How do you check for warping in your chassis?

Post by **alainmoran** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:05 pm

Daisy and I had a little accident the other day ... to cut a long-story very short a (naughty person) decided that 40mph in a 40mph zone wasnt fast enough, overtook me, I (stupidly) gave him 'the finger' and he decided to stop in the middle of the road, just around the next blind corner.

The brakes worked lovely, and locked the wheels, but given the tiny amount of space I had to stop in (If he'd done it on the straight I would have seen him and stopped with miles to spare) ... I ended up going right up his backside.

Externally it looks like two new front-wings, a bonnet, and a grille, strangely the bumper itself doesnt seem to have taken much damage!?!

Internally the radiator is mashed up against the fan, and the inner-wings are a little crumpled.

The chassis itself 'looks' pretty square, but I've no idea how to properly measure it to find out for sure.

Help!

Post by **Matt** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:25 pm

How much damage did he suffer?
If you take some diagonal measurements across the chassis (this is a van or pick up??) from references that should be exactly the same place on the chassis - mounting holes prehaps? - they distance should be virtually the same

Post by **Kevin** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:53 pm

If you are worried take it to somewhere like a local crash repair specialist that can check the chassis against a jig to check if its all OK

Post by **salty_monk** » Tue May 11, 2004 12:59 pm

I (stupidly) gave him 'the finger'

It's amazing what actions "the bird" can spur people into... What was the excuse for stopping? Stray dog?

Post by **alainmoran** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:30 pm

Apparently he was slowing down for an invisible car .. although why he needed to physically stop for a car which wasnt there I have no idea.

The car is a '69 2-Door Saloon ... in some ways I'm half-hoping that the chassis IS twisted since that would give me a good enough excuse (and an insurance settlement) to rip it out and weld a new one in!

Its really annoying too, since I'd only just finished up the suspension the weekend before ... stripped it right down, 'persuaded' the torsion arms off the bars and greased them up good & proper with copper-ease, replaced the trunions and eyebolt rubbers .. the whole bit, she was running like an absolute dream!

Grrr!

I've spoken to my local club, and one of them suggested measuring the distance between the two chassis legs at several points along their length, but to my mind that will only tell me whether they have bowed in/out or not.

I'm guessing that there must be some way of measuring corner-to-corner and the like to see whether things are properly paralell.

Taking it to a crash repair 'specialist' is one option, however I dont really think that there are many people in this area who I would trust to actually understand the Morris, as for jigging it up I shouldnt imagine that is really an option .. better/safer would be to just cut-out the old chassis and weld in a new one (IMHO).

Post by **alainmoran** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:32 pm

How much damage did he suffer?

Oh very little apart from his paint-matched bumper will need replacing .. I wasnt going all that fast at the time, but given that he was stationary and foot most likely hard on his brake, and my nose was down because I was braking as hard as possible, the majority of the force of the impact was taken by soft crushable bits.

Post by **davidrocke** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:34 pm

i think, if i remember rightly, that one of the old workshop manuals actually has a diagram for checking everything lines up. it involves dropping a plumb line from points on the chassis, and chalking marks on the floor to measure. it might be the blue loose leaf bmc manual. anyone else seen it?

Post by **alainmoran** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:35 pm

one of the old workshop manuals

If anyone has that, I'd *REALLY* appreciate scans of the relevant pages!

Post by **davidrocke** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:01 pm

i'll have a look about. i'm sure i have it somewhere. if i find it ill post again and email you the scan

Post by **Kevin** » Tue May 11, 2004 2:18 pm

I'm guessing that there must be some way of measuring corner-to-corner and the like to see whether things are properly paralell.

A jig can be used for checking alignment.

If anyone has that, I'd *REALLY* appreciate scans of the relevant pages!

I am sure I have a copy at home within the Bmc manual also it was mentioned recently that Haynes also has some dimensions.

Also have a look in the BODYWORK section at a recent posting
http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... pic&t=3659

Post by **salty_monk** » Tue May 11, 2004 6:07 pm

I'm half-hoping that the chassis IS twisted

Suggest you find yourself a friendly garage to quote for the work then, I 'm sure the chassis can be persuaded to be twisted

Post by **rayofleamington** » Tue May 11, 2004 7:18 pm

Suggest you find yourself a friendly garage to quote for the work then

Find a really really good accident repair specialist (look for one that does sports cars and supercars etc..) The quote will be enough to write it off!

I hope you can get some of the blame onto the other guy - overtaking then sudden braking would put you in the clear, although if he stopped half a mile later, round a blind corner you're a bit stuck.
Good luck!
Ray.

Post by **alainmoran** » Wed May 12, 2004 10:17 am

if he stopped half a mile later, round a blind corner you're a bit stuck

Oh well, there goes my no-claims

Post by **Scott** » Thu May 13, 2004 4:22 am

If the impact was mainly above the bumper, then I don't think the damage would have affected the chassis rails at all. It's probably just the bolt on parts (wings, bonnet, grille) &, as you know, the inner wings will be crumpled.
Did the engine mounts break off & push the engine back into the damper mounting crossmember? If not, then all should be OK structurally.

Post by **Innovator** » Thu May 13, 2004 12:48 pm

There is an alignment picture in the back of the workshop manual. This should be a good starting ponit.

I would be very interested to know just how accurate a supposed straight Minor is. I would guess that it would be within 25mm possibly 30mm.

Does anybody know what tolerances the Minors were built to? Certainly from trying to fit panels it is not that close.

John

Post by **brixtonmorris** » Thu May 13, 2004 9:27 pm

i agree with Scott.
chassis will be fine.
when the front shock arm gets bent back, then you might need to worrie about it.

Post by **tapbuster** » Sat May 22, 2004 8:37 pm

Alain look in the bodywork section messageboard, seem several people have the info you require ]