1954 Miss Rachel is my redemption Morris series II

[mikec4193]

I know my second project I posted up on this forum was not really good one to share on here...so I didn't really want to start another one but this one was 4 hours South of me in Glibertsville PA and I got it really really cheap...it is a stalled project so I am still trying to figure out what I need to do to make it go and stop....

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The plan is to get it to run and drive

The lady that signed the paperwork is the wife of the builder so I named it after her...Rachel

I have gotten several orders for parts coming in the mail..it smell musty inside....It has been sitting in a garage since 2020...the fellow bought during Covid and had it shipped from Denmark...yuppers this is Denmark Morris Minor...

I am finding all kinds of stuff going on under the bonnet and the boot and inside the cabin as well...

It should a fun project...

[mikec4193]

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I thought to be smart and to get the old fuel tank out of the car...took me hours to get all those little sheet metal screws...I got a one new
delivered this afternoon...not exact but I think I can make it work

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This view is from under the dash and the former owner installed a dual chamber master cylinder that hangs off the front of the firewall...not sure how this set up will work but we weil see...

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This the tag on the side of the motor...not sure if this is rebuilt motor and original 1954 motor...
This weekend I want to get the grill panel bolted to the front fenders...it is not only on the top where the bonnet/hood latches...

More to come for sure...still drinking my tea and ordering new parts...

MikeC

[mikec4193]

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I found a new vacuum advance assembly on the MetPitstop website...one less thing to worry about...

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This is the bottom side of the front frame rail crossmember...I am fabricated a 16 gauge patch panel for it...

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This car came with a new grille sorta kinda cobbled onto the front radiator support...

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Purchased a new clutch return spring...the old one did not look too healthy...

more to come

[mikec4193]

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this whole thing started out with "lets replace the lower radiator hose"...I found one on ebay got it shipped to my place

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I just happened to have a heater hose laying around and I think it actually will work for the valve cover breather hose...I did not even have to cut it...

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I put a new patch panel on the front crossmember...I put a scrap piece of 18 gauge I put a hard bend on it and clamped it into place and did the old MIG weld dance on it...

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I pulled all of this out of the radiator support area...someone had rewired it and this looks like oem wiring to me...nothing was hooked it up so I gingerly pulled it out and let it lay out on ground...

More to come as we go along...

Still having fun...

[Bill_qaz]

The grill in front panel is for an elephants trunk fresh air to the heater
Mine has a 2nd one home made by previous owner on radiator to change position for winter. The one on your front grill is original I believe.Bottom right of pic.

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[mikec4193]

Still diggin on the old girl....

I got the front flange all cut and rewelded yesterday...

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What else...I did more cutting and fitting under the right front wing...

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The motor mounts looked a little sketchy...so I figured I better swap them out...wow a job that was...
Still not sure what thread is what but I am trying to save all the original nuts and bolts...

'

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Next on the docket...the battery box base...the one in the old car is bit on the fragile side...so tomorrow I will welding in some patches for it...

Wiring is still going along on it....

I always have to really think about what I am doing with car...it is cobbed up pretty good but at the same point...I think I can fix it....

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This is the right side under the door area...I am trying to get patch panels shipped to me so I can attack this mess....

Oh yeah fuel tank they sent me is close but not really close...so the filler neck is going to stick out probably 3 inches when I get it all mounted in place....pictures to follow

[mikec4193]

Been fiddling with the ole girl...

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this is the before

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during the process

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all done...time to start bolting the front panel back on the front clip...

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Battery box was a little sketchy...so what did we do??

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All better for now...

More to follow

[mikec4193]

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Since I do not have a clue how long this fuel pump has been with us...I found one from a British car supplier in Virginia

Love this fuel pump...when I was kid...fuel pumps mounted to the side of the engine blocks and that was where they were put...

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time to do some fuel line plumbing...

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front grille shell panel was kind of sketchy too...so we take a day and patch it all up...

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I love the cutting and fitting and welding end of things...

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more of the same stuff...boring but it is progress and steady wins the race

Stay tuned for more fiddling and cobbing and all kinds of fun other stuff too

MikeC

[mikec4193]

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So I had to cobble up this junk yard battery box...a lot of chin scratching on this one...

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I got the grille back on to the front flange...

I found a little rot hole in the left side chassis leg...got out the ole chipper and then the grinder and then the welder too...

I thought I had picture of my wonderful cobbed up patch...maybe tomorrow...

Big news...I plug the battery in and then I had to go online to You Tube to see how to start the ole girl..I did something right as it turned over and now smoke yet...

Fingers crossed..

I ordered some oil and a filter from the fine folks at Moss Motors...

Waiting for parts again....

MikeC

[Bill_qaz]

IMG_20260620_180245_029.jpg
I found a new vacuum advance assembly on the MetPitstop website...one less thing to worry about...
IMG_20260620_175925_396.jpg
This is the bottom side of the front frame rail crossmember...I am fabricated a 16 gauge patch panel for it...

IMG_20260620_175855_282.jpg

This car came with a new grille sorta kinda cobbled onto the front radiator support...

IMG_20260620_162414_124.jpg

Purchased a new clutch return spring...the old one did not look too healthy...

more to come

The vacuum pipe(if you're interested)was originally fitted at the front of the engine.
viewtopic.php?t=79680

Is there a reason you used a side post battery and needed such a hold down.Minors were always fitted with top post battery and the hold down is a simple angle piece with two threaded rods hooked into the carrier sides.

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[jaekl]

Some carbs like the H2 have the vacuum port on the back side and thus the vacuum line was routed around the rear of the engine. Additionally, the carb port was threaded rather than a slide on connection. Be careful with a side post battery with screw in adapters. The bonnet brace can hit the extended battery clamps. Apparently, the bake pedal modification drove the need for the complex battery hold down due to the elimination of the left side of the battery box.

[geoberni]

Some carbs like the H2 have the vacuum port on the back side and thus the vacuum line was routed around the rear of the engine. Additionally, the carb port was threaded rather than a slide on connection. Be careful with a side post battery with screw in adapters. The bonnet brace can hit the extended battery clamps. Apparently, the bake pedal modification drove the need for the complex battery hold down due to the elimination of the left side of the battery box.

Quite honestly, I think the choice of the side post battery was far more likely that the person doing the work had a side post battery that they wanted to use, so engineered that contraption to hold it.
There's plenty of choice of battery sizes to fit the reduced space, the original spec battery was only 40/43 Ah.
I've got a 005L hiding behind the Lucas Sticker and fake top, which is 232mm wide and provides 60Ah with 500CCA.
If I slid that over to the left, as looking at it, it might just fit.
.

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.
But a 063 Battery, just as an example which is often fitted by Owners, is typically 52Ah, 520CCA and only 175mm wide (that's about 2" less).

[mikec4193]

I had the battery and it was brand new...the previous owner had adapted a hanging brake pedal so I lost the one side of the batter box where the piece of tin sat to hook the clips to the angle iron...

Big doings in the ole cob job garage...

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big gapping holes in the bottom of the A-pillar area...

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Pulled the front wing and lookey here...it is some tin worm action going on here...

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I had some 18 gauge sitting around...made a paper template and we were off to the races...

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So now we need to replicate something for a connector as this is what was found under the front wing...

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Any thoughts?

More to come....lots of cutting and grinding and welding in the next week or so...

Still having fun on the ole girl...and she seems to be ok with it...so we are all good

[mikec4193]

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A lot more grinding and fitting and tacking and grinding again...

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Both of these are the A-pillar on the right side of the vehicle...

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I had more hole then metal here...more cutting and fitting again...

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This is the second pass on this patch panel...

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This is what we had to cut out to find solid material to weld too...

Still having fun...I do not think the car smells like an old car...kinda smells like burning metal now...I can handle that way better than the way it smelled before...

[mikec4193]

Working on the back right rear corner...

the tin worms are taking over...but I have the handy dandy 4 1/2" angle grinders at my disposal...

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Mid day on Sunday...we started with this little tin worm fort...

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we kept cutting and fitting until we got the holes filled with good less rusty steel...

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I had to get the old hand file to make it look correct....

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The lighting in my garage is fair at best so I have this clip on light that I use a lot...we have a lot more tin worms we need to deal with...waiting on parts from the fine folks at Mini-City in upstate NY...we will be grinding and welding like a crazy fool again...

More to come...

[mikec4193]

I had the right front wing off the car to fix the tin worm damage...and don't you know...I had to put 5 patches on the ole piece just so I could feel like it was safe to remount onto the inner panels...

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I love to bang on old steel...

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Makes me smile...

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Tack tack tack...grind grind grind...repeat...

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This is the bottom of the right front wing...looks like the tin worms did not leave much here...

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So I roughed it with some 16 gauge to make a new edge and some 22 gauge to make the outer panel...

No I can take it back off and piece together the needed inner panels foe the ole girl...

Rachel smells like burnt metal now inside and out...

She seems happy so far...

[mikec4193]

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Right front wing is all roughed in and ready for paint...

I have to apologize to you folks on here...most of you do welding work and then finish the body work with some sort of body filler and then paint...

I do not...I am basically what they call in the USA (if I was working with wood) a rough carpenter...I get the pieces and parts cut and refitted and ground down but I do not try to cover anything up...rough and ready is where I am at...

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So this picture is of 1/8" steel brake line (used of course) and I use that as the top lip on the rear wing...similar to what I did for the front lower wing...

Working on the right rear wing and it well...it is a little humble...but have no fear...I found an old range hood in my metal pile and we are off and running with it as we speak...

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are we having fun already??...we are for sure...

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Love free steel for sure...

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Lots more to do yet but I got it roughed in...the bottom is still pretty mush gone...not sure what my plan is...probably more chin scratching and more pipe smoke and more cups of coffee too...

I gave up tea for now...can not seem to find anything these days that has any kind of taste to it...at least with coffee I can salt enough that I can taste something...

More to come...

[mikec4193]

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I was amazed at how simple this little girl really is...3 bolts on each side and the bumper bracket comes off...actually 2 big fat ones hold the whole real bumper to the car....when Alec Issigonis designed it simple and basic...this is about as simple and basic as it gets...

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Patching over an older patch to keep the tin worms at bay...funny how it rusts in the middle of the rear wing...I have a similar situation on the left side rear wing...

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Now this is sexy right here...from the junk pile in my back door yard to holding a rear wing to the body on a 1954 Morris series II...gotta love scrap piles...