Morris Minor Owners Club

Been reading up on the heat shield underneath the passenger floor which most seem to think is an undesirable rust trap, so am looking at alternative. There are many suppliers of self adhesive tape/pads available, but wonder if this a possible alternative as I am at the stage of my project where I have to either ignore the issue or find alternative/fit the old original one.
Has anyone tried the alternative?

as an aside , is it asbe*to* ? ( naughty word )

John

The original fitment was asbestos in a tray which held the water and caused the N/SF floor to rot.
My advice is to do away with the asbestos correctly and through a proper process, fit a flat plate with no raised lips and spaced to sit mid way between the floor and the silencer/exhaust pipe.
Whatever you use to dissipate the heat from the exhaust it must not be water absorbing as the problem will be still be there

I'd agree with that. My Morris had a "top hat" style channel which held the asbestos pad in place but it had no ends so in theory the asbestos pad could slide out if it wanted and it easily let in any spray or moisture. I had the usual floor rot through damp being held by the pad so when the floor was repaired, the pad holder was replaced with a new one but with the pad left out. The floor's been fine since but the mating faces of the new holder were smeared with mastic/sealer to keep moisture out of the joint. Phil's suggestion of a flat plate with spacers means you have even smaller mating faces to seal and you can also vary how far the shield stands off the floor. A great idea.
Merry Christmas, Colin.

Thanks for advice (apart from the H&S warning). I still have the original shield which is in very goog nick and was replaced by previous owner. Thinking of retaining it and sealing it to the floor permanently to stop any moisture entering the cavity.
Don't know if they all had it, but this one has a "front" metal plate across the forward edge and looks to be "home made"?

BTW.....My home (which my Father built) is an Asbestos Prefab bricked all round from the '60s. It is of course WHITE Asbestos which is in fact as Dangerous as Talcum powder. Blue and Brown is the nasty stuff to be avoided at all cost.
Still, keeps some people employed I suppose

White asbestos can be as dangerous as blue or brown asbestos and as such its use was banned in 1999 except for a few specialist applications.
If you consider the material to be asbestos of whatever hue it should be treated as if it was blue or brown asbestos and dealt with in accordance with the current disposal regulations for asbestos.
Asbestos is a material that you cannot be too careful with.
http://www.coshh-essentials.org.uk/asse ... ndg289.pdf

That sounds fine then. Use to new/old cover and seal the mating faces with the floor to keep the joint moisture free. A mate of mine's favourite saying was that it was sometimes better to not seal things up too much because water will get into places and so it was better if it could get out too. Basically seal mating faces but leave the ways of getting in and out of the rest of it free - if that makes sense.
Happy New Year. Colin.

I've only just discovered this topic having seen mention of the Heat Shield here:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=70946#p645531

I didn't even know there was a heat shield.... .
Basil doesn't have one, but I don't know if he is supposed to?
Perhaps it was left off when the floor was replaced in the past...
When were they fitted from?
The original MM, or sometime later?

I can find no mention of it, or even the Exhaust System pe se, in the Manufacturer's manual .
Not deemed worthy of mention apparently.

Mine's not got one either! I had a feel of the floor after a good run, it felt fine so I stopped worrying.

is it asbe*to* ? ( naughty word )

Don't know about it being a naughty word but contact with it can certainly have fatal consequences, of the long and painful kind!
Best wishes,
Mike.

My friend Alf was a sheet metal worker in Whalley Bridge and spent a lot of his working life making/fitting ducting at what was then Ferodo in Chapel-en-le-Frith , he spent his last days with us...it was not a period I'd like to go through again..

John