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The body
of the car will be based on a steel shell with composite panels such as
doors, wings, boot etc. bolted in position. The shell will also be
widened 178mm. This will cause problems with the windscreen. New curved
screens can be easily made but cost over one thousand pounds to
make the mould, therefore a split screen with two pieces of flat glass will
be used. This however requires a completely new housing to be made.
While the surround is being modified it would be a relatively easy step
to go to a flush fitting bonded in screen. This increases the strength of
the
screen area and looks smooth. Rust repairs will be required as expected
on an old Minor, probably the door pillars, rear wing lips, and rear
quarter panels. These repairs are easy with the availability of repair panels.
A Morris Minor was purchased
for £100 and the unwanted
parts were sold very cheaply but I still recouped my initial
outlay. Thanks to JMA Services for the use of the trailer.
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The rear wing mounting
flanges required replacement. They were
modified by flattening off the top section to allow for the
anticipated wheel movement. This will mean that the wings will
require modification.
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The lower boot lid surround
was also replaced.
As the inside of the car will be cut out there is no need to
weld the new panels to the inner wings or boot floor.
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A cut was made down the
middle of the shell. Many datum marks
were scribed on either side of the cut so I could widen it exactly
178mm. The difficult to cut sections were cut first. The box
sections were done with a hacksaw and the panels with a cutting
disc in an angle grinder.
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The two halves are held
apart by 1" box section tack welded
in place. The body should end up accurate if every part is
exactly 178mm apart.
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Many pieces of box section
were used to ensure each part of the
body was accurate. The roof was a problem but as this would
eventually come off it was not too much of a worry.
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Robin tack welding the
new back section in. He has closed
his eyes and is only doing a very short tack. This method
means that the piece being welded in is positioned very
accurately. If a mask was used the piece would probally move
when flipping down the mask or could not be initially
positioned correctly. He uses a mask to complete the weld.
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The rear of the shell
widened. Robin shaped all the new panels
from flat sheet using a vice, tube, angle iron and a hammer.
Unfortunately we do not own extensive sheet metal shaping and
forming equipment.
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The windscreen surround
before modifications.
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First job is to move
out the lip on the vertical section so 6mm
glass will be a flush fit when bonded in.
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