Morris Minor Owners Club

Thjs topic will purely focus on the resto of my little blue 2 door saloon. Her name is ....... to be decided

Things done so far:

Managed to get her running easily enough after checking various fluids. A change of plugs, a battery and some fresh fuel saw her running quite nicely.

With the aid of bits and pieces from the nice folk on the forum, I have changed/replaced:

One rear light lens
Drivers side 1/4 light
Planning to replace the steering wheel for a 'banjo' item in the next couple of weeks. A big 'Thank You' to the folks who kindly provided the spares

The interior has responded well to a good scrubbing. The carpet appears original but is badly faded and tatty. Much as it saddens me it looks like a new one will be needed. I just need a sunvisor plastic clip and that can be refitted.

I have now cleaned up the minimal corrosion on the o/s panels. Luckily there wasn't anything dire, just surface rust on the rear wing, side panel, drivers door bottom and rear trailing edge of the front wing. There was also a small 'ding' on the top of the wing.

I have also DA'd the painted top of the door frame. All areas were rust-killed profusely, filled if necessary (only small amount of filler needed) and painted with acid etch primer.

I need to: change the bypass hose as it leaks slightly. I will also change the timing chain and water pump as a matter of course. They are cheap enough to do anyway. Seems daft not to, as I have no idea when they were done last.

I will also service the car generally. I need to sort out a non-working o/s rear brake light. I will properly check underneath for any work needed.

Pictures to follow

when you do the bypass hose and the water pump use a small piece of heater hose for the bypass hose as it will last many years longer that the bellows type.

Cheers Kevin, I unearthed a bellows type with fittings in an old box in the loft. This was left over from when I had my white moggy. I also have tons of straight hose. I'll keep the bellows type as a spare in the car. You never know, someone else might have need of it at the roadside one day.

Ok, progress to date has been a bit slow. I have had to spend some cash on my Triumph to bring the handling up to scratch. Polybushes, new uprated springs, front anti-roll bar, etc. So this has taken up my time.

Anyway, back on topic. I have just a small patch to sand down on the rear wing and that will be the drivers side completed and ready for top coat. Must say, this side has been suprisingly solid.

The nearside front wing has a dent in it about the size of my palm and a slight crease in the lip of the wheelarch. I will knock this out and fill I think. Apart from this the front wing is solid and it would be a waste of money to replace it. Everything else looks sound.

I bought a can of rattle paint from the local car paint shop using the code supplied via the forum. Good match but it does show up how tired the paint is. I think a respray will have to be done. Not so bad, as I have a good electric HVLP system and I really enjoy doing the paintwork. It makes up for my lack of mechanical prowess. It makes sense to do the whole car as the paint is very, very tired.

I am considering cleaning up the bumper chromes, rubbing down and perhaps painting them white. They are dent free but very tired as well. I can't afford to rechrome them and it would be a waste of cash just to replace them. The rear light housings would get the same treatment as they are quite pitted.

The interior is a s good as it gets now. The carpet will need replacing, I need two door pulls and will replace the door card on the drivers side as it is very warped. The car has rear seatbelts fitted which is a bonus. Still need to get a sunvisor clip. I have yet to restore the banjo steering wheel but I will do that over the next couple of weeks, once the Triumph is done and MOT'd. I will take some pics this week (promise).

Cheers

Ken

Still no pics, keep forgetting to get batteries for the [] camera. Spent 20 mins down the garage this evening after work. I decided to go over the paintwork a bit to see what it was like under the street grime.

First impressions were good, after washing of the gunge, I used the now defunct Turtle Wax Platinum Colour Restorer with a damp soft cloth. I then autoclayed the paint using a fair bit of water and then used some Autoglym Super Resin Polish to seal and protect it. Wow, what a difference. I have now revised the what needs painting list.

Boot lid
Bonnet
Drivers door
Drivers side rear and front wing
Bottom of passenger door
Front panel

The rest appears restorable..... yippee.

Back again! Been hyper-busy these last couple of weeks on the Triumph. Went down to the garage this afternoon and hammered out the palm sized dent in the front n/s wing, all taken down to bare metal and rust-proofed. Have filled what was left and roughly shaped it. Not looking too bad actually. Just some more shaping and a final skim should see it sorted. I have had to have a major clear out of the garage and hopefully this will enable me to push the car out a bit and I WILL take some photos. Promise!

More work done today. Have derusted and cleaned up some rusty bits on the n/s front chassis rail, the o/s jacking point and the o/s inner sill. The floor needs a couple of small patches 2" x 1". All rustproofed and have fabricated the appropriate templates a la a handy Crunchy Nut Cornflakes packet. Bloody useful they are. Will cut out the sections tomorrow and hopefully my mate will weld it all together over the next couple of weeks.

All prepped for the welding now. Went down to the garage and put on the final coats of primer in readiness for the top coat.

I then decided to have a go at the bootlid to see how bad it was. The main problem is that on the lower right and left corners (up to the recess for the number plate) there was a significant amount of cracked filler. I took all of this off and expected to find all sorts of horror stories. However, there are 3 pinholes in the bootlid skin, and a number of shallow dents over 1/3 of the area. There is one 'high' section which I will try and reduce if possible. Other than that the bootlid is ok. Bonus!

As per the sensible advice from folk on the forum, I have taken delivery today of a replacement full chassis leg, jacking point and crossmember end plus various bolts, nuts and poly bushes. Now that the torsion bar is off (thanks Darren), I can remove the rusty chassis leg, tidy it all up and make some proper progress.

Have you bought any batteries for the camera though?

Still here!!! Have been pretty busy but have managed to crack on with the removal of the horrible chassis rail.





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Got a bit distracted by this new addition (called Nellie):

Hi. Can someone kindly move this to the resto section for me. Thanks. Ken

Love the Triumph! Always thought they were an eminently practical car- comfortable, excellent rear three-quarter vision (unlike any modern) a bit of classy woodwork, surefooted steering. Just a bit dodgy when pushed to the limit in corners

Cheers for the positive comments a la Triumph. All you need to do is:

Fit new shocks with the uprated and 1" lowered springs, front and rear anti-roll bars, couple of polybushes.... sorted.

My plans for this one: the bits above, debumper, fit Rover 1/2 leather front seats, 2 new front wings, tidy up the paint work. Sorted. they are lovely cars to drive.

have to finish the Moggie first, the wifeys GT6 and then Nelly! She's a 2 owner car and cost me £100.

Thanks for moving the thread.

Cheers

Ken