Do you have a restored mini for over 3 years?

My AC Dodd 1380 has no rust at all, thanks to you again for finding it for me and getting me out of the van.

 

 

Visit www.westpaminis.com for good minis at fair prices. I just bought my second Mini from them and I couldn't be happier.

MIniidi, That was some sweet mini, so glad you got out of the van fiasco. Remember, you bought quite possibly the most clean MPI mini I had ever seen before or since, (it was delivered to me and stored at my house for a while thus I could inspect and sit naked in it) You had what? 1500 miles on it and it had started to bubble under the headlights, Just unbelievable.

Peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.

OK, read this thread and then panic bought some Waxoyl ;-)

Si

Happiness is a full can of high build primer

Tigger's resto was done finished Jan 2004.
Mike waxed everywhere after coming back from the paint shop.
He's showing a tiny amount of bubbling on the top of one A-panel,
we think that's to do with shot blasting old metal, and its a classic damp spot.
Tigger lives outside (not garaged) and has done 30,000 miles since.

My tip is keep the car clean and if you spot any stone chips, deal with them promptly.

Clubman & 1275GT - its hip to be square!

Mine still has no rust, but I never drive it. Do you want to buy it Peter?

 

 

Visit www.westpaminis.com for good minis at fair prices. I just bought my second Mini from them and I couldn't be happier.

My '72 NZ Morris Mini Van still has no rust, and it has been 7 years now since Dion and his crew did the work. The paint has a few microblisters on the top of the fenders, but no rust bubbles anywhere.

Nice question.  I have a lot of little bubbles and paint flaws on my current Mini (Magpie) and maybe next year i will be doing a paint job. I have been told lately not to use any liquid type of stripper or dip the body to remove paint.  The Mini body has lots of little pockets and layers of metal and when you  remove all that original primer and paint with a liquid, you may never get those little nooks and cranies coated during the paint process thus leaving untreated bare metal in those cubby holes to rot away, and the rust monster will crawl up under your good new paint.

Since in my case this will not be a total tear down and (sub)frame up restoration, I will treat each spot individually and leave a good layer of paint/primer intact during the prep

When I did the total tear down and rebuild of Grimace in 2003, I replaced a few panels and took only the rust spots down to bare metal.  The rest of the body was sanded down to the original primer and I used POR-15 Marine Clean on the entire body (BIG MISTAKE) then after what I thought was a thorough washing, I treated all the bare metal with POR-15 Metal Ready, then used the POR-15 primer that is advertised to stickto anything, bare metal, old paint and old primer.

I sold Grimace in 2007.  The only areas of paint I had problems with were the areas where I did not get the Marine Clean washed off completely thus I had a some bubbles on the side and it was not under the paint, it was under the primer.  I understand now that I should have washed the marine clean off with a baking soda solution to neutralize it.

Anyway I will probably never use the Marine Clean product again, but I have had great success with the POR-15 Metal Ready, Primer and Rust Converter paint.  I have just re-furbished a rear subframe for Magpie with those products. The only areas of the subframe on Grimace that peeled were areas where I spilled brake fluid and did not wash it off.  The subframes withstood a lot of other abuse just fine and washed up nicely.

I am very open to comments on this so nothing you disagree with here will be considered negative by me. I am by no means a paint expert, these are just comments on my experience so far with Classic Minis.

 

Classic Mini SPI
Mini Cooper Street Rod In Progress Too

ThudMeister

Got ahold of that guy Pete, here is what he had to say.  It was 3 years ago in November when I sold it. 

 

Hey Dan,
I am still driving the mini to work every day, (not in the winter).As
with all minis it has issues every now and again, but is pretty
dependable. I had to replace the starter solenoid last year. The tail
lights are not working right now but the blinkers and the break light
do, go figure. It might just be the switch. The only rust I've notice
starting again is around the roof gutter. I belong to a local mini club
"MOTR", (Minis of the Rockies); we meet every month at a British Pub,
and go on rides. It's great to see a bunch of minis together. I have
attached our news letter for your enjoyment.
I get so many compliments as I drive around Denver. I did enter the '77
in the National Micro Car show that came to Denver this year, lots of
cool stuff. Keep in touch.

We used to try our best to find cars in the UK that showed black plastic plugs in the door step area as well as near the front and rear valences. if they had a waxoyl sticker all the better. Many of our best cars had been waxoyl from new (or at some point?) the stuff seriously does work,

I remember Mike Priest had a car that had so much waxoyl in it that it was coming out of the seams, I believe it was a white saloon from a teacher in the UK, that car was mint.

As for the MPIs having no paint, you are not joking, Strangely underneath all of the ones I had, there were four square patches where the car must have sat on a plinth when painted and thus bare metal. Also if you duck into the boot and look under the lower boot opening lip, move the wires if you have too there is no paint. A guy in Florida had a later model mini, I think it was spi, I mentioned how nice the car was and he opened the boot and the area behind the battery was nonexistant. Quite like the 65 shelbys, the battery in the boot when charging releases some sort of acid into the air and this rots that area. You can tell alot about a whole minis condition by this one area, behind the battery.

M-Tech cars are the dogs danglies, I just wish he had a sale for folks who recently got killed in the market!! haha, I know, get in line.

Cheers. peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.

Many years ago, my Traveller was restored with many new panels and patches. It started to rust pretty quickly, but always from the inside out.

This lead me to think about the way the Mini was assembled. They don't coat the inside of the panels, it is just bare steel, welded together and painted on the outside. The front top shock mounts are always rusted, they were bolted on and then painted. The sills always rust out, a vented box with paint on the outside.

It is just the natural progression of unprotected steel. The same thing happens to tank style water heaters, they are coated on the inside and then welded together -  the welding destroys the corrosion protection.

In my current  de-rusting, the body shop guy said that Minis rust in the same places as Mercedes', the difference is that Mercedes shoots rust protectant (like wax-oil) into the sills, cross members, posts, nooks and crannies.

 

Andrei

Andrei in the Great White North

M-Tech restos don't rust, in my limited experience.

 

Sail & Drive Fast! Live Slow! Billy Backstay

So did mine, interesting.

Oh, I have owned many older minis with zero rust on them, the machinist owned by pint is just one that comes to mind, Another red US spec car, mk1 or 2, can't remember in red was traded to me by a guy in tampa for a pickup I had and was 100% rust free, that pickup was rust free until a very strange area in front of the rear wheel started popping through, The guy who got it was a bodyman and knew of this rust, he attacked it and found a clump of rotted wet leaves in a channel behind the panel sitting there against the metal rusting it through. I do realize it is time and prep that makes for a good resto, I was thinking however its just that the car is made in such a way that there is no escaping certain rust areas. I know on the mustangs that my friend in the high dollar restoration business actually now welds up the front inside corner of the doors of the stangs as that area just cannot stop rusting no matter what you do, its a water trap. They just weld up the are on the inside and water cannot enter.

Cheers. Peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.

My Mini was restored by the previous owners 7 years before I bought it and I can say that I cannot locate any rust on the vehicle to date. I drive the Mini pretty often and have been in the rain. I think that the previous owner really took the time when it came to replacing the rusted panels and prepping and it shows. I know when I was looking to purchase a Mini I was staying away from any car that had a recent (1 to 2 years old) repaint. My thought was I would rather buy a "tired" restoration and know what I am getting rather than a "fresh" resto where everything is still in hiding.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you take the time and do it right and take care of it well after, then the Mini should should last sometime without having a rust issue.

Oh I also meant to add that my Mini was waxoiled right after it was finished and in the process the seams were also coated, I am not sure exactly what that entails as I have never owned a an old car and waxoiled it, but I do know that the previous owner swore by it and provided me with a large can of it that has a pump and sprayer attached. Maybe that waxoil is something that helped too.

Grille still holding steady!

Rust not coming back is all down to preparation.

Most Minis that are "Restored" have panels whacked in, filler scraped over the top and get a nice shiny respray it stands to reason that cars that are "restored" in this fashion rust again before you can say salty road

I know of a number of cars that have been restored properly where the owner / restorer has taken time to prep the metl well, and paint it thouroughly that have lasted years.  I can think of a good friend of mines car that was restored 11 years ago, have been used at least a couple of times a week and a heck of a lot more most of the time that has hardly any rust showing through yet.

As I say, its all dowen to prep & using the right stuff, not just giving a car a quick blow over & expecting it to last for ever.

Finally, you mention low mileage MPI's that are rusting through already, this is because there is hardly any paint on the shells to start with I remember seeing NEWcars that had bald patches around the rear indicators and notop coat at all under the wings!  Its hardly surprising they rust if they have so little paint on them is it!

The truth is, if you've imported a mini from England, it's going to have rust. Even the really late models. Though here in NorCal, they stay in a state of "suspended animation". Someone told me the SPI cars actually were rusting on the assembly line near the end of production. Your best bet is to find an Arizona, California or Nevada export car. I don't mean to make you sick Pete, but my car is an original California car that had some paintwork done in 1971,but basically unrestored with 47,000 miles. Since I've had it over the last 5 years, I've driven it 32,000 miles. There are no signs of rust, both with the body and the rear subframe. When I got the car, one of the first mods was to fit rear toe/camber adjustable plates. When I broke loose the rear bolts that hold the front of the rear subframe to the body ( you know, the ones that usually snap in half because of all the corrosion, and you have to heat/drill/easyout them to get them out), mine came out using my fingers. At MMW, we were going to put it in the Survivor class, but instead showed it in Peoples Choice where it placed 2nd. It rips pretty good, and did well in the autocross too.

dr dave

This just in......Red Stripe Beer makes you Stupic.

This made me think of my orange pickup that was "restored" and was a total rust bucket under the pretty paint.  I do wonder though how my nightfire red mini I restored about 3 years ago has held up in Colorado.  All new panels and painted inside and out and all joints.  Maybe I'll see if I can find the guys email and ask.  My sportpack has held up nicely since last years new fender panels, and the original door panels still don't have rust on the bottoms. 

Peter,

The earlier comments are spot on.  You've got to find a shop that actually cares about their work.  You can pay less up front... but you'll either pay for it later, or take a hit on your sale price.

My brother does auto restorations in his quiet winter season (home remodeler by trade) and he swears by doing an etching primer then followed by I believe a 2 part epoxy primer.  That's after blasting everything down to absolute bare metal and grinding/patching any rust.

And his projects have held up 10+ years in the northeast of the US (aka rust belt).

He'll be redoing my '63 Cooper, once I find the $$$ to pay him.  So much for family.

 

Cheers,

Jim

Dallas

It's easy to drive me crazy as I don't have far to go

The thing that most pee's me off is that if your car is mint and truly rust free the market will pay your price. once you get the normal mini rust, no matter how trivial, its going to cost you. I think a 10k USD dollar car with a few under headlamp bubbles, a few by the wing to skuttle joint and a few in the doors is a 6500-7k car. Its just so frustrating!

My rally car which I would have held up againt all but the most insane concourse cars and maybe even them had one bubble in a very strange spot when I bought it, The all steel arches were let into the metal of the body, it was an amazing job but when bought there was a bubble on the joint, when I sold it there was one on each of three of the joints, Nothing serious but I bet it would have cost a mint to get back to 100%, I didn't see that car as being easily spotted in. Drove me nuts.

I would love, actually have dreamed of an mtech woody, he is probably one of the best builders in the UK but I think the car would be too nice for me to enjoy, right now I will part it just about anywhere and a door ding would not bother me. After 10k pounds plus I think it would.

I would be interested to see how CTRs build has held up, I know he built it to the highest standards and uses it daily. Peter

No more cars left, Westpaminis is now just a memory, Good luck to all those hard working dealers left out there, We can tell you its not easy. We have fully enjoyed meeting all the fine folks we have in the business.

mine was done in the 1990s. i rearly wash it, never wax it. i run the snot out of it. its got rust blisters in a number or places. its only a car and can be restored again.I say pound it and fix later! enjoy it for what they are.

how many project cars is enough?