Morris Minor Owners Club

the function of the black device atop the inlet manifold?

It has the look of an anti icing device or some magic MPG increaser.

MarkyB wrote:

the function of the black device atop the inlet manifold?

It has the look of an anti icing device or some magic MPG increaser.

hi MarkyB your right it is called an Induction heater(part no 31670) and longer studs(part no 31672) were also required
these were fitted to cars exported to countries where extremes of cold temperatures exist

here you can see the coil wire and in the other the electric terminal[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Very interesting! Thanks, guys. If I wanted to hook this up, how would I go about it? Does it earth through the engine? How is it shut off when not needed?

I've only done one thing on Mog today, and that's making the battery tray, which I cut out of 1/8" thick rubber.[frame][/frame]
The rental place was closed today, so we're waiting til Monday to rent the cherry-picker.

Fingolfin wrote:Very interesting! Thanks, guys. If I wanted to hook this up, how would I go about it? Does it earth through the engine? How is it shut off when not needed?

due to its age maybe best to leave well alone and not connected up
just keep her in a garage on winter nights and she will always start
unless you get super cold winters etc

Thanks Alex, I'll keep all that in mind. We'll actually be building a garage soon. Lots of progress on Mog since my last post (over a week ago!) but not as much progress as I'd like.

The engine and gearbox (as one) went in smoothly as silk, thanks to the rented cherry-picker:[frame][/frame]
The right-front wing was next on the list, and some brief exploration with the screwdriver revealed the extent of the damage:[frame][/frame]I decided to go on and purchase a new one. A bit pricey, but worth it, I believe.

The manifolds went on easily:[frame][/frame]
And soon after, the dynamo, carburetor, and other ancillaries followed:[frame][/frame]
Mog got a lovely new battery:[frame][/frame]The restraining bar is made of some bent-up aluminum rod, which was easier to fabricate than a proper steel restraint would have been. Not sure if I'll keep it like this, though.

You can see here that the new battery works:[frame][/frame]
Now, a problem. I tried to put on the speedometer drive cable, but it would only screw on part way. This is as far as it would go with the assistance of needlenose pliers:[frame][/frame]
Also, where does this clip go?[frame][/frame]
The exhaust pipe was mounted with some ease:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
You may have noticed, by this point, that the engine and gearbox are not properly mounted, but are just sitting where they're supposed to go. This is because I still have work to do on the clutch linkage (waiting on a part).

Next I started work on those headlight bowls. This is what they looked like with the bad metal cut out:[frame][/frame]
And here's the one with less to repair, finished and sitting in its wing:[frame][/frame]Took quite a while, that. The other one is today's project.

The master cylinder was easy to refurbish and, after ensuring it worked, I slotted it in the chassis leg and secured it with the bolts:[frame][/frame]I put the bolts in so that the nuts are outboard, facing the torsion bar. But I really don't see how the nuts could possibly touch the bar; there's more than enough clearance, except if the bar were bent (say, in a frontal collision, when I really have more to be worrying about than scrapes on my torsion bar!).

Finally, and this is a small item, I replaced the rubber gasket around the fuel filler pipe (excuse the bad paint):[frame][/frame]

Today, as mentioned, is the other headlight bowl. I'll also do a little wiring work (the wiper motor won't self-park, and I nearly blew it up yesterday trying to get it to do so), and probably some other welding, too (the passenger door has a stress fracture, etc.), and MAYBE I'll put some sealant in the windshield rubber and put in the chrome strip. Mog's got the earlier metal strip, so that should be fun. Clutch linkage Tuesday I hope, with engine and gearbox firmly mounted then; propshaft balanced Wednesday or Thursday; wiring finished by next weekend, along with brakes (not filling them, just finishing them structurally). Hoping to fire the engine before my 21st birthday, on 25 June.

Revision: the wipers now self-park in the correct spot, without blowing anything up. Also, an in-car ammeter is dead handy for wiring work!

And, more importantly, here's Mog with the chrome strip inserted! THAT was a hard job. Two hours of two people madly shoving and digging with screwdrivers. [frame][/frame]

Both headlight bowls have been finished. [frame][/frame]

Are you not done yet?

Poor show young man!

Seriously impressed with the quality of your work and attention to detail here, big thumbs up from me!

how did you make it self park? mine won't and it is annoying flicking the switch on and off to get them in the right position.

It only works if the green wire is on the TOP terminal and the green/black wire is on the BOTTOM, and the third terminal has a good earth. You have to turn the circular cap on the wheelbox until the two rivets make a line toward the cable, if that makes sense. Then it should work.

Cheers for that Fin, I will look at the weekend.

You're quite welcome, as ever! And thank you, Tamsin! I do my very best, which is usually just barely good enough. I didn't get the bit for the clutch linkage today (GRRRRRRRR) but I did make some good progress anyway.

The coil lead problem has been solved, first of all, which you can read about here: http://mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=44985. It was a difficult issue but I believe I've resolved it elegantly.

After that, I started connecting some of the wires to the engine ancillaries:[frame][/frame]I'll be converting to negative earth, which means the SW terminal on the coil takes the white/black wire (I think!). And I believe I've gotten the other end of the white/black wire connected to the dizzy in the right spot. Note the white flexi-pipe in the foreground, under the coil lead; that's the oil pressure gauge pipeline, which is now connected at both ends (but I'm unsure where to put it in the engine bay).

Then I solved my earlier problem with the left-rear damper; the upper arm needed to be removed, but I had been unable to shift it. Today I used sockets in the vice as a makeshift press, and was easily able to replace the upper arm. That led to both rear dampers being mounted, with bright yellow polyurethane upper link bushings:[frame][/frame]
And finally I finished the front bumper bar project, replacing the bad bad bad stud with a welded-on foot-long piece of threaded stock, like the other side (and now both nuts match!):[frame][/frame]

Done some stuff this morning with the front panels, seeing if they'll all line up. The results are iffy.

Firstly, I'm considering having the grille powder-coated, as the paint keeps getting knicked (though that's hard to see in this nice photo). I get sick of respraying it, and besides, when on the car it'll be in a pretty high-traffic zone -- rocks and bugs and whatnot -- and I'd rather it stay resilient.[frame][/frame]
I put the cowl on, and it sort of lined up along the top (I was able to get the bolts in, anyway), but the bolt holes DID NOT line up along the bottom. Redrilling will be necessary. The frontispiece (that's what I call it; you might call it the grille surround) lined up with the body holes a little better, but lined up with the cowl holes worse. The radiator slotted in nicely and the bumper went on, but with a little difficulty. I can't wait to have the new wing![frame][/frame]
The radiator has sufficient clearance from the fan blades, which is what I was worried about. The starting handle also has a good level of clearance.[frame][/frame]

I took the propshaft and the grille to the balancer's and the powder-coater's, respectively, this morning. They should be ready for pickup tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Additionally, I got that part I've been waiting on so long![frame][/frame]I was missing a correctly-sized drill bit, however, so I was unable to complete the linkage today. Tomorrow.

Getting the linkage in allowed me to tighten down the engine and gearbox mounts. I added an extra earthing strap at the front of the engine:[frame][/frame]
I also tautened the gearbox steady cable:[frame][/frame]Apologies for my thumb in the shot.

we'll forgive the thumb! looking good and coming on well Fin

Well it turns out that if you add three centimeters to the clutch linkage plates, you get an extra two inches of pedal free travel. The pedal now only engages the clutch with about 3/4" remaining to the floor, so, problem. I'm ordering proper plates (and pins, mine are quite worn) to go in there. Boy, the clutch linkage is taking a while!

Happier things await, though. I got Mog's grille powder-coated -- only $60 and it should last for three or five decades![frame][/frame]
I also had Mog's propshaft balanced. It was very poorly balanced and apparently was also crooked, so the good fellas at Best-Bilt Clutch and Driveline gave it some love, and complimentary hard-wearing paint (I think). They said the u-joints were in good condition, though.[frame][/frame]
Mog's engine ancillaries are wired up now, too. I can't test them for a while, but the oil pressure light switch seems to work (or it might be stuck open -- in any case, the light glows). Notice the coil is properly connected to the dizzy -- and the dynamo is connected, meaning I "flashed" the magnetic memory. The system is now negative earth.[frame][/frame]
The gauges are all mounted, but the ammeter (leftmost) had one of the yellow connectors break off and I had no more, so I couldn't repair it then (nor mount it, due to the minimal clearance). Tacho mounting, obviously made by Fin.[frame][/frame]
Two questions. One, how does one wire this water temperature gauge? I know it's a wire to the sender unit for earth, and a hot wire from the 10v voltage regulator (which I have), but which connection goes to which terminal on the gauge?[frame][/frame]
Two, how does one wire this tachometer? It's a wire to the coil...and that's all I know. I imagine it earths to the spade on the body of the gauge.[frame][/frame]

I currently have only three of the small gauge backlight sockets (I do have both the speedo backlights), so I can't wire that system up yet. We'll see how I like the green lighting in the temperature gauge. It's rainy today, so I can't do too much.

A while since my last post. Things have been quite slow.

The speedometer cable issue was solved with the replacement of the drive and some gentle teasing of the plastic nut with vice-grips (er, mole-grips).[frame][/frame]
The hydraulic brakes have been structurally completed, in the sense that all the pipes are connected where they're supposed to be, and all the stuff at the pedal is in. THAT was fun.[frame][/frame]The pedal is correctly adjusted, in that there's as little free movement as I can get (1 1/4", while the manual says 3/4"; I have no more travel on the threads), but the pedal sticks way out -- so much that it fouls the gearbox cover on returning. I'm attributing that to the spring needing to stretch a bit.

The brake connections are pretty good.[frame][/frame]
Unfortunately, some of the connections don't do up all the way -- I'm unsure if they'll leak yet, but the copper washers aren't quite clamped down.[frame][/frame]
While I was at it, I cleaned up the brake drums and sprayed them in the heat-resistant paint.[frame][/frame]
After baking, the drums went back on the car, and they look a treat.[frame][/frame]I did discover that I will probably have to replace the right rear oil seal, like I did with the left -- there's a lot of gunk in there.

There was a minor crack in the frontispiece, and I welded that, Bondoed it, and resprayed it. I was dumb though and used a dirty rag to wipe it down before painting -- so it got a bad speckledy finish.[frame][/frame]
Then I began on the bonnet (yay). I had a spare cross-bar and rear support, which Mog's bonnet was missing, and they slotted in okay (though the rear support needs a lot of love).[frame][/frame]
I stripped the old bad paint off. Took several hours.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]I hammered some of the dents, but I'm not a very skilled panel-beater. I considered ordering a lead-free body soldering kit, but it was quite expensive. So now I'm not sure what to do. I don't want to use Bondo -- the bonnet is so flexible that Bondo would just crack out.

Finally, I tidied up the radiator. I discovered under its layers of grease, dirt, and paint that the tank is made of brass, and I love the look of brass, so I left the visible parts bare (and sprayed the steel parts).[frame][/frame]
I removed the overflow pipe -- the copper pipe was falling off anyway and, honestly, who puts a copper pipe in a steel pipe? -- and, with the help of dad, soldered a new copper pipe on.[frame][/frame]
Dad suggested that it was good practice to have an overflow tank, because we have dogs and antifreeze is both tasty and deadly for them, so I fashioned one out of fuel line and a poultry water bottle.[frame][/frame]
I'll have to make a mounting bracket for it. It will probably be mounted low down on the inner wing dome, because mounting it further forward would foul the left-hand horn (assuming I mount it). Incidentally, the water bottle is an excellent size for a windscreen washer bottle -- which I may yet be fitting.

And that's the extent of my activities so far. It's been fairly mundane and more jobs are getting started than are getting finished, mostly because I need a lot of parts from Britain and haven't had the money. But I have the money now, and I'm going to order them tomorrow.

You dont need a washer on the pipe connection as the pipe has a flare on the end which tightens on a corresponding flare in the brass fitting . the washers are to go either side of the banjo fitting that has the bleed nipple which screws into the brake cylinder> hope that was clear if I had an exploded diagram it would be clearer to see it