A few pick up questions.

[beelzibus]

Excellent, I suspect that confirms that we have the original bonnet, just the handle/badge combo is saloon, probably fitted by the first owner to jazz it up a bit. It stands to reason, they've fitted badges on the tailgate as well which I knew were extras. Still at least the one on the tailgate is the correct one for the LCV bonnet.
What about the small badges on the bonnet sides? I think they say 'Minor 1000' are they add ons as well? No bother if they are, I can easily weld up the holes.

Yes the Minor 1000 badges are also car only items, so you'll need to weld up the two small holes on each side!

Ah well, what with all the other welding required, I'm sure those four holes wont be too taxing.

[beelzibus]

So, a couple of weeks has passed and I've had a little more time to play with my hospital job. It's basically a pile of parts now, cab is braced and off the chassis, front suspension is a pile of bits, all the body panels are leaning up against the wall, just the rear axle and springs, pedals and fuel tank to go and the chassis will be ready for blasting.
One more question has come to mind, what's the slab of what looks like asbestos bolted under the passenger footwell? Is it to minimise heat transfer from the exhaust to the cabin? I can't think what else it might be.
Ours is trashed, rotten, are they available? Obviously no one uses asbestos now do they? What's the alternative?
Thanks in advance.

[LouiseM]

what's the slab of what looks like asbestos bolted under the passenger footwell? Is it to minimise heat transfer from the exhaust to the cabin? Ours is trashed, rotten, are they available? Obviously no one uses asbestos now do they? What's the alternative?

It's the exhaust heat shield - alternatives without asbestos are available from the usual Minor parts suppliers. Obviously you will need to be very careful when removing & disposing of the old asbestos so take proper precautions.

[beelzibus]

what's the slab of what looks like asbestos bolted under the passenger footwell? Is it to minimise heat transfer from the exhaust to the cabin? Ours is trashed, rotten, are they available? Obviously no one uses asbestos now do they? What's the alternative?

It's the exhaust heat shield - alternatives without asbestos are available from the usual Minor parts suppliers. Obviously you will need to be very careful when removing & disposing of the old asbestos so take proper precautions.

I thought as much. Many thanks.

[Pikey]

Hi
Just a couple of notes with regards Pickups.
* The row of bolts that you refer to along the lower cab back panel were originally 1/4 bsf, but you could easily use bright zinc 6mm that are available anywhere;

* The captive bolts in the rear valance between the rear lights, the rubber blocks were 1/4bsf and the tailgate hinges were 5/16 bsf, but if yours is anything like mine was the ends of the panel will have rotted away and you need a new outer valance panel. New panels come with metric threads M6 and M8 accordingly;

* Pickup/van front bumpers blades are shorter than the saloon variants but the valance is vertually the same if your willing to weld up two holes;

* Cabs originally had a rubber mat/flooring but these are not available anymore, (there is one available on ebay at the moment if your willing to start him off at £300. My pickup has black carpet;

* Brown interiors are not available new, so save what ever youve got, if youve got a brown interior. I was lucky mines black and everything is available in black. What colour is your pickup and what colour is your trim?

* Engines are usually 10V and Low compression or High and are painted the usual green on morris's or black on Austins;

* Sill kick plates are painted silver as per saloon variants I believe although Ive painted mine body colour teal blue;

* Virtually everything B post forward is all 4 door saloon except for the make up of the sills, bonnet and bumper;

* All depends on whether or not youve got a 6 or 8 CWT pickup but you might have stronger front steering swivel pins, 8 leaf rear leaf springs, and the 4.5J wheels

* LCVs dont have M on the hub caps, they are plain as per early MM cars.

If you have any questions or queries just shout

Cheers

Steve

[IaininTenbury]

Hi
Just a couple of notes with regards Pickups.

* The captive bolts in the rear valance between the rear lights, the rubber blocks were 1/4bsf and the tailgate hinges were 5/16 bsf, but if yours is anything like mine was the ends of the panel will have rotted away and you need a new outer valance panel. New panels come with metric threads M6 and M8 accordingly;

But easy enough to re tap to the correct sizes, as the metric size is slightly smaller, if you're pedantic enough!

[les]

Interesting, although I'd have thought the pitch difference would tend to spoil the thread.

[beelzibus]

Hi
Just a couple of notes with regards Pickups.
SNIP
Steve

Cheers Steve, some great pointers there.
Turns out that our pickup had a 'saloon' chrome front bumper, complete with overiders, from new. The owner has spoken to the original owner about this, as I had mentioned that the bumper was incorrect, apparently not, so to my mind that leaves a few options, either dealer fitment, to jazz up the vehicle in the showroom, factory fit for the same reason, perhaps by 1970 they were trying to titivate them a little to improve sales, or is it possible that they had actually run out of LCV bumper blades? Just conjecture on my part, but it would be interesting to know if anyone else has come across such things.
Regarding bolt sizes, in the real world (I have a background of VWs) I'm in no way a purist, but with regards to this pick up, I'd like to keep things as correct as is humanly possible. In fact IMO the fact that the repair panels come with incorrect captive nut threads I find pretty sad. If they can't get that right, what hope for anything else?
Our interior is brown, and in pretty good shape, at least the sets and doorcards are. The rubber mat is of course gone, I think we'll make something appropriate.
Cheers Andy.

[Pikey]

Hi
My pickup is an August 1971 pickup and that has the sort bumper blade, which is painted silver and it doesnt have over-riders.

As far as Im aware LCV's never had chrome long bumper blades or over-riders. I believe youve also got a saloon bonnet. Has someone replaced the bonnet and bumper at the same time?

Im aware that I actually have the wrong bonnet on mine though. LCV bonnets badges right up to nearly the end of production always had a morris bonnet badge but without the vertical spike as per saloons and they had a long chrome bonnet flash on top of the crown (Not the saloons M handle type). My pickup should have the type I describe. My pickup had that type on it when I started restoring her, but the bonnet was badly dented and was twisted out of shape, so I used a later version which doesnt have the long chrome bonnet flash on the top of the crown, I believe the 4" wide swage is not as high on the last of the bonnets too.

Note the bumper and the bonnet on my photo.

Ive also got the wrong door tops on mine too. Mine are stainless steel now, which are from a 4 door saloon. Mine came with a pair of very sad rotten steel examples, when I started the resto, the quarter lights literally fell out! I believe they should really be Body colour, which is teal blue in my case.

Cheers

Steve[frame][/frame]

[beelzibus]

Hi again Steve, like I say, Minors aren't really my thing, but we're learning fast.
The bonnet I'm certain is the original, just jazzed up with saloon badges, the bumper we also know via the original owner is the original, I can only assume the dealer fitted it to make the pick up prettier. Perhaps they were struggling to shift them.
Our door tops are plain painted steel, small stainless triangular covers at the base of the vent wings, but I believe that's normal.
Overall now I've done some digging, I'm confident that our pick up is 99% original.
A couple of pics as found:

[Pikey]

She looks nice!!!

Much better condition that mine was when I dragged her home.

I believe yours is Persian Blue. Nice tilt too, keep that safe.

She appears to have been jazzed up in a few places, the quarter light triangle is normally body colour and the sill finisher appears to have been replaced with a new stainless one, (I suspect the kick plate has as well?), theyre normally painted silver mild steel.

Ironically the badge on her tailgate shouldnt on the tailgate at all, thats the bonnet badge I have on mine. The minor 1000 on tailgate shouldnt be there either. Can I suggest shes been tinkered with, by adding saloon chrome trim?

Are those Iain mackensies (Iain in tainbury) rear inner arches, and rear mudflaps fitted to it too?

She looks a really good project though, she doesnt need much work at all does she?

Cheers

Steve B

[RussLCV]

you should consider joining the Minor LCV Register

Regards

H

[beelzibus]

She looks nice!!!

Much better condition that mine was when I dragged her home.

I believe yours is Persian Blue. Nice tilt too, keep that safe.

She appears to have been jazzed up in a few places, the quarter light triangle is normally body colour and the sill finisher appears to have been replaced with a new stainless one, (I suspect the kick plate has as well?), theyre normally painted silver mild steel.

Ironically the badge on her tailgate shouldnt on the tailgate at all, thats the bonnet badge I have on mine. The minor 1000 on tailgate shouldnt be there either. Can I suggest shes been tinkered with, by adding saloon chrome trim?

Are those Iain mackensies (Iain in tainbury) rear inner arches, and rear mudflaps fitted to it too?

She looks a really good project though, she doesnt need much work at all does she?

Cheers

Steve B

Looks can be deceiving.
She is a genuine 1 owner, 43K truck.Been stored since 1982. However that's about as good as it gets. The list of repair panels to do it right include the bed floor and arches both sides, outer arches, rear corners and side stays, possibly inner and outer rear valences as well. The cab needs inner and outer sills, plus lower plates, also work on the bases of the B pillars and the rear lower panel. The cab back, doors and bonnet are all very good. The chassis needs a n/s front leg and a n/s rear leg repair, also the rear X member and tank rails. Bear in mind that from a business perspective it's sometimes quicker and thus cheaper to replace rather than repair bits.
I was aware that the bonnet badge had ended up on the tailgate, didn't realise that the sill finishers and vent wing trims were saloon type also.
Engine is seized, and obviously all the mechanicals need going right through, again most consumable stuff will be replaced as a matter of course.
The tilt is nice, it's now resting over a purpose made frame to keep it's shape.

[beelzibus]

you should consider joining the Minor LCV Register

Regards

H

Tell me more please.

[RussLCV]

Visit our website and register your LCV on line

[beelzibus]

So, nearly a year has passed, and our 'hospital job' has progressed somewhat. Today I finished all of the obvious welding , the next stage is for a whole pile of parts to head to a specialist media blaster we have locally to remove all traces of paint and surface rust from everything. I'm sure when it all returns I'll have to strike up the mig again in a few places.
This van turned out to be a real rotter. Starting at the front it's had one engine bay side plate, both door pillar closing plates, a repair on the top of one inner wing, another around the rectangular aperture on the other inner wing, inner sills, boxing plates, lower sills, the rear edge of the floor, the cab lower crossmember, various other floor pan repairs, all in all quite a bit. At the back both side panels had arch repairs let in, rear corner repairs, repairs where the side stays mount, and repairs to the upright sections at the front where they bolt to the cab. A new front crossmember, new inner rear valence, and outer rear valence as well. Oh and two complete inner floor panels with arches. Doors were good, just a couple of cracks at the top of the drivers door to zip up, the bonnet seems perfect apart from the aforementioned badge holes which have now been disposed of. The tailgate was the same, no rot, but holes on both inner and outer skins to be dealt with. Both front wings have been ditched, too much work required to be viable. The front panel, grille, valence all were sound, save for a little damage around the number plate mounts. That was about it rot wise.
Now the big task of working out what's what in all the boxes, what's missing and where to find those missing bits.

A few issues I have now; Remember our bumper quandary, well regardless of wether the chrome blade was original, dealer fit or whatever, we've decided based on it's not great chrome to have it stripped, lose the overiders and trim the ends to turn it into an LCV bumper. So, does anyone have any dimensions, patterns to trim the ends? I'm sure we can't be the only ones to do this.

Also, I understand that the wheels, sill panels, and grill should all be silver. What's a decent match for the original silver please?

Going back to the grill for a minute, does an LCV still have the polished alloy surround, and the chrome trims around that as a saloon does, or something different?
Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

[Pikey]

Re your question on the bumper blade trimming, I havent got any dimensions to hand, but you wouldnt go wrong with making a nice 2 inch radius around bolt hole which is the second from the end of the blade. I can measure mine if you wanted?

Re wheel silver, Ive sprayed mine with the wheel silver that is readily available at Halfords. Looks alright I think.

Re your grill the chrome surround is as per the saloon variants. The actual grill louvers are white on a Persian Blue LCV.

have you got a parts manual. Have a look at Davids field relic restoration. On his last page I sent a link to a "spriteguru" website that give the parts book.



Cheers

Steve

[beelzibus]

Cheers for that, I would like some measurements if you have an original LCV bumper to hand. No panic timewise, it all goes off to the blasters tomorrow.
As for the parts manual PDF, I found that a few weeks back, thought I'd saved a link, went to find it last night and couldn't. Then couldn't remember where i'd got it in the first place. Took me two hours to find it again. Thanks anyway.
Interesting about the grille colour. I'd heard that all LCV's after a certain date (65?) had silver grilles.
I had thought of trying a basic wheel silver.

[les]

I bought a litre of basic wheel silver and added a few drops of black pigment, as the original silver was a darkish grey.
I can measure the overall length of the bumper for you, if you do not get an answer in the meantime.

[beelzibus]

So, welding was completed a couple of weeks back, leaving the old girl looking like this:








It was then off for blasting.....