[Mini] mini question.

[Anne]

If it is a genuine 1959 Mini I would not cut into it anywhere.
And engine can be replaced, serious cutting can not be undone.

That said, my Van has a detachable steel front which makes it very easy 
to work on. I'm still very pleased wiht that choice, even though it 
comes with a couple of drawbacks:

* It's quite some work to get it to fit propperly
* The bonnet should be strapped or use bonnet pins because it will at 
times not align with the normal springlock
* You should figure out a place to put a tow eye

Here is the album of part of the rebuild
https://get.google.com/albumarchive/103146044319835225335/album/AF1QipMYclNXbHOLErUy5TV2REjuCevo3bH5fxbUr6lp

And some specific images of the front

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/103146044319835225335/album/AF1QipMYclNXbHOLErUy5TV2REjuCevo3bH5fxbUr6lp/AF1QipMWGfbKayQXgcrFNVb9znUsi0Vt1G2Ky-l5C53t

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/103146044319835225335/album/AF1QipMYclNXbHOLErUy5TV2REjuCevo3bH5fxbUr6lp/AF1QipO6c8EibEnJ1DwFEK1sTLBoXwZOob2EkpAtgDKi

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/103146044319835225335/album/AF1QipMYclNXbHOLErUy5TV2REjuCevo3bH5fxbUr6lp/AF1QipMqrHCBR9EMtkYECZbkmzRXA732Jp8k-dPoaCAK

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/103146044319835225335/album/AF1QipMYclNXbHOLErUy5TV2REjuCevo3bH5fxbUr6lp/AF1QipOYcV3NzpMbAW03Ztky12J7XnWx84T7flfsEfl5

Anne.

Op 30-5-2017 om 23:33 schreef Mike Rambour:
>  Hi,
>
>  My son-in-law purchased himself a mini (mini cooper, not spridget) and
> right away ka-bloomed the motor, to be fair the motor had issues when he
> bought the car so it was already on it way out.
>
>  So, I reluctantly volunteered to rebuild the motor and pulled it out of
> the car, with his help of course, he needs to learn this stuff.  We did
> this by dropping the front sub-frame, suspension, motor and all on my
> 2-post lift.  That was a mistake :)  we found rust that was previously
> well hidden under the sub-frame components and he decided we needed to
> remove this rust, ok, I can live with that.  Next he decided we should
> drop the rear sub-frame and check for rust, ok, did that, found no
> rust.  The car is amazingly solid and with very little rust.
>
>  Then he decided, we should fix the very few rust bubbles in the paint
> the car has, oh might as well remove the glass so we can get that rust
> under the rubber molding, might as well remove the interior and all the
> wiring and re-wire the car from scratch.  Oh wow, there is a lot of
> bondo on the car (I personally think its factory bondo) and lets remove
> ALL the bondo to make sure no rust is hiding under it.  I went away for
> a 2 week vacation and while I was on vacation he got the car to bare
> metal.  I got home and found out I am doing a bare metal restoration of
> a car and I didn't plan on that, but too late now.
>
>   He has decided to cut off the front end and make it removeable for
> future ease of working on the motor. Now I have a problem !!! He
> initially looked into getting a fiberglass flip front, but found a web
> site where the guy cut off the front, made some brackets and bolted the
> front on the car.  That keeps it a steel front and not some flimsy
> fiberglass front, its not flip front but still removable if needed.
>
>  I am against cutting off the front period, no flip, no cut, leave it
> as-is.  Is cutting off the front ok ? besides better engine access is
> there a reason to do it, but more importantly good reasons NOT to do it
> ?  Its not original anymore anyway since it has a 1275 in it, upgraded
> brakes and other go-fast toys from a previous owner, but its a
> remarkably rust-free (as rust free as these cars get anyway), appears to
> never have been hit 1959 Mini, so its a first year car.  I am trying to
> talk him out of it, but its his car I can't say no, i suppose I could
> lock  up the plasma cutter and TIG, but he is the kind of kid that would
> get the kitchen shears and cut it off anyway.
>
>     mike