An American Moggie ~ My '59 Morris Minor 1000 2-door saloon

[Fingolfin]

Haha, no suspension tonight, and tomorrow's my mother's birthday, so not tomorrow either; but I did get some good done.
For one, the wiper motor is now reassembled (after some shaky soldering) and ready to go back in the car:[frame][/frame]
Then, I finished spraying the new color inside, and I'm actually quite happy with it:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
Now then...Wednesday will be suspension...

[mightyute]

enormous amount of work done, congratulations.
the engine steady cable attaches to the rear of the gear box and the chassis, and is good to have because it greatly reduces shudder when engaging the clutch.
not essential, but handy.
you have done well with the mig, i only manage to burn holes with mine on the sheet metal, so i use the trusty old oxy. what are the specifications for yours? one of the advantages of oxy is when there are sections of weld not easy to get at with the grinder the oxy can be used to melt the blobs down to a more presentable appearance.
with the traveller the big problems and expenses is the woodwork, so hope you have a woodworker in the family!
its certainly costly getting parts shipped over, i get annoyed when I buy say a chassis leg for about $60 and the postage is over $100. for all the parts i want it would probably be cheaper to fly to uk buy a heap of parts stick them on a boat and fly home, and get a holiday in the uk as well. or even pay the excess and bring them home with me. i think excess costs about $10 kilo, cheaper than postage!

[dunketh]

LOL..
You have a beard and a Minor - you're properly living the stereotype.

Do you by chance like meat pies and dark ale?

Who knew things like this crossed international boundaries!?

[ASL642]

Hi Fin - nice to put a face to the name! She's coming along really quickly. Like the cream. Is that going to be the final colour all over or just inside?

[Fingolfin]

HAHAHA!!! I get tired of shaving sometimes (often), so that's what was with that. I do like meat pies, but I'm under 21 (and, unlike most people my age, law-abiding), so no liquor. The cream is going to just be the inside; the maroon is going to remain on the outside, though I need to touch that up sometime. I'm not sure about the specifications of my MIG welder, but I know it's a good little machine. I'm definitely going to have the steady-cable then! And I've been thinking about studying abroad in the UK, so that might be a good time to purchase lots of parts to bring back.

[davidmiles]

Fin, with your brilliant hard working attitude, you will be very welcome by all if you come and study over here in the UK. You might have to try a few old English Ales though, esecially if you keep the beard.

[chrisd87]

Looking good! I have to say I much prefer the cream dash to the gold. The gold dash on MMs and early Series IIs is wonderful, but I'm not sure the colour suits the later dashboards.

I share your pain with regards to getting parts shipped across the 'pond'. I've got an 80s motorcycle that was quite popular in America but seemingly didn't sell well over here, and trying to get anything other than the most basic service items is very difficult. Secondhand parts are available quite cheaply on the US ebay site, but getting them shipped over here trebles the price .

Also dark ales are yummy

[Fingolfin]

Well, here we are coming on the last push. And what a push it was last night! But first yesterday...

After undercoating the two front wheel wells, it was time for the front suspension, which is a terrible job.[frame][/frame]
With both front sides in, Mog got set on its front wheels again for the first time in about eight months.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
Here's the new loom in its box, with the speedometer resting in there too.[frame][/frame]
Next I assembled the rear springs, freshly painted, with some nice new clips that I made.[frame][/frame]
Then I took a break, and put together the horn push.[frame][/frame]
Next, in preparation for the axle, I undercoated the rear wheel wells:[frame][/frame]
Another break; I wanted to see how the speedo looked with the ivory.[frame][/frame]
Then I put the springs onto the axle:[frame][/frame]
The axle in position under the car...[frame][/frame]
Then to work. Here I'm realizing I had no idea what I was getting in to:[frame][/frame]My mother took that picture...
But finally, after four hours of work (what a horrid job! Aggh!), the axle went in and the rear wheels went on.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]It was immensely gratifying to hear not a single weld pop upon setting any of the wheels down.
Now, a question. How do I hold the shackle pins (in the front spring mounts) still while I put on the nuts? Better yet, how do I turn the nuts? Mine act like they don't fit properly; they don't spin on easily at all. (EDIT: now I know they aren't right. I've been trying to use 3/8 UNF, while the pins take 3/8 BSF, says ESM. I ordered some 3/8 BSF nylon locknuts.)

Now to paint the engine bay, assemble the brake systems, and place the electrics...

Oh, another question. Do you suppose it would be better to buy a new headlining, say from Newton Commercial, rather than have a local upholsterer make a new one using my old one as a pattern? My concern is that some of the old one seems to be missing. Is the headlining supposed to wrap all the way around the rear window?

[Fingolfin]

Some good and bad news. First: Mog rolls![frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
I put in the fuel tank:[frame][/frame]
The boot floor went in with some shoving, but it needs to be cut down some more.[frame][/frame]
The engine bay has been stripped and repainted:[frame][/frame]
Then I discovered something very negative. The right front wheel (on the left in this photo) tilts about 1 1/4" at the top, while the other wheels all seem to be at least close to vertical:[frame][/frame] I've read that packing the eyebolt with washers can compensate for this, but it seems like an enormous tilt!
Better things are these, though. The wiper motor is in the car:[frame][/frame]
And the brake master cylinder has been rust-protected and repainted:[frame][/frame]

Now I have another problem. The bolt in the steering column clamp won't tighten, it just spins in place, and it won't come out either. Should I tap it out and find a replacement? Should I find a nut to fit and wind it on? The bolt came with no nut, it was just held in by (what I believe to be) threads inside the clamp.

[Shamrockmotors]

Torsion bar set right? Everything looks "high" on that side of the suspension.

[Matt Tomkins]

Torsion bar set right? Everything looks "high" on that side of the suspension.

that's what i would have suggested - i have the same problem -- that's my next job

[chrisd87]

If you look at the angle of the damper arms, there is quite a big difference. Definitely try adjusting that before doing anything else - one spline up on the wonky wheel side. It's easy to get wrong - I managed it even though I'd marked the arm and the torsion bar!

[Fingolfin]

I've never taken the torsion bars out of their slots in the rear arm or the eyebolt, though. I've never adjusted them. But -- it's possible somebody who had the car before adjusted them incorrectly. But should the position of the torsion bar affect the lean of the wheel? I thought that twisting the bar a spline only raised or lowered that side.

[thecount]

wow the work is sure paying off it is comig along great!! Briliant effort!

Please keep us posted on how you get on with the wheel issue as I would be very interested in how it goes as I have somethinig similar. My car will have an issue with the drivers side which scrubs the inner tyre bald and when that is replaced it will do it to the passenger side till it is replaced and then back to he drivers side. One day I will find out why or find someone to fix it, but maybe you will find out why yours is sitting at an angle first!

Cheers
Gav

[Fingolfin]

Well, good and bad news, like last time. The good news is, a number of things will get done before school starts. The bad news is, the new loom is wrong, so Mog won't be ready before 20 August. But I'm okay with that; I'll finish it over Christmas break. Here we go!

First, the passenger (your driver's) door handle assembly, which didn't lock properly. It was missing the locking bolt:[frame][/frame]
So I tapped a bolt out of a spare handle that I had, because I like this one better, and placed it in:[frame][/frame]
But (I guess due to wear in the shaft) it's so loose, it'll pull out with finger force![frame][/frame]
So I may have to use another handle assembly after all, but I want the lock barrel and the handle itself off of this one; how is that accomplished?
Also, the interior door handle on the passenger door doesn't spring back when it's pulled, so the door stays open! Where's the spring so I can fix it?

I put together the hydraulic braking system...[frame][/frame]
...and the mechanical braking system:[frame][/frame]
I painted the insides of the doors to match the new interior color:[frame][/frame]
I put back the kickplates:[frame][/frame]

Then I began to assemble the loom. This was the first connection, the large yellow wire onto the voltage regulator:[frame][/frame]
But after reconnecting all the wires on the regulator, I discovered that the turn-signal relay, which Mog has because it's from 1959, had no wires! Take a close look at the left inner wing, where the loom lays. Nada. I wondered if perhaps the wires were elsewhere, but I looked over the whole loom, and nothing.[frame][/frame]It's also missing the wiring for the second horn, though that'd be much easier to just splice in. So off went an email to Autosparks.

I went on to other things, after a period of darkness and depression over the loom. I reassembled the driver's door, and discovered the back end of the window won't roll up, while the front end will -- but I'm certain the window's in correctly:[frame][/frame]
But dad and I put it back on anyway:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

So, without wires, Mog can't run. I could connect it anyway, but the turn signals wouldn't work properly. But I'll get it sorted out; it'll take me longer than ten days, but I will fix it. You all know how dedicated I am. I'll get the rest reassembled though, and get it ready for what I can't have now.

[Fingolfin]

Oh! And I'm going to try fixing the suspension tomorrow. I'll let you all know what I discover.

[dunketh]

After all the bodywork and mechanica stuff you've done I should imagine it'll be nice to sit back, take it easy and play with a few wires. Theres not much 'loom' to a Morris. lol.
I like the braiding, so much nicer than a load of pvc tape. Are you going to heat-shrink the ends?

[Fingolfin]

Well, Autosparks is going to send me, for a nominal fee, a sub-loom that will make my relay work! So that may be solved. So here's some nice shots of a nearly reassembled Mog![frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
Now who's THAT handsome devil? [frame][/frame]I really need to shave...

Now some real work. My parts having arrived, I changed the steering column bolt (with much difficulty), and you might be able to tell why:[frame][/frame]
And here's the column clamp with the new bolt and locknut. It's done up as far as it will go, but it doesn't look very clamped, does it?[frame][/frame]
I changed the nuts on the rear suspension, and virtually eliminated the nasty 'clonk' that it gave on being pushed. Then I attempted the front suspension, and I think the R/F wheel is more vertical:[frame][/frame]
And this is how I did it:[frame][/frame]

Tomorrow comes some more wiring work, maybe some gauges, and sound deadening.

[Fingolfin]

Well, I decided after that last post that I just wanted to rest, having been running faster than I'd ever run for the entire summer. So I didn't do much more; basically all I did was scrape out the horsehair sound insulation from the ceiling, and move Mog into its autumn laying-up place.
[frame][/frame]
It fit very nicely!

So I'm taking a break from Minor stuff for a little while, winding down as it were, but I'll try and get the headlining and glass back in next (1-4 October is my autumn break, and it should be warmish out for those things, as they're pliable when warm), and some odd wiring work in between. The next big break is for Christmas, like last year, and I hope to get it finished then.

[Fingolfin]

A few more photos for you all. No more progress, unfortunately, because of school; but, while it's layed up, I've been making a thorough visual inspection all around. This is how Mog looks right now:[frame][/frame]
The boot:[frame][/frame]
The driver's footwell:[frame][/frame]
The boot badges ( ):[frame][/frame]Might need a bit of rechroming there.
The front suspension, with lots of loom and cobweb:[frame][/frame]
The rear suspension, looking pretty awesome:[frame][/frame]
Now some business. There are rust spots that I missed (!) in at least the passenger side guttering.[frame][/frame]
And for some reason the bakelite indicator cover isn't drawn all the way up on the column (or something else is wrong), so the little brass/copper ring in there is exposed a bit:[frame][/frame]
The seats definitely need some reupholstering...[frame][/frame]
But, all in all, Mog's a happy camper for now. [frame][/frame]
In two weeks come the headlining and glass...and also linishing out that rust!