Reaching the pedals!

[Relfy]

I bought a Morris 1000 yesterday called Dolly. Being completely new and naive I've no doubt there are things needing to be done - but I think my priority right now is how to reach the pedals...

The best idea I've heard so far seems to involve bits of wood, or thick rubber blocks under the back of the seat to raise it up, from people who are fondly remembering their experiences of long, long ago......... Can anyone expand on this for me? I'd be very grateful!

[Cam]

Well, the Morris Minor centre in Birmingham do rubber blocks that attach to the rear of the seat and have a few different height positions. Also is the seat fully positioned forwards (should have an adjuster under the seat). If not then you may have had two passenger seats installed (without adjusters). There is also another possibility that the seat has been bolted down in the rear position not the front (have a look under the car where the seat bolts in and see where the bolts poke through the nuts underneath and see if there are empty ones further forward).

The other questions are: Can you actually touch the pedals at the moment? and how tall are you?

[salty_monk]

We have an further spacer fitted for Em (small length of 4mm steel with 2 holes drilled & a stud the same distance apart welded on in front), the piece of wood to rear is then not necessay (with good seats that don't sag..).

She's about 5'2"...

[Relfy]

Thanks for your kind replies! But, Oh Dear. I think it just got worse.

Better start with the right topic before I go off on tangents though - I'm 5'5'' and I can reach the pedals, its just a bit of stretching. Actually, its a pretty good all-over-body work-out just changing into 1st, what with the gear lever too!
I was wondering - do the legs of all morris seats slope inwards or has my car had some heavy owners? My Dad's just admitted he has a morris seat in the loft.... the value of which has strangely and suddenly rocketed! That may be good if I can steal it. Shame its bright red and my seats are grey. He might notice.
I also thought I could possibly get my brother-in-law to cut another tooth or two in the ratchet to bring the seat forward? Is that a silly idea?
I apologise, I didn't really understand what you meant Salty. Whats a spacer?

Now the worse bit.

I looked under the car, like you said Cam, and can't see where the seat is bolted on atall. (Here is where my lack of jargon becomes even more embarassingly obvious)... It appears to me, that there is a 'bottom of the car' inside the car and then another one underneath that........??? The worrying part is that when I lift the carpet in the front, both driver's and passenger's footwells are becoming pretty rusty - while the driver's side feels wet when the engine is warm, and dry when its cold. Is that water trapped between the two sheets being forced through by evaporation? My Dad gave me an old-fashioned look when i suggested that. Not that he's going out of his way to be helpful either, so I'll ignore him, and ask you good folks.

El

[Gareth]

*gives old-fashioned look* It sounds like someone has replaced the rusty floor without actually cutting the old one out, so you've got a sandwich. Not a good idea to be honest. Did the car come with an MOT? Sounds like a bit of creative panelwork to me...

If the carpet gets wet when the engine is running (and the wetness is warm) then it's quite possible that the heater hoses have perished and you're losing hot coolant in the cabin. If that is the case, then they need replacing - obviously the engine needs its coolant in the radiator, and not forming puddles by your feet - it will do no good there at all! Replacement of those is fairly easy, however.

If you're 5'5", it may help if you put some blocks of wood under the rear legs of the seat - it makes it swivel upwards, so the seat is higher, a little flatter, and it makes it easier to reach the pedals. You also get a view of the road that is (slight exaggeration alert) rivalled only by 4x4s!

Take the carpet out of the front, and any damp sound deadening also - you may need to remove the four bolts holding the seat in to do this. Then, you should see the holes for the bolts - one set may well be a little further forward than the set that were used - try and refit the seat using these. The unused holes may be filled with sealant (although I doubt it) so you might need a thin srewdriver, or a nail, to bodge through the hole and clear the debris.

Good luck - you'll get it sorted, and hopefully without cutting extra holes in the adjuster! ;)

[Relfy]

Thanks Everyone. Thats sorted. She's decided to mis-fire now. Well the engine has only just been re-mantled.

Hahaha! This is one great learning experience!

[Chris Morley]

I was wondering - do the legs of all morris seats slope inwards or has my car had some heavy owners?

Yes, they do slope inwards. They're very sturdy and quite capable of taking heavy weight owners (yes, I'm qualified to state that ).

It appears to me, that there is a 'bottom of the car' inside the car and then another one underneath that

Yikes ! Like Gareth I'm alarmed to hear that you can't see where the bolts go through the floor. Please don't tell me that you've spent a lot of money on this Minor without first learning about the rust problems they suffer from...

There should be sets of two captive nuts under the seat front, one on each side. If the heater isn't to blame, the soggy front floors will be due to perished windscreen / rearscreen rubbers and/or gaskets under the wipers or bonnet hinge. These can be replaced without too much expense, but a rusting floorpan is an expensive & major problem. See the post in the 'Tips' section about looking under the rearseat.

[Relfy]

Ok. Forget what I was saying about the floor. That was me being a complete idiot. My brother-in-law kindly pointed it out. Lets say no more about that shall we? Aagghh.



The car itself is ok. A bit rusty, (esp. as I say, the front floor) but its solid and got through the MOT fine. I payed much less than the guide price in mmoc, which is comforting. The engine is v. nice (except for the fact its suddenly decided to misfire going up hills now.... any ideas?).
- I happened to notice from the old docs that it used to belong to the reverend who visited my primary school, so there's a flash from the past! Well, how many Father Boundys can there be in Cornwall... in Britain for that matter?!......If my memory serves me correctly he probably had chocks under the seat too!

What is irritating me is the squeak from the back RH-side above the wheel. How can I stop that?

I'll look more deeply into the source of the water in the footwell (which has strangely disappeared all of today), thanks for that advice Chris.

p.s. I'm very impressed by everyone's websites. What a lot of geeks! (coming from an ignoramus).

[Gareth]

Squeak from the rear right? Is that when you 'bounce' the rear of the car, or just when driving...? If it's when you're driving, it could be that the spare wheel is loose - unlikely, but strangely it happened to me!

[Relfy]

Squeak from the rear right? Is that when you 'bounce' the rear of the car, or just when driving...?

Its definitely something proper - when I bounce it and when I drive it.

[Willie]

The squeaking is most probably from the rubber bushes in the
rear springs. there are two at the front of each spring and four
at the rear. (in the pivot points) about the quickest way to identify
the source is to squirt a little WD40 on each in turn and see if
the squeak disappears. There is also a rubber bush in the
highest part of each rear shock absorber where it joins the chassis.
Do not put engine oil on these bushes. You haven't told us if the
seats were in the furthest forward of the floor mounting points?

[rayofleamington]

I payed much less than the guide price in mmoc, which is comforting

I should hope so - the price guide seems to cause more confusion than assistance.
Condition 2 covers approx 90% of our cars so ought to come with a price range approx £500 to £2200 for the later saloons, and in the upper range the car has to be VERY good.

[Relfy]

Thanks everyone!

I am now a happy girl.

Misfiring: I just took it to back to the guy I bought it off (classic car chap down the road) and we had a fun morning changing faulty condenser, points and putting a new coil. (yes and now I know what all of those do and what they look like, too.) Now she is as sweet as can be. He also didn't ask me for any money and we discovered a mutual love of Ivan Rebroff.


Seat: No its not in the most-forward mounting points, but I looked at them and decided a block of wood will do me for now: One of the holes has got a broken screw nub rusting into it and the other one is also blocked with something and looks a bit delicate round the edge to me.


Floor: I do need to find the source of wet, but having shown a few guys, I'm coming the conclusion that rust is all relative and I'm a bit neurotic.

....Obviously something will need doing one day - but it will wait until I've got a job (anyone want a water resource-zoologist-person for anything?) and am rich.

Ho hum.

Squeak: Oh Yersss...... well, I'll do that. This is becoming the bestest way of working out how a car works fast!!

Thanks again Everyone for all your help!

[Relfy]

Perhaps I should have said "Rust is in the eye of the beholder"

[Kevin]

One of the holes has got a broken screw nub rusting into it and the other one is also blocked with something and looks a bit delicate round the edge to me

The vacant holes so to speak should be plugged with something as its not unknown for water to get in there, dum dum etc is often used.

[Multiphonikks]

Thanks everyone!

I am now a happy girl.

Misfiring: I just took it to back to the guy I bought it off (classic car chap down the road) and we had a fun morning changing faulty condenser, points and putting a new coil. (yes and now I know what all of those do and what they look like, too.) Now she is as sweet as can be. He also didn't ask me for any money and we discovered a mutual love of Ivan Rebroff.

That man has an amazing vocal range... mum and dad had all his records when I was younger, and I always envied the ability men had to sing so many different pitches...

Floor: I do need to find the source of wet, but having shown a few guys, I'm coming the conclusion that rust is all relative and I'm a bit neurotic.

Hehe... That's normal! I'm the same with my car! I think also that the less money you have to spend the more neurotic you become.

If you are pretty sure it's the floor, why don't you do what I've got planned... start stockpiling parts (if you've got a nice dry garage) and then find yourself a good welder (or do it yourself) - Hebe isn't getting a new floor till I'm convinced the floor is good.
[quote[

....Obviously something will need doing one day - but it will wait until I've got a job (anyone want a water resource-zoologist-person for anything?) and am rich.

Ho hum.

Squeak: Oh Yersss...... well, I'll do that. This is becoming the bestest way of working out how a car works fast!!

Thanks again Everyone for all your help![/quote]

I'm glad you're having fun. The best bit is that it never stops!

Nikki

[Relfy]

Tantantara! -
Here she is!

[Relfy]

Oh. That didn't work. How did you all get your pics on then?

[Relfy]

Rats. I'm not going to be able to show you her, unless I write meself a website..... well, no harm in learning how to do 2 things at the same time.... watch this space.

[rayofleamington]

Many ISP's offer free webspace and Freeserve (wanadoo) give a basic but foolproof website building package.