here is a car im restoring for a guy in Orlando FL, for those of you MiniCreation Fans who love to follow my builds.......

This Is How I Got It:




This Is After Hours of Stripping the Car:











Que The Music " B. O. N. D. O. and Bondo was it's Name-O" ..........it always amazes me to see how many layers upon layers upon layers when trying to get to the metal......lol......

 

I was just going to say the same... but you beat me to it, bigNorm. Wow, lots of room for rust to hide. Could you see the welded-in patch on the right wing before stripping? Hard to tell in web-quality photos.

 

could not see it at all......i couldn't believe it.........there was tons of fiberglass and aluminum foil........lol.....no kidding.....this car looked to be in pretty decent shape when me and the cust. did a walk through after he brought it to me..........i would have never guessed..........as everyone knows, some of these mini's come with tons of bagage, you really see it's true colors after tearin into it.......

 

That is a wonderful example of why you must look very closely at any purchase. Wow it has new paint! It's what's under the paint that matters.

 

During my short adventure into the world of "classic" minis, I have discovered that the common man's car--the mini--includes lots of examples of DIY paint and body work. I've never seen so many DIY paint jobs. I'm not saying your new restoration project is a DIY paint job, but it certainly reminds me of the various ones I've seen on forums, youtube, etc. (there's probably a lot of DIY civics and vintage VW bugs, too).

 

WOW!

 

Holy crap

 

we can fix it......will post more pics as this car gets underway.....

 

Wow... and my thought at the first picture was that it looked pretty tidy

 

there was prob 1/4" of bondo on the bad spots..........just goes to show, that you never really know, untill you get to the metal

 

So... how are you going to fix it, Norm? More Bondo? or are you going to get unrusted doner parts from another vehicle or what?

Also, provided that the rust was removed properly when the Bondo was applied, that should still be OK, right? I mean, if the filler is too thick it can crack over time, but Bondo ITSELF isn't the kiss of death - only badly applied filler or filler applied on top of rust (which keeps corroding under the later of filler).

 

the bondo on this car was applied over fiberblass that was applied over rust....it was a lipstick job.......to avoid replacing panels all together, were gonna cut out the rust and patch in new metal.....of course we will have to skim it all with bondo to get a nice smooth surfave for paint, but the key is to do it all correctly.......

 

Absolutely... Bondo is a specific tool for a specific job, but it's not meant to be a STRUCTURAL element. AndANYTHING atop rust is just asking for trouble.

On an unrelated note... I just fond a hole in my LH floor pan. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! HEP' ME NORM!!!

 

is it a rust hole your a drain hole........i've seen some minis have a quarter size hole in the front floors usually they have a rubber gromet that you can pull out to relieve water build up........

 

Dunno... I was vaccuming under the carpet this weekend and a dime-sized plug came sucking out. I'll shoot a pic but there's not a hole on the RH side. I was going to hit it with a bit of rust neutralier, paint it and plug it with a bit of Gorilla Tape until I can do a proper cut-away... I generally only drive in the sun, but I have the car out occasionally in the wet. What I really need to do is strip off the thick undercoating on the bottom and see how bad it is under there... It's hard to tell as it is.

Wish you were closer, brother... There's nobody local I've found yet that can lift the car properly and who knows whatto look for.

Good luck with the resto!

 

minis will fit most car lift's.......expessially the ones with the 4 arms that are swung under the car into place.......i took my mini to Tires Plus (goodyear type store) and had my tires mounted and balanced......they also had no prob. mounting onto 10" rims

 

OFF TOPIC (sorry) - I know where to place the lift arms on the front sub frame, but where do I tell them to lift on the rear sub out of curiosity?

 

as far out (left and right) from the center ......as long as their only on the sub-frame........

 

I had nightmares about that rust last night.

 

How did you know to strip the paint? Looking at the 1st pic, I would have assumed it was a clean car and continued merrily on with driving it.

 

i alsways try to strip the car down.........beacause of these reasons.....at first glance the car looked great......i would have never guessed.......thats why it is always important to really go over everything on these before buying........tap your fingers on areas that are of concern....should sound like metal and sould not be hard as a rock.......

 

well, we got all the bad metal cut out of the fender and in the bonnet gutter, replaced with new metal and ran a skim of body filler over top and sprayed primer......came out great, I will post pics later of the final outcome.....there was a ton of bondo on the RH door that was filling in a huge dent......were gonna pull that out and hopefully it will be ok.......

 

Use of a weak magnet is a pretty accurate indicator of bondo. Run it over the surface of the paint and if it doesn't stick or weakens its grip, there is bondo underneath. I always bring one with me when checking a car I'm looking into buying.

 

just keep in mind that if the car has ever had any body work done, chances are there is bondo on it........like i said before, bondo is not a bad thing, unless it's mis-used.....

 

There's only one answer to fix this correctly - new panels welded in correctly, and sealed properly. If it were mine I'd lop off the front and install new fenders, new scuttle, A panels, and front panel as a minimum. Cut out all rust and weld in new metal. Anything less and you'll be doing the same repairs within 3 years, if not sooner.

As far as plastic filler - that's is all it is = filler. It makes things level/smooth and has no other use. It should be used in minimum thicknesses. Even Chip Foose skim coats complete cars with filler to even the surface. But then again, most of it is sanded off.

"Bondo" & FG on metal are not impervious to water over time. Hygroscopic action will cause water to penetrate between the filler & metal and eventually rust it out. Even if all rust has been removed. At best its a temporary fix. (see above car that was bodged imho)

Do it right, do it once.