Morris Minor Owners Club

I want to remove the swage line(rear Quarter and door) from my minor.Would it be better to weld a plate behind swage line then grind of and fill or fill swage line with fibre glass then grind off and then smooth. I have full roll cage and full chassis & V8 so you know!!!

Maybe you could take a measured amount of metal out, flatten down and butt weld, grind flush and then level with stopper.

The trouble with removing the swaged moulding is that you are also removing the main strength of the door skins and rear quarters. Butt welding will not add/ replace the strength you are cutting out, so you should really weld a swaged plate on the inside of the panel work. I would suggest atleast 2" of steel either side of the removed section, with a swaged/joggled center section which will bring the new panel flush with the outside edge. You should plug weld,or spot weld the plate in place first to put the shape back into the door and quarter this will also minimise the amount of distortion when you then seam weld the new swaged section to the cut edges of the original moulding. Once the welds are ground down ( don't get the steel too hot when grinding,i.e blue) or this will only add to the distortion, a thin skim of filler should see the job done. The benefit of a larger repair is less distortion and a much stronger repair which will lessen the chances of splits or popping of welds as the door flexes, especially when their slammed shut.

He knows, you know - trained and everything...
a

I stand corrected, an additional internal metal plate makes perfect sense.

I wasn't getting at you, just trying to say that motherofgod could take the advice without any pinches of salt. Jonathon, from memory, is a trained and experienced body man (phnaar)

That's cool.

Good!

Andrew, how do you pronounce 'phnaar'.

Ask Finbar Saunders - I'm guessing 'Fuh' then 'Naaar'...


a

Thanks for that. I have removed a swage line on a door before but on the main shell I thought I'd ask the audience!

James

[quote=" from memory, is a trained and experienced body man (phnaar) [/quote]

so why is he asking the question?

He wasn't, motherofgod was...
a

Could you reverse the swage? by putting it through the swage maqchine the other way. That or you could cut down the middle of it and then shrink the metal and weld up the seem you have just made, Then when you grind the weld off everything should be ok, Just put a smear of seem sealant over it to stop any stuff leaking in.

The trouble with removing the swage /moulding on the minor is that you are removing the main strength of the door. You should try and replace this strength in the way I described in my previous posting.
You would not be able to reverse the swage unless you first removed the door skin, this process would seriously weaken the steel anyway. You could cut flatten and weld but again you are weakening the joint, and increasing the possibility of panel distortion.

yes very true, Just out of intrest why do you want to remove the swage line anyway?

I don't, but Motherofgod does!!

Anyone else want to ask that?

If you have seen a door without it's swage line or handle it looks lovely. So I thought the body would too! Also when I did the door I ground off small sections(6''-7'') then welded a plate behind this stopped any destortion and kept strenght.then pugged it! It never cracked or fell apart......so you know. Access was gained via a lock in the quarter light window