Morris Minor Owners Club

Well, as I have a project, I guess I`d better start a thread on her restoration

This......

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....is Pepper, my recently-acquired 1955 splitscreen project
A couple of weeks ago I was looking for a new classic car that I could work on with my (currently) limited skill base but that I could restore to improve my knowledge and skills. I had thought about a Rover P5 as my late father (Brian) had several during his lifetime, but even as a project they are starting to go for silly money - I was offered a 'rolling shell' for over £1500 recently. I then thought about a Triumph, and remembered there was a 1973/1974 2000 saloon less than 5 minutes away. I decided against that car after finding more wrong with it than was right for the price expected it was, in reality, a parts car only. Back to the drawing board.
My mind then dragged out the Morris Minor... I`ve had several since I first passed my driving test. Of course, I don`t need to tell you folks how great these cars are I looked on a fairly well-known internet auction site and saw a Morris Minor 4-door saloon – and it was a splitscreen version to boot! i`d had a couple of later, single-screened Morrises, but never a splitty. The description was a little on the small side, saying it had no paperwork but the chassis plate was there, as were all the repair panels to complete the bodywork.
I messaged the seller, Stuart, and found out the car was located in a place called Castle Camps, just outside Cambridge – a 1 hour drive from where I live in Essex. The chassis number (FAA 11/425334) seems to tally with the car and looks to be between October 1954 and October 1955. Thanks to http://potteries.mmoc.org.uk/Identify.htm for being able to provide the information.
I missed out winning the car by one bid, but offered to buy the car for the finishing bid if the seller backed out. He did – having put a bid in with 10 seconds to spare then realising they were over 300 miles away. I managed to arrange delivery and we got her home on 28th December 2013.

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After getting into the garage and de-cluttering all the interior, the car appears to be very solid – much more so than the 1966 Morris I had (and that was fully road-legal when I got it). I`ve made a list of the work to do below:-

Bodywork – luckily I have all the repair sections needed. A friend, Wayne, has offered to complete the structural welding (floors, tie plates and boot aperture panel) for me. For the rest I will learn from him and complete myself.
Weld in new front tie plates (in engine bay), small patches to inner front wings, new wing-to-door hinge panels (they are both rough at the bottom, floors, refit the sills. new rear boot aperture panel and check boot floor. Then I shall refit the doors and wings and adjust the bootlid and bonnet.

Mechanical -
Rebuild one of the two engines that came with the car. Luckily, I have a choice of either of the 948cc engines. I shall have the crank, block and cylinder head tested for cracks and any other faults before reassembly. I shall have unleaded valves fitted to the head, as well as the combustion chambers being smoothed out for better airflow and also skimmed, if needed. I am also contemplating having all the con-rods, pistons and maybe the crank balanced, lighten the flywheel by a small amount (not that i`m going for massive power, just usability).
I will also need to obtain a new gearbox. I am wondering if a gearbox from a later (post-1964?) 1098cc-powered Morris Minor can be found or whether I should go for a 1275cc MG Midget gearbox? I can`t really justify fitting a 5-speed box, especially as I am on a limited budget. While the engine and gearbox are separated I will also fit a complete new clutch assembly. Rebuild the front and rear brakes with new wheel cylinders and shoes and refit with new pipes. I am sorely tempted, while all the front panels and engine/gearbox are off/out, to remove the complete front suspension assembly while I have easier access to all of the nuts and bolts. If I do, I may try to find a set of Morris Marina front hubs so I could then improve the braking system and fit disc brakes to the front of the car. Obtain and fit a complete new wiring loom.

Trim:-
I have the rear seats and door trims but will need to find the front seats/door trims, preferably in red, although the colour isn`t a drastic thing. Then there will be new carpets and a headlining.

Then, after all this I shall then need to arrange with the DVLA to get the car MOT`d to issue a V5/logbook. The plan is to get the car in a roadworthy condition and usable. In all the years I have been into classic cars (since I was 5 years old – i`m now 30) I don`t ever recall seeing a splitscreen Moggy at a show or even on the road, being used. I`ll be on a fairly limited budget but I won`t be skimping on safety items or cutting corners in the name of saving a couple of pennies to get her finished.

And I guess your wondering why I have decided to call her Pepper. Well, every car needs a name, right? Growing up, I stayed with a friend who called his 1961 Morris Minor Traveller ‘Pepper’. Sadly, he passed away a couple of years ago from lung cancer. When Pepper is completed I hope to take part in a few events that I can raise support and sponsorship for not only cancer research but also the Douglas Bader Foundation in memory of Les and of dad.

Hopefully your still reading at this point (cheers ). As Pepper will be my first attempt at a full restoration rather than a rolling project, i`m sure i`ll be posting a LOT of questions (mainly 'HELP! what/where/how.....') so any advice would be greatfully appreciated

Fantastic project hope you have an enjoyable time with Pepper

Welcome! That looks like a good project, I did spot it on ebay. Heres a similar project that bought then Stevey bought from me that has nearly all the welding completed

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=40334

As for the gearbox, a 1098cc gearbox will fit to a 948 easily and 2nd hand ones are resonably cheap still. If it still has the original box fitted with the long gear lever you will need to cut the floor back a bit and find a later gearbox tunnel as well. The 948 engines are nice smooth little engines as they are, probably the best of all the engines fitted in minors.

Good luck with your project, post up plenty of pics!

thanks everyone
Yeah, Pepper will be a fairly steep learning curve for me, but in a good way Sure, i can weld a little, but I`ve got some scrap bits of metal I can play about with before I inflict too much damage on her. Then there`s the engine rebuild..... that`ll be a first for me. I know I won`t have too much difficulty though, as everyone tells me they`re really easy to put back together again

@David, if I hadn`t known any different i`d swear Pepper and yours were the same car!

I`ve found a few 1098 gearboxes (is it right they`re the easiest to get parts for?). I`m keeping an eye on ebay for one at the moment.... have found a few but they all seem to be located in either Scotland or Cornwall oh well, its not like I need one this second!
I`ve still got the original transmission tunnel, so will keep an eye out for a later one too. I do know of a 66-67 2-door saloon thats been stored outside on grass for several years thats only a few miles away (near Harwich). I did try and persuade the owner to sell it as a project with no luck a year ago so will have to pay him another visit in the near-ish future.

Hi there, great project and yes it does look very similar!

mpw83 wrote:@David, if I hadn`t known any different i`d swear Pepper and yours were the same car!

Keep us posted with your progress!

Just a short/quick update tonight.

I`ve started to clean up/degunk the block ready for it to be checked over by a local engineering shop. I know I should be tackling the welding first, but as my friend has been a bit tied up the last few days I`ve been trying to make a little mechanical progress

Also, I just checked my email account and I found I`d won a Series 2 bootlid on eBay earlier.. for the grand total of just £1.70! Delivery is quoted as being £40 from Cambridge to Clacton, but I figure I can get there and back for less in my modern-day car. Plus, it will give me the option to pay a visit to the guys I bought Pepper from and see if they still have the spare gearbox from a Traveller they broke up.

Fingers crossed!

Great project

Congratulations on getting yourself such a good project and even better a 55 split screen, better yet a four door too!

They are such fine beasts, mind when you get to the time to reinstall the windscreen (presuming you'll be removing it) please be sure to post how you go about it. It was a pig of a job on mine which took three people, a hydraulic jack and several large bits of wood to get in. I am sure there must be an easy way to do it, so hopefully you'll find it and if you post about it then I may have a clue next time

Good luck with it all, looking forward to following your restoration.
Cheers
Gav

Just another quick update.... work has been a little slow the last few days as I`m having a major argument with my GP surgery and hospital about getting an insulin pump (i`m type 1 diabetic) and they`re, to put it nicely, being idiots!!!

Anyway, i`ve managed to get the engine all degunked and cleaned ready to drop the block, crank and head off at Towlers in town in the next couple of days to be checked over. once they come back i`ll repaint the block and start the rebuild. Is there an exploded diagram (maybe in poster size) available anywhere so I can make sure i`m putting bits back together with the right parts?

Wayne has also been around and we`ve made a slow start on the welding. I`ve been having a little bit of practice at my welding - it IS getting better!! - but Wayne`s still going to weld the floorpans and a couple of other bits for me and leave me with the sills and a few other bits to do. Speaking of the floor, this is the driver`s side at the moment:-

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yes, i`m think Pepper *may* be a poor choice of name..... I know, I should have called her Fred (after a well-known cartoon family!). At least i`ve got the repair panel to go back in.

I also gave the shell a bit of a wash before I attacked the floor, surprising what a bit of water can do

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i`m STILL waiting on contact back from the guy in Cambidge who I ''bought'' the bootlid from..... its been nearly 10 days now and he`s decided that, because I won it for such a bargain price, it 'was sold to someone else and ebay automatically relisted it!'. It`s annoying he appears to be a time-waster, but oh well..... I didn`t need the bootlid anyway, it would have just been nice to have a spare after all.

i`m STILL waiting on contact back from the guy in Cambidge who I ''bought'' the bootlid from..... its been nearly 10 days now and he`s decided that, because I won it for such a bargain price, it 'was sold to someone else and ebay automatically relisted it!'. It`s annoying he appears to be a time-waster, but oh well..... I didn`t need the bootlid anyway, it would have just been nice to have a spare after all.

You have my sympathy, makes my blood boil just reading about it. Sales on that site are meant to be binding, but then some sellers on there are total ****ers!!
I just hope you get your money back.
Best wishes,
Mike.

me too! I sold a Morris 1800 (landcrab) on ebay a few months back - it was MOT`d but i described it as a rolling project and suggested viewing. A guy in Kent 'won' the auction without viewing and expected me to deliver to him by 10am the day the auction finished. it didn`t occur to him that the auction finished at mid-day! he then decided he didn`t want the car.....

Luckily, I hadn`t paid for it as I thought the postage charge was a bit too ridiculous - £60! like I say, I can get to cambridge from clacton in my (automatic) Renault for about £30, there and back, hence why i waited patiently for a date, time and location to collect

we`ve been making some slow progress again with Pepper. I haven`t done much on her since the last update, apart from cleaning up the floors ready to weld in the new panels. Just as Wayne and I had made plans to start the weldathon i found a major leak in my shed with the weather we`ve been having recently, the roof had sprung a leak, soaking most of my stock of leather and leather-working equipment (I make things for re-enactors and am going to repair Pepper`s seats eventually myself). Thankfully, the roof is now sealed again and a lot of the stuff in there has been saved ready to be used again of course, that`s put me back about 10 days, not a major amount of time but the plan was to have Pepper roadworthy by the middle of June ready for an event in the North (Preston park Fire Engine Rally) but thats looking a little too optimistic now. oh well...
While the roof was being repaired, i`ve also been parts-chasing. I possibly have 2 gearboxes and an alternator lined up from a forum member - just waiting to hear back from them I also bought 3 - thats right, 3! - distributors on eBay. With packaging and delivery (for all 3), I paid less than £10 . two of them are 25D`s and the other, I think, is a D M 3? at least i`ll have one to put on my rebuilt 948 when I get round to it, plus have a spare too.
Now, i`d like to ask fora little advice from you out there, if I may? My 948 is currently in pieces awaiting a rebuild. It looks like I won`t need to rebore the block/regrind the crank (which is a small mercy ), but what i`m thinking is opening up the ports in the head a little to improve flow a bit and match the exhaust ports too. I`m not after huge amounts of power, but do you guys (and girls) think thats a good idea? and can you recommend any other (non-drastic) upgrades? I`m already thinking alternator and maybe converting my dizzy to electronic ignition. Are twin-carbs a good idea, as i`ve the option of either a single 1.5 SU (from a 1098 A-series) or twin 1-and-a-quarters from a Mini?

i`m guessing NO ONE has any advice?

Do a search on the forum, it's been covered a few times. I'd go with the simple things, a cam and (skimmed by 60 thou) head from a 1098 (or a 12G940 head if feeling adventurous), plus a freeflowing intake manifold from suppliers like Minispares and a 1.5" SU carburettor should make significant improvements.

If different topics are posted in the same threads they tend to get 'lost' so best to start a separate thread about performance upgrades in the mechanical forum. It is more likely to be seen there by people who might be able to offer advice .