So the task this weekend was to fix the driver side damper mount add the closing plates and maybe cut off the windshield scuttle… I only managed to do the damper mount and the closing/finishing plates… sure there is plenty of time left today to cut the scuttle off but I am still waiting on my inner wing repair panels so theres little reason to dive into it at the moment.
I am still debating how I want to work the format on these blog posts, should I sprinkle pictures throughout or just do a gallery at the end, in the middle, both? Anyways, I guess I will just try to see what works best with/how well I can learn the tools on this site.
As you can see from the image, this mount point has already been repaired once in its life, The passenger side was similar but a lot worse off, I was hoping because this side was very solid in appearance that I would only need to work on the lower portion, but in true classic mini fashion as I started cutting away the layers I ended up with this….
Just like the passenger side the whole bulkhead closing panel had to go, this one was only in the beginning stages of rust as there was surface rust between the surfaces, the amount of effort to dissect just the outer skin in hopes that the inner layer was salvageable was not worth it. So I just went for the kill and cut the larger section out, I already had experience with this from the other side so this side actually went pretty well, plus side my cardboard cutouts for the inner panel and lower lip only needed minor trimming so I saved time on some templates. Now for a gallery of the inner repair and lower bulkhead repair.
So the next step was to close it all out, compared to the passenger side this side was a little easier to do because it was more square the other repair had some odd shapes to it.
The final step was to finish it all out, the factory panel is a stiffener triangle. Both of mine were rusting from behind so they were destroyed once removed. I could have bought new ones but I removed the part of the inner wing they would have been welded to. I will have a removable front so I aimed to make whats left of the inner wing flush with the bulkhead support. I am happy with how it came out, I probably could have done it a little differently but this is where it is and honestly I won’t be cutting it off and trying again lol. the panels are almost perfect mirrors of each other, but the inner wing part that was left seems to measure about 1/2 off from each other, this drives me nuts but without a tape measure I don’t think its too obvious, so ill leave it at that. It is also worth mentioning that the damper mounts measure correctly, so it really only the cosmetic part that is out. I could be that the points I was measuring from aren’t identical either, can you see I am still trying to wrap my head around it?
So that finishes off the forward bulkhead repairs, now to move onto the next section. As I mentioned before I am still waiting for the inner wing repair panels to make more progress on the front, I think my next task will be bracing the shell and doing the outer/inner sill repairs (hoping theres not too many surprises on this one) and the cross member replacement.
The Rust chronicles 