1965 Four Door - sympathetic resto

[OGY985K]

Back at it again!
The interior is now complete bar front belts and new door seals.

Just left hand side wings, sill finishers to be painted, fitted, waxoil the new sills and floor sections, before trying it/getting MOT.

The fab thing about the seat conversion is that it would take less than an hour to fit standard seats (if preferred). Afraid they were too far gone in this car and I prefer to have headrests.

I’ll probably end up selling it as times have changed. It’s a good car with an engine that’s only done 3000m. A few bubles on doors but all the essentials are now there.

[mikec4193]

Holey cow...

You are getting there in no time really...you had this guy down to the skin and bones and now you have the coolest back seat area I ever seen...almost looks futuristic sorta kinda...love it...

Now there will be no excuses for not riding in the Morris...seat belts for everyone...

Keep on digging...the end is in site now...

MikeC

[les]

The seats look like Robots.

[OGY985K]

Thanks. And Les, agree re the robots! Went for Mini seats in the front as Steve Phillips (on the forum) makes fantastic bases that mean they go in with minimal changes.

The Alfa 164 rear seats were more of a mission and took quite a while to work out how to fit and still leave it easy to refit originals.

[OGY985K]

Can’t put it off any more. It’s electrics time!

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[OGY985K]

We have wings, we have four new kick plates and new finishers.

Door seals awaited before improving door alignment.

Left:
Look at rear hubs again. Main seals will have to be done.
Front seat belts
Finish electrics
Fit a few bits of trim (ordered clips)
Fire it up
Wash and T cut
Fit the new tyres

Almost there.

[OGY985K]

Great progress.
New front belts fitted.
New tyres on.
Given a wash, started polishing.

Started it up (started instantly), revealed only one issue- failed thermostat. New one ordered.

Headlights to align before fitting the bezels, handbrake is too high, likely because the rear brakes need tightening a little more.

Front off-side suspension is riding one notch too high, so will attend to this. Then the car is ready for sale.

A very useable car that’s been upgraded in many areas since the 80s.

[OGY985K]

Just about there at last!

Couple of niggles. Top hose is dripping, struggling to clear an air lock (any advice?), brakes need more adjustment (I’m paranoid about them binding).

I think it looks decent. A car to use and not worry about in the supermarket carpark. A car where more can be done (door bubbles) but that is respectable.

In summary, what I’ve done is continue previous owners gradual updating of the car. Their updates:
Riley 1.5 brakes and a servo
Powered washer bottle
New unleaded engine, duplex chain (still only done 3.5k)
Electronic ignition
Alternator.
Polybush suspension

I’ve added:
New three part sills
Offside quarter floor
Halogen headlights
Brand new seat belts front and back
Alfa gtv rear seats
Mini front seats on Steve Philips bases.
Decent secondhand petrol tank and new pipe.
4x new Blockley MM tyres
New carpets
New rear wheel bearings
Repair of A posts, new closing panels
New rear brakes and cylinders, drums
New oil in engine, gearbox, differential
Replaced offside front and rear wings
Replaced cross member end

If someone wants original seats then it’s still super simple to swap them in (I ditched the ones from this car as they were rank).

I need to insure it to test (still never driven it!), do the inevitable adjustments/rattles, get MOT but am now open to sale. £4950 ono.

Definitely better than 90% of Minors and lots of desirable updates. Shame to see it go and wasn’t my intention, but moving on to less heavy projects (longcase clocks).

[OGY985K]

A few more pics

[OGY985K]

Engine and boot

[svenedin]

Well done on getting the car so nearly finished! When you say air lock do you mean in the cooling system? It is only my experience and it may not be typical, but I have found that when filling the cooling system from bone dry this works. Turn the heater valve to on, fill up the radiator with water only (this is to prevent wasting/spilling antifreeze everywhere if there are unexpected leaks). Run the engine and wait for the thermostat to start to open (top hose/top of radiator starts getting hot). Give the engine some revs to speed up the water pump, fluid level in radiator should now drop as the air is purged and the heater matrix fills. Top up the radiator. Run until properly hot. Check for leaks. Fix leaks or if none, drain and repeat the process with final water/antifreeze mix. Just running the engine at idle does not give enough flow via the water pump to shift airlocks.

Stephen

[OGY985K]

Thanks. That’s probably it-only run at idle. The heater is getting warm, not the radiator.

I recall having this very problem with my first Morrris (aged 18 at the time) after replacing hoses. Was a devil to clear.

A weirdly Morris issue that’s never occurred on other cars I’ve owned.

[OGY985K]

Water circulation solved. Thanks Stephen. Just needed draining again and refilling- very slowly.

Finally driven it as well. It’s a great car. Lovely tight engine, gearbox and transmission. A few clunks from the rear suspension as it settled, but to be expected.

The driving position with fully adjustable modern Mini seats if fantastic vs mogs with original seats I’ve owned. It’s a no brainer to get Steve Phillips bases and fit some if you drive far (loads on ebay- mine cost £50).

Tomorrow’s final jobs are tightening up the brakes (quite brilliant as they are with the big Riley drums and a servo vs standard brakes), sort an annoying left brake light that’s misbehaving, waxoil inside the new sills, underneath.

MOT is booked for next Friday. I like an independent pair of eyes and don’t think the no MOT over 40 is at all wise.

Would keep it but with two at uni to pay for, I need to streamline. Plus I want more time for other things.

Will get another Minor if we ever drop to one main car.

[OGY985K]

Advice appreciated.
While adjusting brakes, I can see the rear wheels slightly camber. One in, one out (so top of both wheels tilt to left)

Wheel bearings are new (no shake), poly bushes and dampers replaced by PO.

May be nothing.

Thoughts? Thanks
Alan

[OGY985K]

Solved. Shackles not tight.

[OGY985K]

Last fix before MOT…order new alternator. The bearings are screaming in the current one, albeit it works. Wouldn’t want a new owner to break down.

[OGY985K]

MOT. 2 issues:
1. Main beam bulb out on one side- was fine when tested earlier in the week.
2. Less unexpected, I need to file off the corners on the new rear shoes so can tighten up the brakes, remove free travel on brake pedal.

Other than that, zero issues.

Easy fixes that I can sort out now.

[OGY985K]

Light fixed. Had knocked a bullet connector when changing the alternator.

Brake issue is I now realise I didn’t release the handbrake cable tension before fitting the new shoes, drums. It still stops superbly, just too deep on the pedal for the inspector. Will sort.

Mostly, I wanted all my structural work validated - it passed with flying colours.

[OGY985K]

Got to the bottom of why I can’t get better brake pedal reserve. Whoever fitted the mk1 box, servo, master cylinder cut the brake pedal fork down so the pedal sits level with the short movement Morris clutch. This deprives the brakes of 3inches of movement! How it passed previous MOTs can only be explained by the same tester having passed sills full of newspaper (all replaced with new sills of course).

The solution should be simple. Measure, order new fork and rod, fit - the current rod is too short for safe connection with the connector block (want 15mm of thread in the block).

Will be fine to drive since the accelerator will sit just slightly lower.

Have put off a couple of buyers while I sort out this unexpected glitch. I say unexpected, since the car has been like this for 25 years and the brakes are actually brilliant.

Strangely satisfying sorting out others botches.

[OGY985K]

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