Epic Morris Wedge restoration.

[Dick Longbridge]

Saw this on the blue forum. Epic restoration thread and Clouseau type research skills to locate the parts. Will look amazing in the paint.

[garethj]

Amazing!

[rovamota]

It will be ready by November. We intend to reveal it at the NEC show this November.

[rovamota]

There won't be any pics of the complete car before the show, only pics of restoration work. And maybe a teaser shot.And we didn't do the welding; we outsourced that to an expert.

[Cavcraft]

We realise that not much originality is left, but then this is the oldest surviving Morris 1800 so that's a good enough reason to get it back on the road.

 

Who cares? This is probably one of the best threads of ever already and looking forward to reading/seeing more.

[danthecapriman]

Absolutely fantastic! That's a staggering amount of work to do but it's worked out really well. Can't wait to see more.

[RichardK]

Awesome! So... the Club 100 that looked decidedly miserable - did anything become of that? I saw the one at the NEC, but a project had emerged around the same time. Seeing this brought back makes me hopeful that it stood or stands a chance too!

[mouseflakes]

That grille...............*sigh*

[cort16]

Shit the bed. That's amazing work.

[the judge]

Fantastic!!

Vulg waits patiently for the displacer "pop",eager to see what your solution is...

[rovamota]

As you can see, the A pillars were in a terrible state and it was the repair that caused us the most concern. The only way we would be able to fix it properly was to get the skins from a donor car and, as luck would have it, we were told about a banger racer who had finished with his racing wedge and said we could take what we wanted from it. Thing is, it was in Manchester and we are in Southampton, so we hired a van and as it turned out, we were able to go to Leeds on the same trip and collect all those doors and bootlids as well.

 

Anyway, here's a few pics of the A pillar repairs.

 

 

 

 

 

And it was the same both sides, but Dave the welder did an epic job here.

[holbeck]

Can I just echo what's already been said.

 

Totally Epic man!

[jonny69]

Woah, that is a brave bit of work to take on. I genuinely take my hat off for this one.

[sloth]

love it, thanks for saving a rare but honest piece of working mans history.

[oldcars]

Epic work. Wish i had skills/time/money/knowledge to this kind of stuff. Saw it at the nec last year looked way far gone to fix. Good job on the rescue.

[rovamota]

Once the welding was completed we then turned our attention to the engine. It was a non-runner when we got it but we eventually managed to get it running after a new set of plugs, leads and fresh fuel but it smoked like hell so we knew it would have to come out.

 

Once out we broke it down.

 

 

 

So it was new bearings, piston rings, seals, gaskets, you name it. And, of course, a new clutch assembly.The a coat of paint.

 

 

 

Whilst the engine was out we got on with restoring the engine bay.

 

 

 

[rovamota]

Then, after the engine bay had a new coat of Flamenco red we could refit the newly reconditioned engine.

 

 

 

Refit the cylinder head.

 

 

 

Refit the manifold, carb and new exhaust.

 

 

Then a new brake servo, master cylinder and complete new braking system, including new calipers and skimmed discs.

 

 

Brand new steering rack, too.

 

 

Now we have fitted a new petrol tank and fuel lines it now starts and stops as good as new. The tappets rattle a bit but we'll adjust them once it's been used a bit more.

[purplebargeken]

I'll have 4, 12 and 23 please.

 

Wedgetastic!

[trigger]

Bloody hell! Me and my mates said there wouldn't be a chance in hell of that being at the NEC finished this year.

 

We was wrong! Here's my scribble on the wing.

 

 

[Shep Shepherd]

Absolutely amazing!

[rovamota]

We tried the refurbished grille in place, just to boost our enthusiasm.

 

[flat4alfa]

Boosts ours too no end!

[rovamota]

And here's a pic of the front end being painted. We are painting it ourselves to help keep costs down, but now it seems that's pretty academic considering the amount of money that's been thrown at this car. 

 

[anonymous user]

I can't believe that anyone would take one of these, that far gone, and put this amount of work into it, but I'm glad that you have. Top work.

[greengartside]

I wrote on the car when it was at the NEC. Cannot for the life of me remember what it was but it was either on the front passenger wing or the doors...

 

Anyway, superb turnaround! Great to see it getting the love it deserves!

[dollywobbler]

Absolutely superb. I hope you display it with some of its old panels. 

 

I know there's always a question mark over the restoration of a car like this, but it was absolutely f*cked! It's worth remembering that the first Morris Minor and the first Land Rover have both been restored - the former quite substantially. Now, they still exist and are still very important vehicles. This was absolutely the right thing to do and I applaud your efforts. And your welder's efforts!

[billyboy406v6]

Fantastic work, truly epic !!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

147 MAXIMUM BREAK

[I_am_Diesel]

Cap well and truly doffed. This thread is the stuff of legends.

[UltraWomble]

I can add nothing

NOTHING of any use to this thread except to say....

 

There simply are not enough like buttons on this thread to do it justice.