1949 Tourer from Aus

[RobThomas]

I've had a good session of stripping down the lowlight, starting at the back and working forwards. I stripped the suspension off to get the front pivots of the springs to act as locating holes on my new chassis stand. The old shakle pins are of far superior quality of build than the new ones available and, so far, I have not had a single nut or bolt that didn'y yeild to a slight twist of the spanner. Quite a testament to the quality of the original material!

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[RobThomas]

Still the original axle and in very good nick. The springs were the originals, by the look of them and by the stamped part number and logo (English Spring Company?) and there is some evidence of the spring rear bracket coming apart at some time in the life of the car since there is some damage to the boot floor where the tail loop of the spring had rubbed against the underside of the boot floor following some sort of breakage or nut loss. I heated the area cherry red and flattened it back down with some panel beating tools.

The underside has a fine coating of orange dusty surface corrosion but it actually all comes off with a wipe of the scouring pad and some WD40.



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[RobThomas]

The rest of the bodywork is quite good. I've only found one single area of corrosion to trim out and that is about the size of a box of matches in total, although I will also be replacing some bits that have become misshapen underneath the doors.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

[alex_holden]

Wow, that looks in incredibly good condition.

[RobThomas]

I should hope so, for the price!!!

(Eh, Carlo? )

We first saw it just after it had arrived in the UK in a CKD state but were outbid on it by Carlo, who rebuilt it as a bit of a 'Ratrod' with all theoriginal Aussie peeling paint and dents. Underneath it appears to have spent an eternity in the desert and to have not collected any water along the way. To ensure it stays in good condition in the UK it is going for a Chem-dip at the same place that JLH send their shells. Another £2000 later and it should be rust-free for another couple of decades.

Just re-looking at that last photo, are MMs different round the lip of the front arches? Don't later cars have the joint turned down so that the tyres get cut under full 'bump' on the suspension?[frame][/frame]

[alanworland]

Those rear springs look great - clean them up and put them back! The body seems to have survived very well, I think the early vehicles seem to somehow survive better than later models, better steel?
Keep up the good work!

[RobThomas]

Those springs are almost flat. Is it worth getting them re-set and retempered? I've never heard of anyone having much success with that job so I've planned to save the bottom leaves and transplant them onto new springs.

There is a scrapyard near me with a donor Minor in it that has some good springs. The car was rebuilt years ago by a company near Bath but the rust got ito it and it has been scrapped. No names! I was hoping to grab the front suspension arms off it to ensure that I have the correct spacers for the eyebolts now that this car has rubber top mounts rather than the original style ones. Has anyone got photos of the parts needed to convert the suspension? Carlo converted the car to later hubs/wheels at the front but I just wanted to be sure that the camber is correct. Carlo, do you happen to remember?

Cheers.

[alanworland]

I would definately investigate retempering (as long as they have not got 'steps' worn on them)
I fitted new 7 leaf springs - didn't realise there was a thinner leaf used on the MM and they were too high and too hard, I have now removed the bottom two leaves to restore usability. I wish I had retained the originals as in hindsight I don't think they were bad at all!
I have fitted the later (8 inch) drums/hubs at the front with the later uprights which fitted into the original trunnions (rubber top) and I fitted an aluminium spacer in the eyebolt assembly and from memory it was about 5/16 thick. This took up most of the thread on the eyebolt, so I have fitted castrated nuts and drilled the end of the eyebolt to take a split pin.

[alex_holden]

I have fitted castrated nuts

[RobThomas]

Was the back rail for the wooden boot floor panels spot welded to the chassis or did it also have a welded seam on it? On this car it had been cracked and repaired (by Carlo?) and I ground off the small repairs and made new pieces to go into the lip of the boot seal area. I added a vertical seam to give the whole thing some stiffness but wondered if I need to grind it down a bit.
I also filled in all of the holes that had been added over the years for extra lights, indicators and some cracks in the rear wings etc. Very therapeutic!

Hmmmm. Those sills. Do you think I need to cut 'em out or do you think they'd clean up alright???

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Thanks for the info, Alan. I've grabbed the springs from the 'skip' pile and will keep them safe. The other MM had new springs a few years ago and I found them just right for towing so maybe they are too hard for solo driving. we tend to take the whole family out at once on sunny days so it never gets to have a run with just one person on board. I've cracked the lid off of the first beer so won't be back into the garage tonight but I'll have a look to see what has been put on the inboard end of the front suspension. Are the later eyebolts longer than MM ones???

[alanworland]

I know mines a saloon but I removed the rear boot support and moved it up to accomodate my larger wheels and I can still see the witness marks from when it was spot welded, I also remember a 'run' of weld similar to yours I think. Incidently my rear rail is now screwed in place with stainless screws positioned in the channel shape.
If your sills are as good as they appear I think I would make sure the rust was killed then when painting is finished give them a good injection of wax - on a hot day!
I thought an eyebolt was an eyebolt but like you I am beginning to wonder if the early ones are different.

[RobThomas]

I decided to hack off the bottom of the door hinge pillar to see why there was a small patch of thinned metal. Well, you know how it goes.....cut a bit off, cut a bit more, etc etc.[frame][/frame]

It seems that the dirt and dust that got up and into the hinge pillar assembly had been trapping water and had slowly (60+ years) rotted the floor of the hinge box. The area around it was remarkably good but I decided to hackk away. If you look closely you can see that the inner sill sections had zero corrosion protection on them. The spot welds on the bare metal are quite visible. A stiff bristle brush got the surface dirt off and the steel was left shining through. I then scrubbed the surface with some rust converter and a wire brush.[frame][/frame]

The rebuild was quite straight forwards but I sold all my old panels last year so I had to form all of the bits from 20G sheet.[frame][/frame]

[RobThomas]

And now for the other side. Exactly the same chunk removed and rplaced. I even took the time to fake some spot weld marks along the bottom. I sprayed it silver to show it up a little better. Another few minutes with the grinder will hide the welds completely.[frame][/frame]

Next was the front crossmember which had been used to jack the car up at some point. The bottom was rather bent so I cut away the spotwelds on the top skin to get at the inside of the box.
You can also see the method used to mount the chassis on the wheeled frame. Those screwthreads have a slot cut into the outer end so that a screwdriver poked through the eyebolt hole allows you to wind the thread out. Lots of free space to work under the arches and to paint the chassis rails.[frame][/frame]

A bit of scotchbrite removed the surface coating of grey 'stuff' that probably went on at the factory and any loose bits of grot. That is bare, uncoated steel that you can see. Amazing that this panel hadn't rotted out over the 60+ years.[frame][/frame]

[taupe]

Rob

Thanks for sharing your restoration with us - Its going to be a superb car when finished.

The photos of your opened up sill are very usefull - I can now see what the sill reinforcer on my traveller should have been like as the bottom of mine has rotted out but was obviously the same as yours originally.

Taupe

[benb]

do you happen to know whereabouts in Australia it came from?

Looks like you got a great find, we also have a lowlight which we restored it was in a similar condition.

Best of luck

Ben

[RobThomas]

I'm note sure where in Aus it came from. There were no identifying marks or paperwork with it. It looks to have been somewhere extremely dry and un-salty. It has just arrived at the Blastatorium for an appointment with a few hundredweight of Walnut shells. The blaster is himself an ex-Aussie (lots of "Strewth, that a Beaut!!" etc when he saw how little corrosion there was)[frame][/frame]

[RobThomas]

This cradle/trolley makes it so much easier to move that shell.[frame][/frame]

[chickenjohn]

I would get him to just blast the underside and any obviously rusty areas. Media blasting can cause body panels to warp!

[RobThomas]

....if it isn't done correctly. Yes, although this guy does the same media blasting to Aston Martins with Superleggera bodies. If he can do these fragile bodies, he can do a boiler-plate Minor.

I've been to see his work and was satisfied.

[RobThomas]

The wings have been done. I entrusted these to Iain at Fairmile Restorations since I didn't want to risk making a foul-up on such expensive panels.[frame][/frame]

I spnet most of yesterday at Llandow racetrack as a guest of.....um....you-know-who-that-we-don't-mention... and the whole family enjoyed a day of entertainment. I managed to cadge a few rides and managed to avoid soiling myself. Seriously fast cars! You have no idea just how awesome these Mogs are until you've witnessed one overtaking a V8 AC Cobra as if it were a milk float. The cornering balance and stability are unlike any classic car I've ever driven in. [frame][/frame]Who IS this masked marauder?



[frame][/frame][frame][/frame] Will enjoyed himself with all the 'toys' at the track. Not often you can keep a 4-yr old amused for 7 hours!