front ride heights and seat belts

[injebreck99]

Hi all from a new member, I have just bought a 1959 Minor 4 dor saloon ,this is not a mint example , but is quite clean having had a lot of work already done, my problems are that the front N/S of the car sits lower than the O/S, it has had in the past a new trunnion on the O/S, but I don't know which side is right and which side is incorrect, can anyone tell me the average distance measured from a level ground to the wheelarch top to give me some idea which side is wrong.
Also, I do not feel too safe without seatbelts fitted, especially for my wife, are there any anchorage points fitted on a car of this age?, it is a very slim B pillar on a 4 door car, it has also had new carpets fitted, so I have to be careful where I probe for any anchorage holes.
I would also like to have flashing indicators fitted for safety, are these hard to fit?.
Any help would be appreciated. Peter Richardson, Norwich.

[bmcecosse]

You should be able to put roughly 3 fingers between top of tyre and the wing edge. Any lower results in the inner wings taking a bashing. It's easily adjusted - one of the few cars around with adjustable suspension! I don't know about seat belt anchorage points - I know when I had a '58 car I had to simply bore holes and put plates behind - your's probably the same. Flashing indicators - yes easy to fit - but try to do it 'sympathetically' - without daft 'Dalek' like orange bumps sticking out obtrusively! In my view you should keep it original - and supplement the trafficators with hand signals where necessary.

[Declan_Burns]

You may have to fit the belts as shown here but they are not very comfortable. That's what is given in the workshop manual.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
You may also need this for the propshaft tunnel:
http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/shop/pro ... 69edda8802
Tie a piece of string through the hole in the bracket before fitting the lower mount. If you drop it into the cavity you can retrieve it as it's a bit of a fiddle .
Regards
Declan

[mike.perry]

Front seat belt mountings were only fitted from the early '60s and static belts were fitted from 1965. Rear belt mountings were never fitted.
The B post on a four door should be strong enough to take the top seat belt mounting point, although if you have trafficators fitted you may have to find a suitable position and the mountings may need re enforcing.
There is a wiring diagram on the Series MM website http://seriesmm.mmoc.org.uk Tech.Info for wiring trafficators and indicators to the same switch. A poplar method of mounting the indicators is to hang them on brackets under the bumpers where the can be seen by other motorists but are unobtrusive. I would recommend using Traveller rear indicators.

[bmcecosse]

Or - make the red rear lights flash (some later models did this anyway) - and at the front move the 'side' lights up into the headlights (as per Mini) and then use the existing sidelamps as the front flashers.

[injebreck99]

Many thanks for the info everybody, I would like to keep it origional, but our safety is more important with the nutters on the roads these days, still need info on the ride heights though.
My O/S front ride height measures 24 and a quarter inches from the floor to the centre of the wheelarch, the N/S measures 23& threequarters, only half inch I know, but it is quite noticable when approaching the car from the front.
One other Minor ! matter, my speedo seems to be reading slow, any idea's please??.

[mike.perry]

What engine/gearbox/diff is fitted to the car? If the car is original it should have a 948 engine/gearbox and 4.55 diff which would have a speedo with 1504 on the face. If anything has been changed then you would need the correct speedo.

The height given in the manual is 10 11/16in from floor to centre of eyebolt. Each spline adjusts the height by 1.5 in. Smaller adjustments are made by adjusting the plate on the crossmember at the back of the torsion bar. WARNING The load on the torsion bar must be supported before attempting any adjustment.

Workshop Manual section R36 - R37 details fitting of seat belts

[polo2k]

WARNING The load on the torsion bar must be supported before attempting any adjustment.

TRUE!
dont ask me how I know! (COUGH cracked wrist COUGH)

[beero]

Put a jack under the diff and lift the tyres just off the ground and check the front ride height again because a kn*ckered rear spring can affect the look at the front.

[bmcecosse]

And when you sit in the car - on the offside - I bet it sits level then! My advice - leave well alone.