Morris Minor Owners Club

The areas that the inner sill welds to all required some attention,so repairs were done -[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Having compared my replacement inner sill with the original i had removed, i decided to make one myself !.several templates were taken off the original (made with sheet angle and a shrinker / strecher tool) to assist in making the new one.i also made drawings.i had some parts pressed from 1.5mm steel then went to work with the templates (i previously made) and the strecher /shrinker.ended up with these-[frame][/frame]
the parts were trimmed so the fit was perfect and the parts tacked together with tig welding.the whole seam along the length of the sill was welded and plannished in sequence to avoid distortion.-OK,this was very trial and error and i finished up scrapping the 1st attempt altogether,having got it fully welded it curved upwards as well as just sideways as it should !.the second attempt-well i got it all tacked up and wasnt happy with it ! so Third time lucky and i was happy with the finished article.I made a nut and plate for the seatbelt mount and welded that in place.[frame][/frame]
finished inner sill ,note the step (red arrow),that wasnt on the replacement sill i bought-[frame][/frame]

The area where boxing panel extension was removed -[frame][/frame]
A new boxing panel extension was made-had to try a deduce where the lower edge was as most of it had rotted away.[frame][/frame]

The boxing panel i bought was pretty good and just required minor adjustments such as the joggle being made a bit less-[frame][/frame]

Right-this work was done some time ago and ive realised i got a bit out of sync with my editing ! So-
Before I cut the main part of inner sill out i repaired the rear spring hanger and part of the main inner chassis rail (the thing that is the end part of the inner sill around the axle area).this was done with the car rolled on its side on the grumpy style jig.[frame][/frame]
part of the rear seat crossmember needed a repair-[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
then the chassis rail /inner sill -[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Excellent work!

Very thorough and very neat work.
You'll have a solid little car by the time you've finished all that metalwork.
Spotted this boot lid on eBay if it's any help:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MORRIS-MINOR- ... 3f451d839d

Best wishes,
Mike.

thanks.managed to get a bootlid-in fact ive now got 4 ! lol .they are getting better in condition.the 1st i got had the botttom rotted well away but as the lower bootlid surround is damaged,i need a good reference from the bootlid to get my panel gaps right so i have been getting progressivly better ones untill ive got a fairly solid untampered one now.
As with the panels,I prefer to repair the individual panels,as they were originally .I would rather fettle replacement panels so they are a more accurate reproduction-that way they are more likely to fit,as is the panel they join to.
a typical repair panel-a rear floor,has part of the inner sill and part of the seat crossmember attached to it.I had bought one ,removed those 2 bits and then realised the panel left was just ,basically ,a panel with a fold in it and some dimples so I threw that aside and made one - more on that later
Pete

I took some dimensions,drawings and paper templates from the opposite side of the car and used these to make the floor repair under the spring hanger.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
The paper template was flipped over and used to mark out the opposite side-[frame][/frame].
The recessed areas were done with joggling / stepping dies in a bead roller.this was a challenge in itself trying to work out how to get the large panel in the throat of the bead roller-notice the right side where i had to cut the corner off at 45 degrees to allow this.I knew the other floor panels would need making by a different method as they were larger.
The repair panel was made and fitted.note the 4 holes where the spring hanger plate originally was riveted on.the front holes align with ones in the seat crossmember-[frame][/frame].
spring hanger added-[frame][/frame]

RIGHT-back on track.having put the car back on 4 wheels,sill removed etc it was time to put the inner sill / boxing panel back in.the door was rehung to check the door gap / alignment while the sill was replaced.after tack welding it all in place,gaps / alignment were double checked and then finally i finished welding the inner sill assembly in.[frame][/frame]

I still hadnt tackled the outer sill so the car was rolled on its side for the next stage.having offered up the new panel,i found it to be too short by about 10mm so it was time to rectify the problem.i took a paper template from the opposite side -[frame][/frame]

then used the pattern to make a steel hammerform out of 10mm plate.
checking hammerform for fit in opposite side -[frame][/frame]
.this was clamped in the new sill and the metal was hammered to reprofile it against the hammerform.[frame][/frame]

hammerform and metal reprofiled=[frame][/frame]
the same process was used for the front section.note the part has the end fold (arrowed) that the pattern panels dont have.[frame][/frame]
.the sill and new panel end were offered up to the car .overlapped and scribed to make sure the finished panel would be the same length as the original morris one-[frame][/frame].
this process was repeated for the other side panel as well.
panel welded and finished -[frame][/frame]

Those memo board magnets are a good idea

they are handy but they love grinding dust

now that i had the replacement outer sills modified to match the originals i could remove the old rusted drivers side one and tack the new one in it place.
next was to tackle some floor panels.i measured the originals,drew them up and got some hammerforms ,lazer cut from 3mm sheet-these would be used to form the strengthening recesses in the floorpan.the steel "hammerforms" were used to make matching clamping parts from some chipboard i had handy.The process here is to clamp the 1mm sheet you want to form,inbetween the 3mm steel hammerform and the chipboard clamping plate(with some location pins to keep it all aligned),clamp it all to a solid surface and then run around the cutouts with the air hammer (a tool end was made from aluminium as the hammer end).this hammers the recesses in.this was repeated for the opposite hand panels as well.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Amazing!!

Stupid question, why making it by yourself instead of buying new?
I can understand to do this with the panels from the MM, because they are different, but even there you can modify the ESM panels.
At my company I make only repair parts for the MM front wings, with the big folding machine.
Steel thinner than 2 mm I have to order separate, we are using sheet metal plates from 2 mm till 6 mm in our factory.

I like my panels to be like the originals -generally the replacement panels are not,and by the time i have modified a pattern i may as well repair / make one.some panels are unavaliable,like the one shown above that is just in front of the rear axle so this would have to be made anyway-i just make mine like the original.
The replacement floorpans have part of the sill and part of the rear seat support on them,again once them parts are removed,you end up with a sheet with a few recesses and a couple of folds,so again i decided to make them.this way i could put the "floor edges" on the floorpan as the morris was originally rather than how the repair panels are generally fitted.
On that note on to the next stage -
A chipboard hammer form was made to make,what people refer to as ,"the floor edge".this was originally part of the whole floorpan,and not a seperate part.[frame][/frame]
The front floor was shaped,with all the relevant cutouts and then a curved fold was "tipped" up where the "floor edge" would be joined onto it.
A bit more hammering,bending,folding and welding later and i ended up with this-just like mr issigonis intended [frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

taupe wrote:Amazing!!

I was inspired by your restoration taupe-I really enjoyed seeing what you had done on your traveller.
Pete

It truly is fantastic work. You have one of the few cars left in the world with the correct floor profile!

I really admire your skill and precision, this is a real inspiration for serious restorers!

Can't wait to see more!

thanks Neil mg -heres some more pics for you.
The same process was used for the rear floor pan,notice the double fold (arrowed) to match the step in the inner sill i made-[frame][/frame]
I made some other part panels that would be joined to make the final panel-[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

The panel above really tested me,the one shown was actually cut about and modified later .it was a bit of a stalling point !
Anyway the panels shown below were joined (apart from the one above,which i fitted last of all) to make the final panel.
here are the components laid out-[frame][/frame]
Yes-theres a lot of work. to think its all got to be repeated for the other side