Restoring the Front Section of the Cooper

The front section of the Cooper required a lot of work, both inner wings were in a badly corroded state. The outer wings were OK, as they had been replaced by a previous owner. However they had been badly fitted, making it almost impossible to remove them without severely damaging them. Original and new outer wings for Minis are still available, and are relatively inexpensive. The front most panel of the car had also been replaced at some stage in the past with a non-original and badly fitted panel. This too had to be dealt with. Luckily the bonnet was in good condition!

These photographs, shown below, illustrate the various stages involved in re-building the front of the Cooper. The only non genuine replacement part used in this stage of the restoration was the front panel. This was supplied by Mini Speed who recommended it as the best of the available third party panels. In fairness it should also be said that the Rover supplied inner wings did require a degree of conversion work in order to make them compatible with the vintage of the Cooper.

 

Preparation

Most of the front of the Cooper had been removed at the start of the restoration project, prior to the initial sand blasting.

This photograph illustrates the process of "drilling out" spot welds. Here most of the spot welds fastening the passenger side inner wing to the chassis have been removed.

Removal

The above inner wing has been completely removed!

The rust visible on the end surface of the bulk head cross-member, and on the inner door upright is superficial and is easily dealt with.

This removal process must now be repeated on the driver's side of the car.

Initial Fit

The new inner wings are clamped into position. Notice the large round hole in the passenger side panel, this accommodates the electric cooling fan fitted to the very latest Minis. This and many other smaller fixtures are non-original and will have to be modified or removed.

A front subframe is being used to help ensure good alignment.

Alignment

In this photograph the bonnet has been fitted and aligned with the tops of the inner wings.

This alignment is extremely important, as a car with misaligned bonnet does not look good!

The inner wings are now ready to be welded in place.

Welding

The driver's side inner wing is now almost completely welded into position.

In this photograph the bottom most edge that buts up to the front of the floor pan has not yet been welded.

Once finished, this process must be repeated for the passenger side of the car.

A-Panels

Both sides of the Cooper required new A-Panels as the originals were badly corroded.

In this photograph the driver's side A-Panel has been clamped into position along with its corresponding outer wing. The wing has been attached in order to ensure the correct alignment for the A-Panel.

Final Fit

Before finally welding the A-Panel into position, the driver's side door was re-fitted.

It is essential to make certain that the correct gap exists between the leading edge of the door and the A-Panel.

Once completed the A-Panel was welded into place.