I have started on the MK1 Jem that i purchased from Bob Stevens early this year , As Bob was moving and most of you know he could not take these cars with him, Advertised through the club and i was lucky enough to purchase the MK1 .
This will be my 3rd Jem build and second restoration/build , First was in 1968 having seen the Mini Jem in the Hot car magazine and placed a order with the late Robin Statham at Fellpoint , Penn , Bucks , Shell A , cost was £219.00 + i bought a set of headlamp cowls@ £6.66s ,, Photo attached of the original invoice courtesy of my late mam as she saved everything.

Photo of the latest project the day i bought and brought it home ,

To continue    

Just arrived home

Home

Hello Goff,
Looks like an interesting one to do, a nice blank canvas to start with, hope that the shell is as good as it looks in the photo?
Bet it'll look good when done, like your other Jem.
Cheers

I hope you will post progress here, it is going to be an interesting project to watch.

Brian

I did a bit of exploration work around the front steel bulk head cross member as it was showing rust signs and the fibre glass was de-laminating , But good news Its rusty but not enough that it needs replacing , So removed most of the fibre glass , ground away the rust and gave it a coat of red oxide , The end fish plates are also OK , but just need to tap out the shock absorber mounting holes and fit in a pieces of threaded rod before it gets glassed over , Also noticed the the two drilled and tapped holes that hold the brake pedal assembly in the bulk head had been butchered , someone had drilled a hole straight through , So i fitted the brake assembly as a jig , then welded two nuts on the engine bay side again before it gets glassed over , Only part this shell has bolted on is the front shock mounting brackets and one was upside down , After removing them i have found lose fibre glass or should i say it looks like its been repaired or had a front end fitted !!!!!!!!! As whoever did the job bodged it ,Though it looks good but they never keyed the glass up and just glassed over the gell coat under the arch on the inner wing , so it was starting to de-laminate ,Resin tinted as original shell , Nearside is the same but that is the next job to tackle , Then ruff it key it up before i glass it over , A few photos added    

Plenty of dust , Scratch and itch time again

painted , Just need to ruff up the fibre glass in the corners

More update , Though this was done a couple of months ago , I bought front and rear subframes secondhand , Both are Hydrolastic , Front one in nice condition ,Slight rust around the turrets , Rear one a bit more rust but salvageable , Both need converting to dry suspension , I had a rotten rear subframe that was laid in the scrap bin from my previous Jem build , I cut out the top hats and welded them in the hydro frame , Sure these act as bump stops , Heated up and knocked out the locking tabs that hold the Hyrdo bags in so the dry rubber cones will fit , same with the front subframe , Next after cleaning away all the grease , oil ect and pressure washing i made a tank to soak the rear subframe in, I don't bother with shot blasting anymore ,I use Molasses diluted 5 -1 works wonders and is a lot cheaper than blasting, Soaked the rear subframe for a week ,then washed and soaked again for another week ,Depending how rusty a component is , You may need to soak longer or shorter and wire brush in between !!!!!!!!!!!!! , Google it or watch on you tube , OK this way is slower than blasting but i only bought 10 liters and that is enough to do all the bits i have , including all the suspension parts, Once all cleaned i then sprayed and brushed painted the frames using paint that they use on off-shore rigs and electricity pylons , again i don't bother with powder coating as i like to do the components myself as i know they are painted properly !!! , A few photo's added ,    

cleaned up ready to fit

Fitted just need to drill puddle holes and weld

Molasses bath

Just turned over as you can see the subframe is de-rusting nicely

In the bath ready to cover over with molasses completely for another few days before its ready for paint

Epoxy Blast primer as used on off-shore rigs

first coat

hand brushed wet top coat in all the seams before spraying.

finished both subframes ready to build up

Rear arms after a week soaking in molasses and just pressure washed ready to dry and paint

and painted

Heating up the Hydro tags on the rear subframe, Tap out flush then i can fit Dry rubber cones

again showing the tag heated up before knocking flush to form a ring so the rubber cone will fit

I got a bit more done today,  Modified a pair of front suspension bottom arms by adding 1/4 inch to make them negative camber , This is how i do mine , The photos should tell the story , Mark and square of with the back part of the arm , This will not change the geometry of the caster angle same as happens when lengthening the arm by cutting and welding in the middle,  OK ,Mark out , Cut with a hacksaw , Build up with weld aprox 1/8 inch in the middle , about 3 runs and one run each side , Grind a V prep , Do this to the other piece , Make sure you still have the original hacksaw cut at the edge , so you can measure , or you could just mark the arm either side of the cut and scribe a line to work from , OK so now you have the bottom arm with a V prep ready for welding , Line it all up square and tack weld each end make sure its 1/4 inch gap , If you cannot burn through the root don't worry as after the first run you can grind out from opposite side , Weld on opposite sides to stop it from pulling out of square , Grind and flap disc to finish ,any under cut just use a 1.5 mild steel welding rod to fill in , Stick weld , Use Low Hydrogen rods 7016 or 7018 , pre-heat rods also , I used a bit of scrap plate to start my runs so i don't end up with porosity at the start , About 1 1/2 hrs to do both arms , First time i did this was in 1968 ,Yes 49 years ago .

arm

run of plate for starting welding

V prep

!/4 inch gap

Tacked up one side

welded

finished

both finished ready to paint

This is the welder i used for welding the bottom arms and also the welding rods , Low hydrogen 7016 or you can used 7018 , painted a few more parts and had them in fron of the log burner to bake awhile , my wife looked but never commented !!!!!!

Cherry red

welding rods

painted parts

I got a bit more done , Fitted new roller bearings in the top arms using a long bolt and some wide wasers, Assembled and painted the Discs, Calipers warming up ready to paint and Shock absorber brackets de-rusted and painted.

top arm

top arm

new discs

warming up

undercoat

I got the calipers and Steering rack painted today , Sprayed them as the calipers are to fiddly to brush , You get more paint on your hands and know way of holding them really.

steering rack

Weather was a bit warmer so i got to grinding out the Jelcoat cracks on the roof , Some are cracks , Some are the gelcoat lifting , Looks like someone as attacked the gelcoat with one of those Gouging chisels and it as just started to lift !!!!!!!!! Strange !!!! , I made a couple of inquires and was told to paint first coat with Mastic Polyester Spray Filler !!!!!!    I got the body outside today on its side to have a look underneath at the damage or repairs that it needs , Not to bad really , For some reason they have filled the front subframe floor mounts ???? ,I removed a couple of bits of wood that was poorly glassed over, Going to trial fit the front subframe to see if anything is wrong!!! ,Rear arches are a bit rusty but i reckon i can just repair them after removing some matting and grinding away the rusty part, A few photo's added  , My wife say's i am crackers , Ha Ha . Maybe she is right ????  

Roof , Look like it as got woodworm

Polyester filler Spray filler for the first coat !!!

on its side

Subframe mounts

mountings

mountings

mountings

inner wheel arch ready for glassing over as the fiber glass was not attached, just laid over gel coat and not ruffed up !!!!

More work on the body , Ruffed up the surface for a couple of layers of matting in the floor pans , Removed two rusty bits of flat bar that had been poorly glassed over in the rear seat pan area , Removed the rusty front floor subframe mountings and replaced with stainless steel , Also removed fibreglass as the mounting were way out and repositioned them using the front subframe as a jig ,

floor pans

floor mountings

rotten floor mounting

two layers of fibre glass ,

Fibre glass cut away for new mountings

Subframe as a jig for the floor mountings

New Stainless steel mountings ready to glass over.

Great progress keep it coming.
Mike

“ Quoted from mike brown, posted February 26th, 2017, 21:39:02 at here ” Great progress keep it coming. Mike

Thanks Mike,

Question- This body as no wood running the length of the cills , Do i need to fit wood or will it be OK, , When i collected it from Richard he said it was very light so could have been a racing shell,
Thanks
Goff  

The cills are a fibreglass box section made up of the shells exterior and an internal section glassed into the shell. The wood (or sometimes cardboard  in mini marcos) is only there as a former for the fibreglass it has little structural property's. If you are concerned about stiffness in this area just add a couple of layers of glass along the internal section.
Mike

Got a bit more finished , Glassed over the floor mountings , Made good outside also and a couple of polyester rods replacing the rotten tube in the foot wells, also fitted two stainless plates with nuts welded on for the subframe front mountings , removed the fibreglass from the rear of the car as it had been poorly glassed over , next job is to add another layer and fill in the rear light holes also the rear skirt needs some work , started painting underneath , Having a change from the grinding dust .

floor

front mounting plates

glassed over front mounting

front mounting

a bit of paint

i need to fill these holes in soon.

“ Quoted from mike brown, posted February 27th, 2017, 09:16:46 at here ” The cills are a fibreglass box section made up of the shells exterior and an internal section glassed into the shell. The wood (or sometimes cardboard  in mini marcos) is only there as a former for the fibreglass it has little structural property's. If you are concerned about stiffness in this area just add a couple of layers of glass along the internal section. Mike

Mike i will leave them as they are , Thanks

old mounting removed and a gap to fill in

gap to fill in

I am back after holiday and a bit of time off , first all i am undoing what i thought was right the first time round , Let me explain a bit and hopefully the photo's should tell the story , Right This shell came with  out a rear subrame fitted,Various hole cut out of the shell around the rear subframe !!!!!! Hah i thought i fill them with fibreglass ,MISTAKE , They were cut out to clear the subframe , What i ended up doing  was cutting the suframe and fibreglass and filling in again, its done now and all underneath painted, subfame fitted with the brake ,fuel and battery lines connected ,just got to fit shocks ,cables and rear pipes  

cut the battery box

Cut the subframe

and the inside

and bent the other side

no hole for the remote???

Ready at last

Fitted subframe

Look good geoff.
Mike

I am back again , After a short illness and taking it easy while i recovered, i did not do much all summer and most of the autumn , I discovered that this shell as a some major work done but not properly !!!! , Yes more set back , Walked round and round taking measurements come to the conclusion it as had top half on a bottom half , after i fitted the front subframe , the gap on wheel arch was about 11/2 more than the other , if i level them them up the car was leaning by same amount ,Come to the  conclusion that it was about 25 mm OUT , I fell out with the car !!! after a couple of months pondering what to do i decided to cut across the fire wall above the front cross member , along the inner wing , down the inner wheel arch and through the door frame just below the bottom hinge on the passenger side, Placed a strut in the door frame and jacked it up , moving it about 20mm , The photo's maybe tell it better , put the subframe back on and did a bit more jacking around the front , Finally got it near enough ,Then fibreglass and let it stand a couple of days before i removed the struts , Next still plenty of work to finish of in the engine bay , filling sanding ect , also start building the engine .

Cut firewall behind and down the inner wheel arch

door pillar

Looking in the engine bay why did i not notice this , look at the bulkhead firewall , off side is right , nearside is 20 mm smaller , measure from the scuttle to the cross member on both sides 20 mm difference and it had hole for the subframe bolt drilled through the gutter were the bonnet fits , Love is blind.

Having gone through a similar stage to Goff, I reached the conclusion that there was not a lot of accuracy infitting the floor moulding into the top. The rear subframe could only be fitted by stressing the rubber mounts, so with poly bushes the whole lot had to be shoved over a bit. The front required similar treatment, but the important thing was to get both subframes level. The rear arches were also a pain.
Having replaced all the metal, I have tried to get metal to metal contact where the bolts go through, rather than bolting through a sandwich of GRP, by bonding in a stainless washer to the shell. But trying to establish a datum line on the shell is mysterious. Even the rear panel is asymmetric.
So you have my sympathy, and best wishes for the eventual solution

Had a good week ,Been building the engine up , Its a bitsa engine & gearbox Rod change -1300 Pre +  k from a scrap yard in Doncaster  , The diff pin gear came loose and smashed the geabox casing + planet gears £120  , Block rebored +10 ,cam bearings fitted and decked about 6 mm , Crankshaft from South Africa £200 , regound 10 mains , 10 big ends , Its works out just under 1100 cc , Head from Manchester , 1300 GT off ebay for £40 ,listed as a bog standard 1300 though it needed a full recon including exhaust valves , Mini spares Evo 2 cam , Gearbox came from Nottingham  for £50 ,standard from a Mini 1000 last of the remotes , Stripped down all new bearings , Syncros, second gear and a minispares cross pin diff   Should make a nice fast road engine , Rest of the bits from a couple of engines.  

SA crankshaft

Engine

Engine

Head

Head , I had to fit the small bore push rods as they are shorter and head studs as they threaded longer , Also drilled and tapped the block for extra two studs.

Nearly built up , Fitted later type out put shafts to the gearbox

Lot of bits from other engines

Engine Block

You may need to change the rocker box my mk2 was tight with a standard tin one.
Mike

“ Quoted from mike brown, posted January 28th, 2018, 17:20:39 at here ” You may need to change the rocker box my mk2 was tight with a standard tin one. Mike

Yes mike , it does look to big ,When the engine is fitted i will see how it goes ,not going to alter the bonnet ,Maybe cut it down and re-weld it is an option.    

“ Quoted from Goff_Allen, posted January 28th, 2018, 16:14:09 at here ” Had a good week ,Been building the engine up , Its a bitsa engine & gearbox Rod change -1300 Pre +  k from a scrap yard in Doncaster  , The diff pin gear came loose and smashed the geabox casing + planet gears £120  , Block rebored +10 ,cam bearings fitted and decked about 6 mm , Crankshaft from South Africa £200 , regound 10 mains , 10 big ends , Its works out just under 1100 cc , Head from Manchester , 1300 GT off ebay for £40 ,listed as a bog standard 1300 though it needed a full recon including exhaust valves , Mini spares Evo 2 cam , Gearbox came from Nottingham  for £50 ,standard from a Mini 1000 last of the remotes , Stripped down all new bearings , Syncros, second gear and a minispares cross pin diff   Should make a nice fast road engine , Rest of the bits from a couple of engines.

Graham i am sure this shell has a had a repair done after it left the factory , I am going to remove the rear subframe and move it over , re-drill the holes.

Here is the back view of the  engine showing pot drives i replaced the cross joints , Bought twin 11/4 SU from ebay £80 , came of a 998 cooper according to the number on the manifold ,good condition needing the rubber mounts between bowls and body , Spindles OK ,gave them a good clean and polished the dash pots and air filters , Started to make a dash board as this one was missing , photo's tell the story.

carbs

carbs

dash missing

made a dash but still needs finishing

Looking good Goff, not too bad a price for the carbs either.

“ Quoted from Neil KilBane, posted February 5th, 2018, 09:08:27 at here ” Looking good Goff, not too bad a price for the carbs either.

Thanks Neil , Its giving me some heartache this body shell , Today taken the rear subframe off and re-drilled the mounting points as one wheel was sticking out around 12mm further than the other one Grrrrrrrr  and bloody cold working outside , Carbs good buy i have been watching ebay for about 4 months , Prices can vary considerable ,These were pretty local also and not worn on the spindles is a bonus.
Neil are you coming over to Blyton this year ?????

I won't make Blyton, the dates don't suit this year, I'm heading to Portugal for the IMM in May, can't afford to do both events unfortunately :(

Gearbox stripped down and washed ,On the wife's worktop for inspection , She wasn't to pleased about it , this was the end of November just found photo ,It needed new layshaft, 4 syncros, all the bearings and a second gear , Bloody expensive to recondition.

OK ,A bit of a update .
Engine is in , What i did is cranked it over without plugs until i got oil pressure , 75 psi cranking " Great ", connected it all up ,fired up straight away ,Had to cut the front wheel arches as the tyres were catching both fronts on lock , fibre glassed and filled in , looks good now , still doing the body BUT getting close for first coat of polyester spray filler , photos attached , as you can see plenty of dust

Fitting engine

its in

engine

Plenty of dust

More dust

rear light filled in

Fitted a heater

Nice rad

Heater. another update soon

update - Body is just about ready for first coat , BUT i thought i would offer the windscreen up to see if it would fit , NOPE it needs either the glass grinding and/or the body modifying , I think ill alter the body , on the nearside bottom screen pillar it needs some taking off , same pillar at the top it needs biulding up , photo's will tell the story .

nearside bottom pillar

windscreen

Another update , got the windscreen opening sorting , got the sprayfiller on and the first undercoat , loads of pin holes filled in , It looks like a Cow instead of a pig at moment , got to sand it flat then a couple of more undercoats flat again and top coat . Got the seats , they are Cobra Cub with the Mini Jem logo stiched in the back , similar colour to the MK2 jem that i have .

first coat

under coat

The cow

and again

seat

seat

Looking good there Goff.
Was the undercoat home sprayed with a compressor?
Hopefully catch up at Blyton again this year, you bring the tea and I'll bring the biscuits!
Cheers
Gary

“ Quoted from Gary Marlow, posted March 31st, 2019, 19:14:23 at here ” Looking good there Goff. Was the undercoat home sprayed with a compressor? Hopefully catch up at Blyton again this year, you bring the tea and I'll bring the biscuits! Cheers Gary

Yes home compressor ,its as old as me 70 + , i have had since i was 19 , sprayed my first Jem with it in 1968.
Yes see you at Blyton Gary , Ill bring those 1275 side stripes that i promised you and the tea
Goff

Great work as usual Goff, nice set of wheels too :)

“ Quoted from Neil KilBane, posted April 2nd, 2019, 07:42:20 at here ” Great work as usual Goff, nice set of wheels too :)

JAPearce wheels , exspensive now Neil , Are you heading over to Blyton  ???

Not this year Goff, the dates don't work out for me I'm afraid.

Wish I knew that you had JA Pearce wheels on your car Goff, I only recently got rid of 3 centre caps  as in last week! - Had I known you had these on yours I'd have given them to you if you needed them.

hi goff,
       would you consider doing some bodywork on my jem
cheers simon

“ Quoted from Gary Marlow, posted April 3rd, 2019, 14:00:27 at here ” Wish I knew that you had JA Pearce wheels on your car Goff, I only recently got rid of 3 centre caps  as in last week! - Had I known you had these on yours I'd have given them to you if you needed them.

Story of my life that Gary , See you at Blyton

“ Quoted from Simon_Pike, posted April 10th, 2019, 10:09:35 at here ” hi goff,        would you consider doing some bodywork on my jem cheers simon

I seen its for sale Simon , NO thanks , had enough with this one

Finally got the top coats on after a couple more under coats , filling pin holes ect , its not perfect BUT the conditions are not either !!! some photo's added

Roof painted

car painted

and again

this is the compressor Gary , I have had it since i was 19 , painted my first Jem in 1968, second hand when i bought it. god knows how old it is ???.

Looks super paint Goff and the compressor too!
Have one like that - got it off a neighbour who built it - seems to work ok but will be interesting to see how it really goes when I attempt to paint my Mk3 later in the year.
Catch up in a couple of weeks at Blyton.
Cheers Gary

Getting close now , Carpets ,headling , seats fitted , wiring up the dash back lights work , head side work , wipers work , just a bit more wiring to do this week then fit the windows , just got the two doors & bonnet to finish , check everything over , before i take it for a mot ,

headling

seats

dash wiring

back lights

front view

Coming along very nicely Goff :-)

Just a couple more jobs done , cut from a sheet of 5mm perpsex rear screen and fitted , dash all fitted and working ok .

dash fitted

Very nice mate.  I've got the same Savage switches :-)

Had a good productive couple of weeks , doors and bonnet spray filled , undercoat and top coat finished , not perfect but i am happy with them , bonnet fitted today , drivers door also fitted and passenger very close , loads of snaging jobs also completed , i think just the side windows to fit , drivers/ passenger windows , passenger door , check everthing over then take it for its MOT next week

top coat baking in the sun on Wednesday afternoon , i new the dustbin would come in handy.

Aliminium wheel arches fitted made by Alloy Racing Fabrications , bonnet catches fitted.

another view

drivers door fitted

happy with todays work

Hi Goff Jem looking good hope to see it out soon , Maybe at harewood in August

Great progress Goff.    You are putting me to shame!

Good luck with the MOT.  

Well its just about finished , are they ever finished !!!! always something to do on these old cars , OK door perspex fitted , chrome catches also fitted , just had to machine down the the buttons and screws that hold them in because the perspex is 3mm , i made some stainless plates to fit opposite the window catches that cover the gasket up nicely , door mirrors fitted , just some interior to finish off , paint the wheels and centre caps , drove it for its MOT 10 miles and 10 miles back  , passed OK , just a weep on a union that needed nipping up , on the way back went on to 3 cylinders about 2 miles from home so i kept going , it turned to be a spark plug lead had come off from the distributer cap , easy fix , filled all the forms in and sent last Thursday to DVLA , now waiting for a age related plate then away we go , thanks to Roger Garland and Craig Smith for assisting with photo's , forms ect .

Headlamp covers fitted , these are from a VDP 1100

Persex and door catches fitted

stainless plates fitted to outside of window catches.

door mirrors

“ Quoted from Allan_Scott, posted June 29th, 2019, 21:13:47 at here ” Hi Goff Jem looking good hope to see it out soon , Maybe at harewood in August

Don't know if i will be there Alan , if i am it wont be in this one .

“ Quoted from mike brown, posted January 28th, 2018, 17:20:39 at here ” You may need to change the rocker box my mk2 was tight with a standard tin one. Mike

Mike the Oselli rocker box is ok , i had around 6mm machined from the top of the block so i guess that's what gave the clearance .