First Minor. Daily drive - winter advice request

[Oli]

Hi everyone,

New to the group and Minor ownership. Brought my 1959 saloon the other weekend. Travelled down to view it late one Sunday, appeared solid so brought the car then. I have been researching for several months so felt confident I had checked the car thoroughly. Due to the car being around 80 miles from home I decided to drive back that evening in the dark and rain back to Leicester. Did have my brother with me who "forgot" to follow me. The A1 in the rain. What a way to begin my journey with this car!

Now a condition of having a Minor is that it will be my daily driver, this includes in the winter.

Could anyone give me any advice regarding winterproofing the car? Time is of the essence with me buying the car at this time of year. I have been researching options, but I am just looking at getting through this winter and readdressing in the spring/summer of 23.

Lastly the car has the round smith heater installed. Could anyone provide any guidance on how to operate this? There is the fast/slow knob on the front but I cannot see anything else. I have really struggled to find information on how to operate this.

Thank you

[svenedin]

Congratulations!

It's a long time since my Minor was my daily driver but many of the things you should check also apply to a more modern car.

1) Check there is antifreeze in the coolant and enough of it. Note that different types of antifreeze are available and not all are suitable for classic cars. Blue ethylene glycol (Bluecol) is recommended.

2) Check the battery is good. A battery on the way out will not crank the engine in the cold

3) Check battery connections. Clean off any corrosion and smear terminals with vaseline

4) If you have a screen wash ensure there is an appropriate winter mixture of screen cleaner in it or it will freeze.

5) Make sure tyres are properly inflated and have sufficient tread

6) Arrange cover with a rescue organisation just in case

7) Make sure you have an ice scraper in the glovebox and a cloth or demister pad to wipe condensation off the windows.

Keep some lock de-icer outside the car. My Minor's locks would regularly freeze. It's no good if the de-icer is in the car!

9) Give the paintwork and chrome a good coat of wax

Just some ideas,


Stephen

[stuffedpike20]

I have got a set of winter tyres on a spare set of rims.

Changed them over last week because the weather is set to get colder.

[ManyMinors]

It might not sound like a big issue but for me, one of the most important things about driving such a car in the winter is being able to see out of it, and with those old "round heaters" it is very important that your car remains dry inside. Damp carpets on a winter day will mean steamed-up windows and you won't be able to see out safely. Your car might be fine, but DO check and replace front and rear windscreen rubbers etc if there are any doubts. A dry car makes a huge difference. I have 2 Minors of that age and the heating, ventilation, lighting, wipers and various small safety features are all a little inferior to the later cars so everything has to be maintained in good condition in order to function correctly and provide enjoyable winter motoring. I find that the early heater is adequate but only if the car is dry inside and even then, it is often necessary to drive with a vent window open and the fan on maximum speed. Make sure that the heater is working as well as possible and that the heater tap (on the back of the cylinder head) is fully open. It might also be worth flushing the system through. Make sure the thermostat is working properly and that antifreeze is at the correct level. Sometimes it is worthwhile blanking off part of the radiator and some go as far as removing the cooling fan but I have never gone that far. As suggested above, good tyres are important and winter/mud and snow tyres can be worthwhile. With regard to the heater (The owners handbook is a useful booklet) your car might have a control knob beneath the parcel shelf which operates the heater fresh air intake. Keep this open. This was introduced around that time and one of my cars has the feature. The other does not.
It is about 46 years since I commuted daily in my Morris Minor. It was considered an old car even then and things have moved on quite a bit. The roads are much more congested so visibility is important. Daily use in these cars is still possible and I do know some who still do it. I consider myself fortunate in no longer having to! Good luck with it

[svenedin]

Very sound advice there about being able to see out of the car properly. Things have changed a lot since I commuted in the Morris in Winter. Now we have cycle lanes, lunatics on mopeds overtaking on the inside and the offside, much more traffic and cars that accelerate (and brake) much faster than they did. Just a few days ago I was driving with the top down. I spotted a cyclist on the inside and saw her go to overtake me on the inside when I was turning left. I shouted "I can't see you" as she disappeared into my blind spot but she carried on! That was with the hood down with far better exterior visibility.....

[simmitc]

Good choice of car, and perfectly practical for daily commute. All good advice above. The heater control valve is a round tap that you operate with the bonnet open, so you have to set it open or closed before you move off, no remote control inside the car. Make sure that the wiper arms and blades are in good condition.

Some modern upgrades can really help with winter driving. In my view, the best option is a heated front screen followed by a heated rear screen.

[POMMReg]

hot water bottle balanced on the dash 1/2 hr before starting off worked quite well too

You'll need something like a flattened crisp box between bottom of screen & steering wheel to wedge bottle

[geoberni]

As others have said, the water flow through the heater is simply the tap at the rear of the engine.
The Rheostat on the front is just the Blower Control.
A Rheostat is a variable resistor, so it is OFF, or ON and further turning of the knob increases the resistance to slow the blower, as you've probably found out (if it's working).
If the heater case has little flaps on it, that's the 'controls' for either having hot air to your legs, or close it and it gets pushed up to the windscreen.
Many early Minors left the factory without a heater and they were fitted later by owners, so the heater model may vary, it may not have little flaps to close.

[jagnut66]

Hi,
As with all the above advice, a good service firstly, changing oil and filter, check the spark plugs (clean and re-gap if ness). Check your tyres, there are still cheap options out there if you need to replace the whole set of 5.
Personally I also change the water when I buy a 'new' car, as you don't know how old the anti-freeze in it is, if you are lucky enough to have bought a car where the previous owners used it, three of my most recent classics all came with plain tap water only........
I have used Holts 2 part Rad Flush and found it very effective. You do need to follow the instructions included to the letter though.
I also 'jet' the system out with a (garden) hose connected to the warm tap. This includes the heater, I simply used the rubber pipes where they connect in the engine bay, disconnect them and flush the heater out through both, so in both directions. Take some time and do it thoroughly, it's surprising how much crud builds up over time.
Once thoroughly flushed through and refilled with a proper anti-freeze mix you'll be amazed how much better the heater works.
Talking of hoses, check all the rubber hoses under the bonnet too, for signs of perishing and replace as necessary. I use silicon hoses these days as modern rubber can be rubbish and not last very long but if you stick with rubber keep some spares in the boot, just in case.
One last (probably obvious) thing, lights. Check they all work, plus you might want to consider upgrading the headlights to halogen or xenon, if your mixing it with modern cars and their drivers on a regular basis.
Later on when you have a dry day and a bit of time it's good to bleed the brakes through too. It's a simple job on a Minor and, as with the water / anti-freeze, you don't know when it was last changed.
I use mine on a regular / daily basis too. Moderns are sooooo boring!
Best wishes,
Mike.

[Oli]

Thank you all so much. I have a very busy weekend coming up using all your advice.

Regarding the heater - The tap is on and I housing is warm to the touch. No life in the heater though. Probably be chasing wires to check thing is plugged in. Can't see any flaps so unsure if it has them. I wasn't able to check the handbook as this was left with the last owner.

Dried the carpets out last week and sealed the rear windows as I found two ponds behind the seats the morning after i brought the car. There were some gaps so ran a very thin line of silicon around some of the rubbers. Will replace next year but should hold for now.

With the ideas around heated screens & upgraded lamps - Would these be okay running of the dyno? I will likely upgrade to an alternator in the future but not looking to yet. My commute is 3/4 miles each way daily so unsure what power is being put back in at the moment.

Loving the car so far and getting use to the attention. So glad I didn't take the "sensible" option.

Thanks again folks,

Oli

[MorrisJohn]

Hi Oli,

Congratulations on your new car. If the heater fan isn’t working it could well be a faulty rheostat (or an electrical connection as you say.)

A quarter light window open in window does wonders to prevent misting. I keep a couple of socks filled with fresh cat litter under the front seats in my car. It absorbs any moisture in the cabin. Cheap and effective.

The main thing in winter is protecting the car from salt water. You’ll want good quality wax on the bodywork and chrome polish to protect the chrome.

Don’t neglect the underside. Look at something like Lanoguard. It provides a protective coating but will need done every six months on a car in daily use. Spray it into all the arches, the underside, any holes in the chassis legs etc etc. Keep an eye out for water getting into the boot…if it does you’ll quickly have a small swimming pool inside the boot and rot will follow.

Heated screens etc will not run off a dyno. You’d need an alternator and conversion to negative earth. See how you get on with the car as it is before rushing into changes.

On a side note, a commute of only 3/4 a mile each way will not do the car any favours! The engine will not get up to proper working temperature, it’ll be running mostly with some choke and this is the type of driving that will cause most engine wear, dirty plugs etc. Really at that sort of distance it would be better for the car, and you, to walk if you can. It would only take about 15 mins to walk and you’ll probably spend longer defrosting the car and trying to get it warmed up - never mind any traffic.

Good luck and enjoy.

[geoberni]

Regarding the heater - The tap is on and I housing is warm to the touch. No life in the heater though. Probably be chasing wires to check thing is plugged in. Can't see any flaps so unsure if it has them. I wasn't able to check the handbook as this was left with the last owner.

I've no personal experience of the factory fit Smiths heater, my SII had an after market fitted at some point, probably because it left the factory without one. If your heater looks like this (image stolen from an ebay advert) then it hasn't got the little flaps to direct all the blow up to the windscreen. There were several versions of the heater system over the years.

heater.jpg (396.55 KiB) Viewed 4395 times

There's a good chance the Rheostat has packed in with old age; if you're lucky, it will simply be dirt and grime that has made it go open circuit. It is simply a wire wound resistor on an insulated ring with a wiper arm rotating around it.
You might want to search these forums for heater Rheostat and see what comes up. This one for example: viewtopic.php?t=74328

[philthehill]

As regards the heater - fitting the classic Mini heater is a good move. My Ser 2 was fitted with one and it was more than capable of keeping me warm and the windscreen de-misted and I was doing over 1000 miles a week during the worst of winters.

[Monty-4]

I would strongly advise you to redo/add the cavity wax and get some extra underseal on there to save you trouble later.

Of course there are loads of brands, I found Bilt Hamber UB (under-body) spray exceptionally easy to apply, as well as their cavity wax (S-50). One can of each should do a Minor easily and it will only take you an hour or two. It can be a faff but I'd recommend a cover if it is sitting outside much.

Have fun! I do!

[Myrtles Man]

"On a side note, a commute of only 3/4 a mile each way will not do the car any favours!"

I think he probably means 'three to four miles' rather than threequarters of a mile.

[philthehill]

Even if the OP meant 3 or 4 miles the engine would not really get up to working temp.
Even my modern with temperature sensitive electric cooling fan takes at least 3 miles to extinguish the cold engine light. The Minor is over cooled and ways to get over the overcooling is to blank the bottom 1/4 of the radiator or fit a adjustable blind or radiator muff.
If the engine is not brought quickly up to operating temp condensation can form inside the engine resulting in corroded bores and journals.
Unless you can get the engine quickly up to operating temp, I would suggest that the Minor is the wrong car to do short journeys in.

[Oli]

Sorry yes 4 miles direct to work from home base. After reading comments I have decided this morning to take a little detour to make the commute closer to 7 miles. And that’s mostly county roads avoiding the traffic. Too late to change my mind so will look at blocking off part of the rad.

Thank you for the link regarding the heater. That appears to be the one in my minor so will have a look in different threads.

[mikec4193]

Hey Oli

I love hearing about people driving these cars daily...

Please keep us in the loop as time permits...

Congrats on doing this...where I live in the states...it would never work...folks would run me over in a New York minute...

MikeC

[sid]

congrats on getting a Moggy Oli can you post a pic so i can look out for you..i'm near Leicester

[James k]

Hi,

Congratulations on your purchase! I've driven a Traveller as my daily car for eight years and have a real love-have relationship with it. I had the chassis repaired extensively a few years ago and I keep it coated in a thin coat of Dinitrol wax which seems to have done the job so far, despite being kept outdoors. I do have an incurable leak that's rapidly destroying the floor but that's another story.

They are absolutely usable as daily drivers but they do require you to have a steadfast love of Morris Minors! Mine has had so much time and money put into it over the years and it's cold, draughty, almost unbearably noisy, rattly, always steamed up in the winter and prone to having something go wrong with it. I continue to own and drive it, though, so there must be something I like about it!

I keep a demister pad in the glove compartment and wipe down the windows quickly in the morning. I always wipe off the outside of the windscreen too since I can't seem to get wiper blades that actually work.

I fitted an alternator a few years ago and now it always starts even in the depths of winter. When I had the dynamo, I had to bump start it quite a lot on cold days. I have the later square heater and it's really not that great. I have flushed it out but I think perhaps it needs a more in-depth service.

In terms of your journey to work, I think it really depends on what the drive is like in terms of how long it takes to warm up fully. If you have a temperature gauge, you can watch for when it happens. My drive to work is 5.5 miles and I always keep an eye on the temperature as I go. The first part of my drive involves a bit of flat road followed quickly by a long hill at 40mph, then 60mph, then 40mph. By the time I've reached the bottom, the gauge is sitting at the thermostat temperature (88) which I take to mean the engine has reached operating temperature (prepared to be corrected). It then gets a blast along an A road at 60 and a final bit of town driving at 30. Depending on what your four mile drive is like, I think it is possible that it will warm up quickly enough.

Thanks,
James