First Experience

This is the first part of the shell that I tried welding. I first cleaned off the area with a wire cup brush in a cordless drill.

Finishing Edges

Using my Dremel with a fiber reinforced cutoff wheel, I finished off the edges of the torn metal. This worked to remove any rust that my cup brush couldn't get at, as well as removed remaining silicone.

Weld and Paint

My first attempt at welding the edges together blew a big hole through. Jarrad did the welding for me (I was too busy yelling and throwing things), and I painted the area afterward to protect it from rusting.

Unwanted Holes

This is one of the holes in the toe board that are NOT desirable. Had I left the holes in, I would have had wet shoes every time I drove in the rain...

First Draw, Then Cut

This is the other hole area. In this pic, I have drawn a shape consisting of straight lines around the hole (a triangle was the best shape for this hole). I then cut out the area using the Dremel.

Making a Plug

Using the cut-out piece of metal as a template, I traced it onto a piece of sheet metal (in this case, I'm using sections of the old MkIII I cut up!), and cut it out with the Dremel.

Tack Weld

With the piece held in place with a magnet, as in the previous picture, I carefully tack welded it in, making sure the plug was flush at every point I welded. Tacking is important to do, because the sheet metal will warp from the heat of welding if not tacked first.

Welding

With all of the tack welds in place, I could begin welding along the length of the gaps between the plug and body.

Grinding

Using an angle grinder with grinding wheel, I removed the high points of the beads. Making it perfectly flush, in my case, is un-necessary, because both sides will be coated with thick underbody coating.

Pinholes

Looking from inside the car, I could see any pinholes in my welding by simply looking for the pin-pricks of light. I went back and welded those in and ground them down.

Cut Hole

Here is the first unwanted hole from the image above, after being marked and cut.

Hold It

A small magnet to hold this very small piece in place so that I can tack weld it.

Welded

After tack welding, like the previous hole, this is the welded-up product.

Grind It

Again, grinding almost flush. If I grind down too much, I run the risk of making the metal too thin or damaging something else. Better to just leave it as-is... Final step was to coat with enamel paint to prevent rusting.

Mystery Plate

I discovered this plate in the passenger footwell while working in that area. I'd always heard there was supposed to be a plate in that area, but neither of my two previous Minis had it. Apparently, the MkI definitely has this plate! I'm trying to find out what this tells me...

And what I've been told is that it tells me nothing. Apparently, the factory may have assembled front halves and back halves, and this was just a way of tracking the halves. It doesn't lead me to any kind of information confirming the heritage of this car...