1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

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robby
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1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

So, after the last project (1956 Split Screen), I started looking for another. Wasn`t looking for a Moggy in particular and to be honest, wasn`t really bothered about getting anything just now as I have a 1936 Wolesely coming in for a fair bit of work which will keep me going for a couple of months. But, I got this at a fair price so here I am now, a 1969 4 Door Saloon Owner :)
This is it back at my workshop

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Briefly, it wasn`t a runner when i got it, but a fettle with the electrics and a good carb clean out sorted that out and after hiting the fuel pump a couple of times (well several actually :) ) the engine burst into life. A bit smokey and a couple of oil leaks from the front seal and oil filter housing, but essentially a good running engine.

The history that has come with the car is awesome. I have every M.O.T certificate, a huge amount of receipts ( mostly handwritten which is something I love to see) and loads of service sheets. makes wonderful reading :)

Underneath is pretty good to be honest, just a few bits in the usual areas and the front chassis legs are quite bad, but I`ve seen a lot worse. Wings are solid, but the boot lid and doors are quite bad. Got to work out what to do with those, replace with second hand or go for the repair panel option, will see when I get to it.

Interior is pretty good, it`s black. Drivers seat needs recovering as the base is split, but I think that will be a second hand job and both N/S door cards are a bit (well a lot) melted where someone has tried to do some welding without being very careful. Again will probably go down the secondhand route.

Time isn`t an issue, but budget is, so while no corners will be cut and anything that wants doing will get done, it won`t be a nuts n bolts job. I`m looking to turn this into a tidy usable everyday car so that if I keep it I can use it, but if I decide to sell it on it will sell and not break anyones bank.

So, next step is to join the club when i get the V5 back and I`ll start updating this regualrly when i get cracked on with it :)

Thanks

Rob
Blades
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by Blades »

Well done Rob, good to see you back with another Minor

Looking forward to seeing the restoration

Nick
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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

OK folks, here we go again then :)

I`ve got the V5C in my name, I`ve joined the owners club and work has quietened off enough for me to make a start on the car.

First thing to do was to take some bits off and see how bad the tin worm is. From the outset it became clear it was bad, with the usual nearside being much worse than the offside. (Tah`s parking them in kerbs for ya) ;)


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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Next thing was to remove the extremely rotten doors that I will repair at a later date, take out the interior ( I`ve left the drivers seat in so I can still drive it in and out of the workshop for the time being) and take off the sill covers. More horros were revealed under those. When I looked at the rear of the nearside floor area, it began to hit me on how much welding it was going to take just to get strength in the old girl let alone make her look something like :)

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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

So, it begins. I really can`t afford to replace everything with new panels, so I will buy the important ones like spring hanger panels and front chassis legs and make the rest. Using those panels new will also help get the lines right for making the other panels too.

I started in the front nearside floor. I cut out the rotten bits and welde some plates in. Feels great to get those first bits in place and whether it has or not, in my mind the car feels stronger already :)

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After scraping and cleaning out all the rust, together with grinding out some really bad reparirs, the full extent of how bad the rear of the nearside floor is. So I dropped the nearside spring and set to with the cutting discs. That left a pretty big hole.

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The new spring hanger was positioned, then re-postioned and finally tacked into place. I checke the lines down the sill and along the bottom of the rear wheel arch. I was happy that they gave me the right postions to make panels for the sills and wheel arch. I raised the spring into position and the shackle pin fit perfectly, so fully welded the spring hanger in place.

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Now I`ve got some good starting points to fully weld up the nearside of the vehicle. Got a bit of work coming in next week, but should get enough time to get the floor and wheel arch areas done and hopefully enough time to at least start on the sills.

More to come in due course then.

Thanks

Rob :)
jagnut66
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by jagnut66 »

Hi,
Good to see another four door being restored, as there are less of them about.
the boot lid and doors are quite bad. Got to work out what to do with those, replace with second hand or go for the repair panel option
Whilst I understand the boot lid repair section (bottom lip area) is fit for purpose, I believe that replacement door skins can leave something to be desired, so I would either repair what you have or go with good secondhand items.
Best wishes,
Mike.
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
StaffsMoggie
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by StaffsMoggie »

Always nice to see a four door Minor saved, they have always seemed a bit rarer. Good luck with your project.
robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

jagnut66 wrote:Hi,
Good to see another four door being restored, as there are less of them about.

]Whilst I understand the boot lid repair section (bottom lip area) is fit for purpose, I believe that replacement door skins can leave something to be desired, so I would either repair what you have or go with good secondhand items.
Best wishes,
Mike.

Yeah, I`ve decided to repair myself with a little help from my mate who`s a panel beater by trade. I looked at some secondhand doors and they were either just as bad as mine or far to expensive for my budget
robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Managed to get quite a bit done this week as not much work in.

Got the N/S floor plated which has given me the strength back that was missing. That meant I could fully weld in the spring hanger and a couple of other plates to get more strength in the old girl :)

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With all that done it allowed me to fit in a boxing section together with inner and outer sill sections.
robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Cut out and replaced the front boxing section and clamped the door rail into position which gave me the measurements to make up the outer sill section

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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Onto the inner wings then. Hit them with the grinder to see how bad they were. Bad, but not too bad. Cut out all the rotten bits and welded in some plates.

The rear wings have had some really bad repairs done to them previously. The plates welded in were good, strong and did the job, just looked bloody awful. Took the big welds down a fair bit, but have run out of grinding disks until my tool man comes on Monday, so will get them looking better then :)

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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Been a while, but time for an update.
With the floor and inner sills done it was time to tackle the outer sills, so they were cut away and the remaining metal cleaned up for the new metal to be welded in. A coat of shutz will keep the water off and gave the floor a quick coating of white shutz for the same reason.

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This means the main structure of the vehicle is now back to strength, so thought I`d have a change from metalwork for a bit and take out the engine and gearbox, with nthat done, I scrubbed a load of TFR into the engine bay and gave it a wash up. Even just a quick clean up for now makes it look a whole lot better already :)

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Back to the metalwork. The chassis rails are shot, no going back, so new ones have been ordered. Can`t afford to have it stood on the ramp without the suspension on until they come, so just cut half out for now and will cut the rest out when I tackle the job.

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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

While I`m waiting for the chassis legs, I thought I`d tackle the rotton boot lid. I cut away the bad stuff inside and out, made up the new bits and tacked them into place. I did the outer bit while the boot lid was still on the car so I could get the lines and gaps right. When that was achieved, I fully tack welded it into place. I took the boot lid off and did the same with the inner section. The welds were all ground down and I put filler on the inside. Haven`t done the outside yet as the brushes on my DA have gone and can`t find the spares (Might have used them already though ;)) so have had to order some.

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To finish off for now, I gave the inside of the boot a good clean up with the grinder and hit it with a good coat of white shutz.

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The chassis legs turned up today and have booked ramp time for next week. Be glad when those are in as it will mean a corner has been turned and things can slowly but surely start to go back together :)

Cheers

Rob
jagnut66
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by jagnut66 »

You're doing a grand job. :P
1954 Series 2: 4 door: "Sally" -- Back on the ground with (slave) wheels and waiting to be resprayed......
1970 Triumph Herald 1200: "Hetty" -- Driven back from Llangollen in Wales (twice.....)
robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Back again. Time for a progress report. Have dipped in and out of working on the Moggy due to being quite busy with those pesky modern motors, but i have to get funding from somewhere ;)

Now armed with a large supply of new grinding discs, I set about tidying up the rear wheel arches and giving them a coat of stonechip for protection. Wil paint over it eventually, but a long way off that yet

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Now down to those front chassis legs. Cut them out fully as well as the front crossmember

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Took loads of measurements, made some refernce points, clamped the little blighters into place and hit them with the welder.

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Next I clamped the front panel into place and offered up the front crossmember. It all fit right so welded it in

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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

While the suspension was off, it gave me the chance to strip it all, clean it up and put it back together, saves doing it later.

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I started to do the same with the N/S suspension, but the bottom trunnion was totally siezed to the swivel. No matter how hot I got it with the gas bottles, it would only move slightly, then i cracked. so I just put it all back together loosely so I can move the car in and out of the garage.

Have to say though, finding a second hand N/S swivel is like trying to find rocking horse droppings. Plenty of O/S ones, but no N/S. Be a big hole in my budget to have to put a new one on, so it`s staying like it is until either I find one or have to bite the bullet and get a new one
robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

On with the panels. Started grinding off the rusts spots from the boot lid with the soft pad, then with 80 grit DA pads. Sadly, all that was happening was the paint flaked away. Worse still, rubbing down the top exposed a chunk of filler. No problem there, but it was coming away from the metal. Bugger!!

Only one thing for it, strip it to bare metal. Big word of advice, DO NOT BUY NITROMORS, it doesn`t work anymore. Used a whole tin and it hardly touched the surface. Then I read, new Nitromors has had the stuff removed that used to make it the best. Spoke to someone at Morley Motor Factors and they sent me out a 5 litre can of Starchem stripper. Only £22 + Vat too, loads cheaper than Nitromors. It works a treat too, only gave the boot lid two coats of it and away the paint (and the filler) came. Happy days :)

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Stuck some filler in it to hide the repair and a couple of other dents, that I knocked out as best as could be done, gave it 2 thick coats of high build primer, went round with the stopper to get the imperfections and sparayed a guide coat on it ready for smoothing. this is how it is right now

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robby
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by robby »

Stripped the front panel down and found the inner peice to be well rotten. Cut that section out and made a replacement

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That`s in primer now, along with the front panel itself, just didn`t take a picture

The bonnet on the car is knackered. Can be repaired, but someone called in the garage and offered me one at a price i couldn`t refuse. It`s in excellent condition apart from a small dent down the centre where it apparantly fell over. No problem, out with the panel hammer and doll meaning a minimal skimming of filler to put it right. After the repair was done, I rubbed the whole thing down with 180 DA pads, feathering in the od chip, then finished it off with a good dose of 400 DA pads. Again, 2 thick coats of high build primer and a guide coat of black and it`s ready for smoothing

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That`s where the car is right now. Got nothing booked in tomorrow so should get all that stuff smoothed and ready for paint
Really feels like a corner has been turned now Im getting to this stage with some of it. Will safely store the bits and turn my attention to prepping the car body next :)

More to come

Cheers

Rob
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by Daddybear1984 »

Great progress here, your certainly not hanging about :lol: keep up the good work

Kind Regards

Scott

When you're in up over your head, the first thing to do is close your mouth.
irmscher
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Re: 1969 4 Door Saloon New Project

Post by irmscher »

Looking great and some hard work done :)
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