Winnie Hornet Restoration

Hi all,
As I had promised, I have moved the Winnie epic to this section as now its a project. Winnie was delivered today and I managed to have a more detailed butchers. I now have a clear picture of what will be required to have her up and running. The first step is to get her road worthy and sort out the more serious rust areas. I dont want to do a temporary fix on the outside bodywork so that when its all complete I wont have to worry about it again, just prep it ready for paintwork.I will do a temporary fix to the floor area in fibre glass, then when Ive saved enough I will have both front floor sections replaced, the back floor is very good on both sides, there are just small areas undeneath the back seat that will need repairing it will not require much work. I think I will have to change the front pannel I looked underneath and it does not look healthy there are some metal sections that give rigidity to the valance, one side may require replacing but seeing that Im replacing the whole front I might as well do both sides. I will post detailed pics of all the areas and if anyone has some advice on how to tackle these areas with ease I will be very greatfull. This is Winne being dropped off.
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What will be her new home very soon.
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These are the close up pics of the problem areas
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More pics of the problem areas. The rear seat looks restorable
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And some more, sorry some have not come out too clearly[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

glad you got it home, have seen much worse (take note young nick! ), but have also seen better...

best of british luck with it, and it's an awful lot better than old "Rusty" was...

Nice challenge! But it will be very nice!

For panelwork, a Mate from this forum has some intresting bits to offer. You may contact him.

Are you saying my new project is a bit of a rotter al?

Anyway, love the pics robin, does not look too bad at all! and remember, if it gets you to the point you have enough, it looks impossible, its only sheets of metal! (well, thats what my therapist tells me!)...

Camelot R, Nick b Thanks for the encouragement, Camelot I would certainly be interested in some bits, front pannel and valance for sure, scuttle pannel corner repair section, LH wing, did you see inside, around the drivers side air duct, thats rusted, do they do repair sections for that area?

I have PM-d.

Robin, most panels are available, i use mini machine, sorry, i mean "m machine" in darlington (just incase bmw's legal lot are reading this) m machine have a great selection of heritage and good pattern parts, they are quick to deliver and are reasonable in price, they will also help if you need a panel made up specially, ok it costs more, but excellent service. (my local motor factors stock panels from a company named after a roman emperor, and i dont advocate their fit sometimes, especially door skins and wings, cheaper but need more work to fit!) the only panel for an elf or hornet that is not reproduced to my knowledge is the rear boot slam panel, and rear wings!.

Thanks a lot for the advise I will certainly check out these sites. Here are some more pics after a more extensive butchers.[img][/img][img][/img]what lies beneath[img][/img]Most of the bubbling is just superficial surface rust which Im well chuffed about[img][/img][img][/img]this is what the rear seat looks like close up[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

Some further digging this is what it looks like underneath[img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

Some more peeling back, I guess I will need to replace the front panel.[img][/img]

If I were you, I would paint all the inside boot and floor and any others bits you cannot see with POR 15 - magic stuff (but never ever get it on your skin - it really really doesnt wash off)

Magic stuff! Buy a small can and try it on your rusty back seat pan - dries shiny and will never ever rust again!

[url=http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9253&frostProductName=Black POR-Starter Kit &catID=&frostCat=&frostSubCat=&subCatID=]CLICK HERE FOR POR PAINT[/url]

DyNoRod wrote:If I were you, I would paint all the inside boot and floor and any others bits you cannot see with POR 15 - magic stuff (but never ever get it on your skin - it really really doesnt wash off)

Magic stuff! Buy a small can and try it on your rusty back seat pan - dries shiny and will never ever rust again!

[url=http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=9253&frostProductName=Black POR-Starter Kit &catID=&frostCat=&frostSubCat=&subCatID=]CLICK HERE FOR POR PAINT[/url]

Thanks a lot Dyno, Frost are one of my favourite suppliers for restoration products,I have not used this stuff before but Ive heard a lot about it. Im in the process of uncovering everything first, so that I can make a clear plan of the restoration ahead, this will help me make an inventory of parts required, and I can start drawing a plan of the order in which the resto will go. I will start the preservation process very soon, as the weather being so wet and the car still outside, and surface bare, I dont want to aggravate the tin worm. Ill get the POR 15.

I was thinking it all looks pretty much par for the course until I saw that roof corner. Ouch! Nasty job. I've done one (best find a scrap Mini as donor like I did), but it's not a job I'd wish to do again in a hurry. Pictures of what I did at http://www.b0lus.com/cars/elf2.htm - that Elf now resides in the US and the owner posts here. Best of luck!

Hey Asahartz, looks like Im following you everywhere on this forum, Yes I have found a donor Mini which Ill be scavenging the roof corner, but Im going to study how you went about fixing it on your link. I have also sourced a good door which I sould recieve this week.The vehicle is now with a classic car specialist and hes doing all the welding ready for MOT for me, Im going to have a hard time sorting out the front panel. I have budgeted £1000 for all the work required to get the car back on the road not including cosmetic makeup,so Im trying to be as stringent with money as possible.

A guy from a company called The Shilling Years in Thorney near Peterborough has taken over the project only because I want a good job made of it in the end also some of the welding is structural and will need to be done properly to pass M.O.T
.[img]What will he make of the graveyard underneath there?[/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img][img][/img]

Looks like more work than you originally planned?!

Mine was in much the same condition and it took us about 13 months - on and off, looks like it shouldnt take you as long now you have the pros on the job!

Good luck.

robinkritz1 wrote:Hey Asahartz, looks like Im following you everywhere on this forum, Yes I have found a donor Mini which Ill be scavenging the roof corner, but Im going to study how you went about fixing it on your link. I have also sourced a good door which I sould recieve this week.The vehicle is now with a classic car specialist and hes doing all the welding ready for MOT for me, Im going to have a hard time sorting out the front panel. I have budgeted £1000 for all the work required to get the car back on the road not including cosmetic makeup,so Im trying to be as stringent with money as possible.

I don't think just replacing the corners works very well. On the one I had, this had already been done, but had gone again. The top of the A-pillar had rotted as a result.

I cut the entire roof panel out of my donor and ground it back to just the panel. I cut the entire roof out of my Elf and ground away the remains of the spot-welds. Then i put the entire roof panel in. The tricky part is seam-welding this and subsequently dressing it back.

If you want to save some money on your front panel you could put in a standard Mini one then weld in the centre section from the old one. Or use Catmint's conversion kit. On the Elf I still have I simply replaced both ends and a section of valance in the centre; the rest remains original. Similarly a passable rear valance can be fabricated up from two pattern Mini versions at about £8 each.

Yes Asahartz,I envy that you are through with that stage. I've been reluctantly ignoring my urge to go full throttle, I will eventually have to undertake the roof transplant, right now I'm looking for a quick fix as I cant afford a new roof panel and the labour cost to carry out the job.I will have to save up a bit of cash to undertake the proper job in the future.

For the front, I have bought a second hand front panel which has a good middle section that I will scavenge from and a new Mini front panel all in all cost me £50, I sent the welder pictures from the catmint conversion process and says it should be alright to fix.

Underside, the outer sills that I bought were too thin so those have to go back in exchange for the wider ones, that job should have been complete this week. I've also got a new wing which will be installed when the corner scuttle panel is being fitted.

Im still waiting for my door that I bought off ebay from this guy who was selling both doors, in green all the way from Kent, that just had surface rust. Anyway I want to leave the Shillling years with all my welding done then I can slowly start prepping the body for paint, Im afraid again this will not be a back to Metal job, I'll have to save up for that, I think thats all the fun in a "work in progress" type restoration.

Try to get Your panelbeater to do the sills instead of buying one. New items (even heritage) are not the best quality, and they are very thin on material. I always do my sills (easy job maybe 2 on the 10 scale). I use minimum 1.2mms thick material (although on a historic rally mini we used sills (and crossmember) made of 2mms thick material. That realy added strenght and rigidity to the chassis!

CamelotR wrote:Try to get Your panelbeater to do the sills instead of buying one. New items (even heritage) are not the best quality, and they are very thin on material. I always do my sills (easy job maybe 2 on the 10 scale). I use minimum 1.2mms thick material (although on a historic rally mini we used sills (and crossmember) made of 2mms thick material. That realy added strenght and rigidity to the chassis!

Any chance of a guide on how to do the sills? My are just about done in and on side has been patched by the previous owner 3 times by the looks. When you do the sills do they still have the pressings in or are they smooth?

To be honest I get quite jealous of the work I see done here as I'd love the chance to do the same but as she's my daily drive I've no chance. Never mind, I'm still thinking of buying the complete floor minispares have, the one complete with inner and outer sills and cross member. The hope is that would speed a repair.

The pressings are vents for the sill, soo You ned to punch it into the metal. I have made a "press" for my clamp, nothing serious, just maching pair of 5mms thick metal. But in the past I have succesfuly made the vent with 4 medium size hammers (2 set on the floor with a gap about 6-8mms more then the 3rd hammer's size. The 4th hammer is used to punch the 3rd.

Easier tho do than to tell the howto.

The important thing is to do the "pressings" before cutting the width of the sill, unless it will dent the item. I usualy make the vent on the longer sides of a full sheet of metal, and then cut them out. This prevent the distortion.

Othervise You only need to bend it with a sheet metal bender and cut it to shape (making the jack if You would like to, I never put it on, its only a nest for the tinworm.

I have some pics of the sill-work at cr.fw.hu under finished projects/Austin Mini MkII/2008 03 03.