Morris Minor Owners Club

Well just another restoration thread really!

I am starting to restore a 1965 Traveller. It has only had one owner and was driven up until 1980 and then left in the garage, having failed its MOT. A typical tale no doubt. It seems to have all the usual rust as well as some very '70s repairs - using aluminium and pop rivets in lieu of welded steel!

First job is to strip it down and see just what is left...[frame][/frame]

Other side is not much better[frame][/frame]

And the engine bay...I think some of the newness has worn off here too![frame][/frame]

I think the first job is to get some strengthening in place so I can tackle the sills and get some structural integrity back...

Looks like you got quite a big job to tackle, take your time and dont cut out too much at once and like you say add some strengthening accross the doors and leave the wood in place as long as is possible. I put new floors and sill into my traveller, including the boxing plate and then removed the wood to finish off the area between the the b post and rear inner wing and everything stayed in place ok!!

Good luck and keep on putting up pics

That is rusty but everything is repairable

Thanks guys! David that sounds like good advice and is pretty much my plan too.

im in exactly the same boat exept someone has plated the engine bay tie plates aswell any they have rotted away. it comes with a double floor aswell just to help the rust along!
Regards,
John

I made a very simple spit so that I can get better access to the floors and you can see the temporary stiffeners I welded in the door apertures.[frame][/frame]

With one of the pop riveted aluminium plates removed...[frame][/frame]

[quote="Neil MG"]I made a very simple spit so that I can get better access to the floors and you can see the temporary stiffeners I welded in the door apertures.

Mines not quite so bad but will need 'turning'
A simple spit sounds useful, any chance of some pics of it?
Thanks
Pete

For the spit, I just bolted a couple of bits of old shelf rack to the front and back[frame][/frame]

I just welded a couple of brackets to an old pipe (in fact there were brackets already welded on that worked for the front)[frame][/frame]

The rear had another couple of pieces of rack welded to it to get the right height and then the pole is supported on a couple of A-frames made from the same racking. I already had these but they were too short and so I put some wood underneath.[frame][/frame]

Back to the restoration, I started cutting out the plates that had been welded previously together with the major rot. Starting on the driver's side floor I cut back to good metal, which pretty much matched the repair panel for the floor.[frame][/frame]

On the outside rear of the floor the search for good metal was somewhat fruitless...[frame][/frame]

Same story at the front...[frame][/frame]

So I ended up with a small space...[frame][/frame]

Slow down!!! Yes you want to cut out rotten metal but you do need some reference points to put the new panels in. You can buy a one peice floor section that comes complete with the sill step in place

http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... e002069cbe

I think this should be your next step to get some strength back in the shell. When I did mine I cut and welded the floor in while the car was still on the ground and then flipped it over to finish all the ill and crossmember welding. I used the complete floor sections as well but at that time they didnt come with the full step fitted just the vertical edge of the step to be welded to the top edge that remained.

Thanks David,

Yes, I got that section. I hoped that it might be possible to buy panels to replicate the original design, but as you say that part included the inner sill step, but it is cut and swaged where it meets and the sill is then welded onto the floor section on the wrong side. Also the front flange is formed in the wrong direction on the outer side and continued inboard where there was not one originally. Plus the rear vertical face is formed by bending the floor panel when it should be a separate welded panel. At least there are lots of different repair panels available. I just wish that they were to the original design.

I placed the section in the car to see where to cut it to match the existing good metal. My intention is that everything will be butt welded and ground flush. I have a positive hatred of "patches" so the only overlapping steel will be where panels were originally spot welded together.[frame][/frame]