Morris Minor Owners Club

Well, I dunno. Maybe I was an utter b*stard in my previous life, and this is my reward...It just isn´t fair. Just as I thought we were getting somewhere (we started welding in the first bits and pieces to the front today, to get some fix points for the tie plates that will arrive next week):



More:
http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/weld2.jpg
http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/weld3.jpg

Then.....this is what turned up its ugly face:

http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/horror_rhs.jpg

...some 1970:s "repairman" managed to hide this under a kilo of Plastic Padding and underbody goo. Thank you, mr Chief Idiot.

And then, as if that wasn´t enough.....
http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/horror_lhs.jpg

More of the same kind, but a different "signature" - this "repair" had an air of semi-pro about it...the galvanized steel section was cut to measure, and attached to the foot board with a screw....and gooed up/reinforced with glass fibre-armoured Plastic padding. A double thank you, mister. I hop you rot in some old folks home for butchers.

Ok. Fine, I am a fool. I didn´t spot this to begin with. Fact accepted. So, once the front/engine bay is stitched together, this is what I´m going to spend a few weekends on.

The sills still look OK, even from this perspective. And so does the A post. But the rest....any tips on how to handle this?

Wings off, investigate, tear out rotten sections, saving whatever can be welded onto? See what is available as economy panel? ´Cutting and rolling your own bits of steel for the wheel arc section?

Looks like I´m not a proper masochist after all. I actually do NOT enjoy this kind of pain.

Cheers /R

I did warn you to survey the car carefully at the start. Sorry to see these problems now - hope there aren't any other surprises -but I fear when one part is bodged - many others may follow. I think most can be home-made patch pieces.

Ah..it´s cool. Doing a proper survey wasn´t possible then and there, I had to take a chance. And it´s still a good car. I can handle the surprises, I just need some kind of roadmap for them

And a largish whiskey now and then to overcome them.

/R

That's the spirit !! However WhiskEy is the Irish product - Whisky is the Scottish refreshment!

It could be worse. Many choices for this repair. The inner wings and A pillar lower sections are available as spares, as are the kidney panels.

Given the high quality of your welding in the other photographs, I'm sure you will end up with a very solid car, that will be good for many years to come.

You can obviously shape metal to a good standard as well, and while it is an obvious bummer to find bodges, something tells me deep down you are enjoying this

Other critical areas I would check are at the back. Front spring hangers, and the chassis extensions on the rear inner wings that hold the tubes for the shackle plates, bodges here are common

Those are all typical rust areas that need repairing on a project Minor. Ditto bodges, we've seen them all. Actually, filler over holes is not as bad and three layers of metal welded over rust.

Don;t worry! I agree with MT, your work looks a good standard, so keep it up, keep going. Take satisfaction from each area repaired to keep your morale up for the next bit that needs doing.

I like to paint an area I've just repaired ( rear wheel arch etc), it gives a nice feeling of progress and achievement.

Keep positive, keep doing what you are doing and the car will be a good solid one! Rust is like an iceberg, 90% is hidden.

Hmm...closing in on the under-wing terror, ready to fire a missile or two...

Guys - I need some help here. I need to order some repair panels for this horror.

Pics:





Both sides suffer about equal amounts of pain...and in my spare parts guy´s catalogue I found some panels called

JP112/JP113 flitch panel repair, rear half (with hinge pillar cover)

and

DP163/DP164 flitch panel repair (no channel) - this one doesn´t say if the hinge pillar cover is there or not.

The "channel" bit looks healthy. Will I need it anyway?

So which panels do I need to order?

AFAICS I will need just the bit from the second wing bolt (counted from the back) and back to the A post, plus the pillar cover.

Anything else I can order to make life easier (for this repair)?

The missing bits of the inner wings will be homemade from sheet metal.

Is there anything at the bottom of the new hinge pillar cover that I can use to build the bottom section - the one that meets up with the sill?
I bet I´ll have to improvise on that one...

TIA for any help/Cheers, Richard

This topic might be of some help, though mine was in a much better state.

Tnx, Alex. I´ll have a look and order the right stuff

/R

Looks like the site that i had about 6 months ago!

http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u118 ... n07001.jpg

so i cut it out,
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u118 ... July07.jpg

Then i cleaned and zinc primed the inside, and fitted a new panel,
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u118 ... sept07.jpg

remembering to do some nice tidy welding of course!
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u118 ... gOct07.jpg

Hope thats of help!

YG

Oooo -that looks no fun

Can't offer any help on which panels to use though.

So, um, not e very helpful reply really - sorry !!!

Thats a standard Minor rot area and repair. Do pretty much as Youngun has done, thats some good work and nice welding BTW!

In my case when I've done that repair (just doing one again now on the LHS of "Dibble"), I've allways had to repair the corner of the wheel arch where it meets the inner sill step. In the case of Dibble, the end of the inner sill step was rotten so I've has to make up a new section of inner sill step (from 2mm steel) , weld that in then weld the lower wheel arch repair to that.

I would do as Youngun has done and cut back the inner wing and the cover panel for the A pillar to see how bad the rot is inside the A pillar. In the case of Dibble, this area had been repaired badly a few times before and I've had to completely replace the inner wing and A pillar, which makes it tricky getting the door hinges in the right place. In the end I had to bolt the door to the new A pillar, shut the door then weld the new A pillar to the new inner wing section. So save the original A pillar if you can- lots of wire brushing and rust remover. paint the insides of repairs and the backs on new pieces with zinc primer to protect.

Bluesman, I would get hold of some 1mm thick steel (at least a 1mx1m piece) and a smaller quantity of 2mm sheet steel. Having seen your metal forming skills you can make any panel to repair the rotten Inner wing (and probably parts of the kidney panel behind that too).

Good luck, keep the pics going, keep up the good work and if depressed, please come here for support and encouragement! Its worth it in the end to have a solid rust free car again!

Can get a whole A pillar if need be. http://www.morrisminorspares.net/shop_item.php?ID=2758 RP123L



Lower A pillar section also available RP123CL

and cover panel also available RP 123AL http://www.morrisminorspares.net/shop_item.php?ID=2756

YG, did you repair the inner flitch to hinge pillar first, before welding in the flitch repair panel. The main strength of the pillar is this joint, which is often overlooked when some repairers just fit the flitch repair panel. If doing this repair we no longer use this panel as the tab of metal bent to replicate the hinge pillar cover is a mile out. We weld a plate from the remains of the good flitch right back to the hinge pillar where a return, bent on the end can be either spot welded or plugged and seamed into position. We then close the hinge pillar (after zinc spraying) with just the hinge pillar cover. When trying to set the door gap and hinge pillar position, do as John says but always allow for weld shrinkage (when the weld cools it will pull the pillar forward).

Make sure you repair the hinge screw plate retaining brakets too!

It's serious swearing if the plate falls down with the flitch plate in position

Dang - my parts supplier here in Sweden only had those pesky flitch repair panels with the "simply bent" section that forms the hinge pillar cover. No cover plates, no alternatives. I have to figure out how to match the bolt positions between the new and the old panel - that I have to cut out before I even try bending this POS panel into its proper position. A triangle will have to be welded in at the hinge top corner, just like YG did. But from there, nothing but thin air all the way down along the pillar front end to the sill end bit...no fun. I will have to figure out some box structure there. No way I will trust the flitch repair panel only. I MIGHT JUST be able to weld the repair panel to the kidney panel , but only a few weld tacks...

I might ditch the repair panels and go Jonathons route, the cover plates will have to be homemade. I´ll have to think about it.
Can the hinge pillar cover panel be straight/flat, or does it have to be curved (stability reasons?) as the original?

*thinking cap on*

I would (and did!) flatten out the bent portion of the panel, repair the inner wing properly, then weld a separate cover plate on afterwards. I attached the repair panel to the kidney box with about twelve plug welds. The cover plate doesn't have to be neatly curved I don't think because you can't see it once the outer wing's on.

Ok, that´s going to be my second option, Alex, if I can´t get a good fit plus some extra strength underneath. And well...before I do that, there´s a bit of internal fixing-up to be done at the hinge bottoms and where they join the outer sills. That´s for me to sort out during this week/weekend. By sunday, the frontend WILL be finished and the engine bay painted, come hell or high water.

Thanks for all tips, including the hinge bolt backplate tip - that one will save some serious aggravation!

Cheers & beers/Richard

I would go with Alex's suggestion, its the same as I have done on my traveller. I just cut off the flat bit. Before you cut the inner wing (flitch as you call it), measure the distance between the wing bolt and a reference original wing bolt hole on a bit of the inner wing that will stay.

BTW, is it too expensive to order panels from the UK suppliers to Sweden, or do they not deliver to there? UK suppliers have the full range.

Shipping costs would kill me - almost anything would be either heavy or bulky=extra charges on top of the already horrendous ones.
One guy in Gothenburg has almost everything for Morris (and good quality, plus racer fast shipping) but in this case these panels were the only option.
Tnx for the tip abt the bolt holes- I am trying to figure out how to reference the old ones so I get the new panel lined up properly.I figure I will need 2 or 3 temporary guidance screws, provisional edge "lips" or something to keep the new panel in the correct place - all 5 bolt holes will probably be cut out on the RHS, I think = no references left. Ah well, there will be a solution, no worries. Do it in two steps, maybe - keeping half of the old panel in place for reference while doing the other half...

*thinking cap on*
/R