21 replies to this topic

[skoughi]

Well i can't remember the last time i had to jack up the car at the side of the road (saying that i'll probably need to do it within the week!) so going with that i even thought of not carrying a spare at all and just use the tyre weld and maybe carry a small comp thus saving a lot of wieght. If i ended up really stuck then phone the wife to come and pick me up! If i was going to be using a sissor jack then simply carry a couple of wheel chocks as well for safety but you could argue that you need them with the original jack as well. The reason i removed them was that they are a potential rust trap so the more of them you can remove the better in my opinion, and it gives the sills a cleaner look.

[1984mini25]

Opps, i removed the jacking points on mine. Was thinking to either carry a sissor jack and use it on the subframes or just carry a can of tyre repair and a small faglighter compressor. Didn't think there would be too much structural strength lost by removing them.

using a scissor jack on the subby can be dangerous, the car can fall off it if you're on any bit of a slope!

But if you knew anything about jacking a vehicle safely, you would already know only to do so on level, firm ground anyways. Besides I’ve always thought of it safer to jack/surport a mini up on the subframes rather than the body anyways.

if you're stuck on the side of a road needing to change a wheel in the pouring rain i dont think too many people are going to go looking for a nice level bit of ground!! its the scissor jack head thats supposed to be against a lip of a sill (of a modern car) on the flat bottom of the subby that makes it so unstable is all i was getting at!

The types of scissor jack I’ve always used are the ones with much flatter heads and basis like this one.


Besides I kind of have to use one or at least 2 at time when working on the Mayfair, as its simply too low with the front splitter to get a proper jack under. Plus there is nothing stopping you from carrying an old scrap square of wood in the boot to use under the jack to help spread the load on softer ground.

[malebassplayer]

Again thats another rust trap. My understanding of them is that they were there for moving the shells around. I don't see how that little bit can provide enough extra reinforcement to warrent replacing it once its rotted out.

On just about every car I've done both of these bits have rotted and then taken the inner sill with them.

I don't usually bother replacing them, if you use genuine outer sills then thats gonna be strong enough.

On the posters car it looks like he's made a nice job of the repair and I'd be very happy with that.

Cheers for all the comments Glad you think i am doing a good job

If you do remove the jacking bracket, weld a plate over the hole in the sill so that there is no physical way to put a jack into it...

then at least you or a future owner will not make what could be a disastrous mistake.

i have already welded up the holes in the new sills so i wont be having the jacking points anyway so there is no chance of that! Like many of you have said it is a water trap which just makes rusting inevitable. I was planning on buying a scissor jack to put in the boot incase and seems like many of you do this!

Was thinking due to the people saying it is there to tie together the inner and outer sills, would it be a good idea to fabricate a bracket which does this using plug welds and no jacking point? I was thinking maybe the same sort of shape as the original but with extra tabs on the outer sill side to weld onto?

[59 Speed]

I've just welded up my geniune passenger sill because I was concerned about it becoming a water trap / rust magnet.

I don't really trust that jacking point anyway, I used to have a mini jet black were the previous owner had used the original jacking point, and the crossmember near the centre of the car had creased slightly.

Any sort of weakness / rust around the inner sill or bottom of the door frame area and things can just start bending instead of the car being lifted.

Ian

[malebassplayer]

I've just welded up my geniune passenger sill because I was concerned about it becoming a water trap / rust magnet.

I don't really trust that jacking point anyway, I used to have a mini jet black were the previous owner had used the original jacking point, and the crossmember near the centre of the car had creased slightly.

Any sort of weakness / rust around the inner sill or bottom of the door frame area and things can just start bending instead of the car being lifted.

Ian

mine already became a rust magnet and after paint stripping it seemed like my whole car was but is getting some well deserved attention now! Will have to update my project thread soon.

I would rather i didnt bend my shell after the amount of time i have spent on it!

[sonikk4]

Looking at your inner sill if you decided to fit a jacking point and seam weld it on to the inner sill, then plug weld the outer sill to it then you will have a nice strong point.

Like i first said it is up to you, i have decided to keep everything as original structurally wise on Project Paddy (apart from the slinging points) as he is a nice Clubman but everything will be treated to lashings of paint and waxoyl. Project Erm is different again as although the bodywork is standard there is a lot of seam welding in place rather than spot/plug welding plus extra plug welds over the whole car.

If you are happy with what you are doing then go for it as its YOUR car, we can offer advice to point you in the right or wrong direction.

The fact that hopefully you will be using a standard short sill rather than an oversill should not detract too much from any strength issues. If you decided to add an extra internal bracket in place of the jacking point then why not but do protect it well.

[malebassplayer]

in all fairness it wouldn't take alot of extra effort to make a bracket considering the amount of work that has gone into the car and what still needs doing. Just dont want the jacking points there because of rust I have also filled the holes in the floorpans where they rust aswell