Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi everyone,

Well it looks like the spirit of honesty, never mind the Christmas spirit, doesn't apply to the man who sometimes stays overnight with the tenant who is renting the house next door. The owner of the house lets me park the Morris on the drive,and this visitor sometimes parks his big breakdown van behind it. This morning I went out to find the boot lock handle lying on the ground and the back bumper has obviously flexed in the middle with a big divot where something like (!!) a towbar has hit it.

I don't seem to be able to open the boot, is there some black art to opening it in this situation? The innards of the lock barrel have retreated into the panel.

TIA!

Bernard

Possibly you can get into the boot from the back seat?

He could if he could open the boot to unbolt the back seat.
Regards
Declan

if you can remove lock part with a long nose pliers you should be able to open lock with a large flat screwdriver you may have to push in the bootlid as well as this may have been pushed in when handle was broken off or maybe grab lock part with molegrips and turn

Can you fit a square bar into the boot lock?

Can you take a photo the situation?-might be advisable for insurance reasons anyway.
Regards
Declan

Here's what's left of the boot lock on the car...[frame][/frame]And what broke off...[frame][/frame]

There doesn't seem to be anything to get a purchase on, neither the BMC workshop manual nor the Haynes book give an "exploded" view of the mechanism. I don't *think* there's been any distortion of the boot panel, my guess is that the casting failed more readily than usual due to the intense cold...??

On the plus side, the girl next door seems upset by what has happened, the van belonging to friend of boyfriend, but that doesn't necessarily translates into pounds and pence. I'm reluctant to go through the insurance for this, even if I have to buy the parts myself. My strategy is, get the guy to cough, if no joy then go to his employer and/or the police.

The problem I have at the moment is that all the tools and associated odds and sods are in the boot so I'm reluctant to take the Morris anywhere.


Bernard

Bernard, I'd be tempted to take a drill to the lock, maybe drill and file a slot into which you can force a large screwdriver? I'd be happy to sacrifice the lock itself to get it open again! A new lock isn't a difficult job to fit.

All the best, Dom.

It looks like the tow bar/rear bumper hit your boot handle right in the centre and caused it to fracture. I agree - drill it out.

This is what it looks like when it's intact. It's a spare one and you can have it if you want. It's in very good condition. Just one of the 2BA nuts missing
Regards
Declan[frame][/frame]

I think if you can force a flat screwdriver between the square piece in the centre and the circular collar shown in declans pic and gently turn it may open for you alternately drill a small pilot hole in the square piece screw in a long self tapping screw and pull out the old piece , now i think about it the collar may be bigger than the hole , in that case you may be able to make the collar smaller by pushing in the side with a screwdriver, but try the first option first

Thanks, Declan - PM sent

Thanks one and all for the advice. Well, as the weather's taken a bad turn again, it'll be weekend now before I can have another stab at the lock. I damaged my hand in an accident a few months ago and still don't have that much strength in it, but I'll give things a go and see how I get on.

Bernard

Well, Declan's lock arrived late last week and, in spite of the rain, I finally set to it yesterday.

I managed to wedge a pencil chisel into the broken shaft and open the boot. Having fitted the replacement lock, there was too much play in the mechanism and the boot wouldn't lock. On dismantling the lock, I found that the groove in the lock casting that bolts to the bootlid was excessively worn, but fortunately this part of my original lock was undamaged though of a slightly different design. This design change meant dismantling the old lock to extract its longer square shaft, so what should have been a 10-minute job ended up taking much of this afternoon.

Was it in someone's sig that I read that the best way to find out how something works is to break it? It's so very true!! Anyways, it's thanks to Declan's generosity and (once again!!) the MMOC's collective wealth of wisdom that this newbie's got that little bit further.

Bernard

bjm38 wrote:so what should have been a 10-minute job ended up taking much of this afternoon.

Can't say I've ever had a '10 minute job' actually take 10 minutes either but glad you managed to fix it

Only one minute jobs take 10 minutes .