1965 Four Door - sympathetic resto

[OGY985K]

Thanks John.
Mine is the same. Box says ‘rechargeable’ batteries but reality is normal lithium cells. I’ve ordered 2 for £6 vs new mask for £100!
Alan

[OGY985K]

Hi All,

I'd appreciate your steer.

I COULD patch up the floors & cross members on the driver's side of the car...but they are a mess really. The floor tops have no resemblance to the
patched undersides...I suspect many layers. What I can't get my head around are the replacement panels.

Q 1. If I buy rear quarter floors then it's easy to cut out one section to gain access to replace the cross member end (one side is fine), then add the new floor panel. But do these quarter floor panels reach the cross member? Or, is there a gap between them that needs metal adding? https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... e-p1238108

Q 2. Sill structure. I get the outer sill, inner box, boxing plate. But there appears to be a section at the edge of the floor that goes under the inner sill and meets the outer sill? I can't see this featured on the quarter floors? Am I missing something? I may be able to retain what's already there but haven't inspected yet

Thanks
Alan

[ManyMinors]

If you cut out the rear quarter floor and the end of the centre crossmember, you should be able to replace the rear quarter floor and then weld a new crossmember end onto it. There should be no gap between the front and the rear quarter floor panels.

Once you've cut all the old rusty sill sections away along with the floor pans I would suggest aligning and fitting the new outer floor edge panel into position first and - even if you attach it only with a few self tapping screws or similar initially. Then you can trial fit the new floor pans. What you do with the boxing panels will depend on how rusty they are. You may be fortunate enough to leave them or just repair the edges. Once you are happy with all this, the front and rear inner floor edge panels (as ESM call them) can be welded in to bridge the gap between the outer floor edge and the floor pans themselves. These, like the quarter floor pans themselves, can be trimmed down so you only use a smaller section of the repair panel if that is all you need. The repair panels are inexpensive so you can afford to buy a panel and only use part of it in some cases. There is no point in cutting out good sound original steel. Similarly, there is no point in retaining rusty original steel either so you have to make an individual judgement.

If you search through some of the restoration threads on here I'm sure you'll find some good photos and descriptions of similar repairs. Otherwise talk to panel suppliers who carry out such restorations and get some ideas from them?

Good luck with it! Take lots of photographs.

[OGY985K]

Thanks @manyminors that’s very useful. It’s the floor edge panel that’s foxed me.
I can’t believe how much cheaper Morris panels are vs. Spitfire £228 / half floor for a Spit!

[OGY985K]

New welding helmet in the end as replacing the batteries hasn’t fixed my old one. Have bought the basic Parweld kit as my last one was great. The new version has replaceable batteries https://www.weldingsuppliesdirect.co.uk ... elmet.html

Panels on order (RH) are rear pan, front and rear floor edge panels, outer sill, door pillar closing panel, cross member end. I just can’t bring myself to patching up the existing stuff…felt like a bodge. It would pass an MOT but I’d know the layers of mess exist.

Slow progress at the mo as pulled two chest muscles lifting my workmate bench off the wall.