Morris Minor Owners Club

I have a 1961 Morris which I bought to restore and I have had some excellent advice from the members on here already.

Having changed the head gasket, I am now looking over the body to see what needs to be done quickly to prevent any further rust and also to get it through the MOT in April.

I have some small (ish) holes in the sills. The first is about 3-4 cm round just behind the front wheel arch of the passenger side. The second is similar size just in front of the rear wheel arch. Another hole is just behind the sill finisher in the middle of the car on the drivers side. It is about 4-5cm long but only about 6 or 7mm wide. The last hole is about 2-3cm again on the drivers side at the rear and is in the box section of the floor. All the rest of the metal work seems very solid, especially the cross members, spring mounts etc. It just seems like very localised rust.

Are these all MOT failures and can they be patched or would they require new sections. I have decided they are outside my welding skills.

Once I get these fixed I will clean the whole underside and give it a good coating of protection. Is there a particular product which is good for this, I thought maybe POR45, but I guess this may chip easily.

Once I know the chassis is sound and protected I can take my time on the rest of the work. I have bought a couple of second hand rear doors off E-Bay, I presume there was only one design of rear door on the Minor 1000.

Thanks again for everybodies help and if anybody knows a good welder in Hampshire (around Southampton) I would be grateful.

any holes are a fail....you could patch them, or do a complete change that is completely up to you

You could just patch up the holes for the MOT, but thats not really restoration, just bodging.

It sounds like you want the car to last, so because it has several holes- I'd reccommend replacing the whole underfloor sill sections, and take the front wing off on that side to see how bad the A pillar. inner wing area is. A small hole here usually means big rust behind the wing.

Also, if you havent done so allready- remove the sill cover trim panels to have a look inside the sill. This is 5 bolts underneath, holding channel and cover to sill and four screws at the toll of the finisher cover panel. Then you can see inside the sill and judge how much rust is there.

Yes, I certainly would like it to last. I had a look at the A pillars and they are rock solid which is odd as I expected them to be a bit rusty. The inner wing on the passenger side is fine, but the drivers side does need replacing. The bump mounting is rotten and there is some rust further back along the inner wheel arch.

I am thinking that the under floors sills will need replacing to make a good job of it. It is way outside my welding skills, so I will need to get a garage to do it. Just so I get a rough idea, does anybody know how much this will cost ?.

I also found some amazing paint, it's called Classic Black and requires no clear coat. It can be used as a DIY product and apparently gives an almost enamel look to it. One of the people from the company called me on Saturday to let me know about it and give me some tips on application. It turns out he is in the Morris club and has a pre war car which he has painted with this paint. One of the good things is that it has a long shelf life, so it can be used over a long restoration.

If anybody would like the details, please send me a PM.

chickenjohn wrote: It sounds like you want the car to last, so because it has several holes- I'd reccommend replacing the whole underfloor sill sections

To be honest I am not an expert on bodywork, but I presume these are what's called outer undersill sections. I am not sure if I am allowed to quote part numbers in case they are from a sepcific supplier, but I have found RP108AL & RP108AR.

Thanks again for everybodies help.

Oh no, I have just taken all the sill covers off now and put the car on ramps. It's not looking good.

It has obviously been patched at some point on the box section and also the lower sill. It will need new box section, outer sills etc.

To be honest as I can't do the work myself and it will cost a lot to get it welded at a garage I think I may have to pass on the project to somebody else. I was really looking for a mechanical and body work project and not a chassis one as I can't do this myself.

It was all looking very good until I started banging it with a screw driver !!!. The real shame is that the middle section of the car, the floor and cross members are all in very good condition but the bodge repairs have allowed the sills to corrode.

I can't believe it got a MOT last April with no advisory notes.

its a sad story- most Minors end up like this.

Poggy, a shame but it is always better to pay for a car where the vital areas of the 'chassis' have been properly repaired and where proof of this work is available. If you cannot do the work yourself it becomes too expensive to justify the outlay. Better luck next time. Just to give you an idea the current add for 'Staffordshire Minors' says that complete renewal of the floors,sills, box plates and spring hangers etc is £999-00
with a five year guarantee.

Willie wrote: Better luck next time. Just to give you an idea the current add for 'Staffordshire Minors' says that complete renewal of the floors,sills, box plates and spring hangers etc is £999-00
with a five year guarantee.

The silly thing is that the floors and spring hangers have all been done very well, but the sills must have been done by another garage as they were patched and not replaced.

I wonder how much it would be for just the sills etc. I hate to see a 46 year old car scrapped, it's a bit like scrapping a bit of history.

poggy wrote:I wonder how much it would be for just the sills etc.

I think someone recently mentioned paying about £200 per side.

Alternatively, how about using the car as a project to teach yourself to weld? I could barely tack things together before I bought Fenchurch, but among other things I've recently repaired both inner wings and replaced the bottom of her driver's door.

Poggy, I did the same as Alex, the price of a decent MIG welder(and for
that matter a decent sprayer) is considerably less than paying for the work to be done. Re the cost of the sills, why not ring the same company for their price to give you a starting point.

I agree with Willie and Alex, get the kit and learn to weld- its not as hard as people make out. You'll quickly be able to make better repairs than the MOT garage will do.

Thanks for the encouragement, I phoned a garage which was recommended and they have one in at the moment for exactly the same job. They have quoted £600 for both sides for just the sill box section and lower sill.

I have done some arc welding in the past as a student for a summer job, but I am concerned about doing structural work as I would hate to pass it on to somebody else with the potential for in to be dangerous.

I am going to try the mobile welding people and see if they can do the structural work and I can do all the finishing off.

Thanks again.

Andy

Poggy, be aware that the sill section is not just the length under the door
If you have holes in front and rear wheel arches then the whole length
between them will almost certainly need replacing. This involves a lot
of awkward dismantling and I doubt that a mobile welder or even a
non specialist garage will be familiar with what is involved. I must say that £600-00 seems expensive to me compared with £999-00 for floors,
spring hangers, and sills, with a guarantee.

Your right it is the whole length and they quoted to do this, he said the 4 doors were a bit more complicated as the sills extend even further apparently.

I am trying a couple of other places, if I could get it for £400 for both sides including materials I would be pretty happy.

Andy

alex_holden wrote:

poggy wrote:I wonder how much it would be for just the sills etc.

I think someone recently mentioned paying about £200 per side.
quote]

Don't suppose you can remeber who it was and where they were based. I would be happy with £200 per side for replacement sills.

Thanks

Andy

poggy wrote:Don't suppose you can remeber who it was and where they were based. I would be happy with £200 per side for replacement sills.

From the thread End of the road:

Rob_Jennings wrote:My car required some chassis work including both sills (figured in the price I bought the car for) for a complete sill and box section it was something over 200 quid at a morris competent garage.

Thanks for that, I have sent him a PM, you can't get much closer he is based in Southampton as well.

Hopefully this could be the saving of the car.

Andy

Survey it ALL very carefully first - there could well be other problems just waiting their turn. May as well know before you start spending.