Morris Minor Owners Club

So I've got mirium into bit's .. and I'm trying to adjust the ride height I am trying to rasie the left of the car 1 1/2 inches. what I need to do is to get the "Adjuster lever" off and round one spline. Of course it has been there for 34 years is not going to play ball. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to get it undone ? (WD40 has been in for two days now) can I safely heat it ? or should I (and I'm tempted) just angle grind the Torsion bar off in the middle and get all new bit's ?

Justin

I cut one of mine in half with the grinder (make sure to release the torsion pressure first!).

As long as you are careful and don't get easily scared by flames, then I would (and do) heat everything up to free it. I rarely use a penetrating spray now, and if I do I use PlusGas and not WD-40 as it is fairly useless and not actually a pentrating spray.

You might find that you will have to heat it up for a fair amount of time before it will free off and it should smoke a lot, but if you keep trying it with a large screwdriver from behind then you should not have a problem. Keep the heat away from the floorpan though as you don't want melted carpets............I've done that SO many times when welding..............D'oh!

like cam says, bepatient and use the meatest flat screwdrivers 2 if poss together on each side of flat on back of are. if find the small lever which removes the hub caps in the tool kit. its very strong and has a good shape for the job. clean it well, espically old underseal, dont want to drag it into the groves when it moves. heating will need to be done with oxygas to get it warm enough quickly. keep going with to leavers keep the pressure square. if it moves go back that bit and clean again. it will loseren.

the lever for the hub cap removal. i dont mean the one which holds the spare wheel. i have a red bar which appears to be made of starting handle material, quite short, a 90 degree bend, with a wheel nut socket on one end. the flat end is good for moving the arm. sorry about the bad typing in previous messege

Torsion presure is released .. angle grinder is being warmed up .. all I await is the parts

Cam wrote:I cut one of mine in half with the grinder (make sure to release the torsion pressure first!).

As long as you are careful and don't get easily scared by flames, then I would (and do) heat everything up to free it. I rarely use a penetrating spray now, and if I do I use PlusGas and not WD-40 as it is fairly useless and not actually a pentrating spray.

You might find that you will have to heat it up for a fair amount of time before it will free off and it should smoke a lot, but if you keep trying it with a large screwdriver from behind then you should not have a problem. Keep the heat away from the floorpan though as you don't want melted carpets............I've done that SO many times when welding..............D'oh!

if you cut it, the replacment torsion bar must be from the same side,

Yes, as they 'hand' after time, unless you are fitting a brand new one like I did.

hey cam if i had a brand new one i would get it chrome plated.

Nice idea! Unfortunately for me that would show the rest of the underside up!

and the chrome would fall of as the torsion bar twisted.

I would suggest a crow bar and a big hammer - not necessarily at the same time, unless you get desperate.
There is a C-washer that sits in the back of the rear arm and if that has corroded solid then the arm may not want to move forwards.

The rear arm can slide off the torsion bar in either direction, so if you can't bang the arm loose when getting it away from the cross member then clamp it to the crossmember and try to knock the torsion bar forwards (without damaging the threads on the end)
once it starts to move, you've probably loosened it enough to get it shifted the other way.

If you get really desperate then removeo the eybolt from the chassis leg and there'll be bothing left holding the torsion bar onto the car.
Once it's off you should be able to hammer the rear arm free, but if it's still solid, then try move the front arm round 1 spline.
So far I've always managed to get the rear arm free on the car, although it usually took the big hammer and crowbar the first time.

If you resort to removing the eyebolt, there's never a need to cut the torsion bar!

If you get really desperate then remove the eybolt from the chassis leg

That should be easier and less brutal than having to cut the torsion bar, and then hold it upright in a vice and put plenty of plus gas on it first that should work, also dont forget to mark it as you dont want to lose the setting.

ive never cut one off. is it atually possible with out the grinding wheel cutting the chassis or floor?

is it atually possible with out the grinding wheel cutting the chassis or floor?

Yes it is possible with a 4 1/2" angle grinder, if you are careful and don't let it snatch.

The reason I cut mine off so readily without looking at other possibilities is that I was replacing both of mine anyway with uprated (thicker) ones, so it really did not matter.

Uprated ? Where did you get them from ? I haven't actually ordered the bit's yet because what I needed was 1 1/2" lift and I could get 1 1/4 on the vernier holes (they were set right down for some reason). SO I've set it like that and we'll see what happens when we drop the car down again (I'm painting the undersided as well at present).

Mirium is going in for an MOT and I know she will need track rod bushes and all the bushes on the front (I have poly bushes on the land rover and I will do the same for mirium). It would be really nice if I could make everything perfect at the same time and the idea of uprateing the suspension slightly is very appealing.

On a related note. Can one fit telescopic shocks on the back and not the front ? If so how hard is it ? and can we get better springs ?

Cam wrote:

is it atually possible with out the grinding wheel cutting the chassis or floor?

Yes it is possible with a 4 1/2" angle grinder, if you are careful and don't let it snatch.

The reason I cut mine off so readily without looking at other possibilities is that I was replacing both of mine anyway with uprated (thicker) ones, so it really did not matter.

Uprated ? Where did you get them from ?

Any supplier of Owen Burton parts should have them, try Bull Motif or East Sussex Minors.

Yes, I have telescopics on the rear (uprated Mini type) and
standard front dampers and am quite happy with the
handling. On my previous Minor I fitted front teles and
didn't really notice an improvement! I do have a front
anti-roll bar though and that does give a noticeable
improvement

Willie is correct it is an accepted improvement to upgrade the rears to teles and leave the front standard, the owen burton kit is just bolt on and is the simplest to fit, you can fit a turreted version but this involves more work (cutting and welding the turrets into the boot floor) although it is more effecient as the teles are more upright, I dont think there are any problems with standard springs if yours are sagging it should be fine to replace with new ones.

The standard rears are truly awful, so the most improvement will be with them. I fitted front telescopics and found a VAST improvement, but I probably fitted different ones to Willie (mine were/are SPAX adjustables). I have those front and rear now including the turrets that Kevin was on about. If you do get adjustable ones, there is a little screw on them to harden/soften them. On the rear they are set really soft and on the front reasonably hard. If you set them too soft then it will waft about all over the place and if you set them too hard it will bounce over bumps and skitter. The advantage with the adjustable ones is that you can set them just right by driving about and then adjusting accordingly.

I wouldn't agree with you re the Owen Burton rear telescopics
kit KEVIN. The new cross member bolts to the boot floor and
I would not consider this nearly strong enough to take the
stresses. The ends of this cross member actually touch the
sides of the rear chassis box sections and,if welded together
at this point make a very sturdy assembly. I have had no
problems at all since doing this.

re the Owen Burton rear telescopics
kit

OK willie, I have not actually fitted one of these kits but may do in the future, and in Owen Burton`s book it says not to weld to the floor as it can cause stress cracking, but he does mention that if you wish the ends can be welded to the box sections as you have done, so you are only agreeing with what Owen says, its just that if the individual wishes to have a bolt in only kit they can, although its probably not preferable.