Cars
Mini Rebuild
Step 24 - Lower Dashboard
Monday, February 16, 2009:
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As I mentioned in previous installments, the last owner chopped out a number of sections of the car, most likely as part of converting the car into a dedicated racer. Part of the challenge I created for myself is putting certain areas of the car back to stock. Above is another example. The upper dash has been partially cut away. Fortunately new ones are available.
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The first step is removing what's left of the old dash. I circled all the spot welds I can see and then used a punch to place a small indentation in the center of each weld.
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I then used this handy spot weld drill bit (from Eastwood) to cut through the top layer of metal.
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I then used this neat little tool (available from Eastwood for $20 or Harbor Freight for $4!) to bust the seams apart.
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Surprise, surprise. More rust lurking about. I'm building my next car out of aluminum or something.
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Here's all the old metal I removed. With the specialized tools I had purchased, this turned out to be a very quick and easy job.
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I removed the remnats of the lower dash as well and then just had to run the angle grinder over the spot welds to get rid of them along with the surrounding rust.
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Now it's time to re-attach the original lower dash panel to the car. With no flange left on the dash panel to spot weld back to the body, I had to improvise. I started by determining the angle of the firewall at the attachment point.
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I then bent some steel brackets to the appropriate angle, test fit them, and marked and drilled mounting holes.
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Done. The lower dash is now securely reattached in its original location.
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On to the next item. The final suspension components arrived, so I installed them. I also mounted the KAD front anti-roll bar. Opinion seems very divided on the benefits of front and rear anti-roll bars for the Mini. I will just have to do some experimentation on my own.
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My gosh. It's starting to look like a real car!
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Here you can see the Tilton brake and clutch pedal assembly I purchased. Once the steering column is securely mounted, I'll work on fabricating a mounting solution for that.
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The brake reservoir canisters will be located in the engine bay with tubes running through the firewall. You'll also notice the new upper dash (in black e-coat) sitting on the car. That might get installed this weekend if all goes according to plan.
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And yet another small project - getting my later steering column fitted with the early Mini turn signal switch and covers.
Continue to Rebuild Step 25
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