Morris Minor Owners Club

Still at it, most of the prep on the wings is done.,
Lower part of inner front panel repaced, the rest cleaned up and treated.
I have now removed the panels and primed the undersides, plan is to prime the outside and fit for the final time over the weekend.

Wings now all primed and fitted for the final time. The front panels are on to make sure the wings are ok but will come off for paint and engine fitting.


Sealer to inner wing, Guide coat and flatting back next then topcoats.

Finally got the wings and front panels painted, prep took forever, everytime I flatted them back more dings and marks appeared, I can see why pro's hate using secondhand panels.

4 wet on wet coats have given a nice even glossy coat which should flat back to a really good finish. The only problem was a run on the glovebox lid, not the end of the world though.
Aim is to get most of the trim back on before xmas and just have the engine / box and bonnet lid left to do in the new year.

Slow but steady progress, the front panels and grille have all been assembled (only a couple of bolts holding it on, obviously needs to come off for the engine to go in), lights are in, all wired up, and working too.

Tried fitting the radiator, its the one which came with the car and looks virtually new, first problem was the drain plug was rusted solid, eventually had to unsolder the brass socket from the bottom tank, drill it out then tap oversize to m10 x1 and solder back in. A suitable stainless bolt has been ordered as a plug.

Next problem is when i made the new inner panel I didn't realise the radiator sat further in at the bottom than the top and the hole in my panel was too small. So on my newly painted panel i had to trim the edge back and reform a new flange, given it is so hidden I have elected to brush paint the repaired area, picture shows it in primer but it is now all painted and assembled.

Had a couple of evenings on it last week, firstly mounted both the door cards and rear quarter panels on new 4mm ply boards which were firstly varnished to seal them, then sewed up some new wheelarch covers and assembled it all. I also made an aluminium plate to cover the damaged area around the door lock lever.
Need to make some new door pulls as well.

Also fitted side windows which went in pretty easily.
I have also mounted the seat belt retractors on the parcel shelf, the lower fixings can go in when the seat is in
Then I sealed the windscreen and fitted the chrome strip.

Looking very good.
That little plate to stop the passenger door catch rubbing the door card is very interesting, I've not seen that before.
Is that your concoction or something that was on some of the originals?

It's something I made, the door trim was already torn so we needed something to cover the area, this is what I came up with.

In an ideal world we would have bought all new trim but funds don't allow for this, all these items can easily be replaced at a later date if required.

kevin s wrote:It's something I made, the door trim was already torn so we needed something to cover the area, this is what I came up with.

In an ideal world we would have bought all new trim but funds don't allow for this, all these items can easily be replaced at a later date if required.

It's a nice little touch - I must do something similar!

Did you put the semicircular cut out in your 4mm ply board for the lock lever?

I did but in the end I enlarged it to allow the alloy cover to sit a little lower.

Coming along nicely , interesting to see the front disc conversion

Today I started by filling the brakes, couldnt get a firm pedal by pumping the brakes so had to resort to the ezi bleed, with this it all bled out fine and we now have a firm brake pedal.
On the wheel front we have decided to keep tbe 13" rostyles and make a clamp to fit the original hub caps and some emelishers thus hiding them, ultimately we will then fit some 165 80 13 tyres to them.

On the interior I got the back seat out , firstly the top studs were both broken so I fixed them as below.
Then we fitted the seat.
The base was then removed as it has sagged badly and will need a layer of foam under the cover, also the sides where it can't be seen had worn and torn, here I glued some patches in from behind.

On the seat back there was a sizable hole
Firstly I glued a piece of foam in
Then cut a patch from a hidden area of the base.
Then this was fed in behind and glued with flexible superglue.
When this is dry I will use repair paste to blend it in.

This weekend, i finished fitting the rear seat and seat belts
. I have also been looking at what to do about wheels, this is our solution.
Basically fit rim embelishers and hubcaps to the midget wheels.


I then took a look at the mx5 gearbox, first to clear the steering it needs this.
Then I have this problem
Other side is ok as is fit further back.

Ideal would be to use the minor flywheel and starter position but this would need a custom clutch disc, for now I am going to use the original set up and treat the mx5 as a long term project.

Made a start on the engine today, not good news though, on removing the sump we found the bottom of the engine is full of rust the bottoms of the bores are quite rusty and cam followers seem rusted solid into the block, probably could be recovered but I think it will be better to find a better 1098 as a starting point, so now on the lookout for another engine.

A couple of weeks ago I bought another engine, the guy I bought it off thought it had been partially reconditioned and looking with the endascope shows freshly honed bores and new shiny pistons, on this basis I decided to paint it build up the ancilaries and fit it to the car,
Most went together easily enough, but the alternator was a problem, I had a brand new high output one but it was the wrong hand. Given the lack of available funds I decided to make it fit, in the end this was pretty easy, bent the standard bracket so the lug faced the other way then used a piece of 10mm plate to make a new front mount, for the top a off the shelf adjuster did the job. Just need to machine a v belt pulley to the right bore and it will all be done.

slow but steady progress, engine is now ready to go in : I have also been working on a hydraulic clutch conversion which is almost finished, corsa concentric slave cylinder and landrover master cylinder and front cover machined to take proper seal.

more pics

Engine and gearbox are now in, had to move the clutch slave cylinder inboard to clear a brake pipe but otherwise all looks fine, hopefully get it all connected up this weekend.

Had to take the engine out again as the clutch cylinder leaked ( needed support from behind) , but it's back in now and last night it we got it running, started straight away but woul not rev, turned out the su carb was damaged so the piston would not lift, for now I have removed the high spot with emery paper, but I will need to swap it for the spare one. After this it started, ran and even idled ok, only problem is it won't turn off! I think the ignition relay is being held in by the voltage from the ignition warning light circuit, I will check later.