Morris 1300 Super de Luxe - job almost finished!
Discussion
My Morris is almost ready at last.
Thursday the Hydrolastic system will be pressurised.
Today I ordered new classic number plates for a whopping € 50,- (about £ 30,- I guess).
I'm still waiting for some secondhand parts I ordered in England. That's already two weeks ago...
Glad those parts aren't crucial.
And ofcourse there are some electrical 'issues': windscreen wipers, indicators, heater fan and brake lights don't work. I hate having to sort that out. There are only three fuses where things can go wrong, so that simplyfies the work a bit...
See piccies for an impression, quite a few 'before' and 'after' pics...
Thursday the Hydrolastic system will be pressurised.
Today I ordered new classic number plates for a whopping € 50,- (about £ 30,- I guess).
I'm still waiting for some secondhand parts I ordered in England. That's already two weeks ago...
Glad those parts aren't crucial.
And ofcourse there are some electrical 'issues': windscreen wipers, indicators, heater fan and brake lights don't work. I hate having to sort that out. There are only three fuses where things can go wrong, so that simplyfies the work a bit...
See piccies for an impression, quite a few 'before' and 'after' pics...
It was the best selling car in Great Britain in it's days 
I'm neither pro nor semi-pro. Just a classic-car nut without a garage
So it's not a complete restoration, I just do the best I can with limited resources and limited tooling.
One day I want to remove the complete front subframe with engine and do some work on the engine bay.
Still some rust there. At that point I also want to improve the drainage of the bulkhead, which is very poor.
Every time it rains, water comes into the interior...
I'm neither pro nor semi-pro. Just a classic-car nut without a garage
So it's not a complete restoration, I just do the best I can with limited resources and limited tooling.
One day I want to remove the complete front subframe with engine and do some work on the engine bay.
Still some rust there. At that point I also want to improve the drainage of the bulkhead, which is very poor.
Every time it rains, water comes into the interior...
Almost forgot: if I'm lucky it will be polished by a professional soon.
I gave it a try, but it's extremely time-consuming.
And the best thing is: it will cost me nothing!
He'll polish half the car, put it on show at the Klassiekerrally. Afterwards he'll polish the other half.
I gave it a try, but it's extremely time-consuming.
And the best thing is: it will cost me nothing!
He'll polish half the car, put it on show at the Klassiekerrally. Afterwards he'll polish the other half.
Edited by klassiekerrally on Tuesday 15th August 15:12
Had the Hydrolastic pressurised this morning.
Somehow the ride height at the back is much too high.
That is a problem I didn't expect and can't solve within five minutes I'm afraid...
I'll have a closer look at the suspension this evening.
If anyone has any clues, please let me know...
Somehow the ride height at the back is much too high.
That is a problem I didn't expect and can't solve within five minutes I'm afraid...
I'll have a closer look at the suspension this evening.
If anyone has any clues, please let me know...
guess the hydro is like a mini, so
if the car hasnt been used for ages and/or has been depresurised for a while there will be air in the system. the proper two lever 'darlek' pumps have a system for creating a vacume in the pipes to get rid of the air, but the cheaper single lever pumps dont.
if this is the case you sometimes have to pump the car up harder than you think to get the suspension to move, try going round the block a few times and then reconect the pump and let the system down and repump it a few times. i had a mini that took ages to get right due to this problem.
i think, however that your car is suffering from worn front knuckle joints (ims sure 1100's are similar to minis here), youve had to pump the system up harder to get clearance at the front, which in turn has made the rear lift higher. if you cannot get new knuckles you can do the 'mini' trick of depresurising the system and putting washers between the knuckle and the rod that connects the hydro unit - this trick also helps when the hydro units have sunk a bit.
hope this helps
if the car hasnt been used for ages and/or has been depresurised for a while there will be air in the system. the proper two lever 'darlek' pumps have a system for creating a vacume in the pipes to get rid of the air, but the cheaper single lever pumps dont.
if this is the case you sometimes have to pump the car up harder than you think to get the suspension to move, try going round the block a few times and then reconect the pump and let the system down and repump it a few times. i had a mini that took ages to get right due to this problem.
i think, however that your car is suffering from worn front knuckle joints (ims sure 1100's are similar to minis here), youve had to pump the system up harder to get clearance at the front, which in turn has made the rear lift higher. if you cannot get new knuckles you can do the 'mini' trick of depresurising the system and putting washers between the knuckle and the rod that connects the hydro unit - this trick also helps when the hydro units have sunk a bit.
hope this helps
just looked at your other photos, which shows the car in bits!
if you dont have a hydro pump you can 'milk' a bit of fluid out by pushing the valves in with a small screwdriver (warning, wear goggles and stay out the way!) and drop the height of the suspension a little.
i wonder if a garage has pumped it up to the set figure in the manual and all the new suspension you have fitted just needs to settle down a bit?
i guess you could alwasys just give it 'a damm good thrashing'
if you dont have a hydro pump you can 'milk' a bit of fluid out by pushing the valves in with a small screwdriver (warning, wear goggles and stay out the way!) and drop the height of the suspension a little.
i wonder if a garage has pumped it up to the set figure in the manual and all the new suspension you have fitted just needs to settle down a bit?
i guess you could alwasys just give it 'a damm good thrashing'
Thanks for your reply guru!
The problem with the worn front knuckles sounds very plausible, as the front suspension is one of the few parts of the car I haven't touched.
Unlike the Mini, the Morris doesn't have plastic cups, but metal seats.
In case of the rear suspension I found them quite difficult to remove, so when possible I'll opt for the washer trick.
OR I'll shorten the rear connection rods a bit: this is a trick used with competition MG's (read that somewhere)
Because of the higher pressure in the system, the ride is a bit firmer.
But I'm not sure if I will like that...
First I check the rear suspension, just to make sure I didn't do anything wrong...
By the way, the garage used a 'Darlek' (
) to pressurise the suspension.
Update:
Not all was bad today: fixed a corroded fuse, so brake lights, heater blower and indicators work again. Not sure why the windscreen wipers still don't work.
The problem with the worn front knuckles sounds very plausible, as the front suspension is one of the few parts of the car I haven't touched.
Unlike the Mini, the Morris doesn't have plastic cups, but metal seats.
In case of the rear suspension I found them quite difficult to remove, so when possible I'll opt for the washer trick.
OR I'll shorten the rear connection rods a bit: this is a trick used with competition MG's (read that somewhere)
Because of the higher pressure in the system, the ride is a bit firmer.
But I'm not sure if I will like that...
First I check the rear suspension, just to make sure I didn't do anything wrong...
By the way, the garage used a 'Darlek' (
) to pressurise the suspension. Update:
Not all was bad today: fixed a corroded fuse, so brake lights, heater blower and indicators work again. Not sure why the windscreen wipers still don't work.
Edited by klassiekerrally on Thursday 17th August 19:32
You'll see it at the 10th of September (at the Klassiekerrally), but I don't think it will be road-legal by then...
Edited by klassiekerrally on Thursday 17th August 19:39
Nice to see one being restored , my dad had one for a few weeks till the gearbox decied to die , imo its the mainstream cars from the 60's 70's and 80's that get vastly overlooked come restoration time and everybody picks the sporty stuff , making the mainstream cars of yesteryear more collectable .
crankedup said:
Good cars these but never had the success in sales as they deserved
Best selling car in the UK for about eight years running. You don't see many of them now because the pre-delivery rustproofing was rubbish. My Dad's car sat in a field for ages before delivery, which would have been fine except the drain holes in the doors and floor were taped up.
Another update: when it rains, it pours...
... into the interior
Water comes in through gaps between double sheets of metal at the clutch and brake master cylinders.
And if it keeps on raining, water also comes through the heater.
Seems to be a common problem caused by poor design of the body.
Oh, and I replaced the dynamo with an alternator for everyday reliability. Still have to do the wiring though...
The suspension problem lies in the fact that I removed auxiliary springs... which were mounted to pull the rear of the car down. I'm going to solve that by making kind of an 'Adjust-A-Ride' connection rod for the rear suspension.
... into the interior
Water comes in through gaps between double sheets of metal at the clutch and brake master cylinders.
And if it keeps on raining, water also comes through the heater.
Seems to be a common problem caused by poor design of the body.
Oh, and I replaced the dynamo with an alternator for everyday reliability. Still have to do the wiring though...
The suspension problem lies in the fact that I removed auxiliary springs... which were mounted to pull the rear of the car down. I'm going to solve that by making kind of an 'Adjust-A-Ride' connection rod for the rear suspension.
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