Spring hanger front collapsed - repair strategy

[nam]

Thanks, my plan of action is drain the gearbox, un-do the engine pull it out, while supporting the front of the gearbox with an axle stand or similar. Then pull out gearbox. Hopefully that will make the car so light I can do what I want with it.

[Mark Wilson]

Came across these photos and thought they might help you envisage what you need to restore.

1) Nearly as bad as yours! You can see the 2mm sheet with angled flange I replaced the front of the seat box with. The junction between the curved section and the sill step and the seat box is now fully welded up. (Ignore the Traveller strengthening angle)

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2) Repair in progress to the angled flange to rear part of the seat box

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3) Side view of curved chassis repair with hanger plate attached

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4) Bottom view showing plug welds to flanges
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5) Completed area prior to grinding. Hope you like my attempt at profiling the panel below the seat box!

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[nam]

Wow, excellent pictures and a great help in visualising things.

So pictures 1 and 2 show where the back of the rear seat meets the angle of the spring hanger late. So youu put some strength in there.

Don'y fully understand picture 3 but 4 and 5 make total sense. So you just overlapped the panels under the rear footwell box and rear underboot metel and seam welded. And the plug welds under the spring hanger plate went into a curved chassis section that you made to support it from as many areas as possible. Basically strength all over as much as possible.

All look's great!

[Mark Wilson]

Picture 3 is looking from the top with my trav on its side, so a bit confusing! The folded down edges to the right are the outer edges of the hanger plate, and you are looking towards the B post and sill sections.

The floor internally sits on the flange at the bottom of the seat box front, with plug welds from inside. I've trimmed the front of the hanger plate to finish underneath this flange, where it is plug welded, and the seam weld is just to tidy up the joint between the hanger plate, seat box flange and the floor panel. (I used the same floor panel as you, but cut off the vertical sections.) All other joints are butt welded, not lapped.

I haven't really "added" any strength - the curved chassis and the seat box flanges are just restored to their former shape, and the plug welds are all replacing the original spot welds. So hopefully as strong as Sir Alec intended......

[Redmoggy]

Not much to add to what Mark has posted. He is on the money.

When I did a similar repair my seat base had been cut for speakers so I removed it.



You can see the curved chassis section Mark mentions that needs to be reinstated to give the shell required strength.



Repaired, I was a bit lazy and chose to stitch weld instead of plug welding.



New seat box.

Either way in order to return strength to shell you should be rebuilding each part as the car was designed. Simply welding patches on patches will not achieve this.

Regards
Rod

[nam]

Great pictures, well I didn't know what a plug weld was till earlier so something to start practising. I believe I understand now, I need to make a strip of metal to cover under the seatbox and behind the rear footwell, like your picture @RedMoggy. I don't think I can do it at the front as you have because I have already welded a new floor up to the top, I didn't cut the new panels.

Then build a curved section around the sides following what was there already, make sure when I rest the spring hanger on plate that it is nice and sturdy and the curved section will support it, also a section around the outside edge needs to be built so again the spring hanger on plate sits on it and weld away.

When I get to the point I will of course check back and see i'm doing it right.

[nam]

Apologies for opening a 5 year old thread, I forgot it was here and found it while searching Google for tips. I have finally flipped the car on it's side and stripped it down. If anyone can give me guidance on my approach it would be very much appreciated. And if anyone is around the Leeds area to even help guide me would be even better and my spring hangers are no longer in a state to be measured! My delivery of all new spring hanger plates, new leaf springs and fixing kit should arrive today. I am replacing the lot but need to build a good base. So with white paper I have shown what I think I should do in terms of welding in new metal to give it strength and for the new spring hanger ends on plates to be welding on. Is my approach correct?

[kevin s]

Looking at the photos, for the area where the seat pan joins the rear of the sest crossmember it looks like they are already welded together and you just need to cut off the rusty edge.

At the front you need to weld the floor to the front face of the seat crossmember again cutting all the rusty metal out.

The spring hanger repair section needs to then be welded to the floor and seat pan, it also needs to be welded to the base of the inner sill (this important).

For location the most important point is they are both in the right place longitudinaly, usualy this would be by taking measurements from the centre crossmember or front suspension inboard mountings not sure what state yours are in though.

[nam]

I've tidied it up now. I'm thinking to give some new metal in the edges to make it stronger. I need to put a new boxing plate in and then reckon that the spring hanger plate will butt up against it nicely. Im now thinking to build a frame out of wood with the correct measurements which I need to get hold of.

[GavinL]

Try this thread I started viewtopic.php?f=5&t=68421#p624443 Are your bump stops still in place? My strategy was to make a jig with a straight angle between spring mounts and weld a leg to the bump stop to locate the angle vertically ( see restoration thread for Vanessa)

[nam]

Thanks Gavin, that diagram alignment chart is really good. I will measure up and see where I think it will be welded in. The bump stops and axle etc are still on the car. I've got a full new spring leaf kit to go in.

[Peted7202]

nam
where did you get the repair plate from in image Screenshot_20200706_210420.jpg
Thanks Pete

[mogbob]

Pete
I'm guessing Nam probably got them from ESM , see link
https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... -c31#page7
Good quality stuff from ESM and quite a number of panels to assist you when repairing around this area.

Whilst it is a popular rust spot on Minors " of a certain age " the extent of the rust area varies tremendously , hence the large number
of panels to choose from. A proper panel , cut down a little to suit your car, if necessary , is usually far more effective in solving bodywork
issues.
Whilst I enjoy metal fabrication for simple areas , when you have a more complicated panel ,you will spend an awful lot of time trying to
replicate the original factory spec.
You'll find a few threads on the procedure on the forum. Caution measure everything twice before cutting out stuff. Welding it in wrong
produces horrendous outcomes. Nightmare stuff. One thread relates to an owner who trusted a garage to do the work. They got it wrong
and he couldn't refit the prop shaft back in his car. The gap was too small ! When we did my mates car , he said afterwards I wondered why you
were taking so long / making a meal of it by measuring every which way. Having read the thread I get it now. What's the poor *** going to
have to do to get it sorted ?
Do post again if you need a steer. Bob

[Peted7202]

Thank you Bob

[kevin s]

When I did ours I started at the front, both the inner control arm eye bolt holes while heavily patched and swollen were in the original positions, I clamped a straight edge to the centre crossmember accross the car and parallel to these. The centre part of the crossmember was pretty close to parallel ( the outer foot or so each side had largely dissapeared), I also checked the front tie bar mounts were parallel, they were, this gave me some confidence the front end was in good shape dimensionaly. Then I checked the rear front spring mountings, from the factory one was around 15mm different to the other, re checked several times always with a similar result. In the end I put the new ones on according to the dimensions in the manual, centering them side to side based on a string line along the centre line of the car, everything fitted and it drives very well so I'm pretty sure it worked out.

[nam]

nam
where did you get the repair plate from in image Screenshot_20200706_210420.jpg
Thanks Pete

I don't fully remember but ESM is certainly a good bet as mogbob suggested. I still haven't fitted it yet! Car is still in bits.