A weekend away

No, no, no. I wasn't away, I don't think anywhere is even open to go to. It was a weekend largely away from the family tucked away in the garage. Some where around 16 hours squeezed in.
Well those hows achieved .... all the floor pan, bulk head and front wheel arches covered in underlay/sound proofing. A bit patch work as the set I picked up free with a carpet set wasn't quite a full set, some bits missing but some extra bits as well. A nice bit to go on the back of the rear seat and some extra rectangles which will go on the rear wheel arches. But flexed my mild upholstery skills and cobbled it all together, it's under the carpet so all is good.

Then the next day was time to dig the 2 carpet sets out and make a decision which one to use? I realised with my bespoke seat mounts this job wasn't just a question of throwing the carpets in and job done. I found a nice bit of card and slowly cut a template. It was close, so made a few extra lines to get it more accurate and set uo on the garden table ready to destroy a perfectly good carpet. Bit of a stare and I started getting twitchy, tried talking the neighbour into doing it so I could blame him if it went wrong :) then it was time for food. After tea I had to just get on with it, with some strategic cuts, I left a little wiggle room and trimming for when the carpet was in.
It didn't go to bad. With the rear carpet finally in attention was turned to the front wheel arches. Not quite happy with the fit I did some small re trimming and some relief cuts to stop it creasing up on the floor curve. With those glued in place I got my eldest so he could take the glory of fitting the last bit of carpet. It turned out it needed both of us to wiggle the carpet in place. The front brackets next to the tunnel where now very tight. Might have something to do with me double lining the tunnel with underlay to keep a bit of the exhaust noise down. But, that is just about all the carpet done and I even put the fresh air vents on. More just so I didn't knock them off and tread on them!

Quick steps

This week has been a busy one away from the mini, so grabbing a half hour or an hour here and there was as good as I could offer Marmite.
But I have managed to repair and paint 2 scratches.  Hoover and wash down the inside. Cleaned up the front door seals and fitted them glued on carpet on the inner sill by the door opening. The fresh air vents have been cleaned and there is a big pile of underlay inside the mini.

You could say it's not much but this is where I (and the patient family) get to see progress.

For quite a while I had been struggling with how much the project had run up. We are comfortable with what we have but treats and luxury is not often for us. So there is often the feeling "should I buy the parts, do we need the money for something else". Roughly, to date we are at £1900. Thats the shell, repaired and prepped, engine (that needs re building), lights, wiring, seats and door cards, roof liner, carb and refurb kit, hoses, brake pipes and a couple of fittings for that, complete new rear brakes, s /steel exhaust, all new subframe mounts, seatbelts, 2 sets of carpets and one underlay set, dizzy, alternator, heater and prob some other bits.
With all of that in mind, tonight I watched the last video from simpson classics on a budget crashed clubman resto to a painted shell. A great series by a proclaimed keen diyer at home. He is having a go and stretching his skills to get it all done while avoiding out sourcing any of the work. Obviously I have found this very interesting, he had to cut a lot out and replace where I did panel beating. But I could see similarities in our projects. The main goal was to end up with a restored and painted shell for £1500..... well that got me thinking about mine.
It is still early days and a pile of parts and the overall look and feel of the car is yet to be seen. But if it is just about the project budget, I'll reluctantly have to say I'm actually doing alright ... potentially. Like most petrol heads I have a reasonable eye for the quality and details but it's one thing to critic the project but another to be able to do it to a faultless level.
I suppose I'm saying on reluctant reflection I'm doing alright on the budget and should ease up on my self, but I'm not going to celebrate until all the parts come together.

Trim

It has been a long time coming. With the sunroof and insulation fitted it was to get on with the roof lining ... the job every.one chuckles and says good luck with that.
A quick read up and a good stare at the half fitted roof, and off I went. Slow and steady was the plan, after the initial stretch it was one section at a time mark, glue, check tension and sags then glue and stick. I found a little masking tape an the A &B pillars helped give me a good ref so I didn't put to much glue on the metal.

It took a few stints and the sun roof was a different approach compared to the rest but over the weekend the liner is in just leaving the trim under the back window and C pillar covers to fit. But over all, quite happy with the weekends progress.

Can't wait to put on the rubber door seals, bit I think the arpet and top dash rail need to go in before them. Need to get new side window seals and edge trim for the sunroof, then there will be another new skill to learn, front and rear glass to go in.

Wires be long

Having spent what feels like days laying out and changing the route, double checking, stripping an mpi loom for correct wires to extend and add a few mods and improvements.
We now have wires for front and rear internal under lighting (blue led strips) a modern stereo harness is now wired in, wiring for a glove box light, clock and usb socket is now there if I get that far.
Some nice spiral loom protector has been fitted and grommets made for the loom going through the cross member. Some tiny parts turned up a few days ago, door switches to complete a bit more wiring. Of course pattern parts so a little fetteling to get them.mounted and working just right.

Just as I was getting to the end of wiring and I thought a brake was on the card s, the sunroof fitter was in the area so I tidied the mini and today was the day, always great to see a pro on your car. The renault clio sunroof fits great, the inner frame has been padded for a better trim finish and new noise insulation fitted to the roof. 

The final job of the day was to hang the roof lining back up and run away from the evo stick fumes.