1946 Morris 8 Series E - off to storage

Cracking work fella, It'll be a right beastie when its done!

Started on the rear spit support.

much turning



in situ



Braces welded in






then went round and put gussets over all the welds. I don't fancy the car being supported on only but welds







etc..

I then realised i didnt have a diagonal in the floor of the boot space, so quickly put one in. I don't fancy the rear end lozenging when turned over.

As expected, the pivot was a fair bit above the mass centroid. Added a counter balance



this made it now just slightly bottom heavy, which means it stays put when its on the stops.

It looks like its retained by two little bits of wood, but its tied off at either end, and I also put the chainblock on it as well.

Underside



and the main reason I've stuck it on the turn over spit




a much bag of uglyness



i need to replace the lower 50mm or so of the sill, and then make it tie back nicely to the chassis. But thats a job for the next visit to the workshop.

Hopefully so, but the spit is mainly for sills access. Its much easier welding on its side than upside down.

Little progress today as I started feeling rough so have stopped early.

not sure why someone cut this flap, but its annoyed me for ages



gone



patch



welded



I then thought I should close out the front edge and get a nice firm platform to work from for the sill.

Its a hugely awkward shape as curves in three directions and has to link onto box section.

pieced in







Before I started cutting out the scrap metal that was welded in.... I thought I should make a template of the only unadulterated piece left.

At least i'll have something to refer shape back to.



yes... in the foreground that is a flat patch that was welded on to a curved surface.....

I think it might be old washing machine. Its about 1.5mm thick.

In a couple of the images there's a sheet of aluminium hiding in the background. Thats the floor.

It'll be flat and on the outside with the sill return forming a step down to the sill height (flat bottomed with edge fences). It'll also be bonded and rivetted on. I'm not 100% decided on the areas around the wishbones, but I think i will use a flexible plastic sheet - PVC etc.

The inside will have 19mm thick insulation sheet (celotex etc.) bonded onto the floor as:

- Its the right height to give a flat internal floor (internal floor bracing is 19mm box)

- It should reduce the disturbing clattering sounds you get from gravel etc. hitting bare aluminium floors

- a sheet weights the best part of nothing unlike bitumen based deadining pads.


The floor underside will be getting a full clean up / finishing before its back down on the ground again.

if the current frame and body was on the ground, you stood with your torso through the sunroof and straps over your shoulders tied to the roll cage (like in worlds strongest man) do you think you could lift it ?

So i made a start on the sills.

They are in a truly horrific state.

cut cut cut....



the "repair" section



cut some more



a fair amount nibbled out







made a template piece up to set the profile I want linking the sill back to the chassis



fits like so



i tried in a few places, and as expected the template will change shape all along its length. Joy, that'll be fun making the panel :-)

a few more stitch welds whilst this is all exposed



i also put a few tacks on the now visible sides of most of the joint panels.

Close out the bottom of the B pillar.





The holes in the corners are to let any trapped moisture drain into the sill.

weld through prime



Now to start making the sill... gulp.

End closer piece





pieces in here



like so





then started the first piece of sill that goes from the end to the B pillar. I'm making it in sections as its a mare to make.Hopefully when all pieces together it'll look ok.





It looks simple but was a pain. it changes section along its length and the angles of the flange at the top and bottom also change

cleaned and primed up internally then tacked in place.



you can see some of the taper etc in it as well.







Will see what I can do tomorrow.

People like pictures, I like pictures :-)

only a little bit on the morris today as I've had a few other things on.

Cut some metal



attach to bending tube



bend some



checked against template



adjust the curve end to end to suit the bend in the sill



bend the return lip



clean up and zinc prime the interior of the sill



clean up and zinc prime the interior of the panel



weldy weldy





cleaned and primed



whilst it looks segmented from below, from side / above it looks to naturally follow the sill line. Which is good.

Will see how much more I get next weekend.

That doesn't look too bad in pictures, just seems to need a little bit of finishing to smooth it out a bit. I suspect the weld lines are making the sections look convex when they're actually not, what with the way the light's hitting them. It depends as well on your end result, if you don't mind it being a bit rough and ready then it's fine as it is but if you're after perfection then there's quite a way to go.

That reminds me, what is the end appearance goal on this one? Is it perfection or will a few battle scars be acceptable? It does seem to be built to do a job rather than to just sit around looking pretty so I'm hoping the end look is more towards the rough and ready (but not scruffy and broken) look than the prisitine trailer queen, with the way you've got the arches and wheels looking it would really suit it to have some used-abused aggression about it.