Door hanging

I was very keen to try out the nearly completed hinges so I spent some time fitting them to the drivers side door. After a bit of fiddling I managed to hang the door and everything lined up properly.

I still need to counter-sink the clevis pins in and cut them to size but the doors/hinges are getting there now.

I continued working on the MK1 hinges over the weekend. I drilled all the holes out to 10mm and did I trial fit if the new clevis pins. I'm pleased to say that they work a treat.

Hinge pins

These arrived a few moments ago. They are M10 clevis pins that I will be using as replacement pins for my MK1 hinges.

I will need to cut them down a bit and re-drill the holes but it shouldn't be too much work.

Disaster with MK1 hinges

Last night I spent some time building a jig to enable me to drill the pins holes on the hinges. The first worked perfectly but then disaster struck... I noticed a crack on one of the hinges, which snapped under pressure!

I don't know what to do now. I could try and get another one or I could cut my losses and buy a new alloy set. I'm going to continue working on the other hinges and I'll wait to see if I can source a replacement n/s top hinge.

Mini Cooper passed the MOT

This is not related to the Retromini project but my other mini (Mini Cooper) passed the MOT without any major problems. I had an oil seal on the gearbox changed whilst it was in as well as a service, so hopefully it will be the end of the oil leak. I must say that it drove home much better than when it went in, which wasn't bad in the first place.

MK1 rear light

The rear light I purchased from Bingley hall needed the bolts drilling out an the threads re-tapping, so I deceided to add some Allen head bolts.

Hinge brackets

Today I did a trial fit of the hinge brackets I fabricated. The bolts
are M8 Allen head with nyloc nuts. I'm very pleased with how they look.

Nuts & bolts

I have just taken delivery of these stainless nuts and bolts. They are mainly for the carbon door locks and hinges. The long M4 bolts are for my MK1 rear lights as I have retapped the threads to M4.

I haven't got any pictures to upload mainly due to the fact that I was filling and sanding all afternoon and I didn't want to get my camera covered in dust.

I have made fairly good progress with the filling of the rear wheel arch on the drivers side, the MK1 rear light clusters and the boot floor area. Over the next couple of days I will sand it all down and take a few pictures to upload.

New welding mask

I've just bought this auto-darkening welding mask. I couldn't resist
the urge to mod it so out came the stickers.