Morris Minor Owners Club

Is it possible to put blocks or something under the front seat brackets to position the seats leaning back.I ask as where the seats are a 90 degree angle bolt upright backache comes easily.Also when holding the steering wheel I can lift it up a couple of mil so I guess there must be something under the horn that has given up.Maybe a collar .If so does anyone know if it is an easy fix please

You certainly used to be able to buy little clip-on rubber blocks to raise the rear legs of the front seats, but it doesn't sound like that's of any use to you.

It would help if you state which year your Minor is; certainly in the later 1098cc ones, there is a felt bush in the steering column that dries out and needs periodic oiling or replacement. It's not that difficult, but rather fiddly, involving undoing the steering wheel (best to leave the nut partially on, else you may bash yourself in the face as you force it off the splines!), then undoing two screws on the steering column clamp, and teasing out the felt bush to lubricate with oil or replace as required.

Great care must be taken to ensure the indicator stalk self-cancelling peg on the steering column is correctly located in alignment with the indicator switch (you may need several attempts as this), and that the steering wheel is correctly set and tightened afterwards.

It probably helps to have the front of the car jacked up as you do this, to enable easy steering and adjustments.

To tilt the seat back rearwards you can fit flat metal plates under the seat pivot brackets. Build up the thickness until you get it right. Replace the standard bolts with longer items. You can move the seat rearwards as well by using the series of bolt holes under the seat pivot brackets.

When you refer to moving the steering wheel... if you mean up and down as in the wheel follows a slight arc towards the windscreen, then the felt bush as above could be at fault. If the outer tube is loose in the bracket under the dash, then there could be a piece of plastic packing missing, but then the outer column would rotate around the centre column. If you mean that the wheel moves up and down in line with the column, then the clamp bolt at the bottom could be loose. It grips the shaft on the steering rack, but runs through a key way so that even if loose it would not pull off, resulting the the wheel moving "up and down".

Or it may be that the steering wheel nut is loose - I had that once and tightening the nut stopped the up and down movement.

Thanks everyone will have to get some blocks made for the seats and further investigate the inner steering wheel .

Just to advise it is a j reg do yes the later model