Another job i decided to take on myself.
I've made door cards before and its not very hard but i had always just used some plain material and that was all. I wanted to do something nicer this time and actually put more effort into it. First i used some old door cards as templates and traced that onto some 3mm MDF. After cutting them out i mock fitted each one and trimmed them to suit.
I originally liked the look of the diamond quilted pattern and went searching for some pre-made stuff to use but found out it wasnt very easy to find and that most upholsterers made their own. After popping into Textile Traders i walked out with quite a bit of knowledge on how to sew vinyl. The vinyl i was going to use has a different texture than what ive seen and is fairly thick, this made it impossible to use for diamond quilting. I gave up. I went back to Textile Traders to talk to the lady who had been helping me out and she showed me a few tricks on the sewing machine. She gave me a few ideas and showed me how to top stitch like they do on leather/vinyl upholstery. After messing around on the sewing machine myself i started making these:
Close Up
The next job was gluing these on. I purchased some closed cell 3mm foam from Clark Rubber and glued that to the MDF and glued the vinyl on top, just for some padding. The vinyl was pulled around the back and staple gunned for good measure.
Here is the end result
I mock fitted the door card to see how it looked with the door latch and window winder so i hadn't installed the Triumph arm rest / door pulls i found on eBay.
Finally here is the final installation.
This was a pretty quick job apart from integrating the starlet door lock to the mini door mech. All glass and chrome is reused from the previous mini so its not in the best condition but I cleaned and buffed as best as i could.
I started with the driver side door and did make a few scratches in the paint. Hopefully they wont be as noticeable once everything is on. I think i may of used the wrong chrome strip along the door window but i might stick with it anyway.
The rear side windows were easy enough to install but i made a small modification to the latch. I was shown this little trick from another mini enthusiast when i was purchasing some parts from him. It involves drilling out one of the pins and installing a lock pin in place. This allow for the rear windows to be opened completely, which may not seem very important but is quite convenient with easy access to the back seats.
This was a job i had been procrastinating about for awhile as its not an easy job. One day i decided to take it on and get it done and just take my time doing it.
I had purchased some new headlining rods from Minispares which are specially colour coded.
From front to back:
Red
White
White
Black
Blue
Yellow
I pretty much followed the instructions from a The Mini Forum post. The link is here.
I would say I'm about 90% happy with the job, but i guess that's how most people feel about doing jobs themselves. There is one small corner that i couldn't quite get right but it will be sorted soon enough.
With the windscreen installed earlier i was now able to install the rear view mirror. I was originally going to use the standard rear view mirror but opted for a brand new modern replacement that was glued to the glass. The glue used was purchased separately and was specific to rear view mirrors mounting on windscreens. It sets within seconds so i had to make sure it was installed in the right place.
I never had an old windscreen as it was broken when i had purchased the mini. I found one on Gumtree for $40 but later found out that it was not legal to have on the road because it was not a laminated one.
If I were to buy the windscreen and have it installed it would cost me $350-400, but if i chose to buy it as a 'supply only' and install it myself it would only cost $150. With $40 wasted i purchased the brand new laminated one from Instant Windscreens. Installation was fairly hard and i built up a good sweat. It is definitely a job you don't wanna do by yourself, so i had a friend help me. The trick from plenty of YouTube videos was to have some string or rope sitting in the seal and to pull the string out while pushing the glass in. We did it the hard way and used two plastic scrapers to slowly feed the glass in. The real trick is to use plenty of soapy water tho!
Once in, the next job was installing the fillet strip into the seal to lock the glass in. Again a fairly hard and fiddly job but I had the right tool which did make things easier. The fillet strip used was the non chrome one.
Note: The ending of the windscreen rubber and the ending of the fillet strip have to be at opposite ends otherwise the windscreen could come out (i found this out later so i will be redoing this)
While i had my friend helping me out i got him to hold the side doors while i installed the hinges, aligned the doors and then tightened all nuts. I may have to re-align them once the glass is in as they are the majority of the weight.
Here is how the driver side looked
