Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi Guys,It's been a few months since I've been able to get on with my Moggie,I've completely cleaned of the underside to inspect for the dreaded rust,and fortunately for the most part is in overall good condition,however I will need to replace the middle cross member end (passenger side) the other side has been replaced at an earlier date by someone.
As I asked on an earlier thread I've established that I will not need to replace the boxing section but do need to replace the under sill sections front and rear the B post bottom ,the A post cover,the flat inner wing,and I think the flitch panel,the floor above the cross member passenger side has also had a poor patch fitted at some point so I think I will need to replace the floor section when I do the cross member end,does this make sense ?I am about to weld some bracing bars across the doors to add some rigidity to the structure while I cut out,I also need to replace the rear inner wheel arch and the piece that the wings bolt onto,also I will be replacing the rear apron .can someone please advise me what would be the best order and method to go about it.
Mark[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Mark,

If you look at my own recent queries you will see that I'm by no means one of the experts on here, but my Traveller is very similar to yours and I'm just a bit ahead of where you are. I did the front rh inner wing, sill step, boxing plate, floor extensions, outer sill, hinge pillar and full crossmember last year, and I've recently started the lh side, currently replacing the floor extensions and outer sill.

From your photos I don't think you should keep the boxing plate - it is holed at the bottom flange and in poor condition below the kidney panel. More importantly, though, removing it will allow you to thoroughly inspect and protect the sill step - do be prepared for unpleasant surprises around the join with the floor.

My order of attack from where you are now would be:

1) Remove boxing plate & clean & repaint sill step. Keep floor extension and outer sill in place to maintain door opening dimensions (what has gone on with that outer sill????)
2) Repair front wheel arch and foot of kidney panel to maintain rigidity with sill step. Clean up or repair retained parts of flitch and hinge pillar (you will need to remove the lowest part of the flitch adjacent to the hinge pillar to remove & replace the boxing plate).
3) Carefully note dimensions, locations of sill finisher bolt holes etc, then cut out floor extension & outer sill. I'm replacing all the floors, so cutting out the floor extension was fairly easy.
4) Replace outer sill and floor extensions. I used seam sealer at all the joints while I could get at them, then painted apart from where I needed to weld the boxing plate (just used weld through primer here)
5) Plug weld the boxing plate.
6) Repair or replace the flitch. I think you may end up having to renew the hinge pillar as well, as this is welded to the corner of the flitch.
7) Replace the hinge pillar cover.

Your rear inner wing doesn't look too bad from your photos - can't you patch repair this|?

Good luck - you'll probably overtake me soon!

Mark

Thanks Mark for your reply,the sill area and the outer floors have had new panels welded over the top of the rusty old ones what you can see there I think is the remains of the old outer sill .
Do you know if there is another panel that goes inside the step and the boxing plate as I think this has rusted at the bottom because the inner step looks fine and solid from the inside. im just scared to cut away to much material .it looks as though I have to remove the outer floor panels to remove the boxing ,also the bottom of the B post.
Cheers
mark

Yes there is another panel...
travellers had a sill reinforcing panel welded into the step sill you can see the end of yours next to the lower seatbelt mount through the opening in the boxing extension panel..

Taupe

You'll find Taupe's resto thread very interesting, although few of us have the skill to fabricate panels from scratch as he does. Page 15 shows the sill reinforcer he made himself, also my own much cruder version and a photo of the sill step and corroded reinforcer removed from my car, to show how just bad these can get!

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... &start=210

It seems a lot of travellers do get rebuilt without any reinforcement - the lh side of mine didn't have one, and athough I'm finnicky enough to put it back, there don't appear to be any direct ill effects from its ommission. There is a sound case to be made that the rust trapping quality of the reinforcement plate outweighs any improvement in stiffness - this is why I've kept the lower edge of mine plain and well above the floor extension, where water is likely to be present.

Thanks guys for your replies,your fabricating skills are brilliant taupe .do you know if these reinforcing panels available to buy from the usual suppliers as I havnt seen any .
regards
Mark

I think Birmingham minors stock them. they are not exactly as original but are probably ok..best to give them a call.. I think its rep 100 & 101?

I have no idea why all the other suppliers seem to deny the existence of this panel? Its probably because its not shown seperately in the parts book

Taupe

Thanks taupe I'll give them a call
Kind regards
Mark

Looking again at your sill you may get away with just trimming the bottom off the sill reinforcer panel and welding in some angle section as a repair..It really depends how far you need to go to get rid of all the rot.....

Taupe

Thanks again Taupe,I think I will have a better idea when I get the rest of the boxing panel and the floor extension out of the way.watch this space I have today ordered the new boxing panel and the bottom repair section for the B post when I have them I think all will be clearer
Kind regards
Mark

Removed the boxing sill today and this is what lies behind, Taupe is the reinforcing panel spot welded to the inner step, and do you know whether it is easily separated or will I need a new inner step as we'll?[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]