Morris Minor Owners Club

A quick update regarding the horn which I have now restored.

It didn't look like it was going to work (first picture) but a few light taps on the casing and a battery and voila!

I then proceeded to dismantle as much as I dare before painting, namely the central nut, plate behind, horn ring and vibrating belows behind that leaving the connecting wires to the electrics inside intact.

Everything was cleaned, stripped of paint and de-rusted with Jenolite before priming and spraying in black gloss paint.

I have kept the 'original' mounting bracket but I am not sure it is an original Morris item.

I thought I might look at the clutch relay mechanism next to make sure that I have all the parts needed and it is ready to fit when the engine and gearbox go back in.

I had bagged up a number of items from the original car; from parts I had collected over the years and new parts purchased to replace worn items.

Referring to the photo - The original Series II parts are the darker in colour and the new ones are nice and shiny and hopefully you can see that the new items are quite different to the old.

The item that bothers me most is the new relay arm which is totally different to the Series II one. I'm wondering if it is for a later car where the pedals are spaced wider apart and I have purchased the wrong one?

Any thoughts then please let me know.

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After further research I can confirm that I haven't purchased the wrong clutch relay arm/kit; the fact is it isn't made anymore for the Series II.

Referring to the first photo - I am going to reuse the original relay arm and take advantage of the replacement kit's larger diameter clevis pins by drilling out the worn oval holes in the original so taking up any slack movement in the pivot motion. And likewise for the clutch pedal shaft. The rest of the parts are from the refurbishment kit. I am also fitting 2no new bronze bearings to the brake pedal which should improve/tighten up the pedal sideways movement.

The second photo shows another original item which I am having to say goodbye to and that is the original bronze bearing which is bolted onto the side of the gearbox. It is well out of shape and can't be used again. The new one is a brown plastic thingy!

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I was aiming to complete the front upright assemblies this afternoon by adding the new brake cylinders and brake shoes before adding the drums, but have hit a bit of a problem with parts compatibility.

The remanufactured brake cylinders fit fine, but in the first photo you can see the centreline of the adjusting screw does not line up with the centre line of the brake cylinder as I expected.

The new brake shoe needs to move to the left (in the photo) to restore the geometry of shoe operation within the drum. However the shoe construction at the other end does not allow it to as the flat surface the brake material is bonded to is too long and the central 'tang' is not sitting down in the opposite cylinder recess.

If I cut back the 'flat' surface of the shoes by about a quarter of an inch I can restore the geometry and they will sit nicely into the back of the opposite cylinders, but should one have to go to all this work to make new parts fit?

This is a safety critical item especially on the MMs and Series II's where the brakes have to be set up very carefully to get the best out of them.

Any views on my proposal to rectify the issue please let me know before I do the cutting. (Tomorrow ).

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Well today I have followed my instincts regarding my proposed alterations of the new brake shoes before fitting.

I wasn't happy with the dimensions of the new brake shoe metal parts, in that they were restricting the 'sliding movement' necessary for the brake shoes to self centre inside the drum when making brake shoe adjustments.

So I bravely took my hacksaw to the end of the shoes that sit in the 'back' of the slave cylinders and cut the curved metal 'deck' back enough to clear the back of the new cylinders.

Pictures 1 & 2 hopefully show the result of the alterations and that brake shoes are now able 'move' to over the back of the brake cylinder which they couldn't before.

I've spent a pleasant afternoon building up the two suspension uprights and have adjusted the brakes on the bench and can confirm the action of the shoe movement is just what I was initially expecting in that one can feel them 'move' until the maximum contact surface is achieved inside the drums which wouldn't have been possible before the mod.

Has anyone else had to deal with this issue?

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That's not something I have seen before... but I suspect you have done the right thing!

I believe you have done the right thing, there has to be clearance for the shoe to slide across without hindrance.

Did you contact the supplier to inform them their goods were not up to the required standard?
Or to ask for partial refund, since you had to engineer them to be fit for purpose under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (replaced the Sale of Goods Act)?

Apologies for not posting recently but I've got to that stage in the restoration where I needed time to make the important decision regarding the underside of the car; and after some considerable consideration I've decided that I'm going to paint the underside in the original factory primer finish which is a chocolate brown colour.

In order to do this I am going to beg, borrow or buy a body rotisserie to provide a good working environment rather than work on my back underneath the car.

Firstly - does anyone have the overall length of a Minor Saloon on a rotisserie, as I need to know if it will all fit in my garage?

Secondly - has anyone got the paint code or information of what the original 'chocolate brown' paint colour might be?

Thanks in anticipation.

On a slightly different tac, I received the item shown in the photo yesterday!

Well worth a bit of a wait.

It got me thinking - how many other Series II owners know of the low oil pressure issue? Has there been any articles in Minor Matters for example?

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Yes I was aware of the pressure loss, but only through online articles. The new filters are much to blame but fitting a new oil pump helped up the pressure as well as the restrictor and using nos 803 oil filters.

As I have mentioned previously, it looks as though my Series II was painted 'brown' underneath straight from the factory and (looking at period black and white photos of the production line) the bodyshell topside painted down to meet it at the cills etc.

Enough of the brown paint finish has survived for me have a stab at trying to match the colour. So here is my best guess (so far) using the new panel for the boot floor.

Again it appears to be a 'Military' paint colour type.

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The brown paint was simply the primer used in the "Rotodip" paint process where the whole body was submerged in a vat of paint. The same paint was used on all body panels, wheels and other components including those supplied to dealers as spare parts.
On a finished car, the brown paint simply remained on areas of the underside where the spraygun had not reached when applying the subsequent coats.

It's a very tough paint. It gives sandblasting quite the challenge. Not all removable panels have this base primer. Perhaps it was phased out over the production run.

Well, I don't know if the car is lucky or not but the underside looks like it hasn't received any body colour (apart from some over spray) or underseal or old oil or waxoyl in it's 67 years of existence so I will be spraying the underside in the 'brown' paint as I think it is an important feature to try and retain.

I believe (for me) this project has now reached a turning point in its execution.

Having finished restoring all of the original mechanical and electrical items I could (apart from the rear axle still attached to the shell) I am now in the position where these are all literally wrapped up and ready to go back on to the shell when required which should speed up the final assembly progress.

I have also temporarily refitted the engine and gearbox so as to free up more room in the garage over winter and keep them safe from any possible impact damage, and with the Morris now sitting on the other side of the garage I have had more time to look at the condition of the passenger side structure.

There will be a little more welding than I first thought on the shell's underside here and there and the boot floor panel replacement which I have not started yet. It's mainly little bits and pieces and more of a time consuming cosmetics job really, however, the whole of the underside is covered in surface rust and some original patches of black paint which I was going to try and keep but I think I am now going to have to blast it back to bare metal before the repairs are carried out and then painting it in the original factory brown paint finish (with black overspray).

Likewise the metal work required to the rear of the front wings, and the rear wings where they have split means they too will have to be repainted at some point.

If I am not careful the whole car could start to look like a patchwork quilt which is not what I intended for it at the start.

I think I could now be heading towards a full respray as part of the preservation process.

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I think I could now be heading towards a full respray as part of the preservation process.

Hi Ian,
(Always) Look on the bright side (of life), if you go down this route, look on it as restoring the complete original 'as it left the factory look'.
After all any rust / flaked / damaged / polished through paintwork is the result of it's post production life, in the hands of previous owners, not as Morris first presented it in the showroom.
The standard of the respray is also up to you. Many go for the best they can get, which is fair enough and what most of us would do, however I believe there are some who have gone for 'factory standard', who like you want absolute authenticity, or as close as they can get.
Hopefully someone who has gone down this route will get in touch with you to advise how best to go about / achieve this.
I wish you continued good luck with it and look forward to seeing the 'finished' car at some point in the (COVID restriction free) future.
Best wishes,
Mike.

I think I could now be heading towards a full respray as part of the preservation process.

Hi Ian,
(Always) Look on the bright side (of life), if you go down this route, look on it as restoring the complete original 'as it left the factory' look.
After all any rust / flaked / damaged / polished through paintwork is the result of it's post production life, in the hands of previous owners, not as Morris first presented it in the showroom.
The standard of the respray is also up to you. Many go for the best they can get, which is fair enough and what most of us would do, however I believe there are some who have gone for 'factory standard', who like you want absolute authenticity, or as close as they can get.
Hopefully someone who has gone down this route will get in touch with you to advise how best to go about / achieve this.
I wish you continued good luck with it and look forward to seeing the 'finished' car at some point in the (COVID restriction free) future.
Best wishes,
Mike.

Engine is a good colour, nice to see you have replicated the grey-blue they were painted. When I rebuilt my 803 I painted it in a similar colour but the person I sold it to mustn't have believed me when I said I reconditioned the engine and they also painted it drab green.

Thanks for the comment Jowett J. I believe I have the correct shade of 'blue' after some investigation.

I can't wait for the rally field comments - 'You've painted the engine the wrong colour'.

There are very few of these 'blue' engines about and no-one, so far, can say how many were produced or when.

Ian46 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 15, 2020 5:22 pm

There are very few of these 'blue' engines about and no-one, so far, can say how many were produced or when.

Just wait until you get it to a few rallies, all of a sudden you'll be surrounded by 'experts' who will no doubt 'advise' on paint shade, numbers, dates and a lot else besides !