Ask the expert
STAY SQUARE
Q I’m currently working through a full body restoration of my 1973 Mini, and I’m replacing all the panels that most people seem to fit. My issue is that I realised that the sills and floor were rotten when I bought the Mini, but I’ve now discovered that both the boot floor and the rear heelboard have enough rust in them to warrant replacement.
My issue is that with the whole bottom of the car cut away, how do I know that the rear subframe mounting points will be in the correct position when I weld in the new panels? And how do I double check that the car is ‘square’ before I do the final welding?
Tony
A This is a tricky question to deal with. We think it’s safe to say that most people tend to be fairly confident that their shell is square before they start a restoration, so they tend to try and keep as much strength in the shell as they can as they proceed – this means trying to limit the number of panels that they cut out at any one time so vital datum points are preserved, bracing the shell with lengths of box section temporarily welded into place when removing larger sections such as floors and sills, and by trying not to move the shell around
