My new project - 1965 Morris Cooper S - HOY 500D

[kit of bits]

Andrew can you let us know where you get your enthusiasm from please.
Maybe mini spares should stock enthusiasm tablets.
I’ve been out in the garage for an hour or so trying to get my original door frame, nos hinges to fit the heritage skin..these things seem to take me years not weeks!,
D

[Andrew1967]

Have to say my enthusiasm is not too great at the moment Dave. Too bloody cold and miserable.

I would like to get the brace frame more or less done over the Christmas break and maybe supported in position ready to get the floor out by the end of January.

Things that you describe would take the enthusiasm out of even the most keen person

[g111mds]

Great project. Look forward to following your progress.

[Andrew1967]

Great project. Look forward to following your progress.

Thanks for your comment

Bugger all done over the Christmas break due to having had a horrible flu virus all over the festive period. Worst I have ever felt.

On the mend now and hope to get on with the project shortly.

[bpirie1000]

I feel the many boxes of nasal wipes and the redraw upper lip to nose..

Does give you time to make a wish list of parts....

[Andrew1967]

The list get bigger and bigger....although I have just picked up a very nice original Mk1 indicator stalk and an almost perfect, original Mk1 steering wheel, so that's two off the list

[Thee Adder]

you are a very brave man

[Andrew1967]

you are a very brave man

Hmmm, that one word for it, I'm sure others apply

[minimans]

Great project. Look forward to following your progress.

Thanks for your comment

Bugger all done over the Christmas break due to having had a horrible flu virus all over the festive period. Worst I have ever felt.

On the mend now and hope to get on with the project shortly.

Ah! Man flu...............Women just don't get how bad it can be.......I get it every year. I think it's Santa's modern version of a lump of coal.

[Andrew1967]

It was severe man-flu.......so much so I didn't spend any time at all in the garage over the festive period

[Peter Laidler]

Talking of doors and door apertures a few posts back. When I did my shell I cut out two complete 'doors and windows' from cheapo shuttering ply that were adjusted etc etc to fit snug against the door rubber seal flange the door openings. I braced these together left and right and they worked wonders in supporting the body sides. Additionally, I could also use the wooden 'doors and windows' as supports for other stuff that needed bracing with wood.

Towards the end - sorry, to talk about the end so soon Andy - I got an old ex WD 6' collapsible but sturdy table, screwed another sheet of shuttering ply to it at each end. Then I accurately drew on the boards the technical alignment drawing from the workshop manual and drilled small holes at the EXACT drop points. That way, when the sub frame to body alignment was being finalised prior to welding I could accurately align the mounting points with metal rods (used cheap threaded rod off cuts from Knights the builders merchants) and get it all accurately aligned and accept the sub frames without any hassle. I could also mount the sub frames onto the threaded rods while I faffed about aligning stuff. Didn't half make life easy!

It's a great project. Just looking at the photos, the upper body, say 1 foot above the floor looks reasonably well for it's age. But you're a braver man than me.........

[Andrew1967]

Fitted a brace frame in today using reclaimed box and angle from the scrap bin at work

Once the doors are off, I can get inside to finish welding the frame up.

Followed a design from the 1964 Rust Project thread but modified it to allow better access through the door apertures and also to allow the doors to remain in place and to refit (eventually) before removing the frame.

I'm planning to add a short piece of flat bar to the rear pockets which may help a little when I cut the floor out.

Constructive observations and criticisms accepted

[Nick W]

Hi Andrew
That bracing should do its job ....but here's some alternative medicine ( follow at your own risk as I will do a runner if it goes wrong )
as with most things there are advantages and disadvantages
Advantage = hold it all in place
Disadvantage= add weight whilst restoring , get in the way,
I personally would only brace across the door shut, with a bolted brace. This takes up the lack of a door step, if the steps intacked then dont bother. This might sound like bollocks but when all the rusty floors, toe board , boot floor are removed, whats left is quite light and might not move as much as you think.
Id do all this on the spit as this seems to hold the lightened structure ok.
But what I think is 100% necessary is some sort of flat bed to build up from. This can be a level floor ( unlikly) or a wood or steel 10-4 flat frame add a central line to it. this does the basic job of a car jig, from which to build from.
If possible make something to raise this up, this could be just good strong wood palets.

This is used to ensure the new floor is accurately flat down at all 4 corners, bring the floor up to the spitted shell and place them together. The rear of the floor can be accurately mated with rear rear bbulkhead, new bootfloor . Then using the doors and equal measurements, set the front bulk. All this is aligned up with equal measurments from the bed.

The problem with bracing, for me when building up such a badly rusted shell is that you could be bracing it in from the wrong alignment to start with, as a friend of mine once did , half way through he had to remove some bracing and to be honest it ended up a total mess.

Nick

[Andrew1967]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your constructive comments, appreciate that.

Normally (as in the pick-up previously) I only brace A to B post but this shell is so (in my opinion) weak I feel necessary to brace further. The spit is not viable at the moment until I sort out the bulkhead and also there would be too much weight (as you say) with the bracing.

The top sills have fell off, the floors are hanging down on both sides for pretty much the full length of the floor. The doors are still in place although the passenger door is hanging on by a thread. With the doors shut and fixed into place, I have got decent preliminary door gaps around the frames (apart from the non existent top sill gaps).

My plan is to support the rear of the shell from underneath the two upper longitudinal boxes with a length of 4x4 timber, which in turn is fixed to a strong joist in my garage roof. I will then, for the time being lift up and support the front from underneath the front subframe (under the tower area) to get it somewhere near level and straight.

That's a good plan to make a jig to get the new floor straight and level - something I have been thinking about.

This is new territory for me so I am giving it a lot of thought how best to do it, but as always theres always more than one way to do it and so any tips or ideas are greatly appreciated.

I thought the pick up was bad but this ..... If it wasn't the original shell, I'd be looking for a donor shell as to try to save a 'reshell' this bad would be even more mad than what I'm doing to the original

[IAIN]

I agree with Nick. With that shell you wont have anything left worth bracing once all the panels are cut out.
My advice would be, don't get stressed by trying keep it 'as is' just start from your new floor, boot and arches and the car will fit from there forwards. If the doors fit both sides its ok.
I could e mail you some pics of my efforts if you like.

[Andrew1967]

That would be useful Iain. I'll PM my email address.

I suppose I'm being cautious as I don't want it to twist or go irreparably out of shape. The lack of garage space does not make it easy either.

All helpful suggestions are very welcome

[Andrew1967]

Temporarily lifted the rear end up with some ratchet straps round one of my garage joists this evening.

Finally removed the rear subframe...........

[Andrew1967]

Well, that's the bulk of the floor cut out - took all of 5 minutes to cut through what was still hanging on for dear life

Here's a question, note the seat belt fixing on the tunnel. When did they add the welded nut to take the usual belt fixing bolt ?

[swindrum]

I would be interested in the tunnel section that has the hump for the push button, I have a car that looks like they pulled out the engine through the shifter hole....

[STG95F]

Its started now Andrew