Morris 1300

[stripped fred]

I see you've got yourself a nice little project there Rob. It looks lovely! Many hours of enjoyment there ?

[AnthonyG]

On 5/10/2020 at 1:27 PM, Richard_FM said:

I remember he usually had a moped, but sometimes used his mum’s Allegro so only a generation out.

If that was the Robbie Corbett living with his parents sitcom there was an 1100 prior to the Allegro, it dies when Timothy and father go to a scrapyard for some reason - the 1100 gets left in ‘the wrong place‘ and gets picked up by a grab and crushed. 

‘Timothy’s wrecked the car’ was the line I remember when father returns home to confront an angry mother.

The 1100 was a early seventies one in that mustard colour and looked fine, although no doubt it had no rear floor pan....

I’m amazed I remember this after 35 years or so, the death of an ADO 16 must have scarred me mentally.

[Richard_FM]

7 hours ago, AnthonyG said:

If that was the Robbie Corbett living with his parents sitcom there was an 1100 prior to the Allegro, it dies when Timothy and father go to a scrapyard for some reason - the 1100 gets left in ‘the wrong place‘ and gets picked up by a grab and crushed. 

‘Timothy’s wrecked the car’ was the line I remember when father returns home to confront an angry mother.

The 1100 was a early seventies one in that mustard colour and looked fine, although no doubt it had no rear floor pan....

I’m amazed I remember this after 35 years or so, the death of an ADO 16 must have scarred me mentally.

Ok I must have missed that episode, I remember the Allegro had a rubber Loch Ness monster inflate inside it once

[RobT]

Small update.  One month on from purchase this happened yesterday.

I've managed to do 73 miles so far, with trips to the shops, chemists for my parents, and the odd test run.  Hopefully I'm slowly dealing with any issues that are cropping up after a period of slumber.

Second time I'd put pez in I noticed a small puddle underneath.  Bugger.  Was thinking holes in the tank or something equally PITA, but testing at home with a drop of meths I noticed it's a perished hose connecting the filler neck to the tank.  So I've ordered a length for £13 and will cut down what I need.

Removing this and the filler pipe were easy.  Behold snake oil lead additive tablets in a little wire basket (80s throwback?), chained to the side of the filler neck by the pez cap.  I tried removing them, but after 30 seconds gave up so will just leave as is.

New set of quality* Rotalla Setula ditchfinders purchased, £27 each.  The ancient crossplies (sp?) make for a comical driving experience in the dry, but I don't fancy trying them on a mildly moist surface.  Particularly as I tend to bomb rather than bimble in this (it really is a hoot to chuck about).

I'll get them fitted once I've sorted the steering rack and had the tracking done.  I've found a place in Kent that'll refurbish the existing one for £119, which includes courier costs both ways.  I need to take a run up at that task, considering I'll have to leave it sans rack for a bit, but have no driveway where I can do the job and leave it up on stands.  It'll involve poking the front end out of the single garage, rack off, wheels back on and gingerly pushing it back in the garage.  Unless putting the wheels back on without the rack is a big no no of course.  Opinions welcome.

Next job is the clutch, which is slipping under load in third and fourth.  Hopefully the operating lever just needs adjusting, and I've got a new slave cylinder to go on too, in the hope it might lighten the pedal action a touch.  Oil contamination of the linings is highly likely, as in typical A-series fashion it's pretty oily under there...Will have a crack at it this evening and see if it's made any difference.

[RobT]

Also painted the sills with some Hammerite I've had for ages.  They're solid but tidies them up a bit.  You can't see them unless you crouch down, so it doesn't detract from the general DNPoP (extra P should be obvious) mantra I intend to adhere to with this.  Wiping it over with a wet soapy cloth the other day was enough.

[SiC]

Still very jealous! You're not helping me here. ?

[SiC]

Clutch on these you can do with a crane (possibly with good jack) and without removing the engine. I had to pull the engine out on mine as the clutch had entirely seized together.

Idea would be to lift the clutch end enough in the air that you can get to the end cover. Also might be the ball joints on the end worn out to. All replacement stuff readily available because Austin Mini. 

[Skizzer]

Excellent.

DNPoP is spot on. There’s way too much talk of the second P on here sometimes.  If God had meant ADO16s to be shiny he wouldn’t have sent us oxidation, or weather.

[HMC]

Nice work. The styling in that profile view is just so right, not a line out of place. 

[SiC]

The 2 doors definitely look more right in my eyes. Even if they were sold as the economy/cheaper ones. 

[320touring]

Top work Rob! It's turning into a little stunner:)

[phil_lihp]

Really liking this one Rob, nice to see it getting some attention.  Tyres will make such a difference, they may be budgety ones but they're probably still a lot better than whatever it was wearing 40-odd years ago!

[stuboy]

still remember going in my granddads one when was a kid, in the 80's around sauf london

[flat4alfa]

Swap for one of my Leyland Princesses when you're finished with it

 

[Broadsword]

Fantastic work as always Rob. £27 per tyre is pretty good in this day and age, even for Rotallas!

[2flags]

£27.00 per tyre is very good. Doing the clutch on these is not too big a job. Just remember that the nut holding the flywheel in is done up to 140lbs/ft. It's tight!

[SiC]

3 minutes ago, 2flags said:

£27.00 per tyre is very good. Doing the clutch on these is not too big a job. Just remember that the nut holding the flywheel in is done up to 140lbs/ft. It's tight!

It gives the perfect excuse to buy new toys!

 

[Richard_FM]

3 hours ago, SiC said:

The 2 doors definitely look more right in my eyes. Even if they were sold as the economy/cheaper ones. 

Originally the 2 doors were for export only, I did wonder if BMC were worried about losing Mini sales.

[somewhatfoolish]

14 hours ago, RobT said:

Removing this and the filler pipe were easy.  Behold snake oil lead additive tablets in a little wire basket (80s throwback?), chained to the side of the filler neck by the pez cap.  I tried removing them, but after 30 seconds gave up so will just leave as is.

A stalwart of the adverts at the back of the CSMA magazine, complete with some bollocks about the thing being invented in the war to allow lend-lease hurricanes to run on whatever fuel they had in Russia because they had to brew it from potatoes. If a lump of tin in a mesh basket did as claimed oil refineries would have lumps of tin in mesh baskets turning the shitty residuals into 5* premium motor spirit.

That film is fantastic, as is the ARG training film, which should be subtitled "we're probably fucked lads".

[RobT]

Second FTP in this.  But unlike the last time it wasn't 20 yards from my front door, so had to be a flat bed job.  I changed the condenser, again, but after 20 minutes fiddling and giving the fuel pump a whack I just called for recovery.  So I'd better give this a thorough going over before I do any more trips out.  Was a nice place to break down mind, with some National Trust woodland a short walk away.

[SiC]

You need to change the points too if the condenser goes. The points burn out quick if the condenser has failed.

These were the ones on mine when it arrived.

[spartacus]

I can't give too much of a recommendation yet but I fitted a Gammatronix electronic ignition unit to the Panda. It still uses the points as a trigger but does away with the condenser, the points carry less current so don't burn out. 

I've only done a few miles so far but it all seems good, only four wires, so easy to fit. It might be worth a look. My points/condenser were working fine but I've heard so many horror stories about the replacements available nowadays, I decided to make a pre emptive strike.

[lisbon_road]

I fitted electronic ignition to the Vauxhall Viva in the late 80s.  Life is too short to use points.  In fairness, the system in your car Rob will be dramatically better than the atrocious rubbish AC Delco supplied Vauxhall with, but I'd still get rid.  And a proper one, dump the points completely.

One question I've never got an answer to.  I hear a lot about modern available condensers being rubbish and have wondered if you could use a bigger capacitor like say a motor start and run cap mounted outside the distributor.  They are readily available and decent quality.  

Just thinking like.

[hairnet]

elec ftw big yella truck is just a pita

modernise ffs

 

[BeEP]

Was there fuel in the float chamber after it died?  Quite common for the float valve to get crap stuck in it after a vehicle has been put back on the road, even with an inline filter.  Always my first port of call if an a-series which has been running well suddenly doesn't (assuming no wires are visibly detached from the coil etc). 

[SiC]

4 minutes ago, BeEP said:

Was there fuel in the float chamber after it died?  Quite common for the float valve to get crap stuck in it after a vehicle has been put back on the road, even with an inline filter.  Always my first port of call if an a-series which has been running well suddenly doesn't (assuming no wires are visibly detached from the coil etc). 

Iirc Rob in this thread earlier took the float bowl lid off and cleaned the inside. Then put an in-line filter in. 

I'd wager the points burnt out from a crap condenser, going on the ones in this post that was said to have been put on:

 

[SiC]

If staying with points, go for a High Quality condenser from Moss or Distributor Doctor. I've found all the points available new to be good enough quality when used with that condenser. 

I need to go to Moss again in the coming days, did you want me to get you one? This one:

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/condenser-lead-25d-high-quality-gsc111hq.html

The stock levels on the website are for the headquarters. Often Bristol and the other sub branches have stuff in stock still but the website shows out of stock for online delivery. 

[BeEP]

Not saying it isn't ignition, but I've never actually had condenser or points fail whilst driving.  With me they seem to fail 'overnight'; presuambly during the cooling cycle or whatever from the previous journey.

[RayMK]

17 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

I fitted electronic ignition to the Vauxhall Viva in the late 80s.  Life is too short to use points.  In fairness, the system in your car Rob will be dramatically better than the atrocious rubbish AC Delco supplied Vauxhall with, but I'd still get rid.  And a proper one, dump the points completely.

One question I've never got an answer to.  I hear a lot about modern available condensers being rubbish and have wondered if you could use a bigger capacitor like say a motor start and run cap mounted outside the distributor.  They are readily available and decent quality.  

Just thinking like.

Just an alternative opinion: I've never had trouble with points which could not be fixed in a minute or two with a file and feeler gauges or completely replaced with a new set in 20 minutes. Original equipment points easily last 30,000 miles if resurfaced and gapped at the usual service intervals. Similarly, I've never had a condenser fail. I accept that many modern aftermarket points and condensers are sub-standard though.  Buy a decent original equipment condenser from any 1980s Japanese car and adapt it to fit externally on the distributor body if it can't fit inside. Finding original equipment points is of course getting difficult. 

I've had to deal with many coil pack failures on more modern cars (VW and Ford) and have heard numerous reports about aftermarket electronic distributors failing due to engine bay heat (Reliants are good at cooking electronics!), both types of failure usually requiring recovery, not a farm gateway/layby DIY fix. Original equipment single coil systems and electronic distributors are generally very reliable.

In summary, I tend to stay with points and condenser systems if that's what the car had when new.  Aftermarket stuff quality is so variable that whichever way you go, points or electronic, you are at risk of an FTP.  Spare points and condensers easily fit in gloveboxes ?.

[SiC]

I've had three of these "modern" design condensers fail. Two on the MGB, one after 5 miles from setting off and the other soon after it was brand newly fitted. The one on my 1100 I don't know when fitted. However it died in the after 15 minutes or so of idling after being loaded. 

This describes the construction of these condensers pretty well and the design flaws in them:

http://nonlintec.com/sprite/cap_failure/

This is what I was showing in this video earlier in this thread where I am pulling the end wire. The electrode pressure is so low, only a light tug is enough to break electrical contact. 

I suspect most people go through a couple of them and then give up on points to move onto electronic ignition. Either Powerspark type module, 123-Ignition or Optitronix type. Probably blaming poor quality points rather than the condensers themselves, as the failure is evident as burnt out points rather than anything noticeable on the condensers. 

Personally if I see anyone mentioning an FTP or rough engine and they've put one of these cheap condensers on, I don't hesitate pointing the finger at those condensers. Even if it wasn't the original cause of the breakdown, they're of crap enough design that it's only a matter of time before they become a cause of a breakdown!