front skuttle replacment

[dogfather]

hi folks. Cash flow has stopped me from working on the engine so i removed my fence to my back garden and moved in the mini (which did not make the wife happy but what the hell its worth the argueing). is stripped the inside down to the carpets (which were soaking wet). I did no what to expect, i knew there was water getting in through a hole in the drivers side arch which lead into the void between the inside floor and the sill. I took a deep breath and started pulling at the carpets to reveal the work ahead. As expected the floor was rotten in small sections from the front all the way back to the start of the rear pockets becauce the hole in the arch was lined up with the edge of the tyre so on a rainy day the water jetting of the tyres shot right through to the back but luckily the cills are as good as new and not a bad job either.

The drivers floor pan on the other hand was very cleverly jacked up about 3" by somone then beaten back down, this split the pan in places, let water in, rusted then created holes but still not to bad. All the rust has no been cut out and ive made the plates ready to be welded. passenger side has a pea size hole but other than that its mint. inside should be ready and welded nxt week, ive also cleaned up the engine bay and found a bit of serface rust here and there and 1 hole just behind the servo bracket (which insidenly took 2 hours to remove due to the amount of build up on the 2 base nut holding the bracket down). the thing i need advice on is the skuttle, does any 1 have pictures of their skuttle replacment jobs or could anybody give good advice on were to make the cuts. thanks in advance agen, regards ...neale... ill take a few pics tomorow.

[guru_1071]

dog

the front scuttle is a very easy panel to replace, but you must remove the wings to do it correctly - i have seen people hack it out and then tuck the ends back under the wings, but its impossible to weld it up correctley this way - at best its a bodge.

before you start mark the position of the bonnet on the hinges as you will to put it back on to line the scuttle up.

remove the scuttle (drill the spot welds out on the windscreen lip and hack saw a little lower down the pillers than you need to - a little wiggle room is good!) then unpick around the 'cows ear' part (this is impossible to do if the wings are on the car). you will probably need to replace the cows ear part, and possibly even the inner ashtray panel.

once its all clean and what not line the new scuttle up, the heritage ones are normally slightly flatter than the should be, so sit low in the middle (which is why you need to refit the bonnet and line it up. its then just a case of lining the pillers up and making dead sure that the scuttle is level with the bonnet.

then plug weld around the edges and butt weld the pillers.

easy - about 1/2 a days work!



heres a picture of my mk1 during work, you can see where the scuttle should go and the trimmed pillers, the cows ears arnt fitted yet (its easier to weld these in after a new scuttle if you are replacing them as you can make them fit.

good luck

[dogfather]

thanks guru in knew i could count on you. The pic was a great help, i havnt picked up the skuttle yet so i was curious as to how the posts were chopped without loosing shape or strycural integraty but now i understand. I take there is no need to support the roof in any way just in case?

I went up to minispares yesterday (its just round the corner from me. BONUS) i picked up a floor pan and 2 A panels, i ended up using only a small piece of the floor pan (about 9"x10&quot i couldnt justify removing to hole floor pan after cleaning 95% of it to a shine, and the underside is fine.

i also bought a D.Vizard A series tuning manual, i got the 3rd edition, the yellow one (hope this is the 1 i was advised to get) and have had a good random read trying to sup up as much knowledge as possible. its very interesting to read but some sections are a bit to technical for me at the mo.

thanks again guru i really apprieciate your help and advice.

p.s what are those magnet looking things and what are they used for (excuse my lack of knowledge)

Edited by dogfather on Thursday 24th April 20:07

[Snake the Sniper]

Try reading the book cover to cover. You will learn sooo much about tuning engines in general. Although some pics can be a bit heavy going, it will allow you to understand why you fit A and B to achieve C, which means you can build things correctly. Maybe just me, but I prefer to know as much as I can about what I'm doing. Which may well mean I spend a lot of time reading and not really doing stuff, but at least when I do, I know what I'm doing.
Oh, and the magnety things are Clecko's, IIRC, and they are temporary rivets used for holding panels in place before you've decided upon a final position.

[guru_1071]

you wont need to reinforce or support the roof, the only reason i had to weld a bit of a support frame into the car in the photo was due to removing both inner wings and all the door posts.

the little things are called clecos - they are resuable rivits, so you drill a hole, fit the cleco using the pliers and it grips, they let you 'dry build' the panels and move them about. great little things, i bought a pair of the pliers and about 100 quids worth (2 quid each) from a bloke on ebay

you can then weld the panels on and just remove them, very handy.

i very use full repair panels in the floors, ive got one of the those big bread trays full of half used floors and what not - they always come in useful later on!