Mulli's 4 door saloon brave restoration

[Mulli]

So I got this motor 4 years ago, and although not on my priority lust at the moment, I think I should make a start! Im 27 now I think if It can be in the road before im 30, i'll be happy with that!

Theseare the pucs when I 1st got it:

[Mulli]

And now some pics if him a bit dryer in my garage











Dont he look Rough!

[Mulli]

Front drivers wing of, I could patch this but may carefully take it off to clean up inside by kidney bowl bit...



But the A post/ door pillar & cover needs some attention!

[Mulli]

The bottom of theses doors are mostly body filler. Previous owners sure liked boddy filler!

[Mulli]

Had a good poke around to assess the old rot, we have Rust



More Rust



Front half of rear wing just came off

[Mulli]

Some more rust pics





The pile gets bigger





Drivers side front floor edge





Floor above centre crossmember



B Post, hanging on by a thread!

[Mulli]

Inside of rear arch



Rear of drivers side rear floor, by prop/gearbox tunnel



Passenger side floor under rear seat



Rear of passenger floor





Paseenger side floor edge





Passengerside chassis leg



Front crossmember



Outside drives side








I think we get the picture. It's Real Bad! Can it be saved is the question ive started asking myself!

[irmscher]

I would imagine it could be with a lot of money spent and hard work

[Mulli]

Yep, Just finished pricing up panels alone, if i buy each one of the shelf over £ 1200 so far! God help me !

[mogbob]

Mulli
My mate's Moggie was rough but not that rough ! I taught him to weld and fabricate along the way but it took over two years ( part time /
leisure time slots ). I've done / helped with 5 classic car restorations but I'd personally " walk " on this one.
My assessment is : - it has all the usual spring hangers ,inner wings , bottom of the A posts but it doesn't end there. Structurally the main crossmembers , sills , floor pans, boot floor, etc , etc have had it and the difficulty I can forsee is establishing a " foot hold " of decent structural metal to weld new panels to !
If you're a competent welder / fabricator and are fixated about this specific car , for sentimental reasons or what ever, it will be one hell of a challenge on your wallet and time.
I'd strip for parts , engine , gear box , etc and get a better example bodywise. as your starting point. This is just my personal opinion.

Make a wise , considered opinion now ....not when you're half way into the project, having spent some serious money on it. A professional would bail you out but the cost would run into thousands.
Good luck.
Bob

[Mulli]

Thanks for the advice guys, I am in two minds atm, I can weld and fabricate basic pieces. But I could easily make my money back on parts. It would be real bugger of job, but then I hate to see classics scrapped. But I do refuse to walk into a job that would make a huge loss if sold.

Im in no rush to do anything I can take my time to make a decision, hence im slowly pricing up all the panels and other bits up to put it on the road. It dosnt look good for now tho.

We shall see. If anyone has any further advice or thoughs theyre most welcome. Thanks again

[jagnut66]

Hi,
Whatever your final decision I would weld some bracing into what's left of the shell, so it doesn't sag whilst your're making up your mind.
However another major factor is the time you will have to give over to it, so whilst hugely rewarding to be able to save it and say 'I did that' I think you should make your mind up soon, before there is a missus and / or kids on the horizon..............
At 27 you are at the prime of life for most of the major (life changing) events that will go on to dictate the rest of it.
Best wishes,
Mike.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Its a big job but certainly fixable. Thats the beauty of so many panels being available. Do take your time, dont cut out too much at once and as suggested some bracing would be needed. I would suggest full length floor panels with the edge/step would be a good place to start. Not all the bits you will need are available for above the rear arch at the back doors, so this would take some proper fabrication.

Good luck either way!

[Mulli]

Thanks guys, yes I have some mild steel angle on its way for bracing! I'm gona give it a long hard think, the time required is the key question here as i have other motors to keep on the road and a house to finish sorting, but watch this space, either way i'll keep ypu all informed and if this one dont get fixed hopefully i'll get a better one.

Thanks for this great forum and all the info on it

Tony

[kevin s]

Ours looked a lot better but in reality it was much the same with loads of patches stuck over all the rust, even had to take the rear of the roof off to get to the rust. Buy yourself a big sheet of steel, some panels and get stuck into it, nothing is too complicated about these.

[Mulli]

Ive been thinking about it a while and ive come to the conclusion I have to much money and no social life so what better way to waste time and money! Gonba go for it. I just aim for an average solid presentable car st the end, it wont be no show winner thats for sure. A learning project.

To recap we are here:













This was a pain to get the wing off



This bit scares me as I dont think a repair panel exists for this outer front rear wheer arch bit ?





I think for here I will require a complete inner arch panel and a wing mounting flange repair piece aswell?





But to end on a more positive note I swung by David manners group morris minor cenre b'ham just off the M5 and picked these up today



All made in sri lanker, bet seem ok for quality, certainly better than what im beginning with. Just goto figure out where to start and the inner outer sill (quarter panels?) bits go together....
,Guess i'll start with the boxing plate

[greendefender123]

Nice project. Looks worse than mine but probably not alot in it by the time I stripped it. Do abit at a time and it'll soon be done. Good luck with it. Steve

[firedrake1942]

It looks bad but actually there are significant parts to weld new panels to, I think you could make a beautiful car from this and have the satisfaction that you have done it yourself. Oh and by the way, the rear o/s tyre is bald (lol)

[Mulli]

Thanks guys. Its just a shame previous repairs have been done real bad, not protected from the rust, and then had repairs put iver repairs. Behinf the front wherl and in front of rear wheel where the arches are by the A & C pillars there was 4- 5pieces of rotten stell in top op each other. But there is some clean steel there,perfect origional paint in some parts underneath where the underseals just starting to flske off

[Mulli]

Got a few hours in tonight.
Old floor edge/boxing panel out







A post to inner wheel arch:



Now a question please, can I get repair panels for here (1 A-C), if so where from please?





(1a & 1b are spot welded together and go between the rear door and rear arch)

I think i'll buy a complete new rear inner wing/ arch but will have to make a new lip to spot/plug weld to directly below this screw and wire:



Also part 1C here, where the main rear chassis leg joins the floor under the rear seats, I dont think I can buy a repair panel for?