Morris Minor Owners Club

I wasn't looking for another project but came across this on Ebay recently. It was only few miles down the road so I went for a look.

It was first registered on 4th March 1953 in the Isle of White and from what I can gather was extensively stripped down about ten years ago with a view to carrying out a full restoration to Concours standard which never happened.

The car looks pretty tatty but there is no rust anywhere on the body (see under the door the box sections are still glossy black). All external panels are original and it even has the original carpets inside although they may not be salvageable.

The underside photo shows the chassis legs are still wearing their 'brown' protective paint as applied at the factory.

I bought it on the spot and then got to thinking about how I was going to 'restore' the car.

Our cars are most vulnerable when they are in pieces so I am thinking of getting it back together as quickly as possible so I can use it.

It will be a 'survivor' car. It's taken 67 years to get like this so why erase the history with new paint, interior etc.

What would others do?

Was that the car that was on Ebay? It looked excellent and a great find! Avery early series 11 as weill, does it have the square axle? There is a Juy 53 4 door about a mile from me with only 14000 odd miles on it, its in fantastic orignal condtion. This one probably has the old MM type brake cylinders fitted that are quite hard to find, ESM has had a batch made recently but they can be hard to find. You can update to the later cheaper cylinders by using a 7'backing plate.

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/brake ... 7-p1238787

Personally I would conserve it rather than restore, there are rows of shiney restored cars at shows, I spent much more time looking at the more tatty original ones. There is a great product called Dynax which could be painted over the underneath to protect it from getting any worse. That old brown prmier when intact is great protection. The 1950 tourer Im currently working on had been blasted and all that primer removed unfortunately.

Keep posting pics!

I saw it on ebay and wasn't surprised it sold fairly quickly. It looks a grand starting place for a project and !'d have been tempted if looking for something to do. There are only so many cars like that. Well done! As David says, just preserve it as much as possible, don't "overdo" it and get it back into use to enjoy .

A great project and very original, even down to the original floor sound deadening! Definitely one to conserve.

Thanks for your comments everyone.

This was the car on Ebay recently and as I mentioned I went to see it straight away. I haggled a little bit and got the price down to where I felt more comfortable and I agreed to pay in cash if it was taken off Ebay. I was surprised when the seller agreed and he delivered to my house a couple of days later. Off to a good start!

I've been through all the boxes of parts now and there are some odd parts missing like the 803cc rocker box cover for example or metal parts that have succumbed to the damp, but I have collected a few spares over the years so I'm now going to go through those to see where I am.

The wiring loom was shot, and the engine towers were very rusty so I can see me replacing the loom with a braided type and having any rusty metal work blasted and painted so it will be evident that there are some new bits and pieces on the car. I suppose that can't be helped.

Having cleaned the engine down now there is evidence that it is 'blue' in colour.

Does anyone have the paint code for this blue or know where I can buy it?

Thanks in anticipation.

The last few days I've been going through all the smaller parts that came with the car in boxes.

I've given everything an initial clean and examination and the ones I think I can use going forward are now bagged and tagged as clusters/subassemblies of parts.

After cleaning loads of parts I've decided to look at the gearbox because it was taking up space in the boot!

The gear-lever wasn't attached to the 'box' but sitting amongst all the other parts. I didn't think anything of that but on stripping the gearbox down it became clear that there was water on the inside! Never seen that before.

I think the gearbox must have been out in the rain at some point recently and it had entered through the gear-lever hole.

Luckily the gearbox was so dirty inside and out that there hasn't been any damage done.

Photo shows gear-box after initial clean. I've never see 'BMC' before cast on the side cover?

Ian46 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 22, 2020 2:37 pm
Photo shows gear-box after initial clean. I've never see 'BMC' before cast on the side cover?

We had a topic about the BMC Cover a few months back. viewtopic.php?f=1&t=70668&hilit=BMC+Gearbox+cover

Thanks for the pointer 'geoberni'. Seen the thread now.

I'll take a better photo of it tomorrow and post in the 'linked' thread.

Here you go!

Gearbox reassembly on hold whilst I wait for new gasket set to arrive so I thought I would get on with painting the first items back from blasting. I've managed to find a firm that uses a fine blasting material and the results are amazing with no loss of detail.

Interestingly there is no BRITMO script on the tappet chest covers. Not sure when that came in?

One item that stands out as being of poor quality is the dynamo adjustment arm (bottom left) which is really crudely made. Is it from another vehicle?

Great work there! The dynamo bracket there does look like a home made effort.

Ps yes not series2 at all.

Thanks for that Stevey. Glad you confirmed my suspicions.

Gaskets for the gearbox build up still hadn't materialised today so I thought I would take a look at the engine. I wasn't expecting much as the rocker cover is missing and it was part dismantled.

The rocker assembly took ages to get off the head and ages again to disassemble into its component parts. The rocker shaft is very badly worn and won't be used again; likewise the rockers themselves need rebushing due to excessive wear.

The pushrods are all straight and in good condition but the cam follower surfaces are quite worn and some rusty so they will have to be replaced.

Strangely, the head came off quite easily with little or no fuss and when on the bench I could see that it had been skimmed 'recently'. The head gasket has also been replaced but the engine has never fired since that work was done.

Looking into the bores there is water damage to the cylinder walls but the pistons looked 'new', - they are new and +20 thou replacements.

Rather than turn the engine over and possibly damage the fragile piston rings I used a fine wet or dry sandpaper to clean up the tops of the exposed bores and when I couldn't do any more I turned the engine over very slowly and to my surprise the pistons rose and fell very smoothly. So I think I've dodged another bullet.

Picture showing the new pistons. The next job will be to dismantle the bottom end to see what is going on down there.

And to follow on from my gearbox 'BMC' logo query, I have started to clean down the exterior of the engine block only to find that I have 'BMC' cast into the side of it. Again, I have never seen or noticed this on any other OHV engine.

Continuing with the engine strip down, I've taken a couple of photos of the engine back plate and the cover to the oil pump in particular which appears to be some sort of lash up using solder to keep it in place. Is this correct on these engines?

Bottom end strip down is becoming another voyage of discovery.

Photo 1 - There is more evidence of water getting into the bottom of the engine but it doesn't appear dire or to have been in there too long. It is easily removed with a wire brush.

Photo 2 - All the big ends are secured with different sized bolt heads. The threads are the same obviously. Is this correct?

Photo 3 - Some water has got into the big end bearings but these are new and the crank has been ground recently.

Photo 4 - Pistons out. Next stage a thorough clean. The engine looked awful when I purchased the car.

Next - crank out and then a close look at the camshaft for wear.

The oil pump cover is on the gearbox side of the pressed engine plate, so the solder is required. It can also be the source of oil leakage due to cracks. It's not always the rear main that is leaking. Let us know if you find MOWOG anywhere.