SHOULD I STRIP THE CARS BODY TO BAREMETAL? HOW? blasting?

Why ? There are only two problems with restoring a Mk1 Mini:

- You get a Mini at the end of it (some people like them, some don't)

- It's a Mk1, so it's older, harder to find bits for, and there's more pressure to make a concours restoration than to just drive a car you restored yourself.

When I was 17 I had a Fiat 124 coupe and an oxy-acetylene set. I sure knew how to weld afterwards !

BTW - try sci.engr.joining.welding too

Don't ask us, ask a seller of blasting grit. There's lots of grits about, all with their particular uses. It's quite important to use the right stuff. As you'll have a shell blasted for you, rather than doing it yourself, then it's a little academic as a question, but it does help you spot the cowboys.

Sand is just bad. Evil silicosis hazard - avoid. Has a few uses for cast iron, but basically isn't used much any more.

"Grit" is usually silicon carbide (black, a bit expensive). Very hard though, so it wears well. There are other synthetic grits around, but unless you're looking for top-end performance or you're measuring cost / performance / cleaned area, then they're reasonably interchangeable.

"Beads" are glass beads. Large, light and slow, they're what you use for aluminium. Grit ruins it, as does taking your Minilites to a cowboy blaster who does steel all day and doesn't clean it out afterwards.

"Shot" is useless. It's heavy and blunt steel shot, used for shot-peening to improve fatigue strength. It's also useful for cleaning barnacles and heavy rust from ship bottoms, but it's out of place on a car.

"Cob" is nut-shells or even corncobs (you think I'm joking)

A stripped shell is much nicer to work on. Depends how much you're doing though. A Mini probably has subframes that need total replacement and lots of cosmetic rust in the bodywork seams. Compared to something like a Moggy Minor's crossmember it's less necessary to roll the shell entirely over, or to lift an MGB in the air without twisting it to do the sillsm but it's more useful to have spot blasting equipment to hand.

Not a hope. Find someone with a blast room.

Best you can do domestically is either a spot blaster or a pressure pot. Both need the biggest compressor you can fit on a 13A plug and will keep it running near constantly. Spots are good for fixing paint chips arnd no more. You can weld your own pressure pot up from either steel tube, a propane cylinder or a pub CO2 cylinder (if you can cut it) - there should be web-able details.

Buy a blast nozzle and a blast hood. Both are cheap from the usual Machine Mart (although if you can sew, you can fit a clear glass and add a hood to an old arc welding helmet)

There are plenty of aerosol zincs for just this job, the lighter ones of which are through-weldable.

Zinc primers are also the best thing for your first layer under paint, but that needs careful spraying if it's on a visible area. Round the underneath areas, just use something brushable like 182 and don;t worry too much over the finish.

In a workshop, yes. Not outdoors though.

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it.

thanks jbug

Jbug

Please don't take offence but on usenet, if all you're saying is "Thanks", you should remove almost all of the message you're responding to. It's a bit of a nuisance to have to download and read through 101 lines that are the same as we've already seen just to have "Thanks for your help" at the end.

Apart from that, I wish you all the best in whatever you do about the mini.

Best Regards John McCabe

To reply by email replace 'nospam' with 'assen'

There is a NG for Mini's. Not sure of the address thouigh but it's obvious from the name.

John

news:alt.autos.mini

Used to be quite a good group a few years ago when I read it and had a Mini, don't know what it's like now.

Sorry, I don't normally use google groups that often to poct

James

As previously recommended by me in this NG, Cleaning Contractors Consultants Ltd in Billingshurst (tel 01403 752347/752247) are absolutely the best. They use all sorts of shot from lead to walnut shells depending on the requirement. Just about within your 60 miles from London and well worth a visit. And the shell will be returned with appropriate treatment to stop it rusting before you get home.

Age 17? First restoration? You do realise you are embarking on a hobby (obsession) which will cost you every penny you earn and leave you destitute in your declining years? Welcome to the club!

Geoff MacK

There's also an excellent web forum at