Mini update, sorry no pics
Saturday was another Solo event, this one close to my house at the North Charleston Convention Center. I was 17th in raw time in a field of 115 drivers.
I'm slowly learning to drive the little F500 and MORE SLOWLY overcoming my fear to hit the gas going INTO a turn. This car really only turns under power...
Oh, back to the Mini.
I talked with the body guy and agreed on a price. It's not cheap, but he's going to sand to bare metal, hammer, dolly, and smooth. He'll shoot it with a couple of coats of 2k primer and have it baby butt smooth and ready for paint. We'll decide during the process if he's going to shoot it in his garage or if I want to take it somewhere else.
With that in mind, Sunday was reassembly day.
Install the bonnet and spend an hour getting gaps right
Install driver's (right side) door and spend what felt like forever getting the gaps pretty darn close.
Move to left side and repeat...
Moved to the back of the car and drilled holes in my pretty new panel to mount the boot hinges. Got the boot lid on and fiddled for quite a while getting it centered in the opening.
Right about then I thought. Hmmm why haven't I put the roll bar back in? Tightening it down "could" change panel gaps.
So I bolted in the roll bar.
Then I went to check the gaps... Boot lid, all good. Bonnet, all good.
Driver's door.... WTH, I can't close the door! Passenger's door same thing
On closer inspection, I didn't account for the freakin door pockets when I built the roll bar.Now I have a choice. I can make a cut through the black lines and weld in a dished patch panel to clear the bar or I can remove the door pockets completely
Attachment:
door 2.jpg
I'm leaning toward remove the door pockets.
I can cut them off with the zip wheel and smooth the edges in about 1/2 and hour. If I want to pretty it up I can install a carpeted flat panel about the same height and have a shallow door pocket.
Regardless, one more week of occasional small stuff and I hand it off to Justin for body prep.