some more base coat at it next weekend.   Then once that has gone hard I can start refitting the front subframe and running gear (at last). Still here’s a pic of the front half of the engine bay which looks a whole lot better.  This little escapade has certainly convinced me that while I’m happy to spray the Sabre,  for the external surfaces of Kate’s road car a professional job is required.

I promised to keep you updated on progress on the mini, and there has indeed been some significant progress.

The new wing was welded on last time, and I currently working towards putting hed  back on her wheels, so that I can get her structurally checked by local MOT tester before I start chucking expensive paint at her.   Of course its only when she starts to change colour with new paint that the last 12 months of work will start to show its value.

So on the critical items towards putting her back on her wheels are the following.

• Repair, POR 15 and prime the engine bay, ready for body colour top coat
• Seam seal the appropriate joints in the engine bay.
• Top coat the engine bay, with final body colour.
• Complete refurbishment of the front subframe.
• Refurbish steering rack, and change rack gaiters and steering arm joints.
• Refurbish front swivel hubs and driveshafts.
• Refit that lot .
• Then refit front to back brakelines  and fuel lines and POR15  the remaining underside of the car.
• Then drop her of the stands.

Then with just a last few bits odds and sods welding and cleanup  she will be ready for the final strip down of things like windscreen and other glass and she’ll be ready for painting. So we’re getting there…. finally.  Of course then there’s the reassembly work and every effort to avoid scratching the new paint.

So what on that list have I achieved?

We”ll I’ve spent the last couple of weekends finishing up the front subframe.

In this one photo there are

• 2 new flexi brake lines, mounting nuts and lock washers
• 2 new front tie arms, complete with new hard/soft stability bushes.
• 2 new lower arm pivot pins, again with new bushes, in the suspension arm
• 2 new poly progressive bump stops
• 2 new suspension cones
• 2 new impact rubbers for upper arms.
• 2 new upper arm pivot beams, 4 new bearings, all new fixings.
•  1 new brakes hard line, complete T piece.
• 2 new damper mount bolts.

This frame is now ready for refitting. and I shall next be moving on to the swivel hubs, steering rack and drive shafts.

I’ve also finished the first stage of engine bay prep, this has  all been cleaned down with a brass rotarry brush de rusted, por-15d and key primed ready for final prep and top coating…. I’m really looking forward to that moment… its always exciting to start chucking paint around.

On the floor underneath the engine bay are the grotty hub which will get my attention next.

Lastly talking of paint I finally found the right paint for this car,  there is not a single reference to the paint colour anywhere on the vehicle itself or its documentation.  The external paint itself has degraded to almost become dusty and unstable, So I was reduced to comparing the  paint from the unfaded ares behind the seats with internet pictures and photos.   After much research via google, and several forums dedicated to various dodgy 1979 BL cars that would have all gone through the Leyland  paint shop at the same time I finally came up with something that is right.

 It is BLMC 249 Denim Blue….. even the name is dated as modern Denim jeans s actually much closer to a rich indigo blue rather than the light faded blue of 70s and 80s “stonewashed” jeans.   Here it is., it could really look fab.