Morris Minor Owners Club

Agreed.

I think I read somewhere of somebody isolating the bulb circuit and having the bulb flashing separately when arm rises up not sure where this was

Oh, haha, I didn't mean flashing as in the stalk moving up and down...I just meant a flashing light. Sorry, should have been clearer.

Chris took out the Wiper motor as the windscreen wipers weren't moving. This is probably due to dodgy wiring. After it was taken out he connected it to a battery and it runs really slowly. Will it just be a case of cleaning and re-greasing to sort it or is it knackered?[frame][/frame]

Inside.....

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Chris will clean out the 'gearbox' part of all dark brown old grease. I suggested WD40 to break it down. Good idea? I suppose once everythings clean it can be packed with grease.

Split screen wipers arent really that fast anyway! While you have it apart pull the rack out a swell and clean it and pop some fresh grease on it as well, cant don any harm. Also if you need to get at the bonnet hinges, now is the time with the wiper motor out as its a nearly impossible job with it fitted

Thanks for the tip. No need to remove the bonnet or change the hinges as they're almost mint. Working all the electrical workings Chris has managed to re-wire everthing and we now have...

Working windscreen wipers with nearly new blades that work much better than on my previous SII
Powered motor type Windscreen washer pump working with water spraying into the middle of the screen both sides!
A new horn working off the horn button, which is nice.
Working headlights (hi/low beams)
Working rear lights/brake lights/no. plate light.
Working trafficators both sides (working off a temporary switch with a green warning light on the dash) We didn't use SF80s as we found an earlier kind of semaphore that is almost indentical that fits and works nicely.

Whilst wiring up the new horn the green IGN light (Oil pressure warning) started working. ????

We've ordered new lenses for the front sidelights to replace the later addition of combined sidelight/indicator units.

We have all new poly-bushes to replace all the suspension bushes. I checked the trunnions and they seem fine but we'll see what the garage have to say about them before the MOT.

I'll post photos once we get to the interesting stuff with the new wood going on as this is still in my workshop waiting for final treatment and ash veneered panels. The rear doors we're pretty ropey 2nd hand jobbies so the joints need work to fit properly.

The reason for not using SF80 semaphores as is standard is because the old units were beyond repair and even trading them in, reconditioned semaphores were expensive (£50 each) so we used earlier ones which were cheaper 2nd hand because they're not used by many people. Most people 'upgrade' to SF80s because replacement parts are readily available. The lenses and chrome top bits aren't available for the ones we used so better not break them!

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The sidelights are Land Rover etc lights which are slightly bigger than standard moggie sidelights. We were trying to cover the old hole from the indicator/sidelight unit. As you can see....it almost works. Again, maybe in the future i'll buy some proper sidelights, fill the old hole and drill a new one but for now these will do and anything looks better than the combined units.

I've been trial fitting the rear door frames. I'm not sure if they're made of of parts from different suppliers or if they're DIY jobs that went a bit wrong but the fit of the joints is rubbish so they will need re-making. I might just use these as a template to make new parts for the rear doors as the overall size seems to be correct. Here is the o/s door sitting in the frame...

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And here is the top joint on one of the doors. Awful and it'll be on show in the end.

I've also veneered the rear panels and am now ready to treat all the wood. Sadly it's too cold in my workshop as I haven't sorted out the heating yet! I'm not sure if it's worth trying to treat the wood until the heating is sorted which will speed up the process.

davidpidge wrote:I've also veneered the rear panels and am now ready to treat all the wood. Sadly it's too cold in my workshop as I haven't sorted out the heating yet! I'm not sure if it's worth trying to treat the wood until the heating is sorted which will speed up the process.

bring it into the living room ;)

Why not just run a plane up the door to remove the excess and some of the damage?
It's on the inside, hardly "on show"

I'm finally getting somewhere with the timber. I've started the treatment process with 50/50 mix of cuprinol clear preserver and Sikkens Cetol HLS. I've set the timber standing up in some trays so the end grain can soak in the mixture. I've also treated the veneered rear panels in exactly the same way so that the colour and final finish match. Next will be the top coat of micro-porous breathable treatment. 2 coats should do and then it's ready for assembly with the wings etc.

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One of the panels....

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...and the rear pillars bottom end. This and all joints were given as good a soaking in treatment as possible being the first areas to rot and this car will be outside permanently in all weather and used every day.

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I've trial fitted the rear arch inside the timber but the two don't marry up. If I line the rear end of the wing with the bottom of the rear pillar then the front end doesn't line up with the bottom of the foot rail. Is this common. Will the arch flex enough to fit if I start screwing at one and and work along? I'm hoping the wing piping will hide smaller sins.

I've moved to a new workshop so have a lot more space to work on the timber. The coats of wood preserver are finished and I have managed to get two tops coats of 'Cetol filter 7 plus' on the side frames and panels. I still haven't had time to finish the rear doors but I have made some progress and trial fitted the frames. I cleaned the glass up so all that's left to do is fit the hinges and the newly veneered panels so the rear doors can be used to square up the whole frame when it's fitted to the car.[frame][/frame]

Some images of the timber with it's top coat. It'll be far more matte when fully dry.

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This photo of the rear quarter panel show the raised grain. This is due to the veneer being stored in my old workshop for months with the damp and changing humidity has caused the grain to raise up. If this was for furniture it'd have to be discarded but I quite like the effect for the car. It'll exaggerate the grain slightly.

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