Dangerous?

[Arthurdaily]

I am presuming it is dangerous to drive a moggy if the outer sills are rusted through??

[chrisryder]

rather! it means the roof is pretty much the only bit holding the back to the front!

[Arthurdaily]

Bum holes...

[dunketh]

Interesting question as I bet there are plenty that are being driven in this state.

[Arthurdaily]

But perhaps not knowingly? Not sure if I want to risk my wife and child in the event of a deep pothole or some other obstacle putting strain on the roof!!!

[bmcecosse]

Def NOT!

[Dryad]

rather! it means the roof is pretty much the only bit holding the back to the front!

...and the floor, and the boxing panels and inner sills - unless they've gone too!

[chrisryder]

by sills, i presume most of the structural area of the boxing panel would also have gone south.

it's unlikely to have completely solid boxings, and rotten sills...

[Arthurdaily]

Not sure, the kick plates are welded on, but the bottom 'plate' is holed - rusty... so I had a poke and then shone a torch in, and out fell the remains of the outer sill... I'm presuming the offside is the same as the nearside. The inner sill looks okay from that weird angle.

So, how much I'm wondering?

Not sure if it a job for a newbie welder!

[MarkyB]

If the kick plates are sound and have been welded at the ends they will have become structural elements, albeit not as thick as the originals.
As has been said, the floor is also part of the structure as is the roof.

The Minor was heavily over engineered by design as unitary construction was a new idea at the time.

Hence it takes a very large amount of rot and bodgery to compromise the body structure.

The places you need to be most concerned about are those the MOT man looks at, the suspension mounting points.

You should look at these even harder than the MOT man is allowed to, layers of baked bean can covering the rotten front chassis where the eye bolt goes in will get the car through an MOT, but a failure in this area will be genuinely dangerous.

The same, but less dangerous, are the areas where the rear springs mount, if one of these fail you are likely to get some nasty banging but not lose control of the car

If you want to get it from A to B I wouldn't worry about the sills.

[Dean]

These quoted me £1 per mile a couple of years ago... might be worth a quote and save the stress, worry and hassle.

http://www.car-mover.co.uk/

[Arthurdaily]

Thanks, but the car is actually at home on the drive... so don't need to move it at the moment, when you say getting it from A to B Marky, do you mean 'once' or do you mean regularly??

Can anybody advise how much replacement of outer sills and bottoms of A posts would cost?

[MarkyB]

I meant once, take some pictures so we all know what we are talking about.

Particularly the suspension mounts, as I said these are the most critical bits.

[Arthurdaily]

Okay, will go and do that now...

[chickenjohn]

Arthur, unbolt the sill finisher channel and remove the sill covers and post some photos so we can have a look at the rust. Certainly, the sills will need to be replaced for the next MOT.

[Arthurdaily]

Right, some pictures for you, I can't take the kick plate off as it is welded.[frame][/frame]

[Arthurdaily]

[frame][/frame]

[Arthurdaily]

All the following pictures are taken 'through the hole'[frame][/frame]

[Arthurdaily]

[frame][/frame]

[Arthurdaily]

[frame][/frame]