Morris Minor Owners Club

I have a question about the flange where the inner wing (flitch) and wheel arch join. On my old rusty panels, the flange had been dressed over flat against the wheel arch - is this the way the car was made originally or has someone just bashed it over?

Just wanted to know the correct way to finish the flange. I have highlighted the area with the red line just in case my description is bad

well i had as totally original van and that was as yours is
on my original car it is dressd over

so there the choice

maybe dressed over looks better, but not sure if its so good for holing mud etc , and therefore rust

Only ever been bashed over on one of the 6 I've owned, and I've spent a lot of time cursing the person who did it when trying to replace the flitch

Thanks for the quick replies. I think I will leave it as it is - I am a bit concerned about bashing it over as it did look like a bad mud trap on the old panels.

Just to confuse things a bit, on my very rusty old minor, it is bashed over from about halfway only - towards the rear - same on both sides so I'm assuming this was done in the factory.

yes same as my car
my van was left

On the old rusty one i tore off, which was the original, it was dressed over. So thats what i did on mine.
http://s166.photobucket.com/albums/u118 ... dMarch.jpg

As you've replaced the panels anyway it won't be concours. I've seen mostly bent over flanges (on cars) but that's a mud trap. As some are not bent over, that leaves both options open.
Personally I leave the flange as it is - however the rear of the arch can come close to the tyres, so if you run crossplies (slightly bigger diameter) you may want to check tyre clearance on full lock with compressed suspension (easiest to do that without the torsion bar connected).

Dont they still have an original bodyshell at Derby. They used too. Perhaps someone could look at that and see?

Yes, its hiding in the corner next to all the large Regalia boxes for the National Rally, all covered up!

In the workshop manual (Section R21) it describes how bending over this small section of flange gives better clearance for the wheels on rough roads.

Looks like its a Morris sanctioned Post production Bodge.


Oh and Milly has it (right pain it was to work around too) I'm planning on filling it in with dum dum or something to try and prevent it being a mud build up point.

rayofleamington wrote:As you've replaced the panels anyway it won't be concours. I've seen mostly bent over flanges (on cars) but that's a mud trap. As some are not bent over, that leaves both options open.
Personally I leave the flange as it is - however the rear of the arch can come close to the tyres, so if you run crossplies (slightly bigger diameter) you may want to check tyre clearance on full lock with compressed suspension (easiest to do that without the torsion bar connected).

Concours is not my thing so that won't be a problem, but just out of interest - are replacement panels frowned upon in such contests?

MGFmad wrote:

rayofleamington wrote:As you've replaced the panels anyway it won't be concours. I've seen mostly bent over flanges (on cars) but that's a mud trap. As some are not bent over, that leaves both options open.
Personally I leave the flange as it is - however the rear of the arch can come close to the tyres, so if you run crossplies (slightly bigger diameter) you may want to check tyre clearance on full lock with compressed suspension (easiest to do that without the torsion bar connected).

Concours is not my thing so that won't be a problem, but just out of interest - are replacement panels frowned upon in such contests?

I think just about anything that isnt original is, bunch of pedantic weirdos'.

I think just about anything that isnt original is, bunch of pedantic weirdos'

I wouldn't quite take it that far! I presume you weren't intending to offend ;-)

Originality is a prized possession amongst the concours. Rebuilding a car can be done in a way that is not obvious - in which case it's not a major problem for a show car. If the shell restoration is plainly visible, it will loose some marks.

One thing that gets me, is that some people are finicky about originality when they don't ever intend to compete in shows with the car. Anyway - that's way off subject, so I'll shut up!

Thank you - I did post an answer earlier, but deleted it, as it could have been taken wrongly...

I have left the flange as in the above pic, except ground it down so there was less sticking out. I too decided not to bend it over as the Minor has enough rust traps as it is.

On the latest project, I made my own inner wing rear sections (complete with captive nuts) and cut the section so that it butted up to the inner wheelarch at 90degrees. Then I butt welded the corner so there is no rust trap, no overlap at all.

If you do bend the flange over, make sure you clean it out and fill with waxoyl every year.

chickenjohn wrote: If you do bend the flange over, make sure you clean it out and fill with waxoyl every year.

Or paint the 2 faces with weldthru primer before bending the panel over, then seam weld it so no moisture can get in there in the first place

Yes, your welding looks good Youngun, so that could work, but I'd also clean up the welds, zinc prime, seam seal, paint (two coats chassis black) then heavy underbody wax (re-applied yearly).