Powder coating Classic Mini Subframe

 Got the Mini front subframe powder coated. I was thinking of just binning it and buying a new subframe for £400, but the metal was good so I sent it to www.worcesterpowdercoating.co.uk and they did a brilliant job for only £80
He picked it up from my house and dropped it off 2 weeks later.

It goes through a furnace to burn off the oil, then sandblasted, then zinc primed then powder coated.

 It actually looks brand new!

http://titanclassics.com/

Classic Mini front end rebuild

The driver side flitch panel needs replacing now.  It's been patched up over the years and the patches look ugly, plus they'll probably be a source of rust.   

 The bulkhead plate was bulging at the front indicating rust was behind it and pushing it out.   Sure enough, after drilling out some spot welds there was plenty of rust behind it.

The whole scuttle panel will be replaced, but it was best to keep most of it in place to keep the chassis stiff, till after the new flitch panel was fitted.  In the picture below a corner of the scuttle was cut off to get at the flitch panel.  Sure enough nearly 30 years of rust lurked below. 

With this panel I chose mainly to grind all the seams or where the spot welds were. Drilling seemed more destructive than using flap discs to wear away the metal.
There's still a fair bit of tidying up of the edges but the hardest part is out of the way now.
When the flitch panels are fitted it'll be time to move on to the scuttle, in front of the windscreen.

Front Subframe

The front subframe is in good condition, so rather than spending £400 on a new subframe I thought I'd get this sand blasted and powder coated.   I had a quote of £80-£90 from http://www.worcesterpowdercoating.co.uk/  

As he lives close to me he'll even come round my house and pick it up, which was very nice of him.  I'll have it painted in Black.  He suggested it has a zinc primer first.  

I may get some other parts powder coated.

That's all for this week.  Hopefully the Mini will assembled, working and in bright red paint for Summer next year.   

http://titanclassics.com/