Morris Minor Owners Club

Now the weather has broken it seems the time is right to start on the ‘light’ work that’s required to get the Traveller on the road again. It need a little under floor welding, namely around the drivers side rear spring hanger and the front chassis legs. To assist me in this work I acquired a tipping frame, but before I start bolting things to the car and applying weight I’d thought I’d ask a few things….

Is it worth removing the engine before I start, I know it will make it lighter but can it be done without the need to disturb the unit?

What do I have to look out for when using a tipping frame that uses the wheels to anchor to the car, when repairing rear spring hangers? Am I likely to kink the body or should I be ok?

How many people do I need around to help me tip the car, tea and biscuits would be provided? Is it a two man job or are we talking a small army to reduce the chance of causing any damage??

All help very much appreciated, as always. Hopefully some nice shots of the repairs soon with a nice ‘MOT’ following….

It would be good to get the old girl on the road again…

Cheers…..

Ideally its at least a three man job to tip. Attach the frames to the wheels, jack it up at the crossmember as high as you can with a good trolley jack. Then a stong man at both wheels lifting up and a man in the middle pushing up ( wear good thick gloves) .the arc of the frames will make it fairly easy to do. It can be done with 2 though I once had a car start to slide at the engine end as we lifted up so 3 is better!! Regarding engine out, obviously it will make it lighter but is not necessary. What is if your welding is to remove the petrol tank and battery, drain all the oil remembering the axle too and empty the radiator.

Do alow plenty of room on the roof side as you dont want it to hit the wall of the garage........

No problem repairing the spring hangers,but obviously only do the side without the frame attached.[frame][/frame]
frame attached to the hubs[frame][/frame]
trolley jack in from the other side and jacked as high as it will go[frame][/frame] and the final flip!!! Do also remember to leave the passenger door unlocked, my Dad who was a mechanic for many years once flipped an 1100 and started some welding, a peice of trim caught fire and the passenger doors were locked apparently it made quite a fire!!!!!!

Removing the engine is sensible if you want to work on the front chassis legs. For sill repairs it's not that important but with engine and box in place I've used 4 people, rather than 3.
To do any work on structural areas front and rear you want to remove as much weight as possible, and also to add additional jacks in the middle so not all the weight is on the ends of the car.
To do a rear chassis extension you want to remove as much load from the axle as possible as you will be removing one of the springs! It doesn't take many jack to make an easy job of that. The same goes for doing a front chassis leg - support the monocoque in the centre so less weight is on the loaded chassis leg when you chop the unloaded one.

As for setting fire to the interior - I've always had the windows open, as this way you can see smoke signals from inside before it's too late - but if you leave the carpets in then you're possibly a bit insane.

I've never removed a fuel tank to welding, but the general rule is to drain all fluids (apart from brake fluid). If the fuel tank is not in good nick, (i.e. rotten / leaky) then get rid of it anyway, not just because you're welding but also for using the car afterwards! If it's in good nick, just make sure the filler is blocked.
For the brake fluid, you can block the breather hole in the m/c cap ( a panel pin does the trick for me)