Last 500 rust, what to do ?
Discussion
Hello All
My wife has one of the above, we are the second owners and are fortunate to have the full box of goodies they came with, it's done 45k miles and is used most of the time.
So i guess it's got the potential to increase in value ?
The scuttle panel has gone badly on the drivers side and is starting on the passenger side. On the front panel the seam by the indicators; rust is spreading nicely on both sides, is it the a panel ? down at the bottom thats going, on one of the rear quarter panels the corner at the bottom of the window, it's gone there too.
What do you reckon it will cost to sort it (properly) and when we've had that done, should we save it for high days and holidays to keep the mileage down ?
My wife has one of the above, we are the second owners and are fortunate to have the full box of goodies they came with, it's done 45k miles and is used most of the time.
So i guess it's got the potential to increase in value ?
The scuttle panel has gone badly on the drivers side and is starting on the passenger side. On the front panel the seam by the indicators; rust is spreading nicely on both sides, is it the a panel ? down at the bottom thats going, on one of the rear quarter panels the corner at the bottom of the window, it's gone there too.
What do you reckon it will cost to sort it (properly) and when we've had that done, should we save it for high days and holidays to keep the mileage down ?
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It's going in all the usual places and I'm sorry to say that if you dig deep you'll find it's worse than it looks.We just got a 1997 car which looked fine, although we knew what to expect really and paid accordingly. So far it's having a new front panel, two new front wings, new A-panels each side, a new screen rail, scuttle panel and front bulkhead repair, new outer sills, repairs to the inner sills and a repair to the rear bumper flange.
You may have caught yours in time for not needing all of that, but you need to get it assessed by a good body specialist for a proper opinion and quotation. I'd be happy to take a look if you are anywhere near me (near cambridge) and there is an ace body guy not too far from here as well.
They are rusty little b*****s. However, once done and waxoyled thoroughly and regularly it will then last a long time.
You may have caught yours in time for not needing all of that, but you need to get it assessed by a good body specialist for a proper opinion and quotation. I'd be happy to take a look if you are anywhere near me (near cambridge) and there is an ace body guy not too far from here as well.
They are rusty little b*****s. However, once done and waxoyled thoroughly and regularly it will then last a long time.
The stupid thing is that these cars always rusted in these areas and could have been easily sorted when built especially since they produced them for a 1000 years.....madness.
Mine went in all those places and like cooperman I replaced front wings, front panel, scuttle, both doors, A panels and completely repainted the car while we were there. Think it cost me about 6k to do so but it looks lovely.
Mine went in all those places and like cooperman I replaced front wings, front panel, scuttle, both doors, A panels and completely repainted the car while we were there. Think it cost me about 6k to do so but it looks lovely.
r4_rick said:
Hi Cooperman
Thanks, what sort of money are you paying to get that all sorted ?
My grandson (whose car it is) and I do all the bodywork ourselves and just put the paintwork out to a guy for whom I build Mini engines, so it will not cost a lot, just the panels, which cost us about £300 and I reckon about £250 for the painting in metallic dark green. It may be a bit more if we go for a silver roof.Thanks, what sort of money are you paying to get that all sorted ?
In fact, this evening I've just done the repairs to the LH inner sill and lined up the outer sill for spot welding/MIG welding in place. My damn compressor just packed up as well so my air saw wouldn't work and I had to grind everything.
Get it done! We've owned our Sprite for 13 years. It has some work done on the body about 6 years ago but had started to look a bit shabby again. We were thinking about getting rid (we also have a 1968 Cooper) when we were approached to sell it. Having agreed the deal, we went indoors to see our daughters in floods of tears pleading with us not to sell.
With the decision made for us, we put it in the body shop for a complete revamp. Aside of two new front panels, new front scuttle and new passenger side A Panel it also had a new rear sub-frame, exhaust system, bumpers front and rear, grille, rear shocks, rear brakes, radiator, alternator and water pump. We then got a full respray and replaced the orignal steel wheels with some JCW Anthracite alloys.
We're really pleased with the result:
I know it would have been easier (and much cheaper!!) to sell this and buy a completed one, but my daughters have grown up with it. Its still used every day and should be good for a few more years before we get the chequebook out again.
With the decision made for us, we put it in the body shop for a complete revamp. Aside of two new front panels, new front scuttle and new passenger side A Panel it also had a new rear sub-frame, exhaust system, bumpers front and rear, grille, rear shocks, rear brakes, radiator, alternator and water pump. We then got a full respray and replaced the orignal steel wheels with some JCW Anthracite alloys.
We're really pleased with the result:
I know it would have been easier (and much cheaper!!) to sell this and buy a completed one, but my daughters have grown up with it. Its still used every day and should be good for a few more years before we get the chequebook out again.
Dissident Dragon said:
Get it done! We've owned our Sprite for 13 years. It has some work done on the body about 6 years ago but had started to look a bit shabby again. We were thinking about getting rid (we also have a 1968 Cooper) when we were approached to sell it. Having agreed the deal, we went indoors to see our daughters in floods of tears pleading with us not to sell.
With the decision made for us, we put it in the body shop for a complete revamp. Aside of two new front panels, new front scuttle and new passenger side A Panel it also had a new rear sub-frame, exhaust system, bumpers front and rear, grille, rear shocks, rear brakes, radiator, alternator and water pump. We then got a full respray and replaced the orignal steel wheels with some JCW Anthracite alloys.
We're really pleased with the result:
I know it would have been easier (and much cheaper!!) to sell this and buy a completed one, but my daughters have grown up with it. Its still used every day and should be good for a few more years before we get the chequebook out again.
What a great looking car. You should be rightly proud of it, as I'm sure you are.With the decision made for us, we put it in the body shop for a complete revamp. Aside of two new front panels, new front scuttle and new passenger side A Panel it also had a new rear sub-frame, exhaust system, bumpers front and rear, grille, rear shocks, rear brakes, radiator, alternator and water pump. We then got a full respray and replaced the orignal steel wheels with some JCW Anthracite alloys.
We're really pleased with the result:
I know it would have been easier (and much cheaper!!) to sell this and buy a completed one, but my daughters have grown up with it. Its still used every day and should be good for a few more years before we get the chequebook out again.
my mrs 2000(w) cooper is way worse than that, il put some pics up when i get chance. but it needs rear inner arches, whole front end, full scuttle and half a windscreen frame, doorskins, sills, roof repairs and i think it will need boot floor and poss floorpan repairs. she got it 3 years old after being garaged all its life and then garaged it for another 2 herself, but the rust appeared like mad within 6 months of getting it
Jon Brown said:
From what I have been told the newer minis (Rover onwards) are far worse for rot than the older ones as the quality of the steel was very poor.
Just make sure you buy genuine panels.
Never a truer word said.Just make sure you buy genuine panels.
I've got a 1992 K-Plate Car. I pulled it off the road after 100K hard miles. It probably requires a shell - it has gone in all the usual places plus some more...
Jon Brown said:
From what I have been told the newer minis (Rover onwards) are far worse for rot than the older ones as the quality of the steel was very poor.
Just make sure you buy genuine panels.
But surely that last were BMW ownership in which case you would have thought a bit more attention would have been on rustproofing ! I had rust on the roof gutters of my 2001 car about 2 years ago and had the vehicle waxoiled at that time. No sign of rust anywhere else .........yet !!Just make sure you buy genuine panels.
For some reason the screen scuttle and windscreen lower dash rail rust out very badly and it seems the later the car the worse the rust there.
On my Grandson's 1997 MPI, at 90k miles, the scuttle was very bad and the lower screen rail was as well. That was in addition to the wings, front panel and both apex panels. Once all those panels were stripped off it was obvious that, as usual, the top of the engine bulkhead was bad as well. Luckily I found an earlier shell with a good bulkhead and scuttle, but bad crash damage elsewhere, so cut the scuttle, rail and bulkhead off about 6" down and then managed to grind away to just get the bulkheat top 2" for transposing onto our car. The important thing is to keep the screen aperture exatly correct (it's 41.3 cm if anyone is interested, +/- 1.5 cm). That is the first thing to do before fitting wings and front panel. We mounted the front sub-frame with solid mountings before stripping any panels off and checked the lower bulkhead where the sub-frame mounts for splitting - this car was OK, but I've seen lots where it ain't!
We lined up the entire front, checked for bonnet shut lines, then spotwelded the wings on and added some MIG welding where appropriate.
After the entire front was on we did the inner sill repairs and fitted new outer sills both sides. One door needed a new door skin.
Throughout we have used original Heritage panels, so everything has fitted well.
To think that is all needed on a 1997 Rover built Mini when my 1997 Rover 214Si rally car is still virtually rust-free despite living outside and being given all sorts of abuse.
Once painted in dark metallic green with a silver roof, Mk 1 grill/surround and 10" wheels it should be great for him to drive around, especially as the brakes, suspension and interior will all be re-conditioned and/or improved, then all Waxoyled throughout.
On my Grandson's 1997 MPI, at 90k miles, the scuttle was very bad and the lower screen rail was as well. That was in addition to the wings, front panel and both apex panels. Once all those panels were stripped off it was obvious that, as usual, the top of the engine bulkhead was bad as well. Luckily I found an earlier shell with a good bulkhead and scuttle, but bad crash damage elsewhere, so cut the scuttle, rail and bulkhead off about 6" down and then managed to grind away to just get the bulkheat top 2" for transposing onto our car. The important thing is to keep the screen aperture exatly correct (it's 41.3 cm if anyone is interested, +/- 1.5 cm). That is the first thing to do before fitting wings and front panel. We mounted the front sub-frame with solid mountings before stripping any panels off and checked the lower bulkhead where the sub-frame mounts for splitting - this car was OK, but I've seen lots where it ain't!
We lined up the entire front, checked for bonnet shut lines, then spotwelded the wings on and added some MIG welding where appropriate.
After the entire front was on we did the inner sill repairs and fitted new outer sills both sides. One door needed a new door skin.
Throughout we have used original Heritage panels, so everything has fitted well.
To think that is all needed on a 1997 Rover built Mini when my 1997 Rover 214Si rally car is still virtually rust-free despite living outside and being given all sorts of abuse.
Once painted in dark metallic green with a silver roof, Mk 1 grill/surround and 10" wheels it should be great for him to drive around, especially as the brakes, suspension and interior will all be re-conditioned and/or improved, then all Waxoyled throughout.
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