Morris Minor Owners Club

I've finally managed to get Fenchurch, my recently acquired Traveller, over the inspection pit to have a proper look at the underside. Here are some pictures of the worst bit (driver's side crossmember):





The metal "feels" reasonably solid - I can't push a screwdriver through it - but it seems like it's made from a double skin that's bubbled apart a bit. Do you think I'm going to have to patch/replace it to get it through the MOT?

Also, the underside of the driver's side sill has a lot of surface rust, but no holes and again I can't push a screwdriver through it. I'm not sure how to tell if it's bad enough that it's going to need welding.

My dad had a look at it and said his camper van got through the test with much worse, but I don't know how relevant that is... What criterion do the test examiners use to determine pass/fail?

Well the MOT handbook says:

Any part of a load bearing member, or load bearing panelling within a 'prescribed area', should be rejected if it is weakened by corrosion to the extent that

- by finger/thumb pressure it does not feel rigid, or

- it crumbles to leave a hole, or

- The Corrosion Assessment Tool

. penetrates, or

. causes the metal component to crumble or disintegrate

(The 'corrosion assessment tool' being a small hammer/scraper)

IMO you might well get through with that - my car's crossmember looks similar and it's been through 2 MOTs. Of course it's down to the individual tester as to what he passes or fails so the only sure way of knowing is to take it for a test and see what he says.

Just wire brush it clean! Paint with rust retardant paint then chassis black paint and waxoyl it and it'll be good for a few years yet.

Great, thanks

Its the laminations of the original metal starting to seperate, as the others have said keep on top of it.
Best way to check on a sill is to take the sill cover panels of the door threshold and then all will be revealed.

I wouldn't have thought you'll have any problems with the MOT on that one, but when you get a chance try and do something about the de-lamination of the X-Member - its not an MOT failure, but it will cause long term problems with the x member corroding - and replacing it is not an easy job.

Just grind off the section thats delaminated and replace with a strip of steel (don't bother with repair panels, just a 1" width piece along the length)

hope thats of assistance.

And spray some milkstone remover over it - I've now tried the stuff and it seems to work rather well for the money!

No problem at all, I'd say...

Packedup wrote:And spray some milkstone remover over it - I've now tried the stuff and it seems to work rather well for the money!

Milkstone remover? What does that do?

It basically contains all the same ingrediants as genolite at about half the price ;)

alex_holden wrote:Milkstone remover? What does that do?

The same as Jenolite, but much cheaper. I finally decided to try it out, bare metalled an engine bay (that has some nasty rot), sprayed it on and waited for it to dry. Time and other problems meant I then had to leave the car for three days or so as was, including one day when there was heavy rain (the car's outside).

Lifted the bonnet off, to see a dull grey finish on the panels, and the rotten bits had changed colour. I was impressed!

So I'd say for the price and ease of application (10 quid for a gallon, and you use very little, plus a quid garden spray bottle, or 78p Tesco kitchen cleaner bottle... ;) ) it's worth throwing some at the rusty bits once you've wire brushed/ sanded as much as you possible can. As far as I can tell it can't do any harm, and may well actually do quite a bit of good

Don't, however, use it in a spray bottle in an enclosed space. I caught a lungful of the vapour while working outside, and it was unpleasant!

Ah, I see.

Welung666 wrote:It basically contains all the same ingrediants as genolite at about half the price ;)

Half!? I've just done a Google, and found 1l for a tenner - So milkstone remover is about a quarter of the price!

And it seems more concentrate too, though that is based on the sniff and splutter test (not recemmended!).

I left part of the engine bay bare over the weekend (on the Triumph) and forgot to put the bonnet back on on Friday. With the rain there's ben since then I'll be able to give a better report on the rust proofing propertines tomorrow, but it certainly looks like it works well so far

Kevin wrote:Best way to check on a sill is to take the sill cover panels of the door threshold and then all will be revealed.

I've ground off the seized bolts holding the driver's side cover panel on, and the sill isn't too bad at all underneath. I'd been having nightmares about finding nothing but rust under there ;). The sides of the sill are fine, but it needs a couple of small patches on the bottom. I'm not sure whether to bother removing the cover panel on the passenger side, as everything over on that side there is far less rusty, and it feels very solid underneath.