Polishing the welds

Happy that all the panels are now welded together as in the last post, I now needed to clean the welds up, I will be using several grades of flapper discs attached to the angle grinder. Basically starting with a 40 grit to remove the main part of the weld then dropping to 60 - 80 - 120 and then over with a polishing disc.

I have to say that the panels look very good in the flesh but being shiny the camera flash does not pick it up well. There is still some more polishing to do as you can still see the edge of some welds though I will be using body filler too, ensuring that the finish is A1. Then I will re-trim the car and hide all the body work...

Here are the pictures of the day, there is a lot of work gone into the bodywork but its mostly time and hence there really isn't much to write about. Though once again I decided not to put my overalls on and work in something comfortable, consequently while I was welding I realised I was again on fire ~ fair to say I have learnt my lesson this time.

Inner B pillar 4 + C pillar

The last entry finished with me saying I had completed the B pillar and was ready to move on to the C pillar. I have been talking with the company who is going to product the roll cage and they suggest welding the frame to all the pillars, to make this that little bit easier I decided to add a plate on top of the B pillar I had already done so and extra skin if you will.

The plate was tacked in each corner and then was heated with a blow torch and gently persuaded to fit the profile of the B pillar, the next step was to weld the plate in place, I was very pleased on how easy this was to do and also how neat it was.







With the plate on the B pillar I then moved to the C pillar, being at the back of the car this caused many issues for me because the cage currently in there is just in the way ~ I even managed to get trapped with my feet in the battery box and wedged in under the frame... next time I will not try and squeeze through a gap.

I decided that the best plan to build the C pillar would be to do it in sections as there are many shapes and with the plates being smaller I could bend the plate to suite the current profiles. The first plate went in well and the blow torch was used to shape the metal as required. Then cutting two strips of sheet I managed to bend the material to match the profiles, the last part was to join all the sections together and hey presto. I plan to clean all the welds and sheet metal next week and if there is any extra work to clean it up. Overall I am happy with the outcome.

Inner B pillar 3

With many weeks passed I am happy that I have managed to actually get the profile of the B pillar back in and although it still needs polishing down I am happy with the finish.

The outer section of the inner B pillar was built the same as the inner skin and I just made a plate that fitted in and then seam welded it into place.



It was very time consuming and really getting it right took the time I am happy and know that I can clean the panel up.

With the B pillar done I started to work on the C pillar, I know this is going to be harder to make it work but the B pillar was good practice. I have started by making a cut where I think I am going to be able to make it work. Lets hope this goes well.

Plexi glass

With the roof chopped I know I need to find some glass to fit the windows, the front is not too hard, that is a standard laminate window which is cut to size, when it comes to cutting the front window I have decided I will send it out to a company with a 5 axis water jet machine though in the UK there aren’t too many of them…
The side and rear window in the mini are toughened glass and for that reason can’t be cut, there are people who say if you sand it slowly it can be reduced in size but having to remove such an amount of material would take months if not longer. I started to look for plastic windows. I know they can be purchased as some minis on the road and track are running them.
I called Kev from ACE (Association of Car Enthusiasts) who talked me through the standard and then pointed me towards the BIVA document of 290 odd pages. As my car will be subjected to the BIVA test I need to ensure I follow the guides. For the side windows the BIVA calls for safety glass which can be safety polymer too. To be classed as a safety plastic suited for highway use it is vital that the glass / plastic is marked ECE R43, if it does not have that mark then it is not suited for the road, basically illegal for road use. There have been quite a few cases of road track cars being pulled and fined for the windows when driven on the road. As a word of warning if its not ECE R43 and your driving on the road you shouldn’t be! Simple
After many hours of searching I came across plastics 4 performance, who advertise an E marked plastic window for a Subaru. On this I contact them and they quickly responded to say that yes they could supply the windows cut to my size, or supply them ready to cut and once the right size they would be able to stamp the windows and put the correct coating on required for the ECE R43, to top it off they said they would be able to apply the OEM style decal around the glass too.
All in all very happy, now I just need to really make a move with this roof so I can order me a set.
As for the warning about using non road legal glass, that’s your call not mine, I am doing everything by the book. Heed the advice and if you are changing the glass to a polymer and plan to drive it on the highway then don’t be silly pay the extra and have the windows marked correctly.