Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,

New to the forum - bought an old runner last week which is a 1962 Morris 1000 - reg is BLJ199a.

I would love to be able to get her back to her former glory but it is going to take a very long time and a fair bit of free cash, which I do not have at the mo. I'm going to try and do as much as I can in the way of prep work etc but TBH I have never attempted anything like this before and really not sure if I have the skills.

Lots wrong with her but the most important two things to do straight away is

1/ Needs complete new sills on both sides & 2/ repair / replace fuel tank as there seems to be a small leak in the underside.

I need to be able to keep her on the road as its the only transport I have at the moment - wife uses the other car every day.

I would like to ask the more experienced of you - if I were to get a garage to replace the sills on both sides - any idea of what the cost would be? Im a mature student (having been made redundant recently) so I am going to have to find the cash to get it done. both sides are in a bad way - full of rust and filler from the previous owner.

Any ideas?

Don't worry about not having experience with Minor restoration - we all started that way here. Any chance of photos? If you do get a garage to replace them there is one with a questionable reputation you should be aware( ) of! They have been discussed before on this forum but we are not allowed to name them publicly.

welcome di..., you've gotta start somewhere, if your short of cash can you borrow some welding gear to fix the sills, or have you a pal who'll do the welding for a pint or two. Once you do the prep work the welding itself doesn't take all day. Nice to hear you've chosen a good old morris as your transport.

Thanks guys - I have access to a gassless mig and also all the spray kit I need. Just really concerned about the sills as its part of the structure and I really don't want to bodge the job. Also - not having had experience of this type of car before - I would like someone to have a general look at it, particulary underneath just to point out the jobs that I would need to do.
I'm really concerned in case there are more problems underneath that I would notice.

I n the meantime try posting some images of the undersides.sills wheel arches ect on here, you may get more practical advice if people can see it.

While you are at it weld some scrap steel together and post pictures too.

You have the gear, with a few pointers, I'm sure you can do this at minimal cost compared to paying for the work to be done.
Plus you get the satisfaction of a job well done, nobody you pay will be as conscientious as you will.

Re leak in fuel tank, check if the drain nut underneath is done up properly. If it's not that & there is a leak, a very temporary repair could be made by cleaning the affected area and using a leak-fix type compound that says its suitable for petrol - about a fiver in Halfords or B&Q.

Guys,

Thanks for all your advice. I have taken some pictures - just need to resize them and ill post them tonight.

regards

dy

Have plenty of practice with similar gauge scrap metal to what the car is made of. Remember that welding is a proper trade and despite lots of folk telling you to save yourself money and do it yourself it is not that easy to do a proper and safe job.
I have seen folk on here post pictures of what can only be described as dangerous structural welding and get numerous replies telling them to keep up the good work.
Have a read through of this inspiring thread to see how well the work can be done.
http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=25298
Good luck.

If you're unsure of doing the sills, why not get one side done by one of the mobile welders in the South-West while you watch/assist?
Then tackle the other side yourself if you feel able.
Poking around this side ought to elict details of one such mobile outfit that comes recommended.

Cheers,
Phil.

Thanks again guys for all the positive words of advice. luckily, i have a member of the family who is an excellent welder and if i can find out what needs to be done and get the parts, do the main cleaning and prep work - he will do the welding for me.

Here are some pics i have sorted - let me know what you tink. just to note, the offisde sill is not quite as bad as the nearside but not far from it. There is lots of filler in the nearside sill - not looking good......[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

offside sill looks like it needs a couple of patches and the nearside could do with a complete sill

Just got a quote from a garage that deals with morris repairs in the south west - they advise that it would cost me £700 + vat if they do the sills for me.......way to much for me in one hit.

if I can get the parts for arounf £160 ish for both sides. which I believe is about right for complete sills and arrange the welding to be done for me....thats within my reach.

Most, if not all of the other work is just fairly basic body work which i think I can handle, and generally giving it a really good clean and repairing the passenger seat. The exhaust has seen better days so will need doing before the next mot (before if it fails). I would like to get the opportunity to get it up on a ramp and have a good dig around underneath, having looked at the floors from inside, they seem to be intact, just a bit rusty. From a previus mot, it looks like there has been some serious work done on the rear suspension so hopefully thats good.

Will need to take off the rear wheel arches, fix them a little and put them back on -also perhaps replace all the piping as well. The doors dont shut straight - so will have to look at the hinges etc. It needs new locking mech's on both doors as neither of them lock and all the chrome work is rusty - perhaps beyound repair or the expense in getting them re -chromed.

The list is growing............

£700.00 + vat that is quite expensive i had mine done along with other welding all for £500.00

They are lovely little cars with tons of character but you are unlikely to get back the money that you invest into one. If you want to tinker and have a project/hobby it is a fine choice of vehicle with so many spare available cheaply.

Just an example, I purchased a fairly tidy 2 door 5 years ago for £1700, I did all the work myself stripping and painting taking nearly a year of weekends. I eventually sold it after advertizing a lot for £1750, the guy that purchased it put on an unleaded cylinder head, renewed all the breaking system fitting a servo and alternator conversion costing him again a fair bit of time and nearly £1000 in parts and after trying to sell it for ages, starting at £3500 he eventually accepted an offer of £1500.

Still at the time I enjoyed fixing up the car and dont begrudge a minute of it.

Had a real stroke of luck today -

I volounteer at a secondary school as an SEN teacher and during a crafty smoke break started talking to one of the I.T teachers about theminor I had just bought. As it stands - the chap has restored 5 old cars before - being a VW, Imp, Herald and 2 Stag's.

He has offered to do all my welding gratis and will also help with the prep! All he wants is is for me to get the parts. He has had a good look around the car and has said that I need two complete sills ( inner/outer and everything else that goes with it) and part of the rear panel - about the first 18 incehes on either side.

can anyone advice me exactly what I need to get? If anyone could reccomend a good supplier as well I would appreciate a PM.

Thank You in advance

Dy

Hi All,

Well I started on the jobs today - and tackled the leaky fuel tank.

More out of 'have too' really as when I wolk up this morning and went out to her, half the fuel tank had leaked all over the driveway.
I managed to get her up on some ramps - drain the remaing fuel, strip off all the old underseal and gunk and there it was - a hole about the size of a 5 p piece.

Welded a small plate onto the tank, after filling it up with water of course, and it seems to have worked a treat. Leaving it overnight just to make sure and hopefully it will be ok in the morning. While I have taken to boot apart, Im going to taclke some of the rust issues tomorrow and get it painted. The boot is in extremely good nick compared to the rest of the car.

Although it looks fairly solid, the underside is like a patch work quilt with all the welding it has had done to it over the years!

Next job is going to be the sills for sure!

Ill post some pics of the sill work when I have done it - thought posting pics of the boot were a little too boring!
Dy

Dont be shy, we all like to see pics of other peoples cars. And quite often the eagle eyed folk spot something important that has been missed.

As an example, I had sanded off all the underseal off the Traveller and had posted some pictures, could you imagine how shocked I was when someone noticed that the directions to the actual resting place of the Holy Grail was clearly shown in those images!!!

I just fell off my perch laughing!!!!