Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi

I realise I've probably started this thread in the wrong place under bodywork technical rather than restoration projects, if a moderator wishes to move this thread to the right section of the forum please do...

Sorry ;-)

Nigel

So today I tackled the side plates for the front end alignment jig, this was something I was struggling with due to the measurements being in inches and the available sizes of plate in metric form, So I figured I would use a cornflake packet to test my working out on. Here is the cut cardboard template, this enabled me to check I had the right shape plotted out before i cut the more expensive steel. First cut with the plasma cutter... I am still learning to use this tool and I had not tried to cut this thickness of plate before with it so I found it a but difficult to get the cut right. The first side plate cut out, once i had persevered with the machine I managed to get a reasonable cut. The edges are rough but they can be sanded smooth with the belt sander/electric file.

Using the plasma cutter made it very easy to cut this shape, doing it with a grinder or a jigsaw would have taken a long time and would have required a lot more patience from me... I am happy with todays efforts, tomorrow evening I may cut the other side plate to complete the pair.. Then its on with the bits of angle and drilling the holes needed in the right locations to keep the jig accurate.

Regards

Nigel

test fit of the side plates, I have welded in the bolts for attaching the bumper mounts, the plates look to be correct so far, next stage is to get the eye bolts out and feed an 18mm rod through the chasis legs and into the plates to get them aligned correctly, then I can mark up the holes to be drilled to connect it to the damper mounts. The eye bold was stuck solid, i tried heat, I tried everything.. in the end i realised i needed to cut away at the tube to try and get it moving, so i hit it with the plasma cutter, as i knew the head would help also. here you can see how i cut away part of the tube to get on the bolt. Here is the bolt removed.. its a mess but the combination of cutting and heating help me get it out of the original leg. I think i have preserved enough of the original alignment to base a point of reference from.

Work is stopped today as we have to take our spaniel (Red) down to the vets to say our final good byes, his fight with cancer is now coming to and end as he is no longer able to live comfortably. So not sure atm when ill get back on this but, I am sure I will be back on it soon.

Nigel.

Sorry to hear about Red - it's hard to say goodbye but it sounds like it was the best for him.

Hello Nigel

Sorry to hear that Red's time is up. I understand how hard it is.

The car will be there when you feel like getting back to it.

Don

Hi all,

I'm back working on the car this weekend, I hadn't made a lot of progress mainly down to motivation but this week i have bitten the bullet and got stuck in. I have had the pins machined for the alignment jig and I've started to put the bits together.

Closeup of pin fitted passenger side, plates are just resting in position on the pins and the bumper mount bar awaiting a tube to be tacked in place between them. showing the side view of the whole thing. Next up starting to put it all together.

made some brackets out of angle iron, sanded them up and drilled and tapped holes in the damper mount bar, to mount them these will be bolted and welded to the side plates.

here is one close up, complete with M8 bolts holding it in place. another view from underneath the same part. I was really please with how well the tapped holes lined up, usual these things dont look as tidy for me lol .. The other side completed here, is a view of the whole bar, I have fluffed the holes up for the damper mounts, so I'm considering options to replace this bar once i have this all mocked up and fitting nicely, as i want to turn the car on this jig, it needs to fit right and be secure. I also took some time to tack weld that tube in between the plates.. so I could remove the whole assembly from the car safely. Feels like progress, I have made a few cockups, the threads don't feel great on the car in the damper mounts so I have a 5/16 BSF tap set on its way to clean them out and I've ordered some new bolts to bolt the jig to the car, i have some UNF bolts I think may work for the engine mount points, but not sure if I should use a courser thread as ill be having to unbolt it regularly while changing the chassis legs.

Lots to think about... I have also had a sort out of bolts, labelled the bins and set up a louvre panel for them so i don't mix them all up again..

I know my bench is a shocking mess and I'm going to sort it but its a tomorrow job atm..

Feels good to be back on the minor again, hopping to get stuck in over the coming weeks and make some progress on getting it on the rollover jig properly.. so lets see how far i get

Hope everyone is well.