Back on the car

In an attempt to do the whole work/life balance thing, I've decided to take work home less, and make a serious attempt to get back on the car. This isn't the first time I've tried to get back on the car, but I think this is the most earnest that I've made. Usually as I make the decision to get back on the car, I'm under the delusion that "as soon as project XYZ is finished, I'll have much more time to myself, and I'll start back on the car" - but I've finally come to the realisation, that there's always something else that will take up my time, and the only way to get it done is to devote regular time on the car - at least twice a week. So this is what I've been doing...

So, I've been practising welding. It took me a while to get cracking with welding, but am getting there. At first, the trigger on the MIG I was using leaked gas constantly (very expensive), so I ordered a replacement from the manufacturer, Sealey. The replacement part they sent was completely wrong, so I sent it back. Then they said that the correct replacement part was obsolete, but they could send me a full torch assembly for £100 - I declined. Lucky for me, MogMad56 on the Morris Minor Owners forum kindly offered an old Murex torch assembly, for nothing. It's way better quality than the original Sealey torch, and I'm well chuffed with it.

It took a tiny bit of fettling to get it wired/plumbed into the Sealey welding unit, but nothing too complicated. Once I got it wired in, I then got cracking again but found out how easy it was to get through one of the disposable gas bottles - costing me about £13 for every evening of welding.

Still, I persevered, but then I was lucky enough to get a large, full argon cylinder - free! This has been a massive help. I've also bought a solar-powered automatic dim welding helmet, to replace the crappy hand-held fixed filter that comes with the weld set.

Blah blah blah - where I'm up to...

Over the past fortnight, I've been practising welding. First, doing runs in sheet metal, then welding pieces together. I'm not saying its perfect, but I'm definitely seeing improvements in my welding...

Look at the middle one - ignore the other two

Plenty of room for improvement, but it's penetrating well, and not blowing through

alot of practices, on one of the many, many, many test pieces

Spot the "good weld" - don't think it would look bad once it was dressed with a flap disc

The next thing is to practice a bit more, and then put my welding to use on a simple repair to the inner wing. Simple because the inner wing is almost sheet steel (a slight shape to it) and will hopefully be an easy introduction to begin actually repairing the car.

Removing Propshaft and Emptying Fuel Tank (an overdue update)...

There's been little done in the way of work on the car since last year. I could bandy around the usual excuses, but the fact is that when I have the opportunity to jump on with the car, motivation is thin on the ground, and I'd rather put it off for another night to relax on the sofa in front of the telly.

I'd like to think that I've found a new untapped resource of motivation recently, as I've started working on the car again - however, as the saying goes, "one swallow doesn't make a spring" - so I wont hold my breath.

Besides the current stuff I'm doing on the car, there were a few things that I did on the car that I didn't get around to posting up on here. So, consider this an intermediatary update before (hopefully) some steady progress on the car results in some regular posts of decent progress, and the metal / rust ratio, start to favour steel.

So, the last stuff done. My dad came around with another pair of axle stands that he had saved from the skip at work (the bolts used weren't original and so they could be certified to the SWL they were designed for) and so we got the car off all of its wheels and up at a height that it was much easier to get under the car. I need to replace the crossmember and so need to remove the prop shaft (the gearbox is out anyway).

Lubed up the bolts holding the prop to the differential...

Then it came of pretty easily...

Next, i wanted the handbrake removed as this was bolted through the floor, onto the top flange of the crossmember.

 

Remove the nuts that attach the brake cables to the handbrake 

 

 Lubed up the thread/nut that was holding the handbrake to the crossmember

I tried to soak the screws to remove the fuel tank, but i couldnt get them out without removing the boot floor. Instead, I thought I'd just drain the tank instead.

When its finished, the car will be prone to its own problems without trying to persevere with the original fuel tank like this that turned petrol into this...

Slow, slow, progress...

Since the last update, I've honestly been doing stuff on the car! Not much I admit, but it's been stuff....

Granted, my efforts on the car have been pretty minimal, but I did stick at it even through the epic chilliness that was last winter. According to the high tech climate device that my Nana got free with a bunch of chat she ordered from the Betterware catalogue, I was fettling with the car even in sub-zero temperatures..

Anyway, there's no getting past the fact that progress on the car has been as slow as it ever was. I haven't bothered with any updates as the little bits and bobs I've done haven't really been worth it on their own. I've had a bit of a busy time at work, and taken up the drums (again) so most of my time has gone here. So here's the update anyway...

Engine & gearbox out. Just the ancilleries left...

This is actually petrol that came straight out of the hose from the fuel pump. I think I might need to take the tank out at some point and give it a good clean.

"D" for deluxe model. Apparently all deluxe models had this stencilled on, up until it was moved onto a sticker above the battery tray. The Deluxe spec on my car meant that the car had a passenger sun visor, and a windscreen wiper on the passenger side.

The interior with the majority of the dashboard innards ripped out. The replacement crossmember too.

The current state of the car.

I've started practicing welding in preparation for all the dodgy tin that needs replacing. I can't wait for the main work to get started (instead of just pulling its off).

Metal turns into rust, then into thin air...

Today I removed the floor patch under the driver-side floor. It's not a good feeling to find yet more holy metal, but it has to be done...

And while I was down there I noticed a hole around one of the rear spring hangers. I'm just going to ignore it for the moment as I've got enough on my plate to think about at the minute with the crossmember, chassis legs and the holes in the floor. Here you can see how bad the nearside chassis leg is by the light coming up through the floor...

Book - "Original Morris Minor" by Ray Newell

This is a cracking little book. It's an interesting and very easy read that covers the various versions of the saloons, travellers and commercial vehicles in great detail, with excellent high-quality photos. It even goes into detail of which production changes were made, when, and why, and from which car numbers they came into effect. This info is excellent use for closet purists like me, but is also pretty interesting to read about how far the minor came from when it was originally launched.

There's also a load of information useful for achieving originality on cars, including which colours were used on which cars, together with interiors, and even what the original toolkit should include etc. There's also an excellent reference on chassis numbers, which can be used to find out the original colour for a car, what spec, etc. It also explains how to tell if a convertible is a factory original, if the car was produced for military use etc, and how to check an original Minor Million.
Pro's: Excellent reference for achieving originality, and finding out about the history of the Minor in general.
Con's: The pictures inside are probably a little to perfect for originality. I've also found a couple of errors after speaking to other owners, and its probably not too much use if you're not fussed about originality anyway.

Removing the Offside Front Suspension

Today presented the perfect opportunity for working on the car. The missus was out for the day, she took the young'n with her, and she had left without issuing a list of tasks. Excellent.

Despite removing the nearside suspension in August, I only got round to doing the other side today - and I've really noticed a difference in temperature since the last time. Still its no problem for me, as my skills aren't limited to slowly pulling apart an old car. I can also stick cardboard together to keep my bum from getting cold...

Anyway. This side came off pretty much the same as last time, although the tie bar came off pretty easy this time, and I needed a bigger weight to split the ball joint...

...and the rear nut on the tie-bar bracket was hard to shift. I tried a few things, but found wacking a spanner it through a bit of would seemed to shift it pretty well.

When I removed the nearside suspension, the front lower arm was damaged due to a seized lower fulcrum pin. I expected that offside lower arm would be damaged too (and actually bought 2 replacement parts from an autojumble) but it seems fine. The lower fulcrum pin is siezed though and is worn a little as a result. I had to hacksaw the end off one side because it had a shoulder that prevented it from fitting through the aperture in the suspension arm (I assume that came from being whacked in the past)...

The tie bar came in done without any bother...

Then it was the torsion bar. A bit of penetrating oil into the nuts and they came off without much additional headscratching - or grinding.

Removing the torsion bar also revealed more evidence of cack maintenance by whoever laid the car up to rest 30 years ago. The rubber bushes for the torsion bar have worn through on one side...

A bit of a nerdy observation I had; the replacement lower suspension arms that I bought at an autojumble are a little different in profile. I'm guessing that MOWOG change the profile to avoid any stress points and a possible fracture point. The picture is a bit blurry so I've highlighted the differences in profile.

Removing the Nearside Front Suspension

The chassis legs need sorting and to see what's what and make the repairs (whatever they may be) the front suspension needs to come off. This week, I have been mostly tackling the nearside...

The Haynes book said remove the tie bar first, but the bolt just wouldnt shift, so I'm going to come back to it later. Great start.

I carefully removed the brake drum then wiped it down inside with a damp rag. The brake dust inside the drum will likely be asbestos so dont want to take any chances there. I just chucked the brake shoes. They're old and I will be putting some new ones on anyway when I reassemble.

Removing the hub was a little tricky as I didn't have a hub-puller, and any leverage easily slips and just spins the hub. A post on the http://www.morrisminorowners.co.uk/ forum and I was back the next day to try a couple of things. It turns out that using a wooden lever was less prone to slipping than a metal one and the hub came off easily...

With the hub off, I thought I'd start on the suspension itself. I removed the nut holding the top trunnion onto the damper arm, then decided to try and remove the steering arm. I got as far as removing the nut, and no matter how hard I hit it, the steering arm did not want to shift. On reflection, I dont know why I was trying to take it out anyway. There's nothing that needs to be done to it, and it's not like it suffers from wear etc, so I'm happy to leave as it is!

Defeated by the steering arm, I thought I'd try removing the track rod end. This was done by removing the bolt on its underside that held it to the steering arm, then since I don't have a ball joint splitter, I shocked it out of the steering arm by giving it a good hearty wack with a hammer.

With everything pretty much off that needs to be, I removed the fixings that held the front half of the lower suspension arm in place, and took it off. Note that bloody tie bar still floating about.

 

I felt a bit of play in the bottom trunnion earlier on, and it looks like this is the source. Excessive wear on the bottom fulcrum pin. According to the guys on morrisminorowners.co.uk this is probably caused by the fulcrum pin becoming stuck inside the trunnion, and not rotating as it should. Notice the "notch" on both ends of the fulcrum pin...

 

 It turns out, that this fulcrum pin not moving freely as it should, has also caused this elongated hole in the suspension arm. Suppose I'll be needing a new one of these - and I hope the torsion bars aren't buggered as a result.

I recon I've got the same to look forward to on the other side of the car. The problem has been caused by poor maintenance, so it's unlikely that one side has been maintained well, and the other not. Still, I've learned what can happen if things aren't greased/maintained properly.