Morris Minor Owners Club

I've just got my traveller back from the body shop, where it has had most of its panels replaced, a new timber kit fitted and been painted. It has no interior or side windows fitted, as I'm doing that myself.

Unfortunately the guy who did the work has neglected to fit any sealer between the timber and the body. Also a couple of the aluminum side panels aren't fitting flush with the timber frame. I've just found the fillets that hold them in place in a box of bits he gave me.

Is it possible to unbolt and remove the timber frame in one piece including both sides and the roof?
That way I can refit the side panels with fillets and apply sealant before refitting the timber back half.

Taking the car back to him to get it fixed is not an option.

He has done a crap job -you MUST take it back. Certainly don't pay a single penny! To fix it you are going to have to take the whole thing off and do the job yourself.

I don't trust him to get it right, and he takes to long, he has had the car for several years!!!

I'm not afraid of doing it myself, at least that way I know it will done properly.

I was thinking if I take off the rear doors, and cross brace the frames I could just unbolt it from the body and lift it off in one piece. If I did this would I have to remove the rear guards, or could they stay on?

I'm trying to avoid any repainting.

The factory used to fit the fully assembled rear end to the car on the production line - in one of the many excellent books on the Minor is a picture showing the rear ends being carried to the line by an overhead conveyor. So, how do you take the timber off?

There are obvious coach bolts at the bottom of the rear pillars which will have to be removed. A whole load of screws go through the lip on the rear inner wings and into the timber - remove them all. Is the headlining fitted? If so, carefully release the join between the front and rear, and ease the front half forwards (release two wires from the B-posts) and drop the rear part away the area by the interior light. You should now have exposed a load of bolts the hold the roof join together. All will need removing. Now remove the 5 bolts (3 visible, two hidden behind vertical window channel) on each side that hold the wood to the B-post. Unless I've forgotten anything, you should now be able to left the rear end off.

The bad news is that if your chap has bodged, then there is no guarantee that the roof braces have been correctly fitted, so there is a danger of distortion. I would be very careful! Leaving the rear doors fitted and locked shut will provide a bit of bracing, but will also add weight and make it more difficult to align the bolt hols when refitting.

When refitting, you will need a new rubber roof seal - when first fitted, it sticks down below the wood, and you can grab that piece to pull the strip down hard against the roof. Once all bolts have been tightened, then you can trim off the excess rubber. Good luck.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear.

There is no headlining fitted, or any interior.
He has only fitted screws to very second hole around the wheel arches.
There are no coach bolts on the rear posts, only a couple of wood screws.

I think I will try removing the rear doors and wings, to reduce weight, and add tempory bracing across the front and rear of the side frames. That way it shouldn't move.

I will take my time, and get a couple of helpers to assist with the lifting.

I can't find the photo of the overhead conveyor, but this one at ground level gives a good idea of what you can expect:[frame][/frame]

Note the bracing strip in the factory picture!

Great picture! Got any more of Trav assembly??

Unfortunately it's just a single one that I picked up at a boot sale many years ago. No credits on it; but of course I recognised it immediately! I think that I've seen either it or a very similar one in one of the books, so it was probably a Morris Publicity shot. I too would love to see some more of that vintage.

Love the photo

I was planning on bracing the frame in a similar way, good to see that was how it was originally done.
Now I just need to find a white apron.

Love photos like this - wouldn't it be great if we knew which, if any, of these rear ends still exist!

Here you go, Heavy duty cotton with neck loop, extra long waist ties and front pocket.
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=119731

I like the extra long waist tie, carpenters must be pie fans too.

I had a look at how the rear is connected last night.

I can see where there should be 4 coach bolts up through the boot floor into the ladder frame.
He has drilled holes adjacent and used wood screws.

Should there also be a coach bolt under the bumper going through the rear post into the boot floor support bracket?

MarkyB wrote:Here you go, Heavy duty cotton with neck loop, extra long waist ties and front pocket.
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=119731

I like the extra long waist tie, carpenters must be pie fans too.

Thanks for that, I think carpenters must also like pints.

Yes to those bolts - they were the ones I was thinking about, and forgot the ones going through the ladder rack. The ones going up through the floor into the ladder rack can be hex head with tapered wood screw thread; but coach bolts would be fine.

I was afraid of that, how does one drill the hole and get it to line up with the hole in the floor support bracket?

I had a go at removing the rear on the weekend.
I enlisted my brother and friend to help lift it off.

We removed the rear doors and rear wings. The wings were held on with screws and large blobs of silicone.
After all the bolts and screws were removed we placed a jack under the crossmember to prevent the car from sagging when the rear was removed.

We tried several times to remove the rear, but it was stuck solid with a mix of silicone and black mastic stuff.

Time for plan B. we raised the jack slightly to open the front joint.

We applied a thin bead of black mastic on both sides of the roof rubber and fitted it. Then we used a thin nozzle to force the mastic into the side joints between the timber sides and the B post.

The jack was then lowered and the bolts refitted and tightened. This caused the mastic to squeeze out, we cleaned it up with a rag soaked in turps.

The end result looks great and hopefully will be waterproof.