Morris Minor Owners Club

We have stripped the rear of the traveller to replace all necessary panels and parts. The cab is nice and solid. All the wood will be replaced except the roof bars which the headlining fixes to.

Anyone know how the Americans veneer the rear panels to match the timber frame? I was going to use veneered ply to replace the aluminium panels to give it the American woody look but then someone suggested I just veneer the aluminium panels so they're the same thickness. Makes sense. I could use contact adhesive to apply the veneer. (which is the way I would normally veneer large panels, curves etc. The veneer itself is only about a mm thick.

Photos to follow.

you can get special paint.

davidpidge wrote:Photos to follow.

We are all still waiting .........

Yes please on the photos -- I clicked on this topic specifically to see them!

Here is the traveller. Not very good photos. I was in a rush. As you can see, the n/s rear arch has been repaired with the repair panel which affixes to the timber frame. It needed slight modification to fit.

Well that didnt work!

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... 0&start=15

Heres the thread that I put some photos on when we got it. I'll have to work out why the new photos of the resto wont work!

The new timber frame has been ordered from Woodies and were picking it up on Saturday. So it should be on by Saturday evening. HAHAHAH. The only proper restoration work that we've done is to replace all the rotten parts with new panels where needed. This included the n/s wheel arch flange and the entire rear end that locates the wood and rear bumper. I'm not into full nut and bolt restorations (might change my tune if I win the lottery!) I prefer to just do what is needed and leave the 'character' intact. Saying that, if a car is so knackered it's beyond economical repair then I think it's brilliant when brave and talented people re-build them. Taupe's resto' of his Traveller is a fine example. Our traveller on the other hand. Could of been used but it would have been dangerous to do so. We'll make sure its solid then stick it back together.

We've decided to go for the ash veneered panels in the rear. American woodie style. I'd be interested to know what peoples opinions are on this look. There's a Traveller on Ebay at the moment with veneered panels in the rear. they've been stained a darker shade than the frame which we won't be doing. We've got all new window frames/runners etc to fit.

updates and photos on Saturday. And probably a lot of questions!

davidpidge wrote:We've decided to go for the ash veneered panels in the rear. American woodie style. I'd be interested to know what peoples opinions are on this look. There's a Traveller on Ebay at the moment with veneered panels in the rear.

Is this the one? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150926091668? ... 1423.l2649

Thats the one. We won't be staining the panels darker than the frame though.

I'm going to try and get some photos up again. Here goes.....

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This just show the wood clamped on to make sure it lines up with the body. So far so good.We were lucky that the rear corners were surprisingly un-corroded so we didn't have to re-build much there.

I was wondering if these trafficators would be beyond repair or not. Is it simple to fix them? How do we know if they're salvageable?[frame][/frame]

Good progress!

The trafficators are fairly simple, clean any muck off the piston that goes down into the coiled piece of wire and oil it. Dont try and force it open but move it gently and hopefully there will be slight movement. Connect a bit of wire into the terminal and earth the trafficator on the - side of a battery and wire to the + side and hopefully it will show some life. Be careful, the wire winding can heat up so dont hold it on too long. If it works slowly at first it should hopefully come round with use.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Hopefully you will gt these sort of results!

I'll give that a go. I'm going to start stripping the paint of the rear alluminium panels today so they're ready for veneering! I also need to get on with preparing the timber for fitting. Going to start with a hard wearing, weather resistant stain on the concealed parts of the timber. I have this photo of a timber frame in the factory that appears to show the inside of the frame stained/painted black (or body coloured). Having looked through every traveller restoration thread I've not noticed anyone doing this.

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I've also got the new book from Woodies by Ray Newell and I don't think it mentions finishing the inside of the frame in this way.

I want to change the newer sidelight/indicator unit for an original clear sidelight at the front. Will the hole be the same size or will they had to of made the hole bigger for the bigger, more modern unit?

davidpidge wrote:I want to change the newer sidelight/indicator unit for an original clear sidelight at the front. Will the hole be the same size or will they had to of made the hole bigger for the bigger, more modern unit?

bigger hole unfortunately, will need to be plated then re-drilled

Thought as much. Joy.

David

That picture of the frame painted black on the inside is one of the rare fibreglass ones

Taupe

I was looking at it earlier and thinking it might be as I couldn't see any clear joints! It does appear to have some visible grain on the middle rail of the left door. Did they apply a grain effect? Why did it not go into production? Other than it probably being very heavy.

Another little update. Most of the welding is finished on the rear end so we're nearly ready to fit the timber! The new frame needs preparing first of course which is my department. I've stripped the aluminium panels ready to apply an ash veneer. The edges are corroded but wont be seen once its all back together. We've got the inside, rear of the car painted ready for fitting the rear corner panels and the T-bar that supports the boot floor. The underside and inside the wheel arches needs a bit more work but that'll be done when the frame is on.

Loads of new parts came from ESM. Mostly boring stuff like new poly bushes, brake parts and new rear lights. Also a new windscreen seal. Can't wait to fit that!

Now....will the photos work.[frame][/frame]

Yes! This is one of the rear door panels fully stripped.

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The rear panels before. Note the original green around the edges and the fetching turquoise colour it faded to.

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Below is the top rail of the rear door next to the new piece. They appear to be exactly the same which is a bonus. We got the rear doors, un-assembled, from ebay. They're going to need some work before they can be constructed but that's my department so should be OK.

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New parts! We're not putting flashers on. Just the rear brake lights and reflectors. My first Moggie was a '59 4 door that only had trafficators and I got on fine even on the busy roads of Surrey/South London. I always had my arm sticking out the window and never relied on people seeing the trafficator's sticking out before making a maneuver.

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