1968 Morris Minor convertible

[Chickenjohn]

Removing the front O/S wing revealed lots of rust! Cutting off the rear of the inner wing revealed even more rust!!!

 

[pedrobedro]

First car I had was a 1958 Moggy. I wish I still had it or knew then what I know now, hindsight is brilliant isn't it ?

 

[Chickenjohn]

Pedro, you could always buy a 1958 Moggie in need of rescue and restore it! What finer way could there be to honing your fabrication and welding skills?

 

[squizzel]

Its good to see another moggy being restored, i am half way through my traveller restoration at the moment, the welding is almost finished, next its time for the carpentry.
Keep up the good work
Mark

 

[Chickenjohn]

On finding out how much rust there was in the car, I decided to put a bit of strength back by welding in a new rear floor. (made it at college, including stamping in the floor pressings using a "tin mans groover" tool and a die, I made to the right size. The rear floor pan was just rust and multiple patches- horrible! Best to cut it all out and replace with new. i decided to make my own floor pan as part of the new pan was included with the spring hanger plate previously fitted and it seemed a shame to cut up a new floor pan to fit around the spring hanger plate, plus I fancied the challenge of making a new floor pan complete with stiffness adding pressings.

 

[Chickenjohn]

The door gap was braced across the opening and the vertical, rusty flat section of the "kidney panel" was cut out and replaced with new steel butt welded in. Then the rusty overlap between the flat inner wing and 'flitch panel" was cut out and a new piece butt welded and plug welded in (on the overlap).

The idea here is to put some strength back into the inner wing/ bulkhead area before cutting the sills out to preserve the shape of the car! It is a good idea to cut out rust and weld repair pieces in as small a section as possible. Don't cut too much out at once or the car will lose its shape- especially as this car is a convertible.

 

[Chickenjohn]

The surface rust was cleaned off the inner wing with wire brushes on grinder and applications of phosphoric acid, then the repaired areas were painted with zinc primer.

 

[Chickenjohn]

The section of the kidney panel below the 'kidney bowl" shape was very rusty so was cut out and a repair section butt welded in after being tacked in place.

 

[Chickenjohn]

The following pictures illustrate the typical process of making a template, cutting out the sheet steel, then forming it to the required shape for the repair section (by bending the steel and hammering it over a dolly). Accurately cutting out the rusty bodywork, tack welding the repair piece in before fully welding it and grinding the welds down. Finally painting the repair with zinc primer to protect it. As you can see this corner of the inner wing bowl was found to be very rusty once the underseal had been removed- past repairs were lap welded over the top of one another- up to four layers of rusty steel in one part. Again the best repair strategy is to cut the whole lot out and replace with a butt welded repair section.

 

[Chickenjohn]

Next job was to re-build the inner wing/bowl bump stop area. These always seem to rust in Minors, I had to do the same when I restored my Traveller four years ago. The panels I bought for the traveller were hand made and required a lot of fettling to make them fit, so this time I decided to fabricate my own repair sections from ~1mm mild steel. Two sections were needed- one for the curved top of the inner wing bowl and the other for the centre of the inner wing.

 

[Chickenjohn]

The repaired kidney panel was de-rusted (wire brush on drill and phosphoric acid) then zinc primed and painted. The flat inner wing repair section was then welded on.

 

[Chickenjohn]

The front floor pan was rusty and cracked and the inner sill step very rusty and bodged with patches, so I decided to replace the lot. New inner sill step, floor pan and the vertical sill panel were spot welded at College after trial fitting to the car and holding the panels together with self tappers. The old floor pan was then cut out carefully and inner sill cut out. Chassis leg was good, so was cleaned up and painted before welding the new floor/sill step/central sill member. The central cross member was carefully supported by a jack to help avoid distortion.

 

[Chickenjohn]

As well as restoring the main body of the car, I re-built all the panels, as needed. The following pictures are of a door that appeared good with a few minor rust spots but turned out to be paint, filler and seam sealer hiding a rotten bottom to the door. repair sections were fabricated and welded in on my night school course at Mid- kent college. Here are a few examples.

 

[Robotstar5]

Alternative use for a convertible?