Traveller '68 - Left Hand drive conversion

[Nickol]

Now the clutch pedal I do not need any more but the brake pedal can be re-used (I hope !!)

So it needs cleaning up a little bit, wiping off the oily surface then with Acetone and giving a coat of black Hammerite. After having only done demolition wrok so far, it is gratifying to be restoring something. Here the nice looking brake pedal.[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Last job of the day - clean up the manky master cylinder and slacken and turn the banjo connection 180° for refitting sometime on the Left Hand side. Now doesn't it look pretty?

Before refitting it permanently there are a few tasks and problems to solve.

1. There do not seem to be any predrilled bolt holes in the left side , what is it ?? - U form beam. It might be they are just blocked and cannot readily be seen but if not I need to drill 2 nr ca. 10mm holes for the Master CYlinder and one more , ca, 15mm for the clutch brake pedal system.

2. The feed from the brake fluid reservoir will either need extending or the reservoir itself repositioning on the LHS - that would be the best option if there is room. If anyone has already a LHD version, perhaps they can tell me?

3. The brake pipe system will need re-routing - actually replacing with new. That could be a bit of a hassle if you need to say, take the radiator off to get access for securing the pipes. Hopefully not.[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Do you have a LHD rack ? Why not just treat it to new track rod ends while it's all in bits?

Today the new steering rack went in today. I pumped some grease in to the ball joints - which may have been a mistake as the rubber was bulging out - probably should have done this once it was fixed in place.

The steering rack itself is to be filled with approx, o,30 litre of hypoid oil (or grease as recommended here in the forum) but where? The manual says "through the nipple provided" -but I cannot see one - perhaps the new steering racks are sealed up and do not need any oil/ grease???

[bmcecosse]

Perhaps - it is of course a Spridget rack... Is there no plug/nipple to be seen ?

[Nickol]

That depends on your point of view - Spridgets may be utilising Morris Minor steering racks meant for LHD cars ????

I cannot see any obvious nipple - what is it meant to lubricate anyway - the worm gear or the flex part inside the Gaitors?

[bmcecosse]

There are many more RHD Spridgets than there are LHD Minors! The rack is used upside down on Spridgets----so that rack when turned 'right way up' is a LHD rack for a Minor! And vice versa of course. The greasing point should be roughly in the mirror image position of where the steering column meets the rack.

[Nickol]

Poor old LHD Minors, now a "minority" group being picked on !

The rack is already mounted in the car but definitely has no greasing nippel - I located (under a heap of dirt) the nippel in the old rack after your advice - I bet it has never been used since it was new! - and had a feel around on the new one but nothing. I will check with the manufacturer. If I have to drill and tap a new nippel myself, then the rack will have to come out.

In between times, have fitted the new accelerator pedal. Wonderful, the bolt holes were hidden under a sort of sticky tape and after a squirt of WD40, the attachment clamps screwed down ok. I did forget however to disconnect the foot dimmer switch at first and trapped the cable underneath, so had to have a couple of attempts - stupid boy!

The dimmer switch cable is fed through the central console area so it should be long enough to reach to its new position on the LHS.

Also attached the steering column and checked the movement of the indicator switch which would not cancel automatically before - after a good clean up, hopefully it will now.

New brake system. There are definitely no predrilled holes in the steel channel so this will need doing to fit the master cylinder in there, and the pipe feed take off. Also the reservoir tank needs a hole . I did surmise that the brake pipe runs themselves would be a major re positioning job. However , it seems the existing pipe runs do not follow the manual. The manual shows the pipe for the rear brakes running from the back end on the master cylinder and the front brakes being operated through the banjo at the side.
However , on my car there is not a rear connection. The single side banjo pipe goes to the 3 or 4 way unit ( I do not remember how many now) on the RHS near the radiator ( the stop lmap switch) and from here the pipe run for the rear brakes back tracks along the U channel , past the master cylinder that was towards the rear. I suspect the modification came about after fitting the filler reservoir under the bonnet whose pipe run now uses the rear end of the Master cylinder. This leaked before and I am still wiping up the fluid from inside the U channel. Until this is clean , I cannot clean everything away and make protective measures against rust inside.

This being the case, I only have to install a single line from the LHS to this 3 or 4 way unit and connect where the existing feed is.

So that is it for today.

Is anyone actually interested in this thread ?

[amgrave]

I'm interested

[bmcecosse]

You're doing well!

[minijojo]

please keep on telling us about your conversion. I´m interested, may be i have to do the same job in near future

[Nickol]

Thanks for the feedback - on we go.

Steering wheel - it has always been rather greasy and horrible to touch and my previous efforts to clean it up were only partly successful.
A quick check in the Forum has suggested using "brasso" - I have a vague recollection of the dim distant past of what that is, so will give it a try with a substitute available here.

Any other suggestions?

[Nickol]

Pictures are always better than words. A nice simple task you would think moving the brake fluid reservoir from one side to the other. However, the bulkhead slopes and to make the holding clip vertical, a small plastic distance piece was inserted. Not sure if it is original , as not shown on the blow up views. To fix it , I epoxied it position and when set screwed the clip tight, other wise it kept jumping out.

The feed hose will need the end trimming off because it used to leak where attached to the master cylinder by a ring clip. There also appear to be special clips riveted to the floor underside to hold the hose in place - need to find something suitable locally.[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Not very clear is the LHS U channel where the master cylinder will go in. The pedal arrangement is not clear to me, there are spacers to go in, the brake pedal but in what order? The RHD version had the end of the shaft supported in a cut out in the gearbox side. For the LHD this appears not to be the case.

In the picture you can see the fule line dangling about, that will need securing too.[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Last pic to show the new accelerator pedal in position. I was surprised that the fixing holes with embedded nuts on the underside were there to be used. The pic shows the first effort and trapping of the dimmer switch cable. Need to work out where to put that. The rubber pedal cover looks worn because it is off the original.

In the picture the horizontal arrow shows where the steering rack support brackets attach to. so much easier getting them on, now that the floor has been removed.[frame][/frame]

[martin418]

this is a very interesting thread , i have just looked at my series 2 car and it has all the holes for the master cylinder including the housings for the pedal bushes are in the chassis rail , i wonder if latter cars did not have them fitted as standard or it's had a new rail fitted , the fluid reservoir is not original , has your car got a disc brake conversion if so the standard drum brake master cylinder needs a modification to work with discs

[Nickol]

Hallo Martin,

No the car does not have disc brakes fitted but it does have ....I am not sure what it is called ???......a rather large canister linked to the braking system and engine vacuum as a form of power brake assist - whether this has been working or not I cannot say , the brakes seem pretty normal to me.

Interestingly, my parts catalogue from Anglo-Parts in Belgium lists the reservoir tank as being applicable to Benelux countries and France - now why should that be?

About 30 minutes ago I started to mark out the first hole for drilling for the master cylinder. I first cleaned the chassis rail out (thankyou for the correct terminoogy) with petrol which was very greasy and saw that one hole at least is there but only on the inside. Either it is blanked of at the time of manufacture or has been welded over - That would appear not to be the case. This is very pleasing for it means that I have a datum to measure for the other holes.

[IslipMinor]

The remote reservoir is in the BMC parts manual as Plate M 2.1 facing page MM 3.1.

I wonder what legislation was in place in France and the Benelux Countries at the time - mid 60's?
[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Yes, that is the baby. Legislation indeed - but my car spent most of its life in Hartlepool so presumably nothing to do with legislation from Benelux and France.

Be that as it may - I checked the brake pipes again. The feed from the master cylinder does not go to the 3 way switch as I first thought, I got my wires crossed, so to speak. It actually goes through a tortuous route forward along the chassis rail, under the radiator and then up and around to connect into the ..what shall I call it ?? ...brake servo. In the picture attached you can see the brute. The black arrow is where the pipe connects to it but is hidden behind the rope ( the rope is there to temp hold the exhaust in place, by the way) and the red arrow where it comes from. The other line feeds from this "brake servo" to the master switch.

Now the feed line from the master cylinder I have now removed. It must be nearly 2m long! The new one I reckon will need to be less than half that. A bit of good news then.[frame][/frame]

[bmcecosse]

Yes - it is a brake servo. It doesn't make the brakes any better - but it does (if working) reduce the load on the right leg when braking. It can make bleeding the brakes a bit of a nightmare...

[martin418]

very interesting about the fluid reservoir needed for certain markets