Morris Minor Owners Club

New book, well I treated myself, having had a flick through it, im glad i have it as it looks like it will be useful to refer too. water drained and front panel/radiator off... what is that goo coming out of the thermostat housing... yuk here we can see the new water pump I fitted just before she came off the road. and yea more goo caught in my catch pan. what is that stuff??? eww

anyhow I've loosened the rocker cover bolts ready for the lifting eye's and also soaked the rest of the engine towers and mount bolts with penetrating oil. I have started to remove paint and loosen bolts.. does anyone know if the engine tower bolts have captive nuts?

Also I have disconnected exhaust, throttle and choke cables, water heater hoses and control cable, besides the prop shaft and gearbox cover, cross member and mounts this sucker is almost ready to come out.

I have stopped and now enjoying a swift vodka and lemonade to celebrate a job well done.. tomorrow will be the gearbox cover and prepping the remaining bits to lift the engine and gearbox out... oh and the drivers wing needs to come off... I hope

The engine tower bolts do not have captive bolts.

New toy arrived today from Amazon... I was going to make one but then saw the price and thought what the hell. lifting bar attached and the slack is taken up, i did take the weight of the engine off the car quite comfortably, and then let it down again to rest. cover removed from gearbox, next job is to disconnect the clutch, speedo drive and drop the gearbox cross member a very oily gearbox cover..

I didn't get too much time out there tonight as I had to work a bit later today by a few hours, otherwise there would have been another set of photos with the engine on the floor.. maybe tomorrow night..

philthehill wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 8:25 am The engine tower bolts do not have captive bolts.

Awesome thankyou, that makes like easier..

I believe the tie bar would have originally been welded to the lip on the edge on the bonnet (based on ours having torn welds there).

I've used Lechler products a fair bit. They are about as good as it gets.

so today the big lift happened. unfortunately I forgot to drain the gearbox oil and it ran out the end when I lifted the engine. The lifting frame with the block and tackle made this job so easy, in the past I've used an engine crane... Never again.. I will always use this method in future so much more control in the lift. The empty engine bay, not much more to strip out now... need to think about the jig design and I am concerned about front end alignment I have tried to fid a copy of the book with the details on how to build an alignment jig.. but no joy yet.. The next job was to build a dolly to roll the engine and gearbox about on, next job will be to extract the remaining gearbox oil, and to take the engine outside with the pressure washer and completely clean it down. Another view of the dolly I regret the size of the wheels it does make it hard to move around as they are small, but the rollover jig will have bigger casters to let me move the car around once its up in the air on the pole.

So the jobs list now looks like this:
1) remove centre console with switches and speedo, the heater, handbrake lever, headlining, and remaining seatbelt parts.
2) remove the drivers wing.
3) drain brake fluid and remove brake master cylinder, pedals to come out, and dip switch to come off.
4) build a rollover jig, this will be of the scaffold pole style jig, on castors.
5) remove all the remaining running gear etc off the car and get the car on the jig.
6) identify all the replacement panels needed and order them.
7) make the next to do list.

If I can end next week with the shell on the jig and all the parts safely stored away i will be happy.

kevin s wrote: ↑Thu Jan 14, 2021 11:10 pm I believe the tie bar would have originally been welded to the lip on the edge on the bonnet (based on ours having torn welds there).

I Think your right Kevin, one side I appear to have spot welds and pop rivets on the other, so it looks like its been repaired in the past. I plan to remake the end of the tie bar as the end is torn, for now the bonnet has been put away for storage until im ready to start stripping it back.

So its been a tough few weeks, I have been working on thi8ngs but at a slower pace.

I have built the two stands for the rollover jig, and cut two circles of sterling board with positional hols drilled to enable me to lock the car in position on the stands when turning it in the jig. I deliberated about the how i was going to build it and I have ended up with a design i think works.

I am having trouble uploading pictures to this site and not sure why atm, but i will try to update when i get the pictures working again.

Mockup of the rollover jig stands, I have a longer scaffold pole but this is an offcut i used to check it would hold and turn in the stand. all glued and bolted up with the outrigger leg showing thr glue up stand from another angle. With the castors fitted, two of them are braked, and the stand will be used with the outrigger leg pointing under the car. This is the 2nd stand built, i took time building these to make sure they were strong and sturdy but also as accurate as I could manage.

These have been built using reclaimed or residual wood, i had to buy the castors, bolts, washers and nuts, the scaffold pole was also given to me, by a friendly neighbour. So I hope the cost saving will be worth it

Another reason for the delay, was i needed to rehome my milling machine onto a new bench, and also build a bench for more generally metal fabrication use. The mobile bench carcass, this is my standard construction for benches except for the addition of the castors, this gives me flexibility to move things around when im not using the machine, I've built quite a few benches in the past so now i just knock them together off the top of my head. The completed bench ready for use. Lifting the milling machine off of my workmate.. I couldn't lift this machine, it took three of us to put it where it was. Having my lifting gantry makes life so much easier and I will come in handy many times in this restoration. the milling machine is now on its new resting place, not bolted down but its now movable safely and when the time comes ill restore it too for use.. but the Morris has been waiting longer The garage has been proper cold and even though I have my gas heater I've found it tough to stay out there longer than 3-4hours the past few weeks. I don't often do selfies so make the most of it.. 2nd of Feb marked one year since my son took his own life, so ill be honest my motivation to do this has been a bit out of whack. but i am determined to do something each day on it no matter how small. Lastly i then threw this bench together, this has a frame to hook in a piece of sterling board with various metal working tools bolted to it, here its modelling my sheet metal shear. I have a small set of rolling bars, the bead rollers and a sheet metal brake (once built) to find homes for so they will probably live under this bench and then set up when needed on top. This will also be the bench where i rebuild the engine and gearbox..

I am still setting up my workshop and i desperately need to clean up and clear off my main bench but... life is short. I have a stack load of storage bins, and I am shelving out the upstairs in roof space above for storing all the parts from the car, and to have a system of rebuild/restoration of parts as they are refreshed and then boxed up ready for refitting when needed.

Not much MM action in this post but the next one will right that..

I have taken delivery of a tin of craftmaster engine enamel MWOG Green to do the engine with, but its a bit cold to be painting anything, its ready for when I've dismantled the engine and I have it ready to paint. i cut a bit of sterling board and bolted into the back seat area, I hope to be able to secure it to the pole with some angle iron and an exhaust clamp, as i have no faith in the bumper mounting locations and I know i need to repair those areas i felt this may be good enough... time will tell... Heater which is originally a mini one removed and draining into a bucket, the rest of the dashboard components removed, this is before i packed them into a box for storage to be cleaned, check, tested, replaced.. etc... the sound deadening is rotten.. lol as is everything else on this car. Empty dash, it looks odd like this but its nearly completely stripped inside.. there is surface rust inside the dash so im looking forward to applying the epoxy primer in here to seal it, just not sure how I'm going to remove it all ATM, I may just go mad in there with a small brush and kill rust to convert it.. A quick pot shot from the engine bay, the wiring loom is almost off the car its really only attached in the engine bay where it heads under the car, when I jack it ill remove the rest of it.. the loom is in a poor state and I'm considering replacing it all, how the car didn't catch fire ill never know, by the amount of bare wire I have found and with all the oil on the body its amazing it survived.

I the remote brake reservoir is upside down in a coffee jar so the fluid can drain out ready for me to remove the hose. then ill syringe out the master cylinder and remove it with the pedals.

I removed one of the engine mounts to get a taste for what's underneath, which is surprise surprise.. more holes...

Not far to go now, it will be the installation of the pole, and then the removal of the suspension and back axel and then were ready to start work on stripping the shell, I have considered sending it for blasting, but I'm worried there wont be much of the shell left, so I've opted for using paint stripper and i will work my way around it as i do the various areas of the car.. the first thing will be to get some strength back into the sills and floor pans before going too mad on the rear and the front. I think there's not many places that don't need attention, having owned this car for over a quarter of my life I am going to save it.

So I'm still working on my list from the 16th however it now looks like this....

1) remove handbrake lever, headlining, and remaining seatbelt parts.
2) remove the drivers wing.
3) drain brake fluid and remove brake master cylinder, pedals to come out, and dip switch to come off.
4) install the scaffold pole, for the rollover jig.
5) remove all the remaining running gear etc off the car and get the car on the jig.
6) identify all the replacement panels needed and order them.
7) make the next to do list.

Sorry ive been quiet of late, its been a tough month all in all, but focusing on Nobby..

I did manage to get the car on my home made rollover jig, but the car wasn't safe it would rock back and forth over the ends of the vehicle and I wasn't happy with it. So i have changed my approach and decided to use a commercially available jig from a supplier that's local to me. This is me painting the smaller parts, i gave them a quick coat of Hammarite Metal grey paint. And again the longer parts. And here you can see the completed stands built up with the loader attached, all ready to go. Next i need firm Bumper mounts to attach it all too. so I decided to start looking at repairing the front end. started to strip out the Tie plate to replace the old rotten one with a new one. So what may or may not be clear here is my chassis legs have been repaired in the past which wasn't obvious to me.. until I opened it up, the repair is not terrible but its not good, the chassis leg is out of shape, distorted by the welding of a folded plate over the top of the full length of the original chassis leg, which means they are both full of rusty metal, the repair is now rotten through in multiple places. I have decided the chassis legs need to be replaced while I'm doing this job I may as well put it all right..

I'm of little to no use regarding the restoration work your undertaking on the body of your car, but just wanted to say how much admiration I have for how your getting stuck in with it. I've read about the unimaginably tough times you've had of late (I can't even begin to imagine) and I hope that despite the cold weather (not to mention the slightly inadequate looking gas heater!!!) the resto and building up your workshop is giving a good focus. I am full of respect - I'm getting to the end of the working day and am trying to psych myself up to go and sort out a rear wheel cylinder on my car, which isn't quite the same as a complete restoration!!

All the best with it, and keep the progress updates coming

Definitely worth doing the chassis legs they are one of the most highly stressed areas and hide their corrosion well until the day your front suspension collapses.

Our car was in a very similar condition if you look at our restoration thread (VAE 306H) you will see how I approached many of the problems. (mind you it took us 5 years)

For the chassis legs I set the body level on axle stands under the sills, then took loads of side to side and fore and aft measurements then cut one side at a time out welding the replacement in using the other side and the measurements as a reference.

Before cutting all the front up I would be inclined to get the centre of the shell stable though (sills, crossmember floors and door posts) doing one side at a time and as you are using a spit be careful to make sure things are well braced before cutting too much out.

liammonty wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 6:06 pm I'm of little to no use regarding the restoration work your undertaking on the body of your car, but just wanted to say how much admiration I have for how your getting stuck in with it. I've read about the unimaginably tough times you've had of late (I can't even begin to imagine) and I hope that despite the cold weather (not to mention the slightly inadequate looking gas heater!!!) the resto and building up your workshop is giving a good focus. I am full of respect - I'm getting to the end of the working day and am trying to psych myself up to go and sort out a rear wheel cylinder on my car, which isn't quite the same as a complete restoration!!

All the best with it, and keep the progress updates coming

Thanks for the encouragement, the gas heater works ok for me lol but it can still be cold on the colder days, I really have it just to take the edge off, being in Huntingdon we don't get too cold anyway

But yea I will admit I have struggled to find the motivation to get on with it the past few weeks, but if i go out there and sit next to it for an hour then remove one bolt its still worth the effort. I think once I can get to the stage where new metal is going onto the car i will feel 100 times happier with it all.. so as for now i just keep chipping away each day as and when i can.

I like doing brakes, that's the fun part for me, the mechanical parts... all my family's cars come to me for brakes, its so important that you can stop and that they work efficiently. My minor currently has marina disks on the front and drums on the rear but no servo, I intend to put it all back with a remote servo kit. For me there is nothing better than putting your foot on the brake and finding a good firm pedal and feeling the car dig into the road and slow down, that was a rare thing on my Morris when I used to drive it...

I hope you got it sorted

Nigel.

kevin s wrote: ↑Tue Mar 23, 2021 8:12 pm Definitely worth doing the chassis legs they are one of the most highly stressed areas and hide their corrosion well until the day your front suspension collapses.

Our car was in a very similar condition if you look at our restoration thread (VAE 306H) you will see how I approached many of the problems. (mind you it took us 5 years)

For the chassis legs I set the body level on axle stands under the sills, then took loads of side to side and fore and aft measurements then cut one side at a time out welding the replacement in using the other side and the measurements as a reference.

Before cutting all the front up I would be inclined to get the centre of the shell stable though (sills, crossmember floors and door posts) doing one side at a time and as you are using a spit be careful to make sure things are well braced before cutting too much out.

Hi Kevin,

I have seen your thread, i was drawn to it because of the rear swage repair which is a similar problem on my car, my shell is already proven to be out of alignment in places, so i plan to tread very carefully, the first thing I'm doing is to build an alignment jig for the front which can be bolted to the rollover jig and give good support from the engine and damper mounts, then I will brace the inside of the shell in various places, on the measurement side of things I agree I need to take them but ill be referring back to a diagram on this forum to get my "what should be" so there will an element of this is my measurement and this is what it should be going on... the main thing for me is to get the suspension and chassis mount points straightened out first.

Any sane person would not restore this car as its in a very bad way, but I am not that person lol...

By the time I'm finished most of the shell will be new panels. Thankyou for the good advice, I am in two minds as to weather to do the front end or the centre section first, I know i need to do the crossmember before everything else as most of mine on the passenger side has already waisted away. My problem being most of what it attaches too needs to be replaced also..

I'm sure it will all come clear, for now ill get my alignment jig finished and then crack on with the bracing of the shell.

Nigel

The selection of steel plate I have ordered for the front end alignment jig i am going to make. This is a test, making up the bracket for the top tube of the jig, but I'm not sure if I'm going to make it that way at the moment, i may bolt the side plates straight to the bar that locates in the damper mounts. the damper mount bar drilled and test fitted, I need to add the outer locating holes but they are very close to the end of the bar so im going to cut slots for these bolts. The engine mount bolt holes don't line up perfectly on the chassis legs on the car, however they do seam to fit the panels, so I assume there are existing alignment issues which is no surprise. but the part of the jig is drilled now I need to cut the side plates. The pole will be shortened and clamped back in place to give some more support to the shell, even though im now not using it as part of the jig, i feel its useful to bolt to the cross bracing too and better support the shell from front to back.

The bar for the bumper attachment on the alignment jig, attached to the front mounting for the rollover jig to check the hole alignment, this is ready to attach to the alignment jig once i have the side plates cut. the other end of the jig ready to roll on the back end... Making a start on the cross bracing, using exhaust clamps to bolt each part of the cross bracing to the centre pole. A sneaky shot of the state of the old Cross member, there's not a lot left holding this car in shape, however I will try and preserve it as much as I can.. I want to remove the torsion springs, but I'm worried this may cause distortion given the lack of steel here.. so I have decided I need to complete the cross bracing before removing them.

So things are moving forward but at a slower pace than Id hoped, which in itself is probably not a bad thing.

Nigel