Morris Minor Owners Club

leaving them for a moment to soak, I turned my attention to this support bracket,<br><br>

I cut out the shape using cardboard to see how it needed to bend<br><br>

with a bit of a jiggle and a joggle (technical terms you know) It fitted up reasonably well, the bump stop bolt helped positioning and using advice from you guys, I've left the top undone to give myself leeway when re-fitting the new outer wings. (in about ten years) I know it aint pritty, but its all metal and with a skim of chemical metal over the top, It'll improve to the eye. (anyone recommend a good filler)
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every bolt a battle, every turn a victory, boy these parts make you pay for success.<br><br>

three out of four sheared off, I feel cheated, it should have been all four. now the next challenge, how to get those sheared off bits out of there..
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But the silver lining, at least I don't have to do the nearside, that at least looks strongly supported.<br><br>

What about using a drill?

I wouldn't bother with an easy out on those studs as they don't work on seized fixings. I've got sheared studs out like this before you just need to be very accurate in centerpunching & drilling a pilot hole in the deadcenter of the stud as this will determine your success then drill with a larger drillbit just smaller than the threads in the plate . this should leave a coil of thread which can usually be hooked out with a pick & a (good quality) 5/16 BSF tap.
If the threads in the plate do get too damaged it should be possible to helicoil them

Here are some pics of inside the area you have to deal with.
The big blocks are the plates with the threads in.

Recommend you try drilling out or helecoil first but you can cut the whole thing out along the line I have shown - do the repairs and weld it back in!!

You need to do some repairs in this area anyway.

You need to use a thin grinding disc and a pad hacksaw blade and also need good welding skills as this is a major structural area and needs to be strong.

Wont be long before your welding skills are there.

I would not remove the areas as shown above. Simply remove the inner arch where it meets the bulkhead X member as shown in the pics. The captive plates are only 15x 35 mm in size and can be removed by drilling out the 4 spot welds holding them in. Fabricate two new plates ,drill and tap them, refit the lever arm damper and bolt up tight into the new plates. You will have plenty of room to tack weld both plates into position. Remove the lever arm damper and re plug the plates throught the drilled out old ones, use an 8mm diameter drill to enable a good strong weld.
I'd be tempted as has been suggested that you have the shell media or soda blasted, the former rather than the latter would be best, this will give you an 'honest' view of what the steel work is like plus give you an ideal base of clean steel to weld to.

some good advice there and some very interesting pictures. great cutaway taupe, that was some serious work you were doing there, or was it just a scraper you were cutting up to dispose of. either way, very helpful images thanks.

Jonathon I defer to your greater experience of this.

How do you find the four spotwelds on each plate as mine are spotwelded to the 10 gauge channel within before the outer cover was spotwelded on?? Do you take the front plate off first or were they normally spotwelded right thro?

David its my donor car and I cut it there as I wanted the inner wheel arch and kidney panels to remain attached to each other for reuse!!

Sorry if my reply seemed a bit dogmatic, it was not intended as such, however we have just had to deal with a similar problem to this one.
You can use a flatting block with 120 production paper and gently rub at the area where the captive plates are spot welded. This will reveal witness marks of the spot welds, which you can simply drill out.

Ive toiled in vain to get these sheared off bolt tips out in a non destructive way, so now Ive got to now try cutting open areas I wanted to leave alone, so thats the next step, but for now..<br><br>

I'm working on a retirement model for a colleague who's going soon,
If only my morris was as easy to work on as this little van. when this is done its back to cutting out my bolt plates.<br><br>

cut open with regret, well, it was full of mouse nesting material, so one hoover session later its nice and clear, just the rust and, those culprits the bolt plates left inside. now,to remove the bolts plates..<br><br>

Why can't you just drill out the broken bolts and re-tap the threads?

I'v been trying that today Bossk, no dice, the bolts won't budge, I'm in there now taking a course of action I regret, is irreversible but is at least moving me forward. you can see the bolt tips here.<br><br>

They're tough old bolts, since they take the full suspension forces of the car. I say again though, I've never been lucky with drilling them out/saving the plate for tapping, but you may be luckier that me. I'd also be seriously consdering paying a pro to weld in the cross member repair as well (full forces/MOT yada yada) - I wouldn't trust my skills and I've been welding a little longer than you (and am rubbish at it)

having reached a real sticking point in my project, now is good time to take a breath and do a total project re think re plan, this cab may have to go, a replacement one would have to have the bottoms of the b posts and the engine bay bottom panels as a minimum improvement...<br><br>