I just took of both doors from the 850 (possibly english), and where you undo the bolts under the wheel arch, they were all totally covered in clay. After a bit of force, two solid lumps of clay came out and exposed the bolts.
Is this normal, the hinges havent been changed before, as they (sanded back) are the original colour of the car and are made of brass.

Just wondering if when I put the new hinges on do i stick the clay back in there, or could this possibly be a thing english people do?

never heard of it
was the clay like play dough
or was it rock hard
what colour is it

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Clay was rock hard, and was a brown/black colour. Black may have grease and gunk!

So I gather it is not important to put it back in there?

what about the whole of the inside of the arch
some people may have tarred the underside
i reckon if you put some petrol on it
if it starts to dissolve then you have water proofed tar under your body

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Inconspicuously Conspicuous
Appreciation without Depreciation
forever chasing clearer skies...

Nothing under the wheel arches, except spider webs, and grease, it was only in the bracket which holds the hinge.
Steve.

Yes this is normal for an old car that's hasn't been kept in "garage queen" conditions. On my rear trailing arms I noticed that they were unusually thick arms, thicker than the pics I had in the manual, so I poked one with a scredriver and a thick layer of dried clay and dirt cracked and dropped off! it must have been at least 1 cm thick, encrusted right around all the suspension bits...

Until it cracked it looked like old suspension arms and joints and was cammoflaged perfectly. A whole heap of prodding later and I had enough gunk to fill have a bucket with dirt!!!

Needless to say, I'd go over the whole car with a scredriver and start poking. If it's there in the hinges, it's got to be covering other hidden bits and pieces too like it was on mine. The more you remove, the merrier

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K