Morris Minor Owners Club

This is a pic of the rear inner wheel arch. It had many patches welded in , so il be cutting the complete arch out including the quarter panel arch lip,the rear most spring hanger/ chassis leg and replacing them all ,il also be fitting the rear front spring hanger mount.

Right , I managed a bit more today , finding time can be a nightmare .. today I cut the rear arch edge off and fitted the front half . I marked where the bolt holes are so they line up in the right place.fitted the cage nut things in the pillar and fitted the front spring hanger .

Arch cut out

Arch welded in and etched up

Holes, but big holes! And a little surface rust on the chassis

This is looking superb, well done!

The very back of the inner arch had many patches

I removed the complete inner arch , to trial fit the new one , and the blumming thing don't fit at all , I lined the two holes up at the back ( for the spring hanger) and the inner arch lip is no where near the lip on the quarter panel, to be fare the inner arch looks like a monkey made it ! Also at the front ( the bowl part) it doesn't sit any where near the rear bulk head , it's like an inch gap , has anyone else had this trouble ?? And what might be the best thing to do with it ?? I'm thinking maybe get a new one from somewhere else maybe .

I'm doing mine and they've fitted ok, I had to open up the holes with a cone cutter to move it up snug into the rear bulkhead, mine was from Bullmotif.

Great work so far , looking a w h o l e lot better !!
Never be surprised with replacement panels that " don't quite fit ".... be surprised when they fit perfectly first time , with no technical adjustment ( read - big hammer , sometimes ).
Measure everything on the new panel and look for a better fit one if you want to. Have you got an alternative supplier nearby that you can visit to see it in the flesh ?
I'd crack on , unless it is too horrendous.

Clamp up the new panel to the fixed points ( that can't be changed e.g the spring hanger holes ) measure in every direction and record on post it notes / cardboard and masking tape and slap the measurements on to the surrounding body area. Pull up a stool and a cup of tea / coffee and work out where is the easiest place to let in new metal & / or panel beat the new metal outwards to meet the touch points . Cut out some cardboard " dart " shaped pieces , to accommodate the curvature , so you can visualise the problem. Consider cutting the whole thing in half , vertically , and putting in a filler strip !
Would that work ? Re clamp the new piece to the left or right and see if it's feasible ? The inner wheel arch isn't " on show " like an exterior panel , so admirers aren't going to be pointing out the joins ,unless they are a pro classic car bodyshop guy or gal !
Quick fixes on bodywork don't usually turn out well , just take your time and get it right first time. You seem , to me , to have the necessary skills.
Good luck with it. Bob
Bob

My hanger holes didn't line up properly with the new hanger anyway, if I'd kept them instead of enlarging them it would have sat too low and too far back.

You can see where I had to open up the shock mount here, it's not as if you are moving the actual hanger position, I've since welded a plate snug over it and welded all around the hanger hole which can be ground back further once I can see where the shackle wants to sit.

Yes the holes line up and the rear most part (where it meets the boot floor seems fine)But the front is another mater. I'm a panel beater by trade but this is nothing like what I'm used to on newer cars . It did cross my mind to cut it about or even in half. It would be a bit more manageable. I think the hole panel is twisted and the front section seems to wide ( between the bulk head and the quarter. So my plan of action is "1" fit rear spring hanger "2" cut arch in half "3" fit rear half. "4" cut front half to fit. Does this sound like a good move. Il measure as I go of course!! Would it be a good idea to beef up the bump stop area in the rear chassis ?

Well your skills look FAR superior to mine but that sounds like a plan, I've welded in some self fabricated cubes to strengthen the bump stop area yes, the original one had rotted off and I've not seen a part off the shelf so I presume others make up something similar?

Why thank you. I think doing a resto is testing my skills to the limit.its not what I expected at all.very time consuming. I think I seem to rush some parts as I'm limited to when I can get Working on her.

Don't know if this is what you meant, but ESM do a bump stop replacement

http://www.morrisminorspares.com/body-i ... de-p828437

Haven't had to use it myself so can't comment on quality.

Mark

No it's not that bit Mark, theres a sort of flange actually inside the box section above where that goes, I suppose it stops it buckling the box section above the bump stop but it would be heck of a thump required.

Ah - all coming back to me now, amazing how you forget once you've moved on a bit... The angle section to the left of this picture!

That's it, I've just uncovered mine an hour ago!

I managed to remove the rear leg today, and found that the drivers side boot floor had holes in so out came the cutter ,I removed the strip of boot floor , made a new section.and welded in , after, I drilled holes down through the top chassis section and though the new floor section I'd just welded in , this is so I can weld through both when fitting the lower rear chassis section