46 replies to this topic

[Jonny90]

Hello,

 

Im new to the forum and this is my first mini of hopefully many. Seen lots of good info on here so hopefully somebody here can help.

 

My beloved mini failed it's MOT today due to holes in corners of the outer sills and a hole in one of the rear wheel arches.  The test centre said that the holes are in the structural parts for the subframe mounts. I thought the structural part was the inner sill which look ok and not the outer sill but im probably wrong.

 

Could somebody tell me what I need to do to get this repaired and fit for the MOT. What parts will I need/or should replace whilst im at it etc.

 

Thanks in advance guys

 

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[CityEPete]

My car is only a bit better than yours in this respect, I have MOT until september that I could get through just but in reality it wants doing properly. I think you could bodge that some more but really like mine the subframes want taking off (at least the rear in your case) new sills and all the local repairs including the heelboard where the subframe mounts on before being treated and painted. I will be fitting rebuilt subframes that are thouroughly painted and fitted with new bushes,brakes etc. What is your boot floor and footwell areas like?

[Jonny90]

They are spotless, Nothing wrong with them at all. It just seems to be the sills. So I need to remove the sub-frames front and rear to repair it?

 

What body parts would I need for the repair other than new outer sills?

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

[CityEPete]

Well I am no expert but I have been looking at all the relevant parts since last year. You can make repairs without removing the subframe but yours looks a bit rusty anyway so it wants removing and at least cleaning up and painting IMO, it will make repairing that rear heelboard a load easier too. you can buy the mounting areas or the full width of the rear floor area as one, the sills obviously, then there are jacking points, slinging brackets inside the sills plus all the bits inside the rear bins (how grotty is it at the bottom of each bin?), a few local repairs to the front flitch panel areas and those rear arch repairs at least. the bottoms of each rear quarter panel are normally full of filler before the stage you are at and what are you door step areas like?

[megamini_jb]

oversills. Might be really bad under them

[Guess-Works.com]

Well... your MOT man has rightly failed you on the rot...  and in fact any corrosion which is within a 30cm radius of a structural mount is a automatic fail, and there are VERY FEW places on a mini which are not within 30cm's of a structural mount...

 

The quick way to fix it is weld a plate over the holes...

 

The best way to fix it is chop the rot out and replace with a piece of metal equivalent to the piece you have removed...

Edited by Guess-Works.com, 16 May 2014 - 07:16 PM.

[CityEPete]

Here is the mounting plate..

http://www.minispare...nels~.aspx|Back to shop

 

Here is the full panel...

http://www.minispare...41008.aspx|Back to

 

 

Obviously make sure you get the right one for the year your car is etc but thats the idea, personally with rot that bad I would have the lot off, new sills (not oversills!), strip the arches back to bare metal and see what else lurks, repair as required, rust treat and stone guard the bottom of the car then fit a good subframe, either yours painted up or a new one.

[CityEPete]

I cant see much grease on those nipples either so I presume the rear radius arm bearings are probably drier than a "fill in the gap with a joke of your choice".

[Marco1972]

There will be plenty more rust behind those holes be prepared for some extensive repairs
Get it done properly for peace of mind and to retain the value of your car

[Tamworthbay]

Two choices:

1, Bodge it quickly in the hope of getting another year before MASSIVE amounts of financial pain made worse by the bodges done to get another year

2, do it right which will take longer but cost less in the long run and you know you have a structurally sound car.

Not really rocket science to see option two is the way to go.

Looking at those pics I would be amazed if the heelboard doesn't need work as well, and if it doesn't now it will when you have tried to get the rear subby off. It's not good but it's very common on minis and nothing scary bad by a long way.

[Jonny90]

Thanks for all the help and replies.

 

I don't disagree with the tester, the more I look at it the worse it looks.

 

Are the jobs I have ahead of me difficult or is it not too bad? I'm quiet happy to play about welding new panels in etc. but welding structural part of the mini seem a bit daunting to me.

 

So to sum up the parts I require..... Obviously new outer sill, possible if not defiantly new inner sills, rear sub-frame mounting plates and a new wheel arch ( only one has a hole)

 

Also I didn't realise it was over sills fitted. When I remove the over sills, is there anything I need to do when I'm fiting normal sills again or is it just cut out and weld in the correct ones

 

And sorry to ask but which part is the heel board?

 

Anything else?

 

Thanks again guys!!!

Edited by Jonny90, 16 May 2014 - 09:07 PM.

[Tamworthbay]

First thing to do is to have a good look in the projects section on here. There are loads of good threads that detail this sort of work. Good luck.

[CityEPete]

First thing to do is to have a good look in the projects section on here. There are loads of good threads that detail this sort of work. Good luck.

Thats great advice and exactly how I have learnt what bits go where, some exploded diagrams on the minispares website are good too as you can see what other bits are nearby and the correct names.

[CityEPete]

The heelboard is the vertical section that the subframe bolts to, sit in the back of the car, where your heels are is the heelboard.

[Cooperman]

Having seen hundreds of rusty sills, inner & outer, seen the mess that oversills causes and rust heelboards I would say that you'll need at least:

 

New heel-boards, new inner and outer sills and jacking points.

 

M-Machine do an inner & outer sill sub-assembly which I've just used and it is a superb fit. Here is a photo of it before installation:

 

 

And here is what to expect under those horrible oversills:

 

 

Best advice is to do the job properly. It's all a part of the fun of classic car ownership.