Morris Minor Owners Club

The shelf and supports are completely missing in the ’61 2 door MM that I’m working on. I see a notch and 2 small holes in the vertical riser behind the back seat, also there is a tab with a small hole in it about half way along on both of the inner fenders, and there is evidence where something has been broken out of the lid opening edge on the RH side, about 8 - 10 inches up from bottom.
I don’t see any info at all about this either in the BMC or the Haynes manual and was wondering if some nice person out there could supply pictures and possibly dimensions to show what I need to do to make up a proper shelf assembly.
Is the shelf high enough to get the fuel tank in and out w/out removing the shelf?
Is the shelf and supports removable? In any case, I am thinking of making it removable.
What is the shelf itself made out of? ¼” plywood or something like that?

I have this pic that I saved from when I was asking about the spare tire clamp., but that’s all I have to go on.
TIA, Ken[frame][/frame]

Having just replaced my petrol tank, I can confirm there is plenty of room to manouver a 6.5 gal tank but you would need to remove the wooden shelf parts. I don't know if the dimensions are the same for all years so perhaps someone with a car the same year would be better to provide the exact measurements.
The metal work on mine seems to be welded in and I assume thats correct for all models and 1/4" ply is good for the actual shelves.

The piece in the pic that runs from one side to the other is seam welded and spotted in 2 places on each side. This, however, doesn't seem to stop it from breaking off. If you weld a new one in I'd suggest making it 2 inches longer and running a seam weld so that it fixes more firmly to the sides of the rear panel. I seamed all of the welded joints on mine to add a bit to the rigidity.

The reason some remove it is of course to greatly increase the carrying capacity in the boot! The spare wheel can be fitted in the bonnet - lodged above the cross bar and retained by a strap.

At the North East MMOC rally last weekend I saw a spare wheel under the bonnet.
Didn't get to speak to the owner about it. It was held in place by a couple of elastic luggage straps with hooks on the end.
I can see the advantage regarding increased boot space, but not sure if it would be a good idea.
Any comments?

Chris

Sounds like a good idea, till the welds break on the cross bar! Doesn't look strong enough to me but perhaps with additional support/bracketry?

There's a previous lengthy thread here discussing the pros & cons of spare wheel storage under the bonnet: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... eel+bonnet

Interesting thread,
think I'll leave mine in the boot.

Katy, this is my Mog's boot (over a year ago):[frame][/frame]
The T-bar broke off long before I bought the car, and you'll notice it's got a slight split in the middle. I've toyed with rewelding it to where it's supposed to be, but decided it had been so much easier getting the fuel tank out with the bar moveable...
I may do it eventually anyway. Maybe today. Dunno. Anyway, the wooden pieces hold it in all right, and it doesn't rattle too much loose. But then, you don't have one anyway, have you? And I do doubt you can buy them. It's a strangely complex little structure.
I'll take a few measurements for you when I'm up there today.

Thanks for that pic Fin, I'll save it. I don't see the wood pieces you mention, but I'll take your word for it.
Looking forward to the dimensions, but not sure now if I really need them. I bought a length of 3/8" x 1&1/2" x3/8" stamped channel that should work for the rear cross piece. Now I just have to locate summit to use for the longitudanal one. But then again I might just take 2 pieces of the channel and weld them together making a sort of flat box section.

Woops! Wood pieces = halves of shelf! They're not installed, obviously, in that photo.

While you are redesigning the boot floor why not build in a "trap door" so part, or all of it, can be hinged up giving access to the deeper reaches of the boot.
A CD changer could live back there if you like that kind of thing.

"trap door", now that's a good idea, I like that, maybe I'll put in 2, one on either side of the nether regions, Thanks Marky
I hope Customs & Imigration don't find them. haha

This is a pic of my 61 2-door boot, the black bits are the wood
hope it helps
Chris[frame][/frame]

Thanks for the pic, Chris, I'll save that. I should be getting around to that shelf project soon.
Smiles, Ken

I will be removing the wood in a minute for painting, so Ill take some pictures and post them later
EDIT: have to be tomorrow as camera batteries flat!!

right, camera playing up but i managed to get one photo:[frame][/frame][frame][img] It shows the right hand piece of wood( wrong way round though), it is about a quater inch thick and is quite tight to get in and out, so if doing it to orignal spec, maybe make it slightly smaller to make it easier to remove.

Excellent, thanks, DaisyMayFozz, another keeper pic to add to my file.
Ken

Here's a photo of mine.
Declan[frame][/frame]

Thanks Declan for the pic, another keeper for the file.
BTW, what size tire is that spare?
Smiles, Ken