look under the backseat before you buy the car !

[Malcolm]

Hi Kevin,

I bought it two or three weeks back. The guy I bought it from lost his license for drink driving and had to sell, but unfortunately his drink problem is so severe that some of his answers to my questions don't make sense, so I'm not sure exactly when it was done. Probably in the past four or five years, I'm guessing.

The work overall is very well done and he gave me a stack of photos showing the works in progress. it started as a shell with no doors or engine etc, and was done up to A1 level.

New seats, new carpet, some new electrics, new trim throughout, plenty of new engine parts, good engine sound, fresh paint job (done after rotten bits had been chopped out and new metal welded in in a couple of places).

a friend of mine with lots of morris experience saw it on the weekend and said with one or two small bits in need of attention (eg window seals) it's been very well restored. Even the rubber grommets are all in place (small but significant point). I think I got a good deal on it - one of the benefits of living in Orkney where the market for such cars is small!

However, you're absolutely right - water is leaking from both sides of the rear window, and from both rear side windows. All rubbers need to be repaired.

Unfortunately I'm going on tour next week and won't be around much til November to fix it, so I've ordered an outdoor car cover for the time being and I'm doing my best to dry it all out. I'll probably silicone up the leaky bits til November and keep it covered as much as possible.

I'm a magician and I'm attempting to perform on every inhabited island in Scotland (97 of them!) over the next six months, starting this Friday. I was thinking of taking Oswald along for the ride but I simply need a little more storage space than he offers. And to be honest, I'm so new to this that I wouldn't yet trust myself to be able to look after him well enough on the road for that length.

Maybe next time.
Malcolm

[rayofleamington]

What about a quick diagram or description of what you did Ray??

Errrmm Well drain holes of between 6mm and 12mm depending what drill size you have handy but 6mm is a bit on the small size. You might not need all the holes so use your own judgement if any of the areas are bone dry:
Boot floor, at both corners
Outer sill - under the doorpost, and 1" from rear
Inner sills - front section 2" from wheel arch and 1 near the crossmember. Rear section at the lowest point front and rear
(Good Sill panels will have decent drain holes anyway, however you can still get panels without )
Rear floor - both sides at rear outer corner
Area under rear seat - near prop tunnel and a few inches from spring hangar, use the lowest point near just behind the rear floor pan.

If you know water is collecting in one or 2 of these areas, then these are the most important ones on your car. On some cars the area under the rear seat leaks into the rear floor pan, so you may as well do both.
If you find water collects nearby an area where you were going to stick a hole then drill where the water is, but be quick if you dont want a wet electric drill...

When it is all dry, hoover out all the debris before using waxoil then chip out any remaining crusty bits as the waxoil won't be very effective if its put on top of existing muck and rot.

[paul.kissick]

And has anyone tried running a thin bead of transparent silicone seal around all the rubber window seals to prevent leaks? Does it work?

my advice do not use silicone sealers on any thing metal as it will eat it away.I hav had experience with this as i had an audi 80 the ones with the galvinised body. any way the previous owner had used silicone sealant on one of the tailights inside. Istarted to remove the silicone bits of paint and tiny pieces of body work followed. So no please dont use it .It would be better to buy one in the long run.

[paul.kissick]

It would be better to buy one in the long run.

I mean a new window seal

[Chris Morley]

Updated with pictures (2nd post).