The next task was to apply seam sealer and paint the underbody. I scuffed all areas with a maroon Scotch-brite pad (3M 7447) to prep for the underbody coating and after wiping over everything with wax & grease remover, the seam sealer (Sikaflex 227) was applied to all areas of the underbody and lower engine bay where any panels overlap or had welded rust repairs. Although it looks a bit messy it will all be painted over. I also applied seam sealer in any gaps in the body-sill seam (at the base of the doors/side panels) of which any excess was wiped off with a rag soaked in thinners. Once all the seam sealer was cured, epoxy primer was painted over it. Every other panel join inside and outside of the car as well as boot-lid, doors and bonnet then had seam sealer applied (after scuffing with Scotch-brite pad) Boot : The panel joins in the engine bay and front bumper area had seam sealer applied and any excess carefully wiped off, leaving only the seam sealer at the panel joins : For
Before prepping the shell for high-build primer I wanted to take time to confirm that all major parts still fit and panel gaps were okay. The first task was to install the engine and to help this task I made a custom engine lift bracket for the Toyota Starlet engine that would keep the engine at the best front-to-rear tilt whilst fitting it in the Mini (I don't know why I didn't make this years ago!) While I was fitting the rear engine mount, I noticed that the pin through the polyurethane had moved and the mount was no longer centred. To fix the mount position better I machined a custom bush that has a larger diameter either end to prevent any lateral movement. I had previously modified the front fascia panel to fix a serious bonnet gap issue and knew it would affect the subframe front mounting and require some re-work. The gearbox-side engine mount no longer aligned with the front apron mount hole and it was easier to completely remove it and remake the mount. With the engin