Morris Minor Owners Club

A few pictures of my finished car. More to follow. It's just on my drive back together after fitting a hazard switch. I did have one already but it was rubbish and had started flashing the lights at insane speed.

Stephen

My last job now that the car is "finished" was to fit a USB charging socket. I wanted this to be hidden and so I have hidden it behind the strengthening arch. My car is positive earth so I have used a fully insulated USB socket mounted in a "pod". The advantage of the pod is that it can just be stuck with double-sided adhesive pads to the metal underside of the glovebox. No drilling required. I have discreetly taken a green wire from the fuse box with the addition of a 10 amp inline fuse. We have managed for some time by plugging the GPS into a charging "brick" which lasts quite a long time but a charging socket is better.

For anybody interested, this is the pod made by Alfatronix of Poole, Dorset. These pods are also used on trains and buses. Very well made and robust. https://www.tcschandlery.co.uk/alfatron ... WEQAvD_BwE

The charger unit is this one: https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/blue-sea ... X_v-uk11bT

Stephen

Just to show I am not too precious now the car is beautiful, here we are at the supermarket this morning.

As soon as I've fitted a rug on the back seat my German Shepherd Dog can go for a ride.

Stephen

If anybody wants to fit a USB charger socket to a positive earth car they will no doubt be aware that you need a fully insulated charger that is completely isolated from the car body and that has separate connections for + and -. What they may not be aware of is that when in use on a positive earth car, the exposed metal at the end of a USB-C charging cable is now - relative to the + bodywork. If you touch the end of the cable against exposed metal of the bodywork it will short. Of course a smart charger limits the current and a fuse will blow long before any risk to the wiring. However, to prevent this happening at all, you can buy covers for the end of the cable. Now there is no risk of a short and the risk is further reduced if the device is only plugged in when the ignition is off.

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 4:07 pm If anybody wants to fit a USB charger socket to a positive earth car they will no doubt be aware that you need a fully insulated charger that is completely isolated from the car body and that has separate connections for + and -. What they may not be aware of is that when in use on a positive earth car, the exposed metal at the end of a USB-C charging cable is now - relative to the + bodywork. If you touch the end of the cable against exposed metal of the bodywork it will short.

Is that the voice of experience, or just thinking forward to consequences of the undertaking......

geoberni wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 4:15 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 4:07 pm If anybody wants to fit a USB charger socket to a positive earth car they will no doubt be aware that you need a fully insulated charger that is completely isolated from the car body and that has separate connections for + and -. What they may not be aware of is that when in use on a positive earth car, the exposed metal at the end of a USB-C charging cable is now - relative to the + bodywork. If you touch the end of the cable against exposed metal of the bodywork it will short.

Is that the voice of experience, or just thinking forward to consequences of the undertaking......

Just from my research before I fitted the charger and to prevent mishap and annoyance of blown fuses. I fitted the inline fuse holder to be easily accessible in the engine bay next to the existing inline fuse for the sidelights. The inline fuse holders are quite difficult to find without already having tails fitted. The type I fitted requires the contacts to be crimped on and to remember to thread the housing and spring on to the wire before crimping on the contact.

Stephen

I have collected parts over the years that have waited a long time for the car to be good enough for them to be used. Examples are the NOS Lucas front and rear lights that have been fitted.

Here is another, the petrol cap. The original has a much thicker gasket than the cork replacements. I think I will soak this gasket in oil before fitting as it is obviously very dry.


Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 4:42 pm I have collected parts over the years that have waited a long time for the car to be good enough for them to be used. Examples are the NOS Lucas front and rear lights that have been fitted.

Here is another, the petrol cap. The original has a much thicker gasket than the cork replacements. I think I will soak this gasket in oil before fitting as it is obviously very dry.

Stephen

Basil had a black plastic lockable one fitted when I brought him, which looked a bit out of place, but I soon swapped it for a Chrome lockable which cost me not a lot at an autojumble

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 4:30 pm
Just from my research before I fitted the charger and to prevent mishap and annoyance of blown fuses. I fitted the inline fuse holder to be easily accessible in the engine bay next to the existing inline fuse for the sidelights. The inline fuse holders are quite difficult to find without already having tails fitted. The type I fitted requires the contacts to be crimped on and to remember to thread the housing and spring on to the wire before crimping on the contact.

Stephen

geoberni wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 5:23 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 4:42 pm I have collected parts over the years that have waited a long time for the car to be good enough for them to be used. Examples are the NOS Lucas front and rear lights that have been fitted.

Here is another, the petrol cap. The original has a much thicker gasket than the cork replacements. I think I will soak this gasket in oil before fitting as it is obviously very dry.

Stephen

Basil had a black plastic lockable one fitted when I brought him, which looked a bit out of place, but I soon swapped it for a Chrome lockable which cost me not a lot at an autojumble

I would like an in-period chrome locking one but they are not easy to find and know that they will fit. I do like the chain type original as I cannot forget the cap.I was shocked how much money it cost to fill up with petrol and I remember the days when syphoning petrol theft from cars was commonplace.

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 5:30 pm
I would like an in-period chrome locking one but they are not easy to find and know that they will fit. I do like the chain type original as I cannot forget the cap.I was shocked how much money it cost to fill up with petrol and I remember the days when syphoning petrol theft from cars was commonplace.

Stephen

What I did was take a photo of the one that was fitted, which I could then refer to, to see the arrangement of the locking parts, compare lug sizes and the diameter.
Then when visiting any autojumble, I always had it for reference and I always take a tape measure with me, should I want to check the size of anything.
I even got 2 keys with it.

geoberni wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 6:40 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat May 02, 2026 5:30 pm
I would like an in-period chrome locking one but they are not easy to find and know that they will fit. I do like the chain type original as I cannot forget the cap.I was shocked how much money it cost to fill up with petrol and I remember the days when syphoning petrol theft from cars was commonplace.

Stephen

What I did was take a photo of the one that was fitted, which I could then refer to, to see the arrangement of the locking parts, compare lug sizes and the diameter.
Then when visiting any autojumble, I always had it for reference and I always take a tape measure with me, should I want to check the size of anything.
I even got 2 keys with it. 20190708_181622.jpg

Good idea!

Stephen

Morris reloaded with "essentials". Tools, various spare parts, kneeling pad, jack, head torch, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, warning triangle, high-vis vests, spare oil etc. Ready for Minors on Tour to France but I am taking the Morris on a work trip this week (which is a fairly long journey). This is for two reasons: my modern over-complicated German car is playing up with numerous electrical faults and I want to take the Morris on a "shakedown" to show up faults ahead of France. Every year on Minors on Tour we have at least one car that packs up practically pulling out of the owner's drive. I do not want the embarrassment and stress of that being me!

This work trip will be the first time I have ever had the luxury of seeing the route on the phone screen and the ability to charge my phone via the car. Previously, if I was on my own, I would have the phone in the glovebox saying the directions but I had no mount for it so I couldn't see the screen. I would go wrong repeatedly and worry that the phone would run out of battery.

Stephen

Niggles continue. This time flickering and dim off-side headlight.

First place I looked was the earth on the inner wing and sure enough, the bullet connector was loose in the socket on the inner wing. I disconnected the black earth wire from the socket on the inner wing, Squeezed the metal tube with pliers to make it tighter and reinstalled the earth wire. All good now. Simple things but they take time. I actually bothered to take the headlight out and measure the voltage at the pins. With the poor connection 8.2 volts. With the connection solid, 11.97 volts. Battery voltage at battery terminals 12.5 volts. Battery could do with a slight top up.

Of course it wasn't that simple........When everything was back together again I switched on the headlights. They were bright and equal brightness left and right. Being thorough, I then decided to jiggle the pigtail wire to the headlights and lo and behold they flickered. So more than one fault. Taking the headlight out again I discovered that the H4 connector block was really rather loose (I had noticed it came off rather easily). The problem was the connection to the earth pin of the headlight bulb. The spade connector in the plastic connecting block is a latched spade connector (so that it doesn't pop out when you plug in the bulb). With care the "barb" of the latching connector can be pushed down with a small screwdriver and then the spade connector can be removed from the socket and tightened up with pliers. Then I fitted the spade connector directly to the bulb (without installing it in the connecting block) to check it fitted and was tight. It was, so I put everything back together again. So a bit annoying but the headlight would only have failed during the trip so better sorted out now. It turned out there were problems at both ends of the earth wire on the headlight pigtail.

Stephen

Just getting spares and tools together for France. Find this old tax disc in amongst my tools. That was quite a while ago when I lived in Edinburgh! I might display it on the car again as a souvenir.

Stephen

I used my new facilities to mount and charge (MagSafe mount from Halfords) my iPhone for GPS use on a trip of about 2 hours each way. It worked well but even on maximum volume it could be hard to hear the spoken instructions when travelling at speed due to the din of the engine. I already had a portable Bluetooth speaker so I have placed it on the parcel shelf. I can charge 2 devices at once so now I can hear the GPS instructions and listen to some music if I want to.

Stephen


https://youtube.com/shorts/NTuIOCqPS5Q?feature=share

Back from Minors on Tour 2026 to France yesterday.

This seems a fitting end to this rambling restoration thread, "Xavier" won first prize in the Ian Portsmouth Award for best car on tour as judged by the French Classic Car Club (who joined us for the big photo of all the cars together and for Le Drive).

From loved shabby old thing (like Bagpuss) he is now a show winner!

Unfortunately, his lovely new paint got a massive hammering in a terrible hailstorm and he now sports quite a few dents. He couldn't be without battle scars for more than a few weeks. C'est la vie.

Xavier was very cantankerous and broke down 3 times with ignition issues. He just wants to prevent me getting a big head about his prize. Each time I had him going in 10 minutes but on one occasion whilst broken down on a roundabout in Saint Malo, a seagull did the most enormous mess over me and the car........grrrr.

Stephen

This is the hailstorm that pummelled our cars during Minors on Tour 2026 near Granville, France on 27th May. Also a picture at Chateau de Chanteloupe.

Stephen

Link to video of hailstorm:

https://youtu.be/07K1uYa9wVc