Morris Minor Owners Club

Unless you have a real and unavoidable NEED for a roofrack, please forget it - as has already been pointed out, both the roof (which is suprisingly strong) and the gutters (which are not) are made of aluminium alloy; a roofrack increases the noise that you have to put up with; you will loose out in petrol consumption (yes, even with nothing on the rack the air resistance will be increased to make a difference of two or three mpg) and eventually you will "miss" when loading it up and gain a nice dent. There is a saloon in the "for sales" at the moment where the vendor is admitting to doing precisely that - he is saying that it will easily pull out - ask the question, then, why it hasn't been pulled out before trying to sell the car........

Don't do it! My Traveller had a roof rack fitted by a previous owner. We have had to cut into the cab roof to repair damage caused by the rack's feet being stuck to it for long lengths of time and the guttering has had to be replaced because of the metal clips being attached to it distorted it so much. If you have to get a small trailer.

My "67' Traveler had a roof rack on it when I bought it. I have never used and don't plan on using it. It is screwed into the roof and I have never seen any leaks on the inside.[frame][/frame]

So looks like I won't be finding a way to put my kayak on the roof of the traveller!

Sparticus wrote:So looks like I won't be finding a way to put my kayak on the roof of the traveller!

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... +roof+rack see this, no clips on roof and pads spead load ,needs rear window for straps but easily adapted for traveler with a bit of tinkering

I "dry fitted" the roof rack parts that came with my traveller (all loaded inside when I collected it) and I'm not sure it was actually used with this car[frame][/frame]
I didn't fit the "locking" plates, but even doing what I did (in the picture), I managed to damage some of the roof paint running down towards the gutter.
The rack parts are back in the conservatory/workshop and the car has been covered up again - darn ginger cat from up the road has "clawed" the cover and it now lets rain drops through!

Seems you can never trust a ginger cat,

My Isis traveller has four neat round dents in the ally roof from the feet of a roof rack, and a slightly chewed bit of guttering on each side where the clamps have been. Goodness knows what its carried on the roof, if it was too big to go inside that car it must have been pretty hefty... Easiest solution to the dents may be to find a roofrack that lines up and fit it! I like the looks but would be wary about loading one up too much...

GTT 1951, you had the same problem as me, the across bars are too short, probably for a mini or imp. Luckily me feet are quite attractive and flat topped so I can use mine to make my own. Each to their own, if I don't like how it looks I'll take it off. No dents so far and no damaged gutters.

Issi, the units are extensible as there is an inner square section that slides out - thought maybe it was off a VW van/camper-van.

My Traveller is in the paint shop and I knew there were some 'ripples' in the roof but when stripped we found there was up to 0.5" of filler. Guess where? Just where the feet of a roof rack would have been fitted. It is taking extra time (and money!) now to try and remove the damage.....
John

I've bought my wood, still no further!
Been busy fixing a juddering problem - 99% certain I've fixed it by fitting a new Condenser, thanks Chesney on MMO for your help. Looking forward to giving my car its Spring polish aswell (if it every stops raining in Yorkshire).

Your MPG will go down with a roof rack on

I know the last post was a year ago but I just wanted to let you all know I've finished my roofrack. I know it'll add to the fuel economy and it has alloy gutters etc but its the look I like. I decided not to add the rear reflectors I had planned as the BMC logos and 'Morris Minor' badge is sufficient. Might need to do one more coat of varnish to get it abit darker.
I've also got my rear lights aligned at last so pleased.[frame][/frame]