Series 11 Saloon, 1956

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

The sills finisher came off easily and no nasty surprises inside, nice and tidy. A second rain hole was also blocked and had rusted a bit[frame][/frame][frame][/frame] Rusty bits cut out[frame][/frame] and the newly welded in sections with nice big drain holes to hopefully stop this happening again!
The quarter panel had a flakey bit of filler on it[frame][/frame] Thankfully nice solid metal underneath that was cleaned right back and treated with jenolite to kill the rust and the filler rpleaced, Ive yet to rub it down though.[frame][/frame]The door also had a similar cracked bit of filler, again scraped out and cleaned down. This car has only done 4000 miles from 1987 and I think it has been washed a lot and put away wet.

I let Stevey loose on the passenger side this morning and he found a strange hole on the passenger side near the spring hanger. This area has been repaired before. I think that it has had a leaky back window for many years and the water has been getting into the section under the back seat and staying there, there was a sort of tide mark there and lots of flaky rust bits. This has been cut back and repaired today, no pictures taken though as my hands were too dirty! hope the clarendon gray paint I have is a good match as there a few bits now to touch in......

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

So I got back to this car today finally, but in my defence due to a wrist injury and not complete laziness

I charged the battery up and it fired up, once warmed up I was able to adjust the carb a bit better as I had previously stripped it down to clean. It drove out of the garage and I got to work on the ps front suspension. All looked good but I put new poly eyebolt bushes in as I had changed them in the ds. Once again quite new cylinders on the brakes, though the rear cylinder was sticky but came out with some pressure.

Hope to do a bit more tomorrow

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

So today I cleaned up the pistons and coated in some rubber grease and put back together. Andrew Elwood called over to show me his new car and give it a good run, he timed it really well and got the job of brake pedal presser!! Thanks Andrew. It didnt bleed up easily, air was still coming out after a second go round the entire system. There didnt seem to be a lot of pressure build up in the master cylinder and a bit too much free play at the pedal. After adjusting up the free play here it bled up fairly quickly as it was shifting a lot more fluid with each press.

I also gave the whole underside a nice thin coat of waxoil underseal that I use on all my cars, so its looking clean and tidy under neath and no other nasty surprises were noticed

Next job is to finish stripping off the sound proofing from the inside and a coat of paint on the floor.

[kjm]

Good progress David

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Yesterday I scrapped all the sound proofing off the passenger side, wide brush on the angler grinder and cleaned it all down nicely and gave it a coat of black smoothrite, its looking much better and at least if any water finds its way in it wont get trapped between the floor and the sound proofing.

Today I got stuck into the drivers side and have it all removed now also. I found a hole just above the back seat crossmember/ box section that will need welding. I definately think this car has had a leaky back screen for a long time letting water in and allowing this to rust. Anyway its not a huge welding job and wasnt noticed from underneath because of the stuck on sound proofing.

I also got some tryes changed onto the clarendon grey rims at a local tyre place and they only charged £5 per rim so I was pretty happy.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

So heres the section under the back seat which as you can see has become rather a large hole Anyway at least its not a difficult place to repair, I cut the piece out of cardboard as template went to look for the tin ony to find it wasnt there - Stevey realised it was in his garage 10miles away so work stopped on the car and we retired to the warmth of the kitchen to drink tea!!! [frame][/frame] Its amazing how quickly a minor can become a bench isnt it, but at least there has been some progress in the last couple of weeks [frame][/frame]

[davidmiles]

nice progress David, that Jenolite is great stuff isn't it, I can't get it here, so I use krust, it's ok, does the job, but Jenolite is king of the rust converters.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

David, Ive had a lot of trouble finding jenolite stocked anywhere as well, but I got that bottle off ebay. It arrived just taped up from top to bottom! It is great stuff and really does work.

Some work time in the garage this afternoon, the hole in the floor is now repaired, rest of the drivers side has been wire brushed and a coat of smoothrite makes it look as tidy as the passenger side! Perhaps tomorrow I will get stuck into the drivers side door, I do hate the rubbing down process [frame][/frame]

[gtt1951]

Jenolite - the current runny liquid form (and not the old Gel) version was/is available from Camberley Auto Factors. This company, along with some of the old wound-up Unipart outlets, has been taken over by Andrew Page.
The variety of stock has diminished and the prices have gone up!
The main "Camberley Auto Factors" industrial unit outlet is just down the road from me - they still have one delivery vehicle in the CAF livery. I'll try to remember to stop off, in the morning, on my way to work, to see if they still sell the stuff.
Will update you all about availability.
George.

[gtt1951]

Well Folks, finally got around to going to the old CAF headquarters location (now owned by Andrew Page) and checked up on whether they still sell Jenolite.
They do, but I was totally GOBSMACKED at their PRICE HIKE !!!!
On 17/12/12, I bought a 1 ltr bottle of Jenolite for £17.65 (inc VAT and prior to getting a CAF Club discount card).
I popped into the same place, now rebranded Andrew Page "Autoparts People" and a 250ml bottle of Jenolite was on sale for £19.95
Price Quadrupling and the "shop floor" area has been greatly reduced, as has their product range, with a lot of the products not even being priced up.
They seem to only have one CAF branded van, and the Morris Minor grey CAF LCV hasn't been seen for some time - RIP CAF.
I can get a better deal on 20/50W classic oil from a local Family Owned motorfactors (Whopee Motors, with only 3 stores), than I can from AP.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

It goes to prove that big business isnt always best value! I had a look on ebay and 1 litre is available with free post for around £13.

I spent some more time rubbing down the door today, really my least favourite job, but its starting to get to the right proflie now. Hopefully tomorrow I may get some primer on it. Looking forward to a drive in this once that bits painted and the windscreen sealed. Its minus its seats though at the moment, they have been 'borrowed' by Stevey for his 54 as it was going to an indoor show and needed smart seats.

I also had a look at the wiring round the regulator and fuse box. At some point the screw in ones have been replaced with push on and the wiring converted with terrible looking blue connectors. This is one of the things the last owner really disliked about the car. I had a look through my parts and came accross a screw in fuse box fuse box and a choice of 6 regulators! I picked the one nearest in date to the car and spent ages cleaning it and guess what once I cut off all the connectors and screwed it in it wasnt charging.......... I tried the next one on without even cleaning it and it works!! Im still undecided as to wether or not to renew the loom as it all works its just untidy and when the wiring is old all the wires fade to a dark brown colour so you have to be careful to mark them before removing any. At least this area looks better and more original now.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

I didnt get started on this today as the blue minors exhaust started to blow at the manifold so this was a priority, then I adjusted its clutch and spent the rest of the afternoon washing and polishing in the spring sunshine!

What I did do was look out the best 2 split screen chrome trims I have and cleaned them up tonight as Im getting some assistence to seal the screen and fit them tomorrow. [frame][/frame]
This turtle wax chrome polish is great stuff, its a milky sort of liquid and it doesnt seem to have any abrasive but is a super cleaner. Ive never saw it for sale in the UK, this was a present from America.

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Screen sealed and the chrome fitted without too much difficulty. One thing we did have to do as I have had to on other split screens is file a small amount off each end of the trim as when you put one side in and s=are happy and then fit the other it pushed that side out again! Hasnt been rain tested yet, fingers crossed Stevey inside, grinning insanely[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Does anyone have a spare passenger side splitscreen wiper arm, the one on this has been cut down to take more modern wipers and it really has no way to hold it in place.

[irmscher]

Looks very nice David

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

Thanks Irmscher!

Bit more today, some rubbing down and a coat of filler primer to start[frame][/frame]

[kjm]

Looking good

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

So during the week I pulled out the glove boxes only to find more crappy wiring with joined wires all over the place, for some reason the wire to the petrol pump had been spliced in 3 separate places. A 100 wiper motor was also in place, just sitting on sponge, lots of sponge to stop the thing moving around. Surely a fire risk? I think there was a round 6 wires going in through under the heater hoses. So I came in and ordered a new loom and a few other bits and bobs, as its going to be easier to start from scratch rather than try and make sense of all this mess. Were wires had been too long, several knots had been tied in them and blue jointer used all over the place.

So today I removed all the switches, heater, ignition switch, horn, dip switch and the 1000 wiper motor. I have a split screen motor and the bracket that it needs, just needed a new mounting rubber. I have real issues with dip switches before as the back is exposed to the elements and the screws tend to break when you try to free them. I soaked this one in pocket rocket for an hour or so before I attempted to shift them and thankfully they screwed out. The headlight switch, again i had issues with them before with the steel screw corroding into the brass terminal. Two of these ones screwed out and the third one, the screw head broke off. I drilled it out in the pillar drill but need a tap to clean the threads, so once again I rumaged in the spares and got a replacement. Also the little switch under the dash that turns off the speedo lights, again rusted in place and the tiny philips threads just turned. I ended up drilling it out, again though a better one was in the spares mountain!

Stevey was over this morning and he took the heater apart and cleaned up the reo stat switch and put on the correct gold cover instead of the newer bakelite one. Horn also tested and working. So hopefully when the loom arrives on Monday it should be a fairly straight forward job to fit.........
[frame][/frame]

[gtt1951]

David, was the Minor 1000 wiper motor working the wipers OK, before you discovered it?
George.

[Neil MG]

Great work David! A rewarding and satisfying job once finished!

[DAVIDMCCULLOUGH]

George, it wasnt working but I can only assume that it did at some point! There is now way to attach it securely. The split screen wiper arms had been cut down to take a newer wiper blade leaving no way for it to be attached securely so I dont suppose there wipers were ever used much.

Neill, yes a job that Ive been putting off on my lowlight, i think I bought the loom for it in 2009. This one will spur me on to do it as well, I hope

Rear lights removed today as well as the wires are fed in from the back to the terminals. Heres another thing Ive noticed a few times before on old wiring[frame][/frame]
Left is the melted mess from the loom and right is how the jointer should look..........