Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, just by way of a short introduction... My name is Ufudu (the tortoise) I was born in 1957, although some would say 1958, in England... somehow, I cannot recall, I ended up in South Africa. I joined the forum & club in January... having 'purchased' Mrs. Morris, a lady a few year younger than I.
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You can see us together in the photos.
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Anyway, Mrs Morris appeared to be firm of body and well structured when I first met her.... But alas, as you can see her front end was not what it appeared to be!
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So she is currently undergoing some cosmetic and structural surgery. This seems to take more time than I would have thought. I will have to be patient.[frame][/frame]

Welcome to the forum.
Are there many Minors in South Africa?
They eye bolt seems to have succumbed to rough roads more than to rust.

Hi Ufudu and welcome looks like a nice car

MarkyB, there are a few clubs, although they seem to be mostly social. All my technical support I have got from the manual or this forum! It is good stuff. No, unfortunately that section was badly rusted, and the LHS leg was going the same way. Quite a bit of previous "fixes" evident including what looked like quickset putty.

Anyway both old legs are out, and new full length legs are in! I had to 'fettle' the new legs a little to get the eyebolt holes to line up with the various dimensions I found on this forum. Sooo, I think I am within 1 mm of where I should be

Remarkably there is relatively little rust elsewhere, but now she is stripped down tere are many things I may as well attend to...

BTW I used MIG plug welding to fix the legs, but because it is a but of a struggle to get to some places, I supplemented the welds with stainless steel 4.8mm blind rivets. With hindsight I wonder if this is not a better repair, using rivets and some of the modern epoxies. I read a repair instruction dated 2008 from Mercedes Benz that suggest rivets and epoxies are recommended over plug welding due to less corrosion issues and are stronger.

So I don't think the legs should come adrift anytime soon

That should hold them OK

Welcome Tortoise! You have got two perfect cars to go with your name!! They both look lovely.

Well, this weekend I have finally got the moggie back on 4 wheels, and I can now move the car around! To me this is a major milestone! The plan is to get it resprayed before I continue. It has taken me about 5 months to get to this point. 80% of the work has been underbody repair/restoration (other 20% was drinking tea to contemplate the next step); this weekend I removed the headlining & front & back screens so we are ready to go!

I thought you may like some pictures:

Before (what started it all... )[frame][/frame]

and after:[frame][/frame]

Rear before & after:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Some rust repair:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Many thanks once again to all the forum members for your assistance!

Very nice work, what is the purple stuff in the last picture?

Looks like rust treatment has been applied

The purple stuff is a water based anti rust metal undercoat (Duram NS4, it may be called something else in the UK)

When wet it looks purple and dries a matt black. A metal overcoat is needed.

OK, I know this is not a restoration (forum) but here are a few photos on the progress on the maintenance. Here are a few random photos.

This is the fun bit, putting clean & shiny parts back onto the Moggy.

Had it resprayed a slightly richer blue & chose to go with OEW coach line & wheels.

Back on its wheels so I can let the family at least reclaim one half of the garage ... sometime [frame][/frame]

One annoying thing is the body shop that did the respray also decided to respray part of the underbody because they were too tired to mask it off.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

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I'm guessing I might be back on the road by Feb 2014 if all goes well.... 1 year since the purchase[frame][/frame]

Built in Durban, this would have been a CKD import ... one of the more humid parts of the country... rust is a big issue.[frame][/frame]

Excellent work, looking very smart

Big day today, the rear window went in! So after 14 months the Morris is back together, and is now ready for the COR (certificate of Roadworthiness) test next week.[frame][/frame]

Runs pretty well, I'm surprised how willing the 948 motor is. Obviously needs some tuning etc, but that will come later!

After replacing the chassis legs I was concerned about handling, but she runs really well. The one wheel's camber needs adjusting, all in good time![frame][/frame]

Pardon the clock, BMC I don't wear one on my wrist and excuse the voltmeter!![frame][/frame]

Ufudu wrote:Big day today, the rear window went in! So after 14 months the Morris is back together,

Runs pretty well, I'm surprised how willing the 948 motor is. Obviously needs some tuning etc, but that will come later!

After replacing the chassis legs I was concerned about handling, but she runs really well. The one wheel's camber needs adjusting, all in good time![frame][/frame]

Pardon the clock, BMC I don't wear one on my wrist and excuse the voltmeter!![frame][/frame]

love that shade of blue,superb restoration a lot of effort and time put into it , has paid off in the end,happy motoring

Thanks, it has been a lot of work, but it has been fun.

Apologies for the duplicate post, perhaps the mods can delete one please?

Looks a really neat and tidy resto, enjoy!

Got the certificate of roadworthy (COR) today no advisories

Now it's part of the family! Should be good for another 53 years or so...[frame][/frame]