Morris Minor Ratrod

[Arthur Foxhake]

Have you ever tried driving a car, before poking massive holes in it?
Seriously. I wonder what the difference would be between, having it fully welded , or, just smashing on with what's there for a while.
Would you notice the difference in how it drives after a weldathon?
I definitely agree all repairs needed, should be done right but, with this one, was it necessary to poke it so hard without at least, having a go in it to, see if you liked driving it?

[dean36014]

Mallys on the beige looks ok for 1500. Halfway tempted myself as I've unfinished business with Morris minors. I restored a van, got it all in primer ready to paint and had to sell it due to divorce.

[SiC]

Protected the car as best as possible



Cleaned up more underseal to see what I'm dealing with


Got chopping


Flattened all my batteries, so come in for food.

[mercrocker]

Good work! I really need to get the wings and outer sill covers off mine and see WTF is going on underneath. I rather suspect it may not be any better than yours in places. It has all been done before but 15 years ago.....

[SiC]

Some healthy debate on AS whether I should cut out those patches (the forum view) or if I should just weld in the panel from what I've cut out already (my current view). I haven't made my decision yet though.

Area is now setup. Like old times before I moved house. Didn't think I'd have to do this again now I had a proper garage!



First bit will be getting this arch section in. The body metal is pitted and pretty thin along here. I know I'll end up need to replace sections but for now I want it tacked in. From that I can start lining up the other panels.


I'm hoping the magic of an inverter welder will allow me to get away trying to strike an arc on thin and pitted sections, without completely blowing through everytime.

[mercrocker]

They're pretty much all jig-saws underneath by now, I should think you run the risk of losing shape and structure doing it the "proper" way.

[SiC]

When picking this up, Panhard65 did say that it looks alright but don't go poking and getting involved in the bodywork too much

Problem is that a classic car is like an onion. Start peeling back layers and you'll find more.

I knew this was repaired when I bought it. Crucially the floors were repaired with generally the work and especially the welds of being to good standard. Again, I bought this on the basis of solid floors, a 1275 engine and a bunch of spares. Basically the chassis was nearly free.

[mercrocker]

Doing it yourself puts value into it too, I never learned to weld or paint so I have to fork out for other people to do those things. I would need to go back to work to afford that now so it is going to have to wait.

[SiC]

[Eddie Honda]

^^^^ Someone buy him a shrinker/stretcher and a wheeling machine.