Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi Folks,

I flew down to Bristol from Glasgow on Saturday on the Eazyjet flight at 0840hrs.

Arrived in Bristol at 1000hrs and caught a Taxi to Charles Ware, cost me £32, Ouch! Typical Airport taxis.

On arrival at Charles Ware I was shown round the workshop and then shown my car, Morris Minor Convertable. Very nice. Quick teach in on the extras fitted and how to drop and put up the hood, signed the paperwork and I was on my way at 1130hrs.

First thing I noticed when driving was how noisy the car was. From the engine, rear axle, road noise and convertable hood. I had forgot how noisy cars were in the 60s and 70s compared to now. Even my Landrover Defender 300TDI is quiet in comparison.

Driving round the Bristol bypass the hood was drumming off the frame. However once I got some speed up the cabin appeared to pressurise and the hood ballooned up off the frame making it much quieter. I think I will be fitting some rubber around the frame crossbeams to try and eliviate the drumming when going slow.

The 1275cc engine hooked up to a 5 speed gearbox pulled well and easily kept up with the Motorway traffic. When in 5th gear the gearstick did push against my leg.

I was very aware of the 6 gallon tank and stopped when the tank went to half full to top up. This is when I noticed that the car cut out when idling. Need to increase the idling speed of the carburettor.

My new seats with the headrests were very comfortable but I think the car is now really a two seater as the seats are a lot thicker than the originals and there is no room in the back now.

The weather was dry all the way up the motorway till I hit Scotland where the rain started. When I hit Glasgow it turned into sleaty rain and I felt the first slight leak off the front of the hood on my left leg. Not too bad though.

Stopped in Balloch for a Chinese takeaway and stopped the engine with the window wipers going. When I came out the takeaway turned the engine on and the wipers were not working. The car is fitted with a wiper delay. Flick the switch down once for delay and down again for continuous wipe. Thought I might have blown a fuse. Drove all the way along Loch Lomond with no wipers. Luckily the rain had dropped off but when cars passed I had to keep my wits about me. On reaching Tarbet I tried the wipers and they worked again. Do not know if it was something to do with switching the engine off with the wipers still going. Will have to investigate.

Arrived in Lochgoilhead at 2100hrs and got the car into the garage. The only other problem I noticed was the boot was full of water. In the well in front of the spare wheel. Think I may need a new boot seal.

I reckon I got approx. 37 miles per gallon at an average 60 mph. I did think the speedometor was reading low. When I was doing 30 it seemed like 40 mph. Perhaps it is just because it is a small car. Will check it with my GPS as I do not want to get done for speeding!

All in all the car performed well and the drive was very enjoyable. Although I will not be doing it again soon preferring to do small local runs around Argyll.

Going to look into sound deadening for the bonnet and boot.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Car looks lovely but I think I'd be a wee bit disappointed - having spent so much and made such an effort to collect the car - that there was water in the boot and that you had to endure the worries of wipers not working and the car not idling properly. It's the little details that just leave you with a bit of a disappointed feeling. Still, on the plus side, all jobs are fairly easy to tackle and it wouldn't be right if there was NOTHING to do on the car. Good luck and enjoy your Morris adventures

A very nice car in a very nice part of Scotland.
I am very impressed with your journey and how quickly you completed it even though you had a couple of minor (excuse the pun) problems. To arrive back home at 21:00 is good going.
You will now be able to try her performance/reliabilty/handling through 'Hells Glen' (the B839) which I have driven and found to be an interesting experience.
I read that they have restored the old 'Rest and Be Thankfull' road as a diversion in case of a landslide on the new road. I do hope that the authorities will allow the return of speed hillclimbing on the old road as it used to be a popular venue (1906- 1969) and some famous names i.e. Raymond Mays, Ken Wharton, Tony Marsh and of course Jacki Stewart have competed there in the past.
See http://ssa.nis.uk/film.cfm?fid+2120 for a clip of the climb
Enjoy your new car and no doubt the problems will soon be sorted.
Phil

very nice car, just wondering as you have the 5 speed gearbox the ratios will be different hence the speedo reeding i would try with your sat nav then you will have a better idea

Checked the speedo against the sat nav and at 30 MPH the speedo is reading 25 MPH.

Just as well I checked as the Police are red hot with their speed checks in Argyll.

So you are right Dale, it must be the original speedo with the different differential.

Ian

ive got those coluor seets in my car they are really comfy even if they were expensive worth every penny .