1953 (March) Series II Restoration

[Ian46]

I've spent some time gardening to build up 'Brownie' points so now I can get back to the awful job of dismantling and cleaning the front suspension components.

As I have previously mentioned, all the rubber items on the car have either crumbled to pieces or I have had to saw off or drill them out when attempting to dismantle components. The front suspension has been the most challenging task so far.

The good news is that I can reuse the trunnions and uprights and the shock absorbers. The bad news is all the rubber items, seals, brake hoses will have to be renewed. I have also opted to renew all the brake lines, wheel bearings, brake shoes and locktabs.

The brake cylinders look good externally but are seized solid so my only option is to soak them in WD 40 or similar and then rig them up directly to the master cylinder to see if it can push the cylinders out.

Front suspension parts not in the photo are broken down ready for blasting.

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[ianmack]

You mentioned in an earlier post that the car doesn’t appear to have been apart for many years so I would regard replacing all the ancient rubber bits as good practice rather than bad news, likewise brake lines and locktabs. You might like to consider using polyurethane suspension bushes.

As for the seized brake cylinders frankly I wouldn’t waste time on them. Even if you can get them moving and clean and there’s no visible damage there’s no certainty that new seals will be effective and personally I would replace them as a matter of course. They aren’t hugely expensive.

If the uprights, trunnions and shocks are good that’s a bonus.

[mobylette]

Should also mention that WD40 is NOT penetrating/releasing oil. You need something like Plusgas.

[jagnut66]

Hi Ian,
A link below to some 'Plusgas' for you. I second that it is a good penetrating fluid. Like all these fluids, spray it on and go off and do something else for an hour or so, then come back and try again.
I always buy two at a time, then you've always got one on the shelf when you finish the first can.
Best wishes,
Mike.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PlusGas-Engl ... 1f03b1f7df

[Ian46]

Thanks for your comments Ian, Mobylette and Mike.

I received an order from ESM this morning containing all the consumable parts I thought I needed to rebuild the front suspension, with the exception of new front brake cylinders which are now ordered. I take your point Ian in that it is probably a false economy/waste of time to try and return the existing ones to use. I am curious to know what they are like on the inside though.

I had forgotten the Plusgas name so thanks for the reminder.

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[Ian46]

Just to let everyone know I'm still here and now back on to this project working through the front suspension, refurbishing and/or renewing parts as necessary.

The picture I have posted here looks very similar to the last one of mine however everything has now been sorted, cleaned, de-rusted and painted. All rubber bushes are now new, original trunnions are painted and ready to reuse, new wheel bearings are ready to fit and shock absorbers cleaned, painted and serviced ready to go back on the car.

Note - I am not going to reuse the wheel cylinders as I haven't been able to free them up so they will be all new.

The suspension uprights, drums, torsion bars, tie bars, brake backplates and gearbox crossmember are going to the blasters this week so hopefully all those will be painted and ready for assembly early next week.

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[Ian46]

I'm back on with the restoration now after being excused gardening.

Progress had slowed whilst I was going through the original front suspension components, cataloguing what could be saved and go for blasting and painting and what couldn't. That long task thankfully is now done and I have started to build up sub assemblies ready to fit after the engine bay has a quick blow over paint job which I can't put off any longer.

One question I have concerns the propshaft which I have broken down to find the UJ's badly worn; they will be replaced but does the propshaft need balancing? There are no marks to suggest it was ever 'factory' balanced.

Cheers

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[jagnut66]

Hi Ian,
As far as I understand it they were all originally fitted balanced and ready to go.
So if you haven't removed the balancing plates and there's no sign of any ever being fitted (and subsequently rusting off), your prop should be okay to refit once you've done the UJ's.
That said, every one I've ever had though has had a plate front and rear, an image of the front one is attached below.
Do you have a spare just in case?
Best wishes,
Mike.

Morris Minor prop balancing plate.jpg (62.71 KiB) Viewed 9999 times

[Ian46]

Thanks for getting back to me Mike. You have confirmed my suspicions in thinking the prop should be balanced. I will build it back up after painting and take to a propshaft guy I have used in the past.

I do have a spare shaft at the moment but don’t have the room in my garage to store parts like this long term so it will have to go eventually.

Cheers Ian

[philthehill]

In support of the above post - the prop shafts were balanced as a complete unit and fitted as a complete unit.

Importantly did you mark the tube and the front and rear 'UJ' flanges so that when the flanges and tube are reassembled in their relative positions they are as they were before stripping.

If you did not and you reassemble ad hock there is a greater risk that the propshaft is now out of balance.

[Ian46]

Hi Phil, I did mark up the prop parts so I will reassemble as before. I’m going to get it balanced in any case as I haven’t seen an unbalanced propshaft before.

The unit was fitted with very long grease nipples. I don’t know if this type is still readily available?

[philthehill]

Well done.

Just because it does not have any balance plates attached does not mean it is unbalanced. Only if the propshaft requires the additional weight are balance plates attached.
Here you are as regards the long grease nipple.
https://www.morrisminorspares.com/rear- ... ts-p831265

Phil

[Ian46]

Thanks for the link. I’ll add the nipples to my next order.

[Ian46]

I've not posted for a while but I am still working laboriously through all the stripped parts that came with the car to assess their condition and 'fitness' for further use.

Today it was the wiper motor. This part is also date stamped 02 '53 so another original part for the car.

I was going to connect the wiper motor straight to a battery with a fused connection to see if it worked but I am so glad I didn't. The second photo shows what I found inside when I removed the cover. I don't know what the cream 'goo' is but it was easy to remove after 67 years.

More difficult to remove was what appeared to be old grease which has 'dried' to the consistency of glue so that all the gears and drive to the spindles were stuck solid.

I eventually managed to remove the connecting rod, spindle mechanism, the motor's large cog and lower gear beneath which gave me access to the wiper motor worm gear which was turning freely. beware anyone else taking the gears out - I didn't realise there are about 40 small needle rollers inside the casing, luckily I was working over a washing up bowl and found them all.

Before I reassemble everything am I ok to rebuild with LM grease?

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[jagnut66]

Hi Ian,
Once cleaned up you may want to put some fresh grease back in there.
Can anyone on here advise him what type and how much?
Best wishes,
Mike.

[Ian46]

Today the wiper mechanism has been broken down into it's component parts, cleaned, greased internally and put back together for reuse.

Spindle gearboxes will not be fully tightened up until the whole wiper mechanism is back in the car.

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[Ian46]

Next component I am going to look at is the carburetor. I have cleaned as much dirt off the outside as I can and started to strip it down, this time taking loads of photos to help with reassembly.

From what I can see so far it looks in pretty good condition so I have ordered a rebuild kit which should get it back to working condition.

Just need to find an air silencer that is less battered than the one I have.

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[Ian46]

When I purchased the car I was informed that there was a reconditioned carb for the 803cc engine in one of the boxes, however the carb referred to is not for this car.

Is this carb for a 948cc engine? It has been refurbished but subsequently carelessly stored so will need attention before use. If anyone is interested in it please let me know?

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[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Its amazing the way the grease can dry out and harden. The tourer Ive been working on was the same, also the wiper wheel boxes were seized partly due to corrision and also the fact they had been painted over!

Keep up the great work!

[Ian46]

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Working on the 803cc carburettor again today now that the SU carb rebuild kit ordered from ESM has arrived.

Finally got it all stripped down and ready for cleaning (top picture).

Bottom picture shows all the separate parts, cleaned again and now ready for final assembly tomorrow. I have the butterfly valve already inserted in to the throttle body and the cork gaskets soaking in the glass dish at the top of the photo in readiness.

I've not rebuilt a carburettor to this extent before so I hope I don't end up with too many parts left over!


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