Morris Minor Owners Club

I have found an area of the dreaded tin worm while I was under my Traveller greasing brake cables today.

I think it is this piece:-

http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pop ... 940372189d

Described as a "Closing panel, Side to floor" on ESM's site.

It is the flat piece behind the open sill behind the driver's door and in front of the rear wheel arch. Sort of directly underneath where the broad bottom piece of the wooden frame is.

Question is, how serious is it?

Is it a likely MOT failure (structural piece) or is it just cosmetic? The floor panel, spring hanger and the vertical edge of the sill all seem to be quite solid, just the bottom plate there I can put my fingers through. It seems to be a designed-in rust trap.

How easy is it to replace, i.e. how much of the car has to be dismantled to repair / replace it?

Rust within 12" (I think) of a suspension point is a fail. Yes I would say that it is structural. Sorry ( especcially if I am wrong)

Is that the bit that sits underneath the wooden B-pillar? That's one bit that I haven't (yet) had to replace, so I'm guessing you weld it on three sides and screw up into the wood - sounds like an ideal use of weld-through primer, maybe you can squeeze some (dumdum) sealer in afterwards too. I'd imagine you can just cut out the old bit and weld in the new without having to dismantle any wood. It'll still involve welding upside down, which is a pain, and could set fire to trim & carpets of course.

I'd expect it to be an MOT failure point, it's near the spring hanger and the seat belt mounting.

Here's some pics to show where the rot is.

Charles Wares have said they'll repair it under their chassis warranty and get me through the MOT (I bought the car from them last year). So I'm not too worried about how they're going to do that although I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Notice in the third pic that there are rust holes on the floor pan side of the weld seam, as well as the rotten filler plate against the wood, so they may have to cut back quite a bit to get to solid metal. I guess they can still do that without too much dismantling? I don't know if they'll drain the fluids and roll the car over. They have the necessary equipment to do that I think.

1) Taken looking forward from the rear wheel. Arch and bottom wing bolt visible to orientate yourself.



2) Looking from outside edge inwards. Front spring mounting bolt just visible at the bottom.



3) Looking straight up from underneath. You can see the ash frame, looking quite clean and shiny, considering what it's been sitting on (!), and the extra holes in the floor pan itself.

Well, here's an update.

It didn't fail on this. Apparently, because the filler panel is a bolt-on piece, not weld in rust there it doesn't count for the MOT

However, it did fail on excessive play in the rear offside wheel bearing. Which was odd, because both rear bearings were replaced in November 2006.

Charles Ware's didn't quibble, and replaced the rotten filler panel and the rear wheel bearing for free under warranty.