Restoring the Boot Floor Pan and Rear Sections

This set of photographs shows the work performed on the rear section of the car. At some point in the past the car has suffered a rear end shunt. As a result of this a previous owner has fitted a new non-original back panel. The boot floor and rear seat uprights are slightly creased in a number places. It has also been discovered that the passenger side rear panel is also full of small dents left after some superficial panel beating. These dents had been hidden with filler. All in all, quite a bit of work is required on the back end of the Cooper.
 

Parcel Shelf

The parcel shelf had been so badly hacked by a previous owner (speaker installation) that we decided to remove it. No new panel is available, so one from a suitable donor mini has been located.

Rear Panel

This photograph shows the car with no parcel shelf and lower back panel. Both will be replaced, original back panels are still available from Rover.

This photograph also shows the creasing in the boot floor and on the rear seat upright.

The valance, battery box and rear edge of the boot floor were replaced by me when I first brought the Cooper. Andy is about to redo these properly!

Boot Floor

This photograph show the car with no boot floor.

Some of the original floor will be saved, but most the edging arround it is either damaged (partly by my early welding efforts!) or corroded.

The valance will be removed later and saved, its is currently providing the rear section a degree of rigidity.

Saved Section

This section of the floor will be saved, the battery box area will be cleaned up later.

The beginings of a new front section repair panel can be seen laying on top.

Floor Repair

Andy has almost finished repairing the front and rear of the saved floor section.

The front section involved quite a bit of work as it contains a shaped ridge that has to taper into the lower rear seat panel.

The rear section of the floor will be trimmed to shape once it has been re-fitted.

Side Panels

The boot floor side panels have a relatively complicated lipped edge that must follow the contours of the wheel arches. Here the panels are in an early stage of development. Once complete they will be welded to the the existing boot floor.

Basic Fit

This photograph shows the various repaired panels laying on top of each another.

Before they can be welded into position, the rear subframe must be re-attached in order to pull the end of the car back into the correct shape.

Welded

The boot new floor has now been welded in place. The battery has also been fitted, the old non-original has been replaced by a reproduction unit made by Mini Machine.

Notice the subframe mounts attached to the rear of the wheel arches. These will be removed to exspose any hidden corrosion, and replaced later. See the final photograph on this page for more details.

Underside

The view from underneath the back of the car. Here you can see the original spare wheel section of the boot floor, and the new battery box.

It is also possible to see the back of the new lower rear bulkhead. This was replaced at the same time as the floor sections were repaired.

Corrosion

In this photograph you would normally be able to see the subframe mount reinforcement that attaches to the rear of the wheel arch. You can clearly see the corrosion that was lurking under it. This corrosion and the obvious gap will be fixed with a small custom made panel.

A similar situation exists on the other side of the car.