'K'lubman Estate 1.4 build diary. (steve austin edition)

[theminihut]

OK so... i was given this Clubman estate( IN MARCH 2011) off of 'freecylce' under the promise that i restored it. i took a panel beating course for 1 yr,, 3 month welding course, bought some tools and listened ta my mates tell me i'd bitten of WAY,, more than i can chew. retrospectively , they where right as i've spent LoOAds doing it.
BUT... i've had loads of mini's in Canada where i was raised and always wanted the skill set to do this MYSELF
SOoo...i reckon i've invested not spent
AND BESIDES.. It dIdn't look tooo bad in the driveway... little did i know







ANYWAY... Ya get the idea.
I got it back to the 'THE HUT' as it became know and started taking it apart.


Once i got the wings off and the glass out things became a lot more clear as the the size of the task at hand.



ESPeCIALLY the door posts.


BUut,, over all... enthusisum was high soOO... it looked do-able and i had just gotten a new compressor,,, ITCH'N I WAS INDEED.
her she is just getting braced up to go under the knife.




sOO... FIRST UP,, Heal board replacement and access point.


SO... after saving some sheckles i got a KILLER jig of ebay and put the car on its side for the first time. god jigs are great eh. this was the first bit of metal for the 6 million dollar man build.
well,, it feels like i've spent that many hours 2 yrs later.


i thought an idea might be to use a combination of pics and videos from the diary i've kept. sOO... the last image pretty much brings us up to 'MINIHUT' VIDEO *3. DATED (16/08/2011)

so anyway.. after a boost of inspiration at MITP, i got back to it. After lOOAADS more welding the O/S and N/S floors were in along with the, toe board, O/S flitch panel, front scuttle and window surround, AND the O/S door frame.





Truth be told,, my O/S gap is a out and i had to shim up the door. but hay,,, not bad for having no reference points and only measurements from the N/S.

NEXT UP... the O/S rear quarter. i went out and got a hand held joggler AND some more cutting disks, gas, 0.6 welding wire, linishing disks, etc...
nerves almost got the better of me when it came to cutting this big sheet that i got from Somerford minis. nice people and i highly recommend them.



oh, i forgot.. i had gone ahead and fabricated up a 'C' pillar so i had something to weld the O/S quarter to. But in the end cut it out when i got a the new roof. a waist of time but a grrrreat lesson in fabrication.





the Joggler worked a treat and i was happy with how the rear quarter welded up.
soOO..... i spun her around and started the process again.
starting with the N/S flitch and working my way back,, but there was a lot more reference points and it was WAY WAY... easier on this side.



Door Frame.



N/S rear quarter




ALL that said and done i cracked on with the rear door corner, rear floors, O/S and N/S outer corners, rear door step and valance.
this was a well fiddley bit of work but i was well into it. 'we have the technology,, we can rebuild him',,,










I offered up the doors, rear lights and petro,gas tank along the way to make sure things were lining up and yep.. HAPPY DAYs.



NEXT UP WAS THE Roof skin..... i was sh**ing when it came to this. there was soooo much work to do and could i get the 'C' pillars to line up AND how much to cut so the rear doors would be spot on again.... only one way to find out i guess eh. GET INVOLVED!*!*!
Here is 'THEMINIHUT' video entry number 4* (20/11/2011)

[MiniLandy]

Bloody hell, I can't see a salvageable panel on the thing!

[theminihut]

But ya can now

[InstantCustard]

That's gotta be 80% new metal nearly!

[AGoaty]

Wow!

That's some project. No wonder it's taken 2 years. Good going!

[Birdman]

You are a very brave guy. That amount of restoration would see most walk away or give up. Well done, you'll get plenty of welding practice.

[ardonfast]

verry good,,i love the [invested not spent] can i steel that qwote?

[cooper_mark]

OMG......!!!! i wouldnt even know where to start on this..that welding course certainly came in handy....
u sound american in the video are u orginally from the states....??

[theminihut]

Thanks guys... I gotta say,, wouldn't have made it this far without this forum. Also,, I would had the build diary almost up to date last night and Poof, safari crashed and didn't save my entries. SoO,,, I'll get on it again after work tonight.
As for being American, nope,,, born here and raised in Canada. Had a few minis there and the last one I built up I paid a guy to weld it. I swore I'd learn the skills myself myself and I've alway wanted an estate.
Anyhoo... I can hardly wait to get the rest of the "Steve austin"build. Loaded up.

[theminihut]

Oh, and the quotes uRs, Ardonfast

[bhphunter]

Amazing...

[theminihut]

sOO... after all the gabbing i got to it.. i pulled the prepped roof up along side and measured once, twice, three times a lady.




as i said in the VID, my mate gave me a hand lifting the roof into place once i had cut the 'C' pillar. first time lucky and all that measuring was a good bit of practice in the end cause presto,,, it actually looked like an estate now.

when i offered up the rear doors that i got of Ebay... they actually fit, although i couldn't close em for the Jig,, but i could see that i was some place close to success.



here is 'THEMINIHUT' video 5*...dated (21/12/2011) post getting the roof on and a good old clean of all the welding, grinding, etc.... dust from the shell.


I took a much needed break over the Xmas knowing that the endless tunnel of body work was about to start. WEll.. when i say a break girlfriend didnt see it as a break as i was out on the road with my band OFFICIALBURNTTOAST,,, music and minis,, gotta love it.
so....
Xmas came and went and i had the car off the Jig finally and sold it on to pay for the front end from ABS. i spun the shell around... and i gotta say she sounded so solid it was like music ta my ears.
anyways.... first up was glass matting in the certain areas that i didnt wanna just GOBB seam sealer in, i.e. the roof gutter and companion boxes.
SOooo..... let the games begin, sanding, sanding, sanding sanding,,,, OH,, did i mention,,, SANDING!!!!and more seam sealer.








THEN CAME THE DOORS...





OH... and the comapanion boxes. i had fabricated and welded up bottom sections for them as they where shot. then i had to glass matt them, sand, fill with glass filler, sand,, then body filler.
THEY CAME OUT SWEEEEET in the end. DID i mention loads of sandin



anyway.... this went on till like MARCH and finally,,, i was done sAnDiNg.
i gotta say though.. i really could have spent more time on SANDING, and i see that now that she is painted. live and learn eh.
here is another 'MINIHUT' video 6* (16/03/2012)


NEXT UP.. THE DREADED FRONT END.
firstly.. i had to make up some brackets for the Astra hinges i got off EbaY.



secondly... despite having a clubman front end i had to cut the valance to fit over the Watsons frame. i came up with a 'so-called neat way' of going about the extension of the valance and cut into mY NEW... ABS Front end.











Here is 'THEMINIHUT' video 7* (22/04/2012)


next entry in the 'Steve Austin edition'
the move to the new 'Hut'.

[Oz]

I am loving this, it's so nice to see a CE being saved despite its poor condition. I'm stunned at the roof replacement, well done

Please dont take this the wrong way but, as you are very obviously talented with a welder, I'm just surprised did you not modify the front crossmember of the subframe to move it back closer to the engine so you didn't need to create a "chin" on the front panel.

You might want to have a look at this:-

http://www.theclubman.co.uk/project_k8.htm

perhaps some inspiration for the future ?

[ardonfast]

is i just me but the vids take me to a blank white screen,??

[Birdman]

is i just me but the vids take me to a blank white screen,??

It's just you Shaun