Morris Minor Owners Club

Yes sounds reasonable and you could always ask what the cost would be for cash from your local man as it never hurts to ask and often gets a fair response.

dont forget bath. there welding is very good, from what ive seen
full crossmember is a big job an it needs to be done well

£400 for the complete crossmember plus replacing any rotten floor panels sounds good.

ask them what the do to ensure its centered and in correct position?

I phoned to get a very rough quote for welding the underside of my morris and replacing the inner wings and was told £2000 , because they would have to replace all that they removed. I asked if there was anything i could do to reduce the price and they said no. Maybe i'm being naive but is that right? The car is unroadworthy so i didn't want to try a garage too far away incase of trailer costs.

I found Bath very expensive too, they told me I could save 90 quid by removing the seats and interior trim but were asking almost double of all the other places! (The 1000 quote I mentioned earlier was from Bath).

I phoned to get a very rough quote for welding the underside of my morris and replacing the inner wings and was told £2000

They must be the most expensive Minor centre in the country. Saving money in short tyerm is not always going to save money in the long term but at that price you can afford to have the complete job done twice!!
On Riley the welding was excellent, however they had shortened the replacement panel for the crossmember ends to reduce the effort/time required... Needless to say after a while longer the next part of the crossmember needed doing on one side.
If you can get a decent job done for a decent price, just make sure they don't cut corners such as cutting down the repair panels (it's better to cut the rusty metal off the car than to cut the new metal off the new panel. It might save 25% in the short term but costs more in the long term!)

I'm sure the work done by CW in Bath is good(having looked around their workshop), but their prices are way over the top, whether you're talking welding, the cars for sale or even parts (about 20% overpriced). Dougster should go to a specialist charging £1000.

Benjy wrote:He comes very highly recommended and apparently his welding work is 2nd to none. Ben

Hi Ben,

Does this guy have a garage (as in a business )?? I was just wondering who / where he was, coz he sounds just like the guy who did some work on SHY for us !

He's based in Amersham. A (Tony) Burns car services.
He works on a garage premises, but whether it's his or not I couldn't say, but Ian has been in the business for years, apparently they used to work together and he always uses Tony for any jobs he doesn't fancy tackling as Ian works from home - no ramp!

i would be looking for some where in the region of over £500 for labour for the croosmember replacment, as Chris says a £1000 would probably be the final cost with sills replaced if required, a good quality crossmember, (laminated) and all the details required to finish the job. when this work is done it a good oppertunity to shape up other areas, ie your king pins trunions can be inspected while not under load. When I did this type of work, the minor would be sent home with a new mot.

a good quality crossmember, (laminated)

Just wondering Mark why do you reccomend a laminated cross member as I always thought that the non laminated ones were more durable and in the long term less were prone to coming apart due to rust, assuming its not been keep clean or protected.

i have one. i had it about 15 years, never used it yet. it has a weld right along the center line underneath of it. it is realy well made from henrics. i was under the impression that it was a lam one. those lmc ones there are spot welded. i just dont think that they are as nice, jacking points welding, nice corners. it feels very strong. the one i have does not have a outer strip on bottom edge. like the minor had. i may be wrong and its not laminated.

Yes sounds like you have the non laminated type that good old hendrics produced, dont know if the replacement company stuff is as good.

sorry about that.
not looking forward to fitting it, but its not for sale, i become attached to it.

from henrics

Luck chap! I wish those guys were still in business - Don't sell any Henrics stuff, keep it for you own car

Well the work has been done and it looks pretty good. It's very obviously a repair job as he has used a (thicker) flat steel panel over the crossmember insead of the normal floor, but it all looks / feels very sound and has been undersealed.

Unfortunately, whilst looking around the car, I noticed a yellow mark on the top NS trunnion and sure enough, it is well gone, but with no mention of it on the fail sheet !

With that, the clutch, oh and I'm pretty sure the prop shaft roller bearings, I'm wondering if I'll ever get this car up to scratch.

Tip: Spend more money on a really good car and save yourself some grief! Not that I mind the work too much, but I've spent a small fortune on it already.

Tip: Spend more money on a really good car and save yourself some grief!

Yes - that advice is given out fairly requently, but rarely followed. A tatty saloon with full MOT and good floor + mchanicals is usually a LOT cheaper than buying a bad car with no MOT then spending a huge amount of time, money, effort, blood sweat and tears fixing it. (Of course if you get a bad car with short MOT you are no better off in the long run )

There is a big pleasure for some people to get the car back on the road, saving it from the scrap yard. I've done it quite a a few times now and it's a great feeling. The down side is that is often easier to sell a car that needs slight work for a few hundred quid than an MOT'd car for £500, as there is more appeal to the DIY'ers, and the general public who don't DIY want pretty cars not tatty ones.

I noticed a yellow mark on the top NS trunnion and sure enough, it is well gone, but with no mention of it on the fail sheet

They aren't too expensive and it's not a huge job (easier than a bottom trunnion, and even that can be done in 2 hours if you're used to them)

With that, the clutch,

Ben if you need a good place for a clutch we have a place in Watford that does the complete 3 piece kit for £32:50 for cash, before anyone says anything they have their own workshops where they recondition all sorts of Clutch and Brake parts and have existed for over 30 years, and I have not heard of any problems as all springs and friction materials are replaced.

Thanks Kevin, I'm not sure the clutch itself is a problem, more the realease bearing / pedal mechanism, I've yet to fully investidate! Never had to do clutch before, so (as per usual) I'm not really sure what I'm up to.

Forgot to mention before, but the £350 quote was inc. VAT so at least something's going my way.

Ray: Not having touched suspension before, can I just replace the top trunnion? Surely the thread on top of the leg will be worn too, so I'll need to replace the lot? Like I said, never done it before, so not really sure how it all works - I'm the kind of person who works that out by taking things apart (and yes, they normally go back together again ).