Morris Minor Owners Club

Ok been out foor the evening to battle. On the way down I had a misfire...think its time for new points and condenser. But thats not the problem. On the way down there was a strange clicking knocking sound from the rear offside. I can't work out what it is, when pulling the car up and down it clicks. I did have the dampers off the other day but I checked everything was tight and as it should be in a car park before i went back and its still doing it. Could it be the damper? They're pretty damn tired. Maybe its the road spring, just wondered if anyone else had had this before?

Seems to click as i pull the car up, not so much when i push down. So if i rock it up and down it only clicks on the way up

Has no one got any ideas?

Get underneath and have a prod about while someone else pushes the car up & down (there should be enough room if you are slim ). Could be a number of things including exhaust/mountings, dampers/mountings, handbrake cables catching, springs & mountings.

Its definately the off side and i think its coming from wither the damper or the road spring area but can't pin point it. I thought it may be the damper link arm thing but this is nice and tight and so is the damper to its mounting plate. I was hoping this particular loud clicking was symptomatic of something in particular.

Hope it's not cracked chassis member flexing ! Try taking the damper off - does it still do it ?

Hope it's not cracked chassis member flexing

yes i [DON'T SWEAR] hope so too

Will take off the damper tomorrow and see, could it be a cracked leaf in the road springs?

I don't believe that was a swear word, rather a polite substitute for one.

Turns out the offside spring hanger at the front of the leaf spring has come through the floor, well most of it and there is a crack along where the floor meets the box section under the seat. The sound was the floor coming back together as weight was aleviated from the spring.

Thats not great news
You need to get that fixed pretty quick - you won't notice the effect until you need to do a heavy swerve (e.g. to avoid an accident) - and if that happens you WILL notice the random handling

Im not going to use the car until its fixed. The last thing I want is the spring hanger coming right through the floor or a crack developing along the length of the box section where it meets the floor

Oh dear - sorry if I 'spooked ' this ! The other side will be similar - may as well get both done at the same time.

I've had a good poke with a screwdriver on the other side and it seems fine. I think its ben caused by aleaking window seal on the rear window and water collecting in front of the box section. I was meaning to replace that window seal over summer but it seems as though I've left it too late.

The last thing I want is the spring hanger coming right through the floor or a crack developing along the length of the box section where it meets the floor

it's unlikely to do that, but I'd say the last thing you need is an accident when your car became a bit uncontrollable.

True, although over half of the spring hanger is unattached from the surrounding metal and there is a crack developing laterally that i don't want to get any bigger. couldn't have come at a worse time.

Well i got it back from the welders. The floor has been fixed using nice thick steel painted and stonechipped after welding. So I'm happy with that and the cracks on my B-pillar have been TIG welded up very neatly.