Is this how is starts? My story so far................

[cyclomethicone]

Hi all,
Just been working out what my car actually owes me so far and thought id share with you my story. Hopefully this dosent put any potential new morris owners off but i wish i knew what i was getting my self into.
I have been off the road for 3 years and when i saw a pic of my car it made me smile straight away. Cheap insurance and no tax and i was starting to love it already. Nice little cheap car i thought to my self...........£900 quid seems like a bargin. Even if i have to spend a few hundred getting it right i can handle that.

Car (1969 saloon) - £900
Battery - £50
Paint and cleaning products - £90
Wiper blades - £18
Gaskets+bolts ect...£10
Oil pressure switch - £6
Bonnet seals - £12
Washer pump - £10
Rear arch and flange - £160
Welding - £560
Exhaust - £40
Air filter,oil filter,oil, plugs, coolant - £50
MOT - £50
This is over about a 2 month period and it passed its MOT but never made it home from the test centre
Engine - £570
The car still wont start and i still need a new fuel tank, £150 worth of welding (MOT advisorys) a starter motor and a new dyno or alternator.

So all in im at £2526 and still need to pay out a bit more on it. Iv had the car 3 months, done 15 miles total and broke down twice.
Merry Xmas roll on next yer

[LouiseM]

Hopefully this dosent put any potential new morris owners off but i wish i knew what i was getting my self into.

Sorry to hear about the problems you've had From your previous posts I see that the car was just out of an MOT when you bought it. Although an MOT is no guarantee of the road worthiness of a vehicle (other than on the day it was issued) the fact that an MOT had just run out but had not been renewed can be an indication that a seller is aware of the issues. The problem with Minors (and most other old cars) is that they are prone to rot so although a car might look OK it needs to be thoroughly inspected before purchase as one small patch of rot is usually an indication that there is a lot more.

There are however plenty of good solid Minors out there but it can sometimes take time to find one. There's a guide here for anyone thinking of buying a Minor: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=37815

Please, please make sure that you thoroughly inspect it before buying to avoid ending up with a moneypit. If you are looking for a daily driver rather than a restoration project, one which might look rough but is solid underneath is a much better buy than one which looks OK but has serious rust problems. Cosmetic work can be done as you go along, and as your budget allows, but major structural work is very expensive unless you are handy with a welder

[alexandermclaren]

Ha well cars are never cheap as they say,sorry to hear that you had to use another engine, and, I am sure that there will be others along shortly to help and guide you to get her fired up,the way I look at is,yes it has cost most of us a fair bit on parts etc , but at the end of the big spend you will own a car that will need very little done to her in the forthcoming years ahead and be an asset further down the line .Sure you will never gain out of most cars but the moggy will always be worth more if kept in reasonable condition and as you say put a smile on your face just by owning her
p.s. just to put the cost of parts and garage time into perspective my Honda jeep needed a new alternator and redesigned belt and pully, the Cost?. A whopping £650 just for these items, and this was from my local garage,Honda garages would,I am informed,be double that at over a thousand pounds for basically an alternator replacement. let's hope I never need an engine haha, here's hoping you get her up and running for the new season and get more miles under your belt and watch the people, usually in the local supermarket , smile and drool over her,and the story's they all have about them, when I learned to drive in this son,when my uncle had one and so on and so forth, totally amazing it is . then you will also have a great time at the rallies etc, yup it's a hard struggle getting the banker,usually the wife haha , to agree to the first initial big spend but will be worth it long term,enjoy the years ahead with her ,.Happy Motoring

[plastic_orange]

From experience it's advisable to buy the best you can afford as this will usually save money long term. The search may take a while and involve some travelling (this is usually where folk fall down), but the end result should be a good car.
A few years ago I sold a really nice Minor to a lady in Portsmouth - 500 miles away - she was the only one to reply to my advert. She got a cheap flight to Edinburgh (where I met her) and she drove away delighted. Car was probably £1k cheaper than it should have been from her neck of the woods.

Pete

[cyclomethicone]

My car is the only mog iv ever sat in and the only one i veiwed when i bought it. Just seen it and wanted it which wasent the best idea but then again i paid 900 for the car not 9k
As for the attention for it, iv not driven it really so not really noticed till yesterday. i had a few peopl pass me on the motorway real slow so they could get pics and when i broke down, nearly every other car that passed gave me a beep lol. Now this could just be down to my good looks i dont know

[Auntie Baarbie]

Before the current classic - Auntie Baarbie - a snowberry white Traveller that is now in the garage on SORN as she too failed the MOT - and I'm too lazy at the moment to replace the bushes - I've owned a 2 owner full history late 60s Beetle, a Sprites and 2 Midgets. The first Midget was snowberry white and I ran it for a fair few years. I sold it to a cousin for what I paid for it but spent some £s on her in between. The second Midget was a similar story - loads of fun, a dripping roof onto the quarter light on onto my knee and £s during ownership. The Sprite....... Ah. A different story. Brought home on a low loader, new Heritage body shell, £Ks on her, fun and frolics and then 2 children. What does one do with a 2 seater and 2 kids? Build a garage to keep her in! More £Ks..... And then she's sold. For a massive loss
And then Wolfburgs finest. Bought in the dark, savannah beige and a VW. 3 things I vowed never to do! But loads of F&F along the way. And sold in the end for more than I paid for her and for more than I ever spent on her.
And now the Traveller. Only 9 months in and a bloody shame she's in the garage on such a sunny Boxing Day. But I know that come March she'll have a nice set of bushes and will be back on the road tootling along in Frome with the kids sat on the back seat, the dog in the back and smiles all round!
The joy of motoring.........

[Mulli]

After spending so much on welding just remember with rust the old saying is so true 'prevention is better than cure'.
Its woth going over the motor before winter and sorting any minor rust out before they turn into rot. Do tjis and like has been said already, your car will most likley be worth what you paid (or more) in 5 years or so... Either that or get yourself on a welding course
Hope its plain sailing from here for you and your mog..

[bmcecosse]

Cyclo -you never told us what was wrong with your old engine - did you REALLY need a new engine?

[cyclomethicone]

Iv not got round to the old engine yet but i will do sometime in the near futre. If im honest, i dont really know if i needed a new one but the thought of a possible rebuild costing £££ i thought id meet it in the middle and go for the new engine. Got it for a good price and fitted for a fair price. Still having a few issues with it tho. Now starts of the key after fitting a new starter. She runs for about 10 minutes and cuts out. Fuel pump if fine, i think when the carb got swapped over there may have been a bit of dirt or something so thats the next thing to clean out.

[bmcecosse]

Hmm - well it would be worthwhile testing the fuel pump by letting it pump a gallon into a can - and timing it - to see if it stops after a few minutes. But if I remember rightly - the car has a dodgy fuel tank - so could be grot getting sucked over the delivery pipe. Could also be ignition condenser heating up/failing - try another one.

[cyclomethicone]

Yeah your right about the tank and think ill be half filling it till i get round to replacing it. One thing my mechanic did find was the coil was already connected to neg earth not pos. Could this be a reason why the condenser is not discharging right? The car has now been converted to neg eart and the dynamo is charging at 13.5 volts and seems fine.

[bmcecosse]

No - it could just be a crap condenser. I would check the points gap - because when converting the earth round - the points should be cleaned (or renewed) , since the 'pitting' reverses on the point faces.