Morris Minor Owners Club

I'm not sure as to what steps to take so I'm throwing this out to the forum for your opinions. My 1969 toure is in very good condition if not boadering on excellent with absolutely no rust at all except for the usual bottom of the drivers door which although has broken through it isn't all that bad but does cover an area about a foot long and two inches high So I'm at a quandary as to which path to choose in so much as do I re- skin or use a repair panel ,what would you do folks?

If the rest of the door is OK then I'd go for a repair panel. No need to use the whole repair panel just cut off the bit you need. Or make you own if it's not to big and just the curved door bottom.

As you say your car is bordering on 'excellent' - I think you should treat it to a full door skin.

I haven't personally installed a full skin or the repair panel.

However, I recently had a professional restorer put repair panels on the bottoms to two doors for my Traveller. The cost was astronomical. The restorer said that the panels (from a very popular UK supplier) were too short, so needed to be extended.

I tend to think that despite their very high initial cost, the full skins would have been cheaper in the end and a better job.

This month's Classics Monthly has a fairly comprehensive coverage of how to fit repair panels to the bottom of Traveller doors. It is clearly a major and tricky job. The guy doing the work also found that the repair panels were too short.

Best wishes for your door repairs.
Don

I thought it was just me that thought these panels were too short I had to extend them too. Having said that, they weren't too bad a fit.

Pete

Hi there,
bottom of the drivers door at my Traveller is rotten too.
I'd love to read that article mentioned above but cannot get that magazine here in Germany.
May I ask that someone send a copy via PM.
Thank you.
Achim

My doors were only bad at the bottom so this is what I did, and the repair panels and bits came from ESM and I found that they were of the correct size.
Get the doors sandblasted first, makes things a lot easier.
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Cut away the rotten bits:
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Weld in repair panel and fill, lots of hand work and prep required here.
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Sprayed with primer, as you can see the boot needed repairing as well:
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Oh and dont forget the two sealing strips at the bottom of the doors.
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Hope this helps, Good luck.

Superb job there!

Thanks for the replies so far and those pics were a great help as my door is about the same condition as far as the front skin is concerned , the underneath is very solid so it's time to decide I suppose thanks once again for the posts.

I'd love to read that article mentioned above but cannot get that magazine here in Germany.
May I ask that someone send a copy via PM.

I get my copies here in Oz electronically, not off the newstand or by snailmail. They can be bought per issue.

You need an Ipad or similar to read them.

Don