Morris Minor Owners Club

Just a question - on a saloon, has anyone ever welded the outer rear wings to the shell as an attempt to limit the normal rust trap? I'm not going to do it but wondered if anyone had been tempted?

Yes I did it to my Traveler.

P S, Just kidding.

I can't see how it would stop it rusting unless you removed the flange first and the rubber trim.
Posterity would curse you though.

went to look at a 1000some years ago it had both front and rears welded didn't even bother to look underneath ,fronts were tacked on, just walked away

The 1000 4 dr I just bought had the o/s/f wing welded on and at the very bottom. Was obviously a quick repair to get it thru an MOT i'm guessing. Replacing the moth eaten inner wing and hinge pillar very soon.

Yes, welding the wings or sill kick plates on is a massive bodge!

To prevent rust just use paint and under body wax.

well the rear wings on a wolseley 1500 are welded on as standard.

my dear old dad is cursing that fact now he's got his head up in the wheelarch with the angle grinder to repair the rot.

it is a 'FISHOLLOW' body, which apparently is a by-word for 'rust trap'...

The Morris Minor isn't a Wolsely 1500! The Morris Minor was designed with bolt on wings front and rear and bolt on front panel and that makes it easier to repair than cars with welded rear wings! So please, nobody weld your Minor wings or sill covers on, it is an asset that these are removable.

Seconded!

Thirded for the very reason that being able to remove the wings is a huge bonus for repairing, rustproofing and...., parking in a narrow garage ..... Ok perhaps not.

It seems to me that if you were to use seam sealer rather than that awful rubber/plastic strip between the guards and the body you would avoid water getting into the joint and end up with a nicer finish of the join. That is what I'm planning to do along with sealing the headlight buckets the same way rather than buying rubbers it just makes more sense to me to do it that way.

Iain Hall wrote:It seems to me that if you were to use seam sealer rather than that awful rubber/plastic strip between the guards and the body you would avoid water getting into the joint and end up with a nicer finish of the join...

I've just done that myself! I tried the rubber strip but couldn't get it tidy, let alone water tight. I've done some welding on the chassis and the wing, so I guess it's distorted a bit. The seam seal is water-tight, and I'll be interested to see how it looks after painting. The wing should still come off OK for future repair.

Not authentic, but practical. In a similar vein, I plan to redo the wiring with modern connectors, and make a few other such improvements...

grey111 wrote:The 1000 4 dr I just bought had the o/s/f wing welded on and at the very bottom. Was obviously a quick repair to get it thru an MOT i'm guessing.

Mine too, was just covering rot