Quicky and Sanding techniques explained (+ picture for P&S moc)

Still trying to make the most of good weather and the good light till late. Took the plunge last night and got the nail punch and hammer out .... yep I was gingerly wacking the roof. There where some high spots from panel beating it that I had to admit defeat and push them back down to get the roof level. Well worth it as this evenings sanding went much better and I have even started to go back over the rear pillars, yes this is the start of me going back over the car with a more experienced sanding technique, so the vast amount of hours sanding have no been completely waisted!
Yikes, this seems to be really worth while so deffinitaly going back over the whole care. Little sigh.

 So far the technique that is working well for me (there are plenty of different ways so do experiment) seems to be; For early stages of panel corection/dents and rust pits or panel repair, don't be shy with the filler as going back over it just drags it out longer and do try to keep it a bit smooth as this should make your mixed up filler go further especially as your going to sand a fair bit straight back off any way.
Sand paper 40g - 180g is for shaping, above that is primer sanding if using filler primer, if your doing normal primer us 250-600g before priming. When you get to 1000g DO NOT jump up more than 500g incriments, you can go up to 2000g before doing colour coat. Then if there is impefections in the paint use 2500 - 3500 ready for gloss coat and use a buffer to level/flattern the gloss coat.
Sanding pattern. Now this is super important but results are also affected by the size of your sanding block to the size of the panel as you can be sanding the main roof or a door pillar. Yep this is something you just work out! To give you some idea I am now using blocks at 140mm, 300mm & 450mm all about 40mm wide. The short block is used for super tight curves (corners of the roof as I have no roof gutter), the top corners of the rear window (a odd set of multiple angles and curves going on there) and the corners of the rear valance but I have only used 180g as 80 takes to much off to quickly. The 300 block is used with 80 & 180g really good on the middle of the roof (more opposing curves than you think) rear A pillars,  door pillars and rear vallance also some early shaping above the fronmt & rear window openings, The 450 block was really good for final shaping above all windows, the 4 sides of the roof, and the wings this was only used with no lower than 180g.
I have not bought or used flexible sanding blocks at all, as long as you sand in a Z pattern  as you can see bellow, the black lines going forward and the red on the return. I was doing this 4-6 times then would change direction to go back over the spot again, this is my way of speeding up as the profesional  worked more in a box shape doing the retun imediatley but I could not get a good rythm.

This does work on all curves and is amazing at showing the low spots, so you may have to get the filler back out to level off, but this is the time to go back over it as many times as you like with the quality of the paint job being 90% about prep. For the blended arches the block sanding does take a bit longer and I found slowly building up the shape and sanding multiple time easier to hold a even shape, but I was going over some one elses work not starting from scratch.

Whilst sanding I noticed 2 holes on the wheel arch next to the seat ?
I remember there only being a vinal covering going over it ...... so any ideas what they are for ? Seat belt anchor ? but why 2 holes ?
Verdict just in off a forum ... roll cage mounts, booo thats no help ! Rubbish will have to make them disapear then if I don't want road water inside.

body sanding techniques

After a big session of self doubt, I got my self stuck into researching sanding again and qiuckly remembered I had no choice but to up the size/s of my sanding blocks to get close to a finish I'm happy with. So after a quick rumage through one of the sheds I not only found some lovely blocks I also found a roll of 180g sand paper, giving me both 80g & 180g on a roll so I'm no longer held back by the size of paper/sanding block, I could now get on with some serious (level & even) shaping.
Yay.
After a few sessions out there the results are really shaping up (bum,bum ! ) Feeling much better with the roof curves as I have no roof gutter to hide behind and that dam roof is actually taking shape as well. Poor thing, that was in a really bad state at the begining and far worse than it looked in any of the pictures.
So still no pictures and probably not for a while yet, as thin as I'm getting the filler on a finished sand I still keep finding low spots.
Found out a full body prep and spray is approx 1000 hours, I felt a bit better with this knowledge as I'm expecting the time spent spraying to be only 20-30 ish hours, so I possibly still have hours to do before breaking that marker. Good job to as I still haven't even looked at the doors yet, but that is looming with the need to temp hang them and check body panel alignment then tweek that as well whilst we can.
Lastely the pace of work has changed due to being out in the open right next to a path and a shop at the end of that path. We will just say a mini is an old car and many are fond of them, so I have been told by a few! Bless, the distraction is actually welcome most of the time but doesn't speed things up any.

onto bight size work, I miss the garage

With a bad weather forcast last night I got the bonnet out to give it a good beating, as it didn't really matter if it got wet. Worked it for a good 40 min and got quite a bit of the dent out, but although it is not massive it must have been quite a good wack to get it that shape. After a while I stood back to look at the dent and the bonnet as a whole. I guess that the dent will take at least 40 min again to get it close and with the 2 sharp edges that creat the very front edge and then the retun undernieth I started to ponder how crisp the finished item is going to be. So I dug out the spare bonnet (as you do), no I had not pounced on that one as it looks like it has never had a coat of paint on it or even been used. So its shape is A1 but it has gone past golden brown to very dark mud brown with rust, the strengthening ribs undernieth are still attached and the catch mount is not bent unlike bonnet 1. With this in mind and the fact I had decided a long time ago to just get the bonnet beed blasted as I was going to chip the paint getting the dent out of bonnet 1 and there was the start of rust patches, it didn't take long to decide to change which bonnet to use. Just have to strip all the bolt on bits off bonnet 1 to put on bonnet 2.

The catch on the left does not look to bad, but it is a good 20-30 degrees off of the 90 it should be. I will take a pic of the finished beating and add it in a few days, it did rain so quickly packed up before I could take a pic.

Today with the weather being considerably better than forcast I peeled back the cover to do a bit of air bubble filling and sanding, oh yes and I had spotted a propper rough finish on one of the arches (massive sigh, as if I havn't spent enough time on the arches).

So as you can hopefully see I rolled up the sleeves and got stuck in, got the thickness of the vertical flat much more even in the centre of the arch but it still hurt a bit to be blobbing a load of filler on then getting the 80 grit paper out on it again. Still not convinced the curve is any better for it though, but there is a little bit more to finish it off.
Managed to find a load of pin prick holes to fill and sanded the passenger panel back nice and quick, the filler on the roof though is prooving bloody slow work as the primer wich is stopping any rust take hold again (big plus) is clogging the paper and leaving slight ridges when I sand the filler back. I can see that part really getting on my t#ts, getting grumpy and giving up to then be straight back out there again as I know the roof is such a big part of the percieved quality finish we all wont.
Still really unsure how good a level I'm going to reach with this body work malarky, on a finished product I have done QC for years with laquered furniture and now granite composite work tops, I can spot a fault in them so quick and others take ages to find them. I have almost no doubt I will be aware of more faults than I would like when it's finished but I just hope it will be good enough to live with. Time will tell.

First stint on the drive way

With such good weather today, I had to find some time for the mini. So after a 2 week pause to re charge from the monster pace, I had been a little hesitant to crack on with sanding the roof that I had filled but pulled off to do suspension. This might have only been about having to take both car covers off just to do some work, but a longer prep and tidy up is less time working and I have found short stints counter productive due to loosing track of the big picture whilst focusing on a small patch.
With a good 3 hours on the cards I managed to get round the roof sanding filler in air bubble holes and a couple of build up patches. Still a bit close to metal in a few places so had to make sure I had time to spray over them before packing up with rubbish weather on the cards for the next couple of days. Then went round the roof and passenger side pillars filling air bubbles and a few tiny pits around the pillar edges to get them a bit sharper, even managed to sand that lot before a quick etch prime.
Doesn't sound that much but a productive stint and the first one on the drive way (with even further to walk to get supplies), a few more stints like that and the body work should be ready for wet and dry, well and the front end to do but thats got loads of holes for grills and lights so .... well there is light at the end of the tunnel. Must panel beat the bonnet and get that to the sand blasters, sigh.

Dead line day

Well yesterday was another really long one. Managed to install the second brake slave cylinder, thanks for sending me 2 cylinders the same handing and then telling me "you'll see when you fit them they are not handed" square peg round hole/locating roll pin and bleed nipple are opposite way round and diff sized holes on the back plate, so with no time to argue the point drilled another hole in back plate, have it! So all brakes are on  (big thanks to Newtown motors for sorting me out with 1 brake adjuster wedge, no idea if I ever had it or just lost it?) hubs with new longer studs fitted .... grr couldn't press out the wheel bearings, no time left so they have been refitted and will be back off later for that one as I have new ones.

Lets take a random pause to thank the morale boosting duo, oh yes, they have realy helped in those lonely "I just can't do this, its to hard" moments. Worked their magic and then I got back on with it, um super big thanks also goes to the wife for being soo understanding xx.

Rear sub frame fitted, fairly straight forward couple of hours of encouraging. 1 Radius arm fitted and then realised I had not removed the ball joint cup from the arm, brilliant, not taking it back off so will just have to deal with being bunched up under the car to get that little rugger out before the shocker can go in to hold the hi lo and doughnut in place. Stopped there when I realised the radius arm braket for the other side a friend had picked up for me at a auto jumble didn't have the hole for the radius arm spindle ! Thats its purpose, to hold the end of the arm to the car !!! but at 10.30pm the only person I know with a pillar drill, was in bed.

As I had been going back and forth getting new parts to fit on, if I had a spare hand I grabbed a wheel, so cracked on putting the wheels on the front, yep they are so coming back off later to change the front hubs from metro to mini. Passenger side went well, driver side ... oh lovely, brakes seized solid, funny that as I have no master cylinder so they have not been used or under pressure. Found a crow bar and put it through the studs then stood on it, wire brushed the disc, kept turning it more and eventually gave up and turned almost freely, so fitted the wheel. Then gave up at 1.20am

Today managed to haul my self down there for 8 and started to clear out the bits and bobs, whilst I waited for the phone call to use the pillar drill. Got the call and went round with my blank bracket and a broken bracket to use to reference up the hole. Oh yes, that would be a quick run to a shop to get a drill bit, then back home to get a vice and finally did the hole which ended up 0.2/0.3 mm off from datum bracket. Pleasently surprised with that, pic on the right is the revised bracket with borken bit.

After nearly crashing the car on the way back home and then pulling out in front of another car, got home to check with the wifes plans for a charity run I really wanted to go and support her ... and had a bit of a emotional melt down (yes the long hours have got me a little jaded/zombiefied). 2 cups of tea, a big hug and a sit down, feeling a bit more normall and just need some lunch before attacking the ball joint liner and fitting the other radius arm.
Will add a few pics later on today, and boy do those front wheels with no spacers look funny. Food time :)
With the revised bracket I managed to get the second radius arm on and started to fit the hi lo ... which unlike the passenger side did not just slide over the ball joint, so again with all contacts not being around with pillar drills and lathes sat down on the bench in the sun with rolled up sand paper till it did fit. So much for buying new so its easier to install.
I caved in and took off the passenger radius arm to get that bloody ball joint liner out and re fitted that. Then it was on with the 1" spacers and then the wheels. Oh dear going to need some really big wheels to fill those arches.

Got on and cleared the last of my stuff from the garage and then went to open the big door, sigh padlock was solid, soaked it and then went off to get some benches for the scouts.
Having given the still seized padlock and a good wack with a hammer, open sesame. Time to wheel it out and blast it with the air line, as the hoover decided to burn out!
Dispite the worries about the half unseized front wheel with all the family pitching in (chose the lieghtest one to steer) it pushed round to the front quite easily.

New covers on and garage swept out. Time for a well earned bath.

Ugg

Well ..um I've been busy ?!? Sorry, a little bit of fatigue and snow blind, managed to dip my paint brush in my cup of tea that was next to the paint today!
So, I think over the past few days I have filled more around the boot and roof, fine filling all around the car (but not sanded that) and I did paint under the boot.
Incase it wasn't obvious, the recent push was due, but more was intended to be on a more gentle approach. The neighbours asking for their garage back kicked in finding extra hours that would not have normally been used for car time. Then  proper late nights started when the moving out date was a bit earlier than I thought. Woops.
It has to be said, a quick spray round the window frames and passenger door/window openings has (last job of the day, 11.30, so it drys whilst I sleep) really brought it together. This has been done to try and keep any bare metal in a none rust state as it looks like its going on the drive ready or not. A shame as it could have been just another 2 weeks and the doors and bonnet would be ready which would have ended up being a free weekend so would have gone straight to my friends unit ready to spray. Still hoping it can happen that weekend but may end up pushed back due to finishing on the drive with not much light is probably going to be much slower.
So today my rear subframe is back home and all nice and strong again (big thanks to Malcolm) and even managed to get him to dig out a tap to run through the captive nuts, which I brought home and did the same on the car. Yep the mounting kit is out and ready to go down to the garage tomorrow, the radius arms are slowly going back together and the hubs have longer studs in now and will just have to do the bearings later due to needing wheels on it so it can move.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day with still a few bits to buy to pull this one off, so at best it will be a update like this in the early hours of the morning or it will be saturday when it has moved.
So I leave you with a slightly poor picture of the radius arms.

Long day

Yesterdays little up date is tagged on the end of the last post.
Before any body else stirred I was down the garage. With the only interuption today being a trip to Halfords to buy more filler and weld through primer we acheived a bit today, 11 + hours later this had been done.
More sanding on random bits around the car where I was using up left over mixed filler and hadn't got round to sanding it. Ground back all round the boot opening, welded a plate for the boot hinge (looks like the boot had been opened with out the strap attached, partly torn and very twisted with a bit of tin rot thrown in).  Also ground back the bottom vallence, treated and filled to blend in, well nearly done.

Ground the other half of the roof, I had already been nibbling at it around the edges when doing the pillars, so it was another day of looking like a smurf. My hands got it the wurst but my green overalls had a lovely blue tint and my face looked like I had been down a coal pit.

Just about to filler prime the roof so it can finish drying whilst I am at work. Not that much left that I can grind, yay.

Pictures

Well here are some pictures from the last post and up to today.
passenger wing (now one the final corse sand), Rear wing just started, then wow a bit more rust than first thought so ground the sh#t out of it. You can't really see but the roof has had a good grinding but the last picture shows how well the rust has crept under the paint.

Called it a early finish today (just gone 9pm) as I really can't take any more sanding and feeling like a stranger to the family, just doing my bloody head in.
Never seem to put enough filler on first round, so the second and third layers are a night mare as the panel ends up very wavy .... yep front wing and rear wing are at that stage, so very close but so very wavy. Which is hard not to put a accidental dent in what was a flat bit whilst taking out the bumps.
So ARRRRGGGGHHHHH I give up ...for today, left the garage and trod in a dog log !!!!!!! that cheered me up. Hope its not to long before the next up date, running low on mojo :(

16/04/2016 -
Well, dug down the back of the sofa and found some mojo, with some fluff. Front and rear wing just waiting for filler to dry around window edge and bonnet/wing edge.
Back window finally came out today, so ground around the window edge, treated and filled. Tiny bit of work done on the rear a pillars and filled.
Ground back half the roof ... and ended up looking like a smirf, so can't wait to do the other half tomorrow!

up date 3.2

Since the last post ... ? Umm, door and window openings (driver side) primed. Drivers wing/wheel arch sanded, then sanded, filled, sanded, filled ..... finished it today !
Stumbled accross a small problem during another moment of frustration with the arches, the leadeing edge from the wing had ripples. As much as this is the previous owners doing I should have really spotted it earlier. Then I re checked the other arches, Boll#cks, not to such a large amount but more than enough to really show after painting. So dug in and did a evening stint of hard sanding to get that one back on track. Worth it though as it did sort out sanding the ripples away on the outer edge of "that" front arch.

The real nice step forward this afternoon was plugging in my air line to a different neighbours garage to sand back the wing/bonnet rain channel. Result 40 min and done, well had to be really. Even though the sander is only rated at a small 6 CFM it worked that compressor bloody hard, to the point that I had a knock to say it had not stopped and was getting a bit too hot. So really big thank you to him, PS hope I havn't killed your compressor.
So with a bonkers amount of hours behind me sanding arches, the final stage of filling the passenger front arch is under way. Tonight I was able to grind back passenger front wing, parts of the engine cross member, front windscreen lip/roof edge/scuttle panel (not sure if thats the right name, panel with windy wipers through it). 
So with lots of sanding back to bare metal and a good coat of rust inhibitor (to give me a few days to cover it up propperly) should be on for a load more filling :)
With feeling the strain a bit at the mo (3 grr days on one arch and back to work next week) it has been decided to crack out the big guns to really make sure things keep moving forward. So an old mate has had the call to arms/arm up with sand paper. In fact so old, he may be suffering deja vu, he might have been doing exactly that on my last mini "mumble" years ago ! Thanks Jim. Although that means I have to be thinking about more than just the panel I'm working on, so we don't end up spooning whilest sanding! A close friend but not that close.
No pictures today, so they are going to jump forward a little bit next time.

2nd day in a row!

Day 2,
Today was a slow achy start, seemed to have spent a lot of time yesterday kneeling and squating. Well so my legs tell me today, feel the burn !
Having ground back the front wing last night and re fixing the wheel arch .... which worked a treat, it was straight on with a bit (loads) of filler. I just sucked it in and skimed the whole wing and re blended the wheel arch. Did manage to fill a few spots around the side window and door opening. But that was a bout it ... well you can't rush this, I suppose. Just about there with the wing and quite close with the arch.
Hoping to prime side window opening and door opening first thing tomorrow, start the day with a straight forward thing/feel good with quick progress.
Did realise today the tank on the compressor I have here is ... pants. I tried the belt air sander today which only needs 7 cmf but that seems to be still way more than the comp wants to cope with :( Now working out the easiest compressor to blag, I am so not hand sanding the bonnet rain channels. On the pluss side the extraction for the garage aka big fan on a stand blowing out of the side door, worked a treat and having the air line with a blower was nice to blow out the pits in the filler.

Picture time.
Before and after of the wing, also a bidrs eye view .... poop which shows I have a slight bow in the wing fold, nice more sanding.

Back to the grind stone

Yep, FINALLY back on with the project !! Had to take some time out to do the drive way (and the neighbours, as we worked together on them), then had our house roof changed and throw in another big catastrophe with the scout group I help with, top that off with a bit of life and ... well at least I have started again.
So I have a few days off just to do work on the mini. Today started off with fitting another strip light, and digging out the new sander with a load of other tools and stuff to try to speed things up a bit.
Then ... ha, yep had to sand some stuff back as the dreaded rust had creeped back through the un painted parts I hadn't finished the last time I was out there. So a little step backwards, but it was nice to spend the whole day working on it instead of the normal couple of hour stints.
So progress ? Yes, quite close to finishing rear drivers arch. Which may not have been as close to finished as I last thought. I carried on with the drivers side grinding back the rear window reveal and the door reveal/opening. More filling and rust inhibitor on any bare metal ready for a prime tomorrow.
Finished the day with grinding back the front wing and front pillar, then re fixing that dam front wheel arch. Which I had been proper putting off. Stainless screws, tiger grip, a lot of jiggling and test fitting then just went for it. So fingures crossed for the release of clamps/sticks tomorrow ...eeeek, got a feeling I will be doing that with my eyes closed!
Oh did I say ? I havn't been completely off the mini, we now have a 1275 police metro engine, seat belts, carpet, drivers seat and even some wheels. Yes really pushing the boat out.
Just ordered a load of bits, well boaring bits, nuts, bolts, springs, HI-LOWS :) subframe mounting kit in preperation for getting it to the paint shop... with out the use of 4 burly men and 2 pump trucks.

Picture time ...