Epic Morris Wedge restoration.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

And more blue vinyl goodness.

 

 

Blimey, it's really becoming a car again. Are you stopping off in Oxford to see the Old Boy that owned it? It's on the way!

[vulgalour]

Threads like this prove that this site is definitely what it is, was, and always shall be.

[Pete-M]

Awful car but epic save.

[rovamota]

A bit of controversy over the sunroof, but as it is a genuine period Unipart optional extra and saved a lot of hassle welding a hole the roof, it's been kept. 

 

 

[Lowtimer]

I am completely thrilled by this. Any idea how many hours have gone into it or would that be a rude question?

[rovamota]

150 hours of welding alone, then at least 600 hours on everything else over the last 10 months.

[rovamota]

A bit of detail. The A pillar before and after.

 

 

[Sudsprint]

Watching this come together (and that blue Cavalier and the bronze Alpine) is truly fantastic.

 

We really need to find Sunshine Desserts ( or Tom And Jerry's plastic cereal novelties) car park and live the dream.

[rovamota]

A bit of a disaster today.
 
Martin explains...
 
I thought I would take Maurice for another trip around our not-very-large-estate to check that things were OK for Friday's MoT. I had got up to the fastest speed it has done for 22 years, that is 30 mph and thought I ought to check that the brakes felt OK. They were stopping the car nicely when there was a big bang , a graunching noise and a bit of a smell of rubber. Any way the car stopped. I got out to have a look as I thought a displacer had gone pop but the car wasn't particularly down on one side but the front N/S wheel was at a wonky angle; indeed, only three wheels on my wagon..

 

This did not look good. I tried moving forward but as you can see the wheel is tight up against the rear part of the wheel arch; it wasn't going anywhere. Sooo, I walked home (only about 800 yards) picked up a car full of tools and went back to see what I could do. My wife, bless her, also called my good friend Jeff to ask for assistance! He arrived in record time. It was immediately apparent what had happened in that the metal casing of the butterfly bush at the rear of the front lower wishbone had broken due to rust so the bush part with the wishbone had moved over to the centre of the car, thus allowing the wheel to contact the rear of the front wheel arch. When you look at the thickness of a new bush it is astounding that this one had rusted enough to give way and none of us had spotted it was feeble. My camera failed so I haven't got a picture of this as it needed to be put back on so I could get the car back home. We tried to take off the lower wishbone; it was easy splitting the lower ball joint and taking off the nut for the bottom of the drop arm, but could we bonk out the wishbone from the front bush; no, we bleeding couldn't.

 

The problem was we were unable to move the wishbone so that it was in line, i.e. the bush from inside the butterly bush was in line with its metal surround. All this by the side of the road remember albeit it is a very small, quiet estate road; more dog-walkers than cars. I decided, reluctantly, that we had to be recovered so we called the local brilliant garage who came out straight way with a low loader; we had to wait at least 5 minutes... The helpful driver (who I know because all my cars are MoT'd at that garage) said he would move the wishbone back into alignment using his winch which was a vey quick and impressive solution. He then said, to get the car mobile again he would turn the broken butterfly bush upside down so it was held into place; brilliant. Another 5 mintues doing that and re-assembling the lower ball joint and Bob's your uncle. Great lateral thinking and it may be an obvious solution to you engineers but I don't think I would ever have thought of that. Well I was impressed even if you aren't. So, I drove home slowly and tomorrow's job is to replace that wishbone (I'm sure I've got a spare one). I don't expect that to be straightforward and then we have the other side to replace...

 

 

[Minimad5]

Sorry to re-post pictures !
But this one:
 

 

 

Reminds me of a Princess that was sitting in a garden near my parents house (Dacre hill) to locals, maybe fellow forum members Station or Warren have pictures... let me investigate !
/brings back memories etc.

[MarvinsMom]

bugger....bugger bugger bugger!!

 

at least there wasn't any major damage like freshly painted and repaired/replaced panels?

 

i guess some teething problems are to be expected given the length of time that the car has been off of the road, and the state that it was in!

[cms206]

[Spottedlaurel]

Ouch. Better for it to happen like that than on a busier/faster road....

 

Marvellous work, and it's up to you whether you keep the sunroof or not. I'm not sure if I remember many without the vinyl rear pillars.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Ouch. Better for it to happen like that than on a busier/faster road....

 

Marvellous work, and it's up to you whether you keep the sunroof or not. I'm not sure if I remember many without the vinyl rear pillars.

 

 

Was Maurice an HL? 

[rovamota]

It's a basic 1800 but it was made to look like an HL during its life.

[rovamota]

Well it's all been repaired now and a new lower arm and bushes were fitted. You can see in the first photo the broken bush case that gave way during braking.

 

[doobietoo]

Hmmmm sure my VDP doesn't have a socket on that bolt tskkkk those new fangled 1800s are posh....

[MarvinsMom]

yey!!

[Felly Magic]

The bugger is fighting you, but you will win. I know they've been nominating Billy Bollocks for shiter of the year, but you deserve the accolade way more

[fatharris]

Yikes, a bit of a heart-stopper, but I am glad its been resolved.

 

Shine on, you crazy demons!

 

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[flat4alfa]

Crikey!  Good going

 

Mate lost his Allegro VP at speed with very similar issue.  Went up the bank and down again, came to rest and everyone hit it

 

 

[ I hope there was also an axle stand under in that kerbside shot.  Lost someone I knew last year ]

[NorfolkNWeigh]

It's got feck all to do with me but I don't like the wheel trims. The plain chrome with a black line on the silver painted slotted rim, without the fancy HL embellishers looks so right ,especially as you've gone for the non-vinyl rear quarters.

I remember seeing convoys of these when I was at school in Bromsgrove, must have been dealer and press launches, they used to swap drivers outside the school. Anyway, from then I preferred the less glitzy versions, they looked much more modern to ( the 10 year old ) me.

[michael1703]

looks like you need a bit more weld on that sill before the mot man sees it

[rovamota]

Yay! It passed with no advisories. 

[rovamota]

From beast to beauty in 12 months, and now with its first MoT for 22 years.

 

[Eddie Honda]

rovamota, you're spoiling us...

 

[eddyramrod]

That looks like the start and end of the "Show me" sequence in Christine!

[brickwall]

That's quite a victory!!!! Well done

[eddyramrod]

It is, very much so!  I remember seeing pics of this outside Sam Glover's hangar, and thinking, poor car, that's dead.  I'm so glad to be proved wrong!

[doobietoo]

Great work you must be proud...