Morris Minor Owners Club

Ooh... My floor panels just turned up. They do feel very lovely and solid...

Take them to your local bodyshop and get a quote to get these panels put in properly especially as you need the car from October. As above patches are ok but only delay the final work required (no offence to Matt's kind offer of help).

Patches would be fine if the floor wasn't so badly rusted...... It is however well worth spreading the load of the seat legs when you do put the car back together - thick rubber (conveyor belting) / strip of wood / even thicker squares of steel under the carpets - anything to spread the load over a larger area will reduce the problem in future.

You underestimate my ability to weld to paper thin steel BMC... I have got quite good at it on Transits

Paper thin is one thing......rust is quite another...... Good luck with it!

I weld up transits BMC... Enough said...

Matt wrote:I weld up transits BMC... Enough said...

yes indeed just been there myself

I actually don't think the floor looks too much of a challenge. Cover all glass as you don't want to destroy the view from inside and just weld a cover over the cracks. Then place a strap (100mm or so) of medium thickness steel from side to side to take the impact of your 16 stone bum where the rear of the seat touches down.

The more welding you do can actually weaken the whole area so don't get too carried away. And welding certainly attracts even better quality rust. The cross member that the rear seat sits on is very important as it holds the rear springs in place. Your photo gives a bit of a bad look there. If that is rusty that certainly needs fixing as soon as poss

Good Luck Allan

PS Have a second person beside you with a fire extinguisher at all times as when a little fire starts you may not see it through the welding helmet. I know as I have done it. Destroyed all the seats etc on my old alfa.

Not a good idea to weld a cover over the cracks as water will enter from underneath. If you weld patches, the offending metal should first be removed, and the patch overlapping the revealed hole, whatever shape, by no more than 10mm all round. Then seam seal top and underneath. Areas of metal over metal is not good.

We are talking about a crack caused by the seat impact. There does not appear to be any holes caused by long standing rust just flexing caused by the pressure of the driver over time.
I feel that there are two options. A thin strip over the crack which will suffice for many years if the crack is welded from the other side as well and then sealed (the water from underneath did not cause the wet inside). (done this many times and it has never failed yet) or replace the whole floor panel. A major and in my opinion in this case unnessesary overkill.

However the strap fitted from side to side where the seat legs touch is a very cheap way of preventing it happening again. And of course keep the rain out even though the water did not cause the crack.

Have fun. It will be worth it. That is a beautiful Traveller

Allan

.