Morris Minor Owners Club

It occurs to me that I could reduce the amount of water ingress to the sills if I could seal the edges of the kick plates. Can anyone suggest a way of doing this - I believe silicon sealant is not recommended for painted metal.

I use Dum Dum as it never sets hard and makes future removal easy. Make sure the sill drain holes are clear when you seal up the sides.

Yes, dum dum putty is a good idea, or how about glueing a strip of door seal rubber to the sill cover and B post. Just an idea, doesnt need to be a Minor door rubber, just pieces that fill the gap.

Im trying to remember what the underside looks like with sill finishers and sill rail on.....i think a lip is formed? If so why not get some tight fitting U section plastic which you could just push onto the lip...then its easily removed if you need to take things off....and it will stop the water!

I sealed mine with a black neutral cure (non corrosive) silicone sealant forming a small fillet with a fine (uncut) nozzle and I must say it looks quite neat, and keeps the water out!

Smother the boxing plate etc., with Waxoyl before you seal it up and ensure that the drainage holes are clear after doing so! You could also make some extra drainage holes which would be an advantage as the Minor does not have nearly enough in such areas.

I agree with Willie,- more drain holes and plenty of waxoyl and will go further. I personally would rather not seal up the kick plate as I like to open it up, inspect and re-waxoyl at least every couple of years.

I prefer the maintainance philosophy to fit and forget.

Mine are sealed up with non-setting gutter sealant which is basically identical to 'Dum Dum'.

It never sets and wont dry out and split like normal sealants do.

As for keeping them unsealed - some twonk has welded one of mine half shut and the joins where the covers meat the floorpan have also been randomly welded together.

Personally i think its much better for them to be able to breath. As long as your drain holes are kept clear and there is plenty of waxoil or similar in there it shouldn't be an issue. Sealed up they will sweat like mad!

I didn't like to say that, but I agree
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I thought they were supposed to be sealed?

If the tops were sealed and the bottoms drain holed I think that'd be the ideal.

As opposed to mine where the tops weren't sealed and the bottoms were by some plonkerbrain's patch over the drain holes.

Hey, I now have sills like seives and a wet carpet......

Andrew
(who's just ordered a set of panels for a new o/s sill)

No, they were never sealed originally. The way to avoid excessive rot in any box sections is to allow ventilation and drainage where possible.
I rely on Waxoyl and extra drainage holes.

So thank you, WPR678B - I'm NOT going mad...
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OK. mine'll be left unsealed when I put them back on. And extra drain holes drilled into the sills.

An extra 3-4 of 10mm holes should suffice? And lashings of waxoyl

Should be more than enough. I just have the one of about that size, at the rear by the B post, which seemed to be where water collected and sat, and there are the other pre-fab holes further along. I'm sure others will have different solutions
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And lashings of waxoyl

Got to love the smell when the sun comes out and heats up the sills I had to drive with the windows open for days.

The previous owner did a fair bit of waxoiling and I have added tons myself so I suppose there is a very real chance I'm going to have puddles of rainwater sitting between two 'ramps' of wax.
I'm dying to get the old boy back on the road again but I look at the salty roads and it just throws the chassis protection issue into sharp relief. After a string of dodgy purchases I've bought a sensible choice (not that my wife would have agreed when the thing turned up last April covered in 20 years of dust, rotton tyres and with no interior or hood ) I'm determined this Minor is not going to have any MOT failing rust issues for a long time and if that means eliminating another months worth of driving pleasure, so be it. Last week I finished waxing the underside - a job that, suprisingly, was not too messy. I think the cold weather helped cool the warm wax on the brush and stop it dripping onto my face! I just need to get an aerosol applicator and get right into the rear of the front wings, spring hangers and all the other hard to reach water traps.