Morris Minor Owners Club

hello all - quite a while since i've been on here due to lockdown and winter, hope all are well!

I picked up a cheap 2 door recently and looking to derust it (there's alot of it in wheelarches, but crossmember, legs and rest of body seem good)

i want to take the front wings off to have a look underneath and generally get at as much rust as possible, but noticed that the wing seems to be welded flush to the kick plate finisher!? is this normal? was just going to cut through with an angle grinder!

The wing (and the sill rail) should simply be bolted on as you probably know. They certainly shouldn't be welded to each other. You may be lucky and find that is all that has been done but to be certain you'll have to look deeper at the attachment points: Bolts inside the wing and along the underside of the sill rail - and see if these are still fitted and can be accessed, or, more to the point, can be undone.

The worst case is that other areas of the wing and sill rail have also been welded to other repairs around the inner wing and undersill.
Cutting them off might reveal a big job that you wish you hadn't started..... Therefore, have a good look first because once you've started, you have to carry on

You may be in for a shock when you take the sill covers off,have they been welded on as well,hope not

thanks both - that's what i'm worried about here. there's some random patches of rust in this car (boot, wheel arches etc) and wanted to get those wings off to see what's underneath.

you're right about being able to put it back on again though, as if i take the wings off and can't put them back on due to no mounting points i'm stuck (don't have a welder and work on the street, so would have to drive to a body shop without front lights or indicators!!!)

You should be able to check the front wing mounts before removing the wings. Look under the wheel arch and inside the bonnet to see if there are bolts, welds or just holes.

If you are very lucky the wing to sill gap might just have filler in!

i dont know what possessed people to weld wings on. surely it's much easier to just use the bolts?!

It’s easier to use the bolts if the inner wing and captive nuts are intact. If the inner wings are poor the outer wing might be included in the resulting patchwork quilt.

How many bolts hold the front wing on and where are they?
Thanks

evening all!

just as an update, i managed to get the passenger side wing off - amazingly all bolts/nuts (even the hockey stick ones!) came off after a little persuasion and i angle grinded the bit of the wing that had been welded to the body. Good news is that the inner wings are in decent shape (apart from no bump stop, whose mounting has gone) , bad news is that the panel to the front of the hinge pillar is toast - makes me worried about the sill that i couldn't get to (although looks ok from the underside)

here's some photos:

Yeoikes, scoob! I had similar damage to repair on a 1961 Convertible, which self-taught me a lot about fabrication and welding.

[removed as duplicate]

Unfortunately there's no welding for me, as I have no driveway (Central London)

Will take off the other wing which I think is in a similar state and probably take to a local garage for fixing.

Anyone with knowledge know which panels I should order for this repair?

Unfortunately, as well as the hinge pillar rear cover, you appear to have lost the front end of the boxing panel, part of the flitch panel, the bottom part of the kidney panel, and the lip at the front of the outer sill. There's a patch to the inner wheel arch which will need renewing. None of this is at all uncommon, but quite hard to get your head round the relationship of the panels in this area. I'm attaching a few photos of mine in progress few years back, which I hope will help you.

(I was still typing this when I saw your post about not having the facilities for welding. Might be a bit pricey at a garage, I'm afraid)

Before boxing panel fitted Boxing panel fitted, flitch panel still missing Flitch pane pieced in

wow - thanks for that, a massive help! are these the bits i need to pick up in that case?

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... -h-p828417

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... -h-p828453

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... de-p828491 (only full sill sections seem to be available)

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... on-p828410

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... de-p828505

(may as well repair the whole flitch as the bump stop mount has rusted?

I wouldn't buy any until you've had it cut away and properly assessed - ESM usually deliver the next day, and worth buying as much at once as possible to avoid postage costs.

If the rot extends into the hinge pillar or any more of the sill than the outer section, bracing needs to be fitted before cutting too much away.

You probably wouldn't fit a full kidney panel, just a piece of flat steel at its foot. The hinge pillar cover is supplied with the hinge pillar if you need that. The boxing panel extension you show is for the back end, you may be able to weld in a repair piece at the front, but you need to have a look at the rest of the boxing panel before you plan your repair. The front of the the sill extension may be repairable by piecing in. And finally - the bump stop is attached to the wheel arch, not the flitch panel. The flitch panel if replaced complete includes an angled section at the back of the hinge pillar, so better pieced in if possible. The repair on my photos kept the hinge pillar in place and the flitch panel repair was a tricky three dimensional jigsaw cut from a complete angled panel!

As I said, I found it a difficult area to visualise, but it becomes clearer as you cut into it. You need to find a repairer who really knows his or her way around these cars. I'd suggest you make a comprehensive assessment of the whole car before committing to too much expenditure on one area. I didn't, just coming to the end of nine years of diy restoration and a shedload of money. But it's been fun!