Morris Minor Owners Club

looking through the esm online cat, there seems to be a lot of parts out of stock or no longer available

yet other suppliers seem ok or is it just me

ESM did recently upgrade their online system so it shows 'live' availability. Previously nearly everything showed as available even if it was out of stock. Do the other suppliers show live stock data?

Dennis there is a shortage in supply of some items, most inconvenient is the lack of o/s swivel pins and heritage front wings. S pins should be available in around a month (I hope).

so will the pins be original or reconditioned

They will be new units, I believe that they are produced in France for some reason!!.

and as good as original mowog or is this going to be another inferior product

Well you have me there Dennis, who knows

seems to get worse

they are produced in France

Like exhausts from China, panels from India, and so on. A great shame that we can't keep a superb British car as British.

Seriously though, a number of parts go out of stock from time to time, (we had this with swivel pins about 5 or 6 years ago) then the trade effectively puts in a mass order and the manufacturer will schedule a run. It's just not economic to make parts either continuously or in small batches. Remember the lack of fuel pumps a few years ago, literally none of the normal traders had any, then SU shipped 100's. In some cases, just because one of the Minor traders doesn't have any stock, it doesn't mean that they won't have stock from their suppliers within a day or two

Generally speaking, most of the time, most parts are not a problem - and I have been in the position of getting a Minor part next day, whilst waiting for a VW part on a current model for 2-3 weeks.

We have been waiting 3-4 months for the swivel pins, the trade have frantically calling each other to try and find 'one's on the shelf' but there are none. We currently need 12 sets, so had better start saving Same with wings or at least o/s ones, again we need 10 sets times this by the number of bodyshops like ours plus the big suppliers ESM, Bully etc and it will not take long before we have yet another shortage.
Re UK production, my local company who press out parts for LMC, produce fuel tanks and rads etc has just been closed,70 jobs gone at christmas and the wonderfull old presses are just being gas axed for scrap, by the company who used to instal them,but now just break, its such a waste, but a horrid sign of the times, where big business buy out smaller producers just to reduce competition, I just hate it

that is bad then
what about the guys who may need them for mot purposes
is this a sign of the times or is it suppliers not giving enough notice of forthcoming shortages

No its manufacturers creating a demand, to no doubt hike up the prices. Take the fuel tanks, one day £30 next £75 and so on. Time to move market/marque, me thinks

hmm yes that makes sense
and there will come a time when buyers will say, well thats enough now,
is thsi the thin end of the wedge

i remeber in my game a few years ago hardwoods nearly double in price overnight, we had jobs we had priced and were really forced to buy, we could not re price to customers

sad old world really

well i am making this my last morris minor, its a solid structually 2 door, having sold all my vans and pick ups and all my van and pickups new old stock parts

did not think i would say that

i know a mate is making it his last van resto because of the poor quality of parts available to us, and of course later on prices like u say will hike up

this will make the poor old moggie a rather expensive classis

move on hmmmm

well its a shame the mmoc can not step in and make investments to look after the morris minor in years to come
or maybe its not the clubs aim to do this

It would be nice to see the '1/4 million savings' that the club has be used to good effect rather than just sit gaining interest, but hey, thats T and C territory. Not sure how much this amount would go if looking after both members and the trade.

Swivel pins woudn't be too difficult to make locally - from say EN8 material. Provided the top and bottom swivels are readily available ? And I suppose the stub axles would need to be transferred to the new pins - how difficult is that- anyone tried ?
As an aside - is it really important for the swivels on the left of the car to be left hand threaded ? What would be the problem if a commonised rh thread pin (not stubs which should still be rh/lh threaded) was used on both sides ? Sure - as you turn the lock one way the car will rise, and the other way it will fall - but only very slightly - does it matter ?

They certainly could be machined but at huge cost, the Billet alone would be cost the same if not more than a MOWOG leg. Swapping stub axles is easy enough, we do this with the Marina conversions, You would then need to heat treat the threads.

The lack of some critical spares is a worry. I would hate to get an MOT advisory about a slightly worn swivel pin, only to find it has been out of stock for 3 months.

Looking at the positive side of things. Big companies like ESM and BM will need to push to get these parts made. It's no use trying to sell a set of carpets if all the Moggys are off the road and needing swivel legs.

If critical parts are not available, then the Moggy will become history and vanish from our roads, simple as that.

Well the big companies have been pushing, if not it may well have been even longer

Costly or not - if there really are NO swivel pins about, the rules of supply and demand will work and someone will find it economic to make some up. Working from square section bar stock - shouldn't be too difficult or expensive - need to find a way to attach the brake backplate of course - maybe angles on the sides ?? Quantity will be the main factor I suppose - hence my question/suggestion about only making rh threaded pins!