Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, I want to weld my car outside. can I use a body roller with the engine/gearbox in situ. I know I need to drain oil but can you feasibly use a roller that way as I just need some simple patching.

thanks chris

Yes you can do it that way no problem, dont forget to take out the battery and drain the radiator as well. My black minor was turned on its side today get get at the underneath for some repairs.

if possible roll it onto the drivers side so any petrol stays in the tank.

they can be quite heavy with the engine and box still in. it all depends on the design of the roll frame as to where the balance point is. we made our own roll frame, and i can roll a bare shell on my own, but anything more and it's a combination of trolley jacks, axle stands and ratchet strap around the garage rafters!
[frame][/frame]

So much easier with a bare shell -- just tipped mine today, barely needed two people!

If you're doing the welding outside, make sure you do it and cover it up with whatever (undercoating, paint, waxoyl, combinations) quickly. Worst thing is to have a small crack and let rainwater get into it, and patch it, then five years from now discover your left spring hangar is held on by a bolt.

On the one's I've done I've drained the fuel tank and blocked the bleed hole in the m/c reservoir cap too.

Draining trhe fuel tank using the fuel pump also drains the fuel pipe - that's a good thing.

When rolling a full traveller it took 4 big blokes to lift it over with a Grumpy's roller.

Yet more advice... cover all the windows inside and outside with cardboard or at least something substantial. Grinding sparks and weld spatter gets everywhere. Remove all carpets and wheel arch trim - fires start easily

If it's a 2 door saloon leave the lower side window open and yuou'll be able to get in/out of the car when it's rolled - personally there's no way i could fit through a 4 dr window!!

Also leave a door window open on the top side - if something does catch fire inside you can see the smoke coming out (e.g. before popping off to the loo) rather than finding out too late.

I've used a stack of wheels as a makeshift platform to stand on if/when needed.

Keep a bucket of water nearby and wet rags - this way you wont need them! For stuff like small underseal fires that dont blow out (e.g. inside box sections), spray a mouthfull of water on it! Atomised water will suck the heat away preventing it from re-lighting.

In a panic I've put out a carpet fire with my hands that was not on a roller - as I was just doing a small repair. If I'd had a wet rag I'd have saved myself from that level of stupidity [the carpet was moved out of the way and held down with tools but the tools had rolled away when I jacked the car up and at some point the carpet flopped back to the wheelarch]

rayofleamington wrote:If it's a 2 door saloon leave the lower side window open and yuou'll be able to get in/out of the car when it's rolled - personally there's no way i could fit through a 4 dr window!!

with my 4 door we removed all the seats, which meant you could get inside by opening the boot and walking in!

with my 4 door we removed all the seats, which meant you could get inside by opening the boot and walking in!

Thats logical! I wondered about that, but had forgotten the idea in the years since I had a 4dr on the roller. Last one was a pickup and before that was a trav and before that a 2dr... and out of all those I don't have them any more

In future I'm hoping to keep my cars even when they ARE fixed