Morris Minor Owners Club

I am slowly plodding through repairing the rust on my Minor. Some repairs I am finding seem OK, other less so. I noticed, once the body was on it's side, that these repair panels have been tacked over the floorpan to met the sill. I have cut away a portion of one of them and underneath is a rusting floorpan (not swiss cheese, more a crumbly cheddar ). Anyway, am I right in saying that this is a repair panel (RP135R?) which someone has bought and welded over the rusted areas rather than instead of them, flush with the floorpan? Or was it always a double layer in these areas? The panel diagrams don't make it clear enough.
Here's what I mean:


Notice you can just see the tacks under the underseal.

The repair panels are offen made bigger,to cater for having to cut back the rusted sections on where it is to be welded to,your rust is typical of simply sticking the whole lot on,without trimming to size,the resultant overlap lets water in and rust is the result. Where possible its much better to butt weld rather than create an overlap,but where difficult ,weld through seam sealer is the solution.

So to cut out the rusted bit in the picture and weld a new floor edge panel repair section there instead is the solution?

depends how badly rusted it it,but you will not be able to weld to it as it is,give it a good clean up with a grinder and see how much clean metal you get.It may have been perfectly sound before being sandwiched between the overlap,may still be ok.

,weld through seam sealer is the solution.

I haven't come across this - where do you get it, please?

Mark

Most auto paint factors.

Yes that is a huge bodge as it looks like your old RP 135L has overlapped the floor pan and inner sill step by about 2". It should really butt weld to the floor and plug weld to the inner sill step. Minimum overlaps means less places for rust to develop.

I would cut the whole panel out and fit a new one, this time properly butting the RP 135L to the floor pan and plug welding to inner sill step and also plug welding to the outer sill panel. you can then use weld thru primer and protect any seams with seam sealer as mentioned above.

I have cut some more out today. This is what greeted me:





What is my best course of action from here, as it looks like the front spring hanger and the inner sill which extends back now need attention too

However, I think the front section pictured here looks better. There's not really any rusty floor in this area and the join is only overlapped by an inch or so, so I may seam weld the existing bit and tidy up whats there. Sound like a good idea?

Yep... a front spring hanger panel is required.( MOT man won't like that !! ) Take careful measurements of the existing position, so that the new panel can be lined up correctly.Measure , record and compare both sides before cutting anything.If both measurements are equal proceed. Use the new panel, offering it up the underside to ensure you can weld onto sound clean metal.The surrounding metal on the panel is generous ( unless you have a real problem with the underside !! ).Keep chipping away at it and get that new metal in.. it will all come good in the end.
Bob