1959 Morris in upstate New York

[mikec4193]

So stoked...got the right rear leaf spring back up in the socket where it belongs....brandy new plastic bushings too...pretty red ones at that...







Trying to stiffen up some of the seat mounts while I on my back welding stuff back together...



This is what was there...the floor pan seems so thin...I know from my racing days...you need decent seat mounts...



So I made up these in four places...I still need to make up 4 more for the front mounts...those are only 1 hole each to drill out...

I feel I have reached a point where the major big welding is sorta winding down...still have a lot of little pieces I need to weld on but I can see the end of the tunnel for sure...

cut cut cut....tac tac tac....grind grind grind...repeat

[mikec4193]

I set new world record for my Morris Minor....

I did all by myself....count em....Four (4) patches in one day...my head is still spinning from all the grinding and cutting and welding...



This is on the right side where the fender and the quarter panel mount up...



All ground up and looking spiffy we are....



This is one of the two (2) front seat mounts...trying to give the Subby seats some solid ground to sit on....



This is the floor pan area over top of that big bulky cross member...we had sunlight or should I say lead lights shining thru the floor pan...



So we hacked it out...



Tac tac tac....grind grind grind...



This is the step up area near the rear seat area...we had some issues going on...so...



Did a little cutting and grinding...



All better now...it was so cold outside so I didn't feel bad spending most my Sunday, doing the Tac Tac Tac...grind grind grind...

I had the old man grunting again when I was welding over that huge crossmember piece...

I think he was happy that I was giving him so much needed heat on such a cold Sunday in upstate New York...

I am so amazed at this little car...the sheet metal is so thin but my welder loves it...They knew how to build back then thats for sure....

MikeC

[Mick Lynch]

What do you do for heat in your garage... Mines frigid through winter.

[mikec4193]

Hey Mick

I have a Kerosene furnace but I have not run it in years....I wear layers to keep warm...laying on the freezing cold cement floor welding over head is the worse...grinding on my back is not too fun either

My wife did get me a little electric space heater which will take the edge off...

I typically during the week am only out there until I cant feel my fingers which is typically 1 1/2 to 2 hours time frame...Sundays I take breaks to go inside and thaw out...

Hot coffee helps too...

Thanks for asking Mick...

[mikec4193]

Boy did I learn something new last week...Before I got the old heap the former owner told me that he had snapped off one of the studs on the left front hub...and he was gracious enough to include a new one lug stud and lug nut too...



I had been treading doing this job but I sorta poked at it a couple of times and finally figured one cold Jan night I better jump on it...and I did....



I had to split the hub in half...

oh yeah the stuff I learned is that on the left hand side of the car...some of the fasteners are left hand thread...well this spindle was that first one I figured out...no righty tighty lefty loosey on this car...

Then I ran out of 75/25 Argon...how could that happen???...I have no idea...well a couple of ESM boxes showed up so I went to work on some dry rotted rubber bushings...I had bought a kit for each side...



Took me forever to figure it out...but I stumbled and fumbled my way thru it...did the strut rod bushings as well...



All the carnage I caused is here in a pile...



Gotta keep this thing going along...bit by bit we go...slow and steady wins the race or so I have been told....

MikeC

[philthehill]

Do not recognise the internal metal bush sleeves in the picture with the top trunnion pin. Where did you extract those sleeves from as they are not ex factory items?

[mikec4193]

Do not recognise the internal metal bush sleeves in the picture with the top trunnion pin. Where did you extract those sleeves from as they are not ex factory items?

I am a total newbie...all I know is took this stuff out to swap out with new ESM parts...

I learned a bunch this weekend...it started with running our of Argon again...second full bottle gone...that is 160 Cubic Feet on this old heap so far...So I said to myself...Mike you got all those boxes of ESM parts...time to mount that stuff up...I wasn't too keen the way the right front upper pivot look as it wasn't sitting right in my eye...so what does a squirrel do???...he cranks on the new nut to try and straighten stuff out...

This front suspension set up is something I have ever seen before....my old I-beam VW was kinda freaky but this set-up is one for the record books...had me scratching my chin for sure...



hmm..how could this happen??..



The old ones had some decent thread depth to it...the new one had fine threads...dont ever crank on fine thread....ever...



Looks like the new bushings were a tad too fat for this application...squirrel to the rescue...



The ones on the outside I cut down with my fine tooth molding saw...



The top shock mount arm holds the whole spindle mount in the upright position...who would have thought that would work...but it does...I guess...

So I learned...I got on line and ordered another pair of those upper pivots from the fine folks at ESM...

Over $50 total for 2 pins....that UK to USA $$$ exchange rate it killing me...but I wanna get this old heap back down on the ground and get it to run...

Then we will selling it...

It has been a lot of fun so far...but truthfully I don't think I am good fit for it...

Tonight...we will be welding seat mount plates onto the bottom side of it...

[philthehill]

The top link bushes are meant to push/squashed into the eye. They should not be reduced in overall length.
You will now find that the bushes will fail sooner than expected.
The suspension nuts should only be tightened after you have normalised the suspension by giving the car a couple of bounces.
It is no good trying to screw a Whitworth nut onto a UNF thread. A lot of the original Minor threads have over the years been changed to UNF threads - as soon as unnatural resistance is felt stop and ask yourself why the resistance?
I find that those parts now with UNF threads are much better finished than those with Whitworth/BSF threads i.e. that top trunnion pin for example.
It may be a trick of the camera but that top trunnion does not look square to the trunnion pin!
The split pin should fit through a castellation of the nut. You may have to put a washer behind the nut.
There appears to be no lock washer fitted under the rear nut.

[mikec4193]

Not sure but a package from the fine folks at ESM got lost....

I am not wasting time while I wait for it...



Where the back seat mounts....well there was stuff going on...so we did the ole cut cut cut...tac tac tac....grind grind grind...



Had a little inner rocker tin worm stuff going on...



So we cut up a piece of 18 gauge...did the tac tac tac...grind grind grind...and I forgot to get a pic of the finished piece...



So I climbing around inside the cabin...and I hear that crunching sound under my boot...gosh I hate that sound...



Up under the fender well we had some tin worm action...18 gauge to the rescue....



Grind grind grind...and look what we have...

I have a b-pillar base to weld and then we are just about done the welding end of things....I might have some small stuff yet to touch up but...

Now comes the mechanical stuff...let the money flushing sound begin...

ESM has awesome awesome parts...but the exchange rate is like at 60% right now...that is killing me for sure...

MikeC

[mikec4193]

Another week in the books...any week cutting and tacking and welding again...

Took almost a week to get these new parts into the compound...they got lost in New Jersey for several days....



But looks kids...we got it back in the old heap...



Super stoked...



Look mom...we got 2 front tires on the old heap...first time in months that the old man has 4 wheels and tires that hold air on the car...



Not is this is the right tool or not but it helped to bolt all these parts back together...



How about a little "B" pillar action???



Still needs a little more grinding but it looks better than the rust did...



I had to step back and look at this old heap...

not rot holes any more...I cant see the ground anymore...

2 bottles of argon gone and a huge spool or welding wire but we did it...

I still have a couple more small spots to revisit..

The right rear fender is off the car still...I think it needs some TLC for sure...

[mikec4193]

I knew the old man was going to need some sort of under hood support...I had a piece of scrap from a set of shelves from where I work...I looked online and found some pics of the cross piece...so I was off and running...cutting and welding again...



I found this piece in the trunk when I got it...



more chin scratching...



broke 2 of these little screws off...went to the local hardware store and picked up some #8-32 hex head screws...I know I am bad...



So I finally get the inner support cobbled up and put into place and I notice some stress cracks...



found some junk round stock...this might me a battery hold down from years back...



welded it up into the front lip on the hood...

a little bit of some gentle tacking on the front side...



what is a day working on the old heap that I dnt need to order from ESM...

I ordered new rubber bumpers for the hood and a hood seal and a new extended hood prop...

I gotta say working on this old man...I am learning so much about how it was designed...I have never seen most of the stuff before...

Living and learning...

[myoldjalopy]

Good work, Mike. Seems as though you are enjoying the project!

[jagnut66]

Seconded. Another one saved.
Best wishes,
Mike.

[mikec4193]

Ok kids....when I bought the ole heap...I bought it for one price and then I get email from the owner and he says "Hey Mike...I bought a lot of new parts over the years would you be interested??"...I said send me a list...we he did and a price list too...so I figured he was English car guy so he probably bought decent parts...so we made a deal and I sent him another check and when they shipped the old heap it was full of misc new parts...



some of the pile...



looks like the parts that fit too...

This picture made me really shake my head...



Someone soldered the solid brake line that runs from the right side to the left side...made me cringe actually...



When I bought the heap the coil was just sitting on top of the motor...I was told the generator bracket is where the coil was supposed to mount...I couldn't find one...so I took an old bumper bracket from a 1947 Willys Jeep project that I didnt use...gave it a 90 degree bend...drilled some holes...

Almost looks like it might actually work too...



This bolt holds the junction block in the front of the car....it says "Wiley R"...this has to be a factory bolt I would assume...

Was Wiley the company that supplied the brake junction blocks maybe??

Makes me smile...

[mikec4193]

So last week we were fiddling with brake lines and brake parts too...the former owner says he fitted the ole heap with MG Midget front disc brakes to the Morris Minor spindles...I cracked both bleeders loose as they stuck out to where the new flexible brake line was going mount and my wrench would not fit in and onto the hex on the end of the hose...I pulled them out and found out they were kinda pitted..so I ordered from the fine folks at Moss Motors brake bleeder screws for a 1965 MG Midget...should be a not brainer...



Nope...it wasnt...the little one is the new part...it bottoms out before it hits the seat in the caliper...the former owner is going to be shipping to me a pair of used ones off of a Austin Healey and he thinks they will fit...if not I will be buying a pair of rebuilt caliper from Rock Auto and then come with the bleeders attached...

On another note...the rear brake lines that came with the car looks like everything fits...not sure if this is a correct way or not but I had some large hose clamps...and they worked...



So I know the wrangling that goes on with brake lines on these old cars....I was very blessed to get the rear one off in one piece...so stoked...



Several hours later I still cant get the new line to thread into the back of the master cylinder....the Rat Rodder in me got the best of me...as they say..."it is only metal...you can always weld more on it"....so I got out my trusty angle grinder...





See next post for the continuing saga...

[mikec4193]

I think I am freak really...I love to save rusty crusty metal...well I had cut some OEM Morris Minor metal a couple of months ago....



So I trimmed off a piece of rusty metal...



cut cut cut....grind grind grind...



now we have a crusty rusty cover made by little ole me...not sure if it will work or not but look...



Look mom....we have a rear brake line and I put in with own 2 hands...well one hand and then a wrench...

Next on the docket...

Right rear fender...

[mikec4193]

I got a long lost package from the fine folks at ESM...and it included a hood support extension...

Had to cut up some more rusty steel from an old bed frame...



A little clamp action to line things up...



I am not sure if this is the correct way to this but it seems to be working so far...



I have a question for you Morris Minor experts...in this package of parts...I bought some rubber pieces that were supposed to be under the hood to keep it from wiggling around...



The round ones mount on the flange on the front fenders...I have remnants on the current front of the car...

the big squarer ones...I don't have clue where they are supposed to go...

[les]

Mike, not a very clear picture but this is the positions of the rubbers, one each side.

Position of rubbers

29D35FA5-C40E-4719-A797-356A61185E27.jpeg (24.19 KiB) Viewed 7149 times

[Chipper]

The round rubbers fit up on the scuttle, to the sides of the bonnet, as shown in this link:

http://steinwaltz.org/Photos/KembleStea ... sminor.jpg

[mikec4193]

Thanks for all the insight...you guys are awesome...

Still grinding and cutting away on the old heap...

The pile of spent discs is growing taller by the day...



we are getting closer to end of the major welding patching on this ole man...



Right rear fender was the last big part to be patched up....it started like this...



then like this...



then this....love love love my clamps...



the end of the day we looked like this....

Cut cut cut....Grind grind grind....tack tack tack...

Repeat....another piece of the puzzle...one bite at a time too...

MikeC