Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,
Thought I would introduce myself and join. I've owned our Morris for approximately 9 years now. The first two years Maisey was used daily by my wife. The remaining 7 years it's been stored in my garage being slowly stripped down after it failed it's MOT after the spring hanger on the offside rear parted company with the rest of the body.
So where are we now? Well after thinking I could do a localised welding repair I soon realised poor Maisey was in a very bad way indeed. It became evident the only way to tackle this was a complete strip down. I sent the shell for shot blasting which exposed dozens of very, very poor patch repairs and major corrosion issues. This was the purpose of having the whole shell shot blasted, a blank canvas as such to work with and identify ALL the issues in one go.
I've started with the front end to settle me into this huge task. Front tie plate, front inner arch and front inner wing and flitch extension. So four panels to start me off with all for the right hand side. I've got the tie plate spot welded in place for now, chassis leg underneath the tie plate is rotten so obviously I've not welded the tie plate to the chassis leg but needed to line up the tie plate to the old chassis leg so i know the new chassis leg will match up now to the new tie plate with the engine mounting bolt holes. Yesterday I offered up the inner arch. The panel literally fits where it touches! I've got the front of the inner arch lined up to the tie plate and bulkhead but where it joins the foot Well and inner sill looks like a nightmare. It's not even close. Has any one else had experience with front inner wheel arches? I'm a competent welder just never had a panel that is quite so far out. So that's where I am with Maisey. Going to tackle a bit more today.
A bit about me. I'm Dave, 37 and live in Redditch, Worcestershire. I've worked with classic cars all my working life but I'm a firm believer in sharing and learning from our experiences on these beautiful old cars. This will be my first Morris project. I work as a heritage technician at Jaguar Classic. I hope that other members will be able to help and guide me down what will be a long restoration road and offer any info on the pitfalls and do' s and don'ts.
Many thanks for reading about Maisey the Moggy and I hope to hear from you.
Dave.

Some photos, not in order of works carried out so far.

More photos

If you look around the inner wing , arch and a post area you will see the many plates and botched repairs revealed by shot blasting. All hidden under thick rubbery underseal. Some of the patches don't even have a continuous weld and are just stuck on with brazing!

Looks pretty damn good so far and if you read the rest sections, you will find that most people have to fettle replacement panels to fit, even when the geometry is otherwise perfect. A leitmotif with all of this is bracing the car prior to cutting too much out. Good luck and carry on the good work.

Thanks for your reply, firedrake1942.
I should have mentioned that the shell is braced already. Across both door apertures from a post to b post. Also from b post to b post inside the car.

Welcome Dave (and Maisey!).
Looks like a good project. Keep us posted with your progress.
I'm in Kidderminster, so not all that far from you.

Hi Dave , how are the dogs ? Hoping to meet up with Preston early next month . The car is looking super , fantastic work . Fair way to go but it will be a little jem when completed .

Dave
Great work so far and congrats on getting the inner wing flange fitting so well first time around.
Undoubtedly there are " just one or two " bits of metal coming together at the base of the A post.
Do you have a hard copy Moss Morris Minor catalogue ? A good reference source ...Tel 020 8867 2020.
I've linked page 74 from the online version here :-
https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/shop-by-m ... minor.html
This will give you a good " end on " view of the Sill Section.
The ESM website ( morrisminorspares.com ) has good pictures of the front and back of the A post / Hinge panels showing the odd bits welded on. Charitably , you could call the base of these repair panels as having " carefully crafted flanges / tabs " to weld the box section of the sills at their leading edges. It strikes me that a " crudely bent over, end bit of metal " would be a more accurate description. Whether you seam weld / spot weld / or combination of both , doesnt really matter.My personal preference was to seam weld.
Back to the big picture. Keeping the chassis legs perfectly aligned is crucial, so your suspension / steering /engine mounts etc. all line up.
I'd hang the door back on , each side in turn.You'll have to "fish" for the captive plate sandwiched in the interior of the A post ( so many drop to the bottom , if the internal ledge has rusted through. ) Now is probably a good time to run a tap through the plate x 3 for each hinge , so that when final fit up arrives it's not such a pain ).
Insert a bent bit of wire , to hold up the unseen plate when the door comes off this time.
Once you are happy it all lines up tack weld a small metal bar to form a triangular shape 30cm / 12 " up the flange on the A post to a similar distance along the top flange ( boxing plate AAA1397 and inner sill MPB8021 )
The base of the body door opening. You can the play around to your heart's content knowing that the door will fit the hole again. Not sure if you're using repair sections in the area or fabricating it youself from scratch. If you've got a Joddler then with the odd dog leg on the fabricated piece , you can get it behind the front and back A post panels for strength.
Once you're happy all is lined up the simply join up the big panels. Gently or sometimes a bit less gentle persuasion will get the panels together.Plenty of G clamps, punch holes for spot welding , tack welds , measuring , double checking , etc and you'll be home and dry.
I can tell from the work you've done... you have the skills, just bone up on the how the finish article should look like.( Google images are a great help too ). Crack on.
Bob

Today's efforts. Still fettling that blasted inner arch in. Got it fitting beautifully around the tie plate and radius to bulkhead. It's the footwell area that's giving grief. The inner arch flange that is left straight for you to bend and fettle to fit is to start with over an inch too long. Trying to get it it to fit the footwell very hard indeed. I won another several inches . It is progress as yesterday I could get my fist through the gap between the inner front arch and footwell .
The end of the inner sill is now tacked to the inner arch and is now a flush fit, inner sill to inner arch. All that muck around the inner sill flange is not corrosion but seam sealer that bubbled up from tacking it . It seems the inner sills are the only good bit on the car. Very sound indeed.
Thanks for all your replies earlier.
Dave.

More photos of today. Showing good weld penetration from bulkhead to inner wing. Also showing alignment issue in footwell. Some panel beating needed here to make them meet. Although we have lost the edge of the floor but the inner wing does now meet up with the front flange of the inner sill.

So in the blue is my panel alignment issue, front inner arch to foot well. In red is the imaginary floor line as we have lost the corner of the floor. In yellow you can see the inner sill flange meets the inner arch with a tack weld so the new floor should follow the red line and close the gap up. It's the blue line I'm fighting with. I reckon with a large nylon block I could knock that flange to fit from inside the car followed by a seam weld.
Dave.

Superb stuff Dave !

Thanks, Richard
It's fought me all the way today . I must say I'm a little dissapointed on how poorly this panel fits. Although that said, there was not a heritage panel option for this panel it is a Sri Lanka made one. The other panels I've bought are heritage and the tie plate I fitted dropped in like it grew there! So I think heritage panels are the way to go if they are available. Dogs are doing fine thanks. Preston said he was looking forwards to your meet on that Friday. Great to be in touch on here.
Dave.

Hi Dave , to me its looking tremendous and a testament to your skills
Glad to hear the dogs are good and looking forward to the Ludlow meet ( a first ).
CMC in Bridgnorth have an open day 18th August and will be displaying Jaguars and a Bugatti amongst other classics . Should be a good day .

More doom.

More doom, thought I'd have another look underneath and this was the reason for it's MOT failure 7 years ago.

Not doom Dave , just another challenge

Well after a house move and setting up a workshop that's taken 7 months! Including drilling out the old floor and putting in a new concrete floor, some epic lighting, the moggy shell sank on its trolley into the mud /gravel drive andbi had to strap my self to the trolley and pull it out! moved the wildlife out and me in the work recommenced today. So, finishing off on the inner arch and tie plate. Settled in now so there hopefully should be much progress to follow.
Dave

Some more pics