Cooper Body Shell

The Heritage specialists fit a shell at the Classic Car show at the N.E.C.

Only the latest type production bodyshells are available from Rover, who in their infinite wisdom have reduced the price from £1 ,700 to £950, which may help keep a few more cars on the road. These latest specification primed shells are without bootlid, bonnet, doors or any other removable part - exactly how they have always been supplied. The only removeable part usually found on the shell is the four corner vertical seam mouldings.
This price reduction now makes it a more viable proposition if people are contemplating a large body repair, body change or buying a late type car with severe body damage being sold off by insurance salvage companies, which seem in fair abundance at the time of writing.
These bodyshells are only really viable when fitting to Mk.3 cars from 1970 onwards, which have wind up windows and doors with internal hinges. If the donor car is pre 1976 there are three major body change points to take into consideration.
a) In 1976 the front subframe became rubber mounted and is a totally different subframe with all its locating points changed. This subframe is easily identified by the single large bolt in each tower mounting area on the bulkhead brace crossmember. Earlier versions always had two fixing bolts per tower whether dry or hydrolastic suspension. The rubber mounted front subframe also has rubber mountings where it bolts to the front panel (these are a teardrop shape), and also on the rear where it bolts to the body on the front fioorpan area. The later two mounting points are easily overcome, but the crossmember is harder. All these points are mentioned in the following story about the British Motor Heritage rebuild
at the Classic Car Show.
b) Cars built between 1970 and 1973 had remote control type gearboxes which fitted all earlier front fioorpan tunnels, but in 1973 the gearbox was changed to rod change with two exposed rods which entered a smaller, different shaped housing, to accommodate the different gearlever mechanism. The tunnel was widened with a flatter top.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      c) The left hand hand inner wing has a large hole for an electric fan.

SHOW CAR REBUILD
The bronze yellow 1970 Cooper S Mk. 3 was donated to Heritage, and the first I saw of the car was at a prearranged meeting on the back of a trailer in South Mimms service station.
The car was very original, and more or less complete with the engine removed for some mechanical problem, many years before. But the cylinder head and carburettors were missing.
The car looked in a very sorry and neglected state, with the roof appearing like it had been used as a public footpath by people and horses (totally destroyed). The floors had rotted out, and mice had previously occupied the car with their nests still stuck between the petrol tanks and the bodywork.
This Mini had one or two interesting points however, which confirmed previous queries that I had pursued over the years. The bootlid had the correct Mk.3 outer skin, which has the larger number plate fixing area that it bolts directly too, unlike the hinged type Mk.1 /2 cars.
The inner bootlid skin, however, was the Mk.2, full covering type, which they must have used until stocks were exhausted. I had originally believed Leyland at the time had retooled the new looking bootlid, but after lengthy investigations with Heritage, we discovered it was the original tooling for the outer pressing (bootlid outer skin), that had been modified and meant that the original Mk. 1/2 could never be produced again.
The rear opening window seals and seat vinyl covering were of Mk. 2 variety, as was the windscreen washer equipment. The vehicle number of 118 confirmed the fact that it was a very early model, as all numbers start at 101 , and with all the
cars being built in batches of ten, we assume this was built in the second batch. The engines at this early stage, were also in batches of ten, and although not the same number as the body, it was out of the second batch of engines, with engine number prefix 12H397, which denotes dynamo fitment. although the car had a alternator fitted at the same stage.
To put the car back to original, a loom was made to fit the dynamo Mk 3 indicator, and toggle flick switches, which were correct, and less steering lock. The car was also still fitted with original Hydrolastic suspension, disc brakes and Mk. 3 servo. Everything was correct to the vehicle identification points, so the shell was stripped and sandblasted to see how rust had infected the shell, bearing in mind the roof would need replacing anyway. The shell was so badly rusted on inspection, that Heritage decided to use a new 1994 shell for economic reasons, and covert it as near as possible to original. This action might disgust the purist (like myself), but as the owner of a number of Mk. 3's being restored the hard
way, I felt it was an alternative venture, and definitely less expensive, with less aggravation.
The first problem encountered was in the subframe area, which was highlighted earlier. to fit the original Hydrolastic subframe to retain the correct suspension set up for this car, the bulkhead crossmember had to be modified. Using a spare new subframe, and using the original shell to measure alignment, the job was easily overcome, although a lot of remeasuring and cross-checking took place.
The front panel was obviously made for the late type, front rubber mounted subframe, and the mountings could have been easily fitted to save work,but on this project the front brackets were modified to original, and bolted directly to the subframe, so visually nobody would know. The front panel reinforcement strap as used on the S was also fitted to keep it authentic and the front panel modified for the oil cooler. As both the earlier subframes whether dry or hydrolastic, bolted directly to the floor at the rear, all that was required were the new fixing holes.
The next major problem in the engine bay was the left hand inner wing or flitch panel as it is known, where the radiator draws air. On all late shells there is now a large round hole which accommodates the now standard electric fan. The  alternatives here are:-
a) fit an electric fan which has obvious advantages.
b) fit the wire mesh produced by Rover which will stop any foreign bodies damaging the radiator.
c) find an original inner wing with the slat type mesh as used on all cars before 1992. This part is no longer available from Rover and no suitable aftermarket part has been made for our purposes. The inner wing on the original shell had been cut about to fit an aftermarket electric fan, which seems ironic, so we had to find a new one specially, as the square radiator cowl bracket that holds the rubber seal between itself and the radiator, had to be fitted for originality.
Because the Cooper S Mk.3 was only built during 1970 to 1971, it obviously had the early tube front floor pan tunnel used up until the start of rod change cars in 1973. The original tunnel could be used or pre-fabricated but the bigger problem
was the reinforcement ridge that runs straight through the shallow footwell area, that has been fitted to late shells. The inner front wheel arch (the part the side of your foot touches when using the accelerator pedal) also has a stiffener ridge now, but is not particularly noticed. These ridges help add strength and reduce flexing which causes road noise levels, which Rover are always trying to reduce. It became evident that it would require too much work to replace all the front floor, so only the tunnel itself Was replaced, so that when carpeted, all would look original. The rear of the shell was much easier, although the rear floor has had minor changes that caused no problems. A hole had to be cut for the right hand tank that was fitted as standard to this car, plus all the fitting brackets for both tanks were transferred. The original shell had the large hole in the rear seat back panel, which was originally used for spraying purposes. A beam went through the speedo hole, and rear seat to revolve the shell around for spraying. Nobody could see any point in putting a hole where it is no longer required, so the original piece of cardboard that covered the hole became redundant.
There were many other little brackets and plates transferred from the original shell, so it is always a good idea not to dispose of it until the job is finished. The most notable of these parts were the ashtrays in the rear gloveboxes, and the one which sat on the rear tunnel behind the driver's seat. The parts and panels which hold the ashtrays were fitted, as they are deleted from modern day cars, which means they have stopped smoking on the inside, but cannot stop the cars smoking on the outside!
This left three cosmetic differences to contend with on this show car:-
a) The seal panels on late cars have six stiffener ridges as opposed to earlier cars, which have four. These ridges are more commonly known as drainage or air vent holes. These were left on the show car, for economy reasons.
b) Pre 1980 cars, like the Cooper S, had water drip rails fitted to the underside of the roof, above the door. These rails were easily fitted, but the bigger problem was the imperfection in the roof gutter, half way along the car on both sides. This fault only came to light after being sprayed, and remains jagged. All shells I have seen since have this problem, and should be worked on before spraying, unless roof mouldings, which are standard fitment on later cars, are to be fitted, as they were not original.
c) from 1985 onwards, side repeater lamps have been fitted to the front wings and all shells have the holes pre-cut, so on the show car the had to be filled in. (For ease, of course, lamps could be fitted , but they must work to remain legal).
On the shell used for the Cooper S, I was disappointed by the build standard, where door and bootlid fits were poor. Also the front w ing alignment and, of course, the roof gutter. Maybe this was a Friday afternoon shell, (built in a rush) but I must admit, the end job did look very good.
Changing the shell and mechanics seemed pretty straightforward, but when the car is ready to be trimmed, experts are required. Heritage are fortunate to have an excellent trimming company as a member, called Newton commercials. They trimmed all the seats as per original, in public view, and also fitted all the trim they had made. Mini Spares supplied the crash rail pad and chrome parts, but the t rim was all their own, and fitted very well. Fitting the head lining looked difficult and took some time. The carpets fitted, but didn't look very original, and this, with some of the colour matches on early Mini trim, are my only criticisms about Newton Commercial, who really are a superb outfit, and very professional.
The show car is now on display at various times in the Mini Spares' shop, to show people how a body shell change can be accomplished on pre 1976 saloons.
Special mentions to various people who helped on the project. Graham Paddy from Moss, Malcolm Gammons from Brown and Gammons. Bill Richards Racing, Newtons and of course Heritage. I would like to thank myself but I am, of course, far too humble.
Keith Dodd.

NEW SALOON BODYSHELLS AT £950 INC. VAT

STOP PRESS
At the show, I also saw the prototype of the new Mini Pick-Up rear tailgate, due very soon at a very good price for a quality part - 5.94.88 inc. VAT. Does this mean we will be seeing more Mini parts from Heritage in the future? I hope so.