Morris Minor Owners Club

I know almost everyone here is in RHD land, but I have a mystery. The LHD clutch pedal has an extra part: a little pear-shaped stamped steel lever with a slot on top which fits onto the oblong fitting on the end of the clutch pedal rod. The part number is COM128.

The lower hole of mine was seriously worn, and the upper hole starting to wear, so I bought a replacement. But the slot is an entirely different shape, and much, much smaller. It is not a matter of needing a little filing (though this is all the supplier could suggest); it is clearly meant to go on a differently built part.

I have a scan of the parts here:
The one on the left is the original part.
Here's a tracing to show the difference:


Has anyone ever seen this, by any chance?

I should note that the part supplier went and checked this part against their original and pattern parts, and said it fit. Furthermore, the old parts catalogue picture does look like it's the part supplied, not the one that was on my car. So I'm wondering if there was some shorter run of a different design of the LHD clutch pedal. I doubt I'll find a correct new-old-stock part out there from someone's old supplies, especially since it's only a LHD part, but I can always hope.

(Though I'd really rather find a correct replacement part out there in the world, I've thought of several options to deal with the situation as is. Currently, I've reversed my old part (though this changes the angle slightly, and required a bunch of filing anyway). I might drill out the bottom hole and insert a bush for a temporary fix. Or I could, I suppose, grind down the pedal rod fitting, so that it fits the parts available. I can't face spending the dozens of hours filing away that metal in a part that should be simply stamped differently.)

Dozens of hours of filing to widen that little slot?

Sounds like you need some better quality files and a tin of elbow grease...

I can only suggest that it's an age thing. Your parts may be for an earlier or later car than the one you want.
It's reassuring to know that the supplier checked the lever against their stock of shafts, but that doesn't help you. Needless to say that if the supplier found out that some models had different size slots and that yours was correct for the year of car you stated, then he's supplied you with the wrong part.

As already suggested - with a good set of file it should not take too long at all to modify the new lever. It is of course best to make the slot a tight fit too the lever, as this will help it last longer.

The other option would be to weld up the hole in the old lever and file back to shape, although filing MIG weld may take longer than filing the new lever, and would certainly require good files.

Having worked on Minors for the last 18 years, I can only say that files, knives, cleaning wipes, MIG welding, anle grinder, glue, etc. etc... have come in useful to help 'adjust' new parts.

Good luck whith whichever solution you choose and happy Minoring.

You'll have that filed out before your mug of tea gets cold!

bmcecosse wrote:You'll have that filed out before your mug of tea gets cold!

It'd have to be mighty hot to begin with. ;) I spent 45 minutes with my best files (I am a metalworker; they're good files) adjusting the old part by an almost invisible margin so that it would fit on when flipped over. This is 3/32 of an inch of quarter-inch-thick steel... That's work for a machine. If it were 3/32 of an inch of brass I'd roll my eyes and get out the file, and it would still be tedious and take a long time.

Grinding down the pedal rod's part would be a lot easier, of course.

I'd consider the MIG solution if I had a MIG welder. Our shop is strictly oxy-acetylene, and I don't want to anneal the steel too much.

I'm still curious to know where this came from, if anywhere out in the LHD world has ever run across this problem. It's awfully surprising when the Minor pros don't recognize a variant part. I'd be less surprised by the variation if my car were really early or really late, but it's a '59, well into the 1000s, and well before the end.