Morris Minor Owners Club

I viewed a 1961 tourer with a colleague & looking in the engine bay we had concerns that the bump stops on either side were missing, how difficult is it to replace? Furthermore, will missing bump stops be picked up by an MOT inspection & result in a failure or advisory? We also noticed that the sills on both sides were welded in-situ, again will this be picked up by an MOT inspection & result in a failure or advisory?

A bit surprised you noticed the missing bump stops from within the engine bay rather than from under the wing. Do you mean the reinforcing plates above the bump stops? Not a particularly difficult item to weld in, but a surprising omission suggesting that the car has not been in good hands.

I suspect you mean the sill covers have been welded in. I personally would have walked away at this. The condition of the structural sills is crucial on any Minor, more so on a Tourer, and welding the covers suggests either extreme lack of knowledge or deliberate intent to prevent inspection.

Rather worryingly the car won't need an MOT so likely to end up being driven in what sounds like a potentially dangerous condition.

Mark

Perhaps you mean the rebound brackets beneath the damper arms rather than the bump stops? The rebound stops ARE visible from the engine bay.
If it is the screwed-on kick plates which have been welded in position, as Mark says, just walk away. Somebody had bodged it up and there are plenty of better examples on the market

To answer your question, welded on cill covers would not cause an MOT failure. I believe missing bump stops are an advisory.

Bump stop replacement, the ones held on with 3 x 1/4 bolts.

Get 2 overweight people to stand on the door sill on the side you plan to replace. Jacking up the opposite corner of the car also helps. This will lift the suspension arm high enough to get the bracket out once the bolts are undone. It is a nasty job to have to do alone and without fat helpers.

RobThomas wrote: ↑Sat Jan 19, 2019 1:16 pm Bump stop replacement, the ones held on with 3 x 1/4 bolts.

To use the correct terminology and avoid confusion, that is the rebound stop. The bump stop is the one held on with 2 bolts up inside the inner wing . There seems to be some confusion regarding these 2 parts. If either is missing it wouldn't concern me when purchasing a car but the incorrectly welded sills would!

For general consumption:-

The bump stops (Pt No: AAA1413/14 (MOSS)) are each held in place with two 1/4" bolts/nuts and attached to the body above the steering swivel.

The bump stop refered to is the re-bound buffer/stop (Pt No: AAA1580 (MOSS)) and that is held in by three 1/4" bolts nuts and sits and is attached to the body at the bottom of the damper arm vertical slot.

The re-bound buffer stop rubber (if in place) can be seen from inside the engine bay.

It is quite common to find either or both bump stop and re-bound rubber missing.

As mentioned by ManyMinors above - if they are missing no real problem as they can be easily replaced.

Phil

Looks like Dennis hasn't been back yet to look at these posts. I'm still not sure which bits of rubber he is referring to.

Gentlemen, apologies for not replying earlier, firstly thank you all for your helpful comments. My reference to looking inside the engine bay was to see if there's any cracks, patches, etc. where the front bump stops or rebound stops are beneath. I did with the aid of an inspection lamp, closely look underneath both front wings to see if there was any rubber in place, but it "appeared" there wasn't. I'm unsure & in looking at various suppliers web-sites eg Moss, DMG, etc. the diagrams of the front suspension which refers to them as bump stops, didn't indicate how to access these when removing/replacing & how to carry this out, presumably it's best to replace both? I also went on the DVLA website to view the MOT history of this genuine factory built tourer, chassis code incl MAT reference. It appears that mainly minor things were required & nothing too serious relating to the suspension. Turning to the short outer sills on either side below the doors, yes they have been welded at both ends, so apart from lifting carpet/under-felt & closely examining the top floor pan which seemed ok, also checking for filler with a magnet & finally looking underneath (ramps not available) for holes etc. which I found a few, that was it. The current owner appears genuine, the price of the tourer fair, not cheap, documentation in order & the owner will be getting it MOT'd prior to me purchasing it, I'm unsure what else I could do? Various more experienced people than I, have either said missing bump stops/welded sills will result in an MOT failure or advisory percentage is approx. 50/50.

" It appears that mainly minor things were required "

usually are....

John

Do as you wish of course but I would walk away from any Minor Convertible which has had the kick plates welded on unless it was very cheap and I was prepared for the large expense of rebuilding the sill structure on both sides a few years down the line. Most MOT testers won't have the faintest idea of how the sills are constructed on a Morris Minor so having a new MOT is no real guide to a car's condition.
The kick plates are simply a cover which is screwed on over the structural sill box section. You should be able to remove the kick plate in order to inspect the condition of the inner sill (or boxing panel) and carry out rustproofing from time to time. If these kick plates have been welded on, how are you (or anybody else) going to know the condition of the vital inner panels?

Many years ago, when I was a young a foolish 60 year old, I bought my Traveller without even knowing what was under the kick plates. Despite a lot of structural bituminous paint concealing the underside, and carpet glued to the inside I thought it looked basically sound, especially as the classic specialist dealer told me it was. My education commenced fairly soon after.....

That was naughty of them