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New member

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:14 pm
by Ouma
Hello everyone,
Retired 65 year old.
Have just bought a 1967 2-door 1000 Trafalgar Blue with red interior.
93400 miles.
A bit smokey so will check compression to see what's causing this. Old age.
MOT to August 2010 with the following new items to pass:
Battery, water pump, electric washer pump and switch, under nearside panel welded? (extensive welding done here) - £584 incl labour all done by a local garage so will go and see them.
Both nearside wings replaced at some point as they are spotless, unlike the rest of the paintwork, that will need doing.
The last time I did any cellulose spraying was on my 105E whilst preparing it for racing in the '72- fun and games ahead me thinks
A couple of rust spots and holes in ns door at the bottom.
Water getting in at various points but this just needs rubbers sorting so nothing unexpected.
Seats & headlining are perfect but all carpets need replacing. Was all red interior common? I cannot find mention of this anywhere.
I had completely forgotten just how good Moggies drive.
My first car was a lowlight, modded with skimmed head.
A straight through exhaust, I do mean straight through as the baffle box was removed and my Dad welded up two chrome Beetle tailpipes out the back. It earned me my first ticket - loud exhaust!
Looked good and made a wonderful noise.
'Ouma' - the name given to my 1000 - drives in a way that involves you, unlike the sanitised way modern cars do (don't do) and so comfortable.
It's more comfortable than my '07 Fiat Doblo.
The steering is so light I can't believe it.
Took a little time to get used to the ship steering wheel, so shuffle time back as crossed arms just not elegant.
Brakes, however, where what I expected - press hard and then some when brain and instincts say you're not slowing fast enough - servo time?
Cannot remember back to my non-servoed disc braked Anglia, but I was a heck of lot younger and pushing that pedal was just part of the racing fun.
What I love about 'Ouma' are the looks it gets and the smiles from people.
And then there's the exhaust tune.
No other car comes close to that spine tingling F*ART. I bring that on at every opportunity - who needs a radio.
Haven't spent anywhere near as much time driving her, due to the horrible weather right now. Don't want to encourage anymore rust than necessary.
Car is at present under a carport as garage has been turned into a hobby room with everything needed to build miniature steam engines.
The carport is in front of the garage and against the bungalow with open long side covered by my neighbour's fence and creeper.
Luckily there is enough space to extend it another 15ft
I put the last of the machine tools into hobby room Nov '06 & then my world fell apart.
My Mom suffered a stroke and within a week I was diagnosed as having prostate and bladder cancers. I found my pain threshold in hospital that week following the operation to scrape the bladder cancer out.
Well, the side effects of the treatments has meant that nothing happened from then on until now when I decided to look for a Moggie.
I needed something to focus on and be able to use straight away.
However, getting engaged on my 65th is still a shock I'm recovering from :-))
Hobby room still needs final sorting and electrics done.
Enough rambling for now.
I've posted a 'Wanted' in the Free! section for a ns quarterlight top socket.
As a new owner, is there any advise on what to check/do on 'Ouma' apart from dealing with rust?
Cheers for now.
Geoff and Ouma
Diss, Norfolk

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:40 pm
by limegreen
Welcome to the forums! Everyone here is very friendly (even though we do have our little disagreements every now and then) - glad you're enjoying the Mog and have a soft spot for that wonderful F*arting noise!
I hope you're feeling well nowadays, and guessing by your decision to buy a Moggie, you certainly are! Congratulations on the engagement too!
As for checking things, I'd take a nice look at the sills - but you're probably better off asking an expert on here rather than me. I'm just getting to grips with common Moggie problems, at 17... almost 18!
I also have a 2-door, she was built in 1970, and is a very bright green, hence my forum name and that picture below my post.

Over N Out,
Chelsea

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:46 pm
by LouiseM
Welcome to the website Geoff, you've come to the right place for advice :D Don't forget to take a look at the 'new member?' thread at the top of this forum. Red interiors were common but not in a trafalgar blue car so either the interior has been changed at some time or maybe the car has been resprayed a different colour to the original. A trafalgar blue '67 car would normally have a light blue interior. With regards to the brakes you will find there are varying views on here with regards to servos. Personally I've always found the standard brakes fine. You just need to adjust your driving style accordingly when changing from a 'modern' to a Minor. With regards to what checks to do I suggest that you get a copy of the workshop manual if you haven't aready got one. This will show the service intervals and how to perform these. A well maintained Minor should give you minimal problems so enjoy driving Ouma :D Any problems, just post under the appropriate forum heading eg mechanical, bodywork, electrical.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 3:49 pm
by dalebrignall
hello geoff and welcome,i have standard brakes with a mini cooper servo.all the servo does is reduce the pressure you need to put on the peddal,keep them adjusted up and you will stop in a good distance.ive never had any problems stopping the car,and remember to drive withen the limits of the car,she will let you know when you push things too far.above all have fun . :D

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:32 pm
by pjh56
Hello Geoff
Welcome to the club, as a newbie myself I'm afraid I cannot offer any technical advice, but a warm hello. This is a great place to ask questions and the advice is spot on and always with a friendly smile if you can interpret that through a literal meaning.

I hope you get a real pleasure from your car, as much as I do with mine. And by the way congratulations on your engagement.

Best wishes
Peter
P.S do put a picture of Ouma on your profile so we can all see her.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 5:01 pm
by mike.perry
Hi Geoff, My Trafalgar Blue Traveller came with nasty stained light blue interior which I replaced with dark blue and some decent front seats.
Brakes seem to vary a lot, some are rock solid and lock up all four wheels, others feel like compressing jelly. My Series MM with 7 in brakes feels excellent even with the trailer on the back, the Traveller with 9 in front brakes still doesn't give me the same confidence.
I would love to hear about your Series MM tuning as I have my MM engine stripped down and I am looking for ways to extract a couple more horses from it. I have just finished reading "Tuning Side Valve Fords" which are very similar engines

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:21 pm
by nigelr2000
Welcome to the forum Geoff, you are not far away and as I have a friend who lives just outside of Diss we may bump into each other (not literally I hope :o ) at some point.

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:32 pm
by aupickup
welcome

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:10 pm
by Mike Shipman
Welcome Geoff - youve just joined one of the most helpful owners sites in the universe!
Regards, Mike

Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 7:19 pm
by dp
Welcome Geoff, you remind me of my neighbour who is currently tinkering with a TR3 and restoring a Buell - he's 75 and had triple-heart bypass surgery. Good on you. There'll be plenty of help here as you'll see:)

Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2009 11:58 am
by Ouma
Hello all,
Thanks for the welcome.
Sorry for taking so long to respond, but my treatments can leave me debilitated at times, as now.
Ouma just sitting under carport crying out for things to be done and fitted :-(
Such is life.
To Mike:
If my memory serves me, all I did to my side valve was skim the head 10-15th and just clean up the squish area. Didn't do anything to the ports as the engine remained in the car.
Two of my friends at the time has a 100E Prefect and MM.
We decided one day to see which was the quickest, so out we went to find a nice quite, flat open road.
Duly found we stopped line astern - Prefect, my MM and mates MM, arranged a start sequence and we where off.
I changed gear without lifting and stayed on the Prefect's chuff until the needle showed 70+ and things started to shake sufficient for me to call it a day :-)
No sign of my mate behind me in his MM. Once we stopped he caught up and told us that we - Prefect and my MM - just took off and left him standing!
I did the same mods to my next car, a side valve Ford Prefect, and one Sunday had a good traffic light to traffic light dice with a Renault Dauphine, left him standing enough times for him to pull up a the 3 set of lights and enquire what I'd done to the engine.
No idea how much extra power skimming the head produced, but enough to show a clean pair of heels to a standard MM, and stay with the Prefect that had a larger capacity side valve.
Ah those where the days of carefree fun!
To Nigel:
We may indeed bump into each other.
Photos will be posted as soon as I'm up to it, but please don't hold you collective breaths.
Cheers for now
Geoff, Iwona and Ouma