Kick Plate

This kick plate is just a thin piece of aluminum. Judging by the door pocket underneath, "kick plate" is an apt name! Nice little dent in it...

Home-made Rust Eater

I used a gallon of muriatic acid in about 10 gallons of water, and set the boot lid down into it. I then used a box of baking soda to neutralize the acid, and rinsed with lots of water. I didn't want the metal to continue being eaten away and then rusting even worse.

Gauge

This downpipe is what I used to gauge how much rust was being eaten away. Note the bubbles along the bottom: That shows that it's working!

Door Straightening

I'd had a "dentless" place do their magic (or try, anyway) on the big dent in the lower portion of the passenger side, but they couldn't do a lot for the bottom edge (except tear up the drain holes and drill new holes).

Crooked Edge

Here you see the bottom edge of the passenger door. along with the rest of the dents, rust, holes, etc.

Hammered

Using mostly a rubber mallet, I pounded the bottom edge agains the wood you see, and was able to get a reasonably straight line! The plastic plug in the picture is where they drilled through the door to get their tools into the area. After I got the edge straight, I used a block of wood to flatten some of the dents along the bottom.

Time Warp

Here's the passenger door on the black Mini. It kind of, used to, look like this... Sort of...

Plug Hole

Here is one of the two holes drilled into the door to get the pry bars in to get the dent out. I welded this closed. It didn't end up a pretty weld, but it didn't have to be. I'll use POR Patch to smooth it over and prevent rust.

Common Crack

This is a common area for the doors to crack, on all years. The door seals press against the top of the door, and this small area on each side is all that pushes back. I went ahead and threw a preventative weld along this edge, and hopefully I'll never have to worry about it.