Morris Minor Owners Club

StaffsMoggie wrote:The easiest of the lot to live with are the vans and pick ups. The separate chassis helps a lot.

I disagree. The separate chassis rusts just as quickly as the integrated saloon one (same gauge steel as the bodywork), the bodywork (being largely the same) rusts just the same, and they generally have had a harder life and less maintenance and mollycoddling than the saloons.

As for Travellers, forget them. The woodwork is a liability

Not all Travellers have bad wood!

Depending on how 'perfect' you like your mechanics, with a standard car be prepared for a lot of tinkering time. Chasing oil leaks, adjusting brakes, servicing, greasing twiddly bits and so on, especially if you are using it for a 'daily runner'. I'm afraid that is what fixed it for me. If you can afford it get a modified one with disc brakes, coil over suspension etc, that is what I intend to eventually do. Jonathon at JLH is a good chap to speak with. This is only my advice though. Travellers are a fantastically roomy and practical car!
Oh, and a good set of whitworth spanners is a must

DaveC wrote:If you can afford it get a modified one with disc brakes, coil over suspension etc,

I disagree. I drive a fairly standard car every day (about 13000 miles in the past year) and the brakes and suspension are fine. Better to spend your money on the best standard car you can afford, regular maintenance, and petrol so you can actually get some use out of it IMHO! The only modification I would say is pretty much essential for an everyday car is a set of radial tyres.

alex_holden wrote:...... so you can actually get some use out of it ....

As I have said before, it does seem that there is a lot of emphasis put on working on the cars as opposed to using them

Thanks for all the advice. Still keen but have to admit to being a bit worried about all the spanner wielding that seems to be required- not much confidence. And the fact I do not have access to a garage so it would stand outside . Possibly could get a portable type of cover?
Just out of curiosity are BCH15B or YPT23 still knocking about. My first car and my fathers car?

Regards
Geoff

bigginger wrote:

StaffsMoggie wrote:The easiest of the lot to live with are the vans and pick ups. The separate chassis helps a lot.

I disagree. The separate chassis rusts just as quickly as the integrated saloon one (same gauge steel as the bodywork), the bodywork (being largely the same) rusts just the same, and they generally have had a harder life and less maintenance and mollycoddling than the saloons.

Maybe so, but the separate chassis makes restoration work far easier. Its much the same as doing a Herald or Spitfire. Also a lot of mechanical work is easier on the pick ups, just remove the rear floorboard to access the diff for example.

Most of the LCVs about now have had some restoration work, so the days of the beaten up moggie van have largely passed.

8009STEVE wrote:

As for Travellers, forget them. The woodwork is a liability

Not all Travellers have bad wood!

Every Traveller I have owned has had rotten wood!

For daily use, parked outside, the wood will suffer badly. I would always go for a saloon (or even a pick up if you want something a bit different.) for a daily runner. Find one with a decent solid body and blow it full of Dinitrol underneath every year.

Good Travellers are lovely cars but they really need storing indoors.

StaffsMoggie wrote:

bigginger wrote:

StaffsMoggie wrote:The easiest of the lot to live with are the vans and pick ups. The separate chassis helps a lot.

I disagree. The separate chassis rusts just as quickly as the integrated saloon one (same gauge steel as the bodywork), the bodywork (being largely the same) rusts just the same, and they generally have had a harder life and less maintenance and mollycoddling than the saloons.

Maybe so, but the separate chassis makes restoration work far easier. Its much the same as doing a Herald or Spitfire. Also a lot of mechanical work is easier on the pick ups, just remove the rear floorboard to access the diff for example.

I still disagree. Granted it makes a few jobs easier, but it certainly doesn't make restoration easier, just slightly different. It baffles me why some (inc Lindsay Porter) are convinced that it's the recipe for an easy resto

ZENTAOADVAITA wrote:Just out of curiosity are BCH15B or YPT23 still knocking about. My first car and my fathers car?

Sorry doesn't look like either of them are, well they may be sitting about somewhere in somebody's garage but neither of them are still on the road...

i agree with BG vans and pick ups are the hardest to restore WELL

some mechanical jobs are slightly easier, reasr springs, habdbrake cables . diff

but thats all

There is much more alignment to consider on commercials, chassis cab and rear are basically separate items and all needing to be straight, and then again to line up when assembled, not at all straight forward!

Quite

les wrote:There is much more alignment to consider on commercials, chassis cab and rear are basically separate items and all needing to be straight, and then again to line up when assembled, not at all straight forward!

Very straightforward actually. A simple job to those of us who have been restoring small chassis Triumphs for the last 30 years.

Morris Minor Commercials are the easiest Minor to restore properly. They are much simpler than Heralds to restore and Heralds themselves are regarded as a simple renovation project!

I think that says alot above.

Now in all my years of restoring vehicles of ALL types and going to shows for ALL types of vehicles I must say that as far as Heralds/Vitesse and to some extent Spitfire/GT6, why has it only been 5% of them have a body that lines up with everything?

Im sure your aware of the problems with their doors and it appears people spend all the time/effort/money on mechanical and not fixing the small details such as a door gap.

This is usually caused by someone welding an outrigger badly or welding or replacing a sill without bracing the door gap.

The Morris Vans are much the same, unless you get the chassis 100% spot on the body will never be right but its front and back instead of the typical triumph side to side problems.


Im sure most of us here have been restoring cars for a very long time, some of us professionally. If it was a 'Simple Job' everyone would do it themselves and get it 100% spot on with the least amount of problems and effort. Thats not reality, most people have a go and fail, they sell it or scrap it or even split it up.
Only half of home restorations end up back on the road. The other half end up as tin cans or other strange things.

alex_holden wrote:

DaveC wrote:If you can afford it get a modified one with disc brakes, coil over suspension etc,

I disagree. I drive a fairly standard car every day (about 13000 miles in the past year) and the brakes and suspension are fine. Better to spend your money on the best standard car you can afford, regular maintenance, and petrol so you can actually get some use out of it IMHO! The only modification I would say is pretty much essential for an everyday car is a set of radial tyres.

I agree, I use my Traveller up to the 5000miles a year limit as one of my daily driver cars and its completely standard (apart from spin on oil filter conversion). It coped fine with long journeys and driving to work, shopping trips in heavy traffic etc. Just remember its an old car and drive it as such.

i would tend to say better brakes, discs

you may need to stop quick when a car overtakes and suddenly stops in front of you

i drive moinors every day, and would fit discs

Very straightforward actually

Lets agree to differ then!

Me too. Without descending into rudeness, I have to say I find it a very strange position to take.

nick69 wrote:I think that says alot above.

Now in all my years of restoring vehicles of ALL types and going to shows for ALL types of vehicles I must say that as far as Heralds/Vitesse and to some extent Spitfire/GT6, why has it only been 5% of them have a body that lines up with everything?

Im sure your aware of the problems with their doors and it appears people spend all the time/effort/money on mechanical and not fixing the small details such as a door gap.

This is usually caused by someone welding an outrigger badly or welding or replacing a sill without bracing the door gap.

The Morris Vans are much the same, unless you get the chassis 100% spot on the body will never be right but its front and back instead of the typical triumph side to side problems.


Im sure most of us here have been restoring cars for a very long time, some of us professionally. If it was a 'Simple Job' everyone would do it themselves and get it 100% spot on with the least amount of problems and effort. Thats not reality, most people have a go and fail, they sell it or scrap it or even split it up.
Only half of home restorations end up back on the road. The other half end up as tin cans or other strange things.

I have fully restored many small chassis Triumphs over the last 20 years. The door gaps are a very simple job to get right. It takes a bit of time but is hardly difficult. The key is to get a decent chassis. As for the Minor commercials they are simplicity itself to put together. It is only the saloon/traveller/conv bias that has seen the LCV numbers decimate.