Morris 1300

[RobT]

37 minutes ago, SiC said:

Oh yes and I always buy replacement hard pipes as they always do that on every old car I've owned!

Have you changed the flexis?

Flexis look OK, but obviously could be another thing to do if they've collapsed internally like the clutch hose.

Thanks for the Moss links.  I'll get the service kit and have a go.  As you can tell progress is slow on this one, but as usual life stuff and the others cars are keeping me busy.

[Rocket88]

On 6/15/2020 at 9:22 AM, ETCHY said:

The story goes that Pressed Steel Fisher who were going to build it told Issigonis he'd designed in huge rust traps. Issigonis however wouldn't change it so PSF went ahead as per his design... PSF it appears were right !

Issigonis, for all his design genius, was a power crazed nutter..........all he cared about was "packaging".....sod driver convenience, comfort, or styling.....or , for that matter, ease of maintananace

[ETCHY]

9 hours ago, colc said:

Issigonis, for all his design genius, was a power crazed nutter..........all he cared about was "packaging".....sod driver convenience, comfort, or styling.....or , for that matter, ease of maintananace

100% agree.

In the long run many of his decisions & the direction he took them in did BMC/BL no favours at all.

[plasticvandan]

He did however design the three most successful British cars ever built (I don't include foreign owned manufacturers before anyone starts) 

he got it right with the Minor mind you,everything that followed had more ego attached.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

9 minutes ago, plasticvandan said:

He did however design the three most successful British cars ever built (I don't include foreign owned manufacturers before anyone starts) 

he got it right with the Minor mind you,everything that followed had more ego attached.

It's funny how tastes change. As a lad, I always wanted to own a Mini when I become road legal. Then my taste shifted to Volkswagen and I bought a tired mk1 Golf as my first car. I loved the old thing.

I replaced it with a 1969 Trafalgar blue Morris Minor which I enjoyed owning equally to the Golf. 

Now, almost thirty years later, I quite fancy the original Lowlights - how did that happen?! 

[High Jetter]

I think it's called maturing.

[Slowsilver]

15 hours ago, colc said:

Issigonis, for all his design genius, was a power crazed nutter..........all he cared about was "packaging".....sod driver convenience, comfort, or styling.....or , for that matter, ease of maintananace

Funny you should mention this. Went out in our Maxi today and wondered why, after his obsession with storage on the Mini, with big door pockets front and rear and storage under the rear seat, he didn't specify door pockets or a centre console for the Maxi, despite there being plenty of room for them. I think the Maxi 2 did eventually get door pockets but AFAIK none were ever fitted with a centre console. It does have some pretty good storage space under the rear seat though.
 

[Angrydicky]

This ADO looks fit Rob! What's the gearchange like on it? My Austin was pretty good but a friend's very similar Morris had a gearchange like stirring porridge, first gear could only be found by going diagonally up the gate!

[BeEP]

On 19/10/2020 at 19:13, SiC said:

Gasket kit:

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/gasket-set-hs2-carburettors-aue810a.html

Service kit: (As above but also replaces the float bowl needle and main jet)

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/service-kit-hs2-wzx1851.html

Rebuild kit: (As above but also replaces throttle disc and spindle - usually requires rebushing and that is a bit more specialist tools)

https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/rebuild-kit-hs2-carburettor-single-gac6153x.html

Not sure what differences the kits will have, but the 1300 uses a HS4 carb rather than the HS2 of the 1100.

[SiC]

2 hours ago, BeEP said:

Not sure what differences the kits will have, but the 1300 uses a HS4 carb rather than the HS2 of the 1100.

That's true, I forgot that. HS4 kits have bigger gaskets. 

 

[RobT]

15 hours ago, Angrydicky said:

This ADO looks fit Rob! What's the gearchange like on it? My Austin was pretty good but a friend's very similar Morris had a gearchange like stirring porridge, first gear could only be found by going diagonally up the gate!

A wooden spoon wouldn't be out of place in this.  So yeah, a bit porridge like.  Third crunches too, no matter how slow I down shift or double declutch.

[sloth]

adjust the linkage chap. 

[RobT]

Yep, it's on the ever growing list!

[RobT]

A refurb of the steering rack is also a priority, as the noisy knackered bush is becoming annoying.

[HMC]

Did it get rustproofed from new? I’m astonished at the condition of the shell.

[RobT]

On 10/22/2020 at 9:43 AM, HMC said:

Did it get rustproofed from new? I’m astonished at the condition of the shell.

Some of it was as there's traces of old wax in certain places, although I don't think it was in the bulkhead area...more on that below.

I've been doing some low rent tinkering on this over Christmas.  The brakes had became too bad to ignore any longer (pumping the pedal finally did nowt), so I started off replacing the rear cylinders but it turned out to be a knackered master cylinder.  New Lockheed one bought for £72 and 20 minutes later it was on followed by a bleeding session.  Done properly for a change with a tarp and old bed sheets to catch any spillages.  I still need to clean up an LHM stain from a few months back, so lesson learnt!

Next up was the manifold, as it's been farting from there since I bought it.  A combination of the gasket and a few barely visible cracks.  Everything came off relatively easily, which was a pleasant surprise.

As you can see, it's been running a bit rich for a while.  But could worn valve stem seals be doing some of that too?  It does smoke from cold (but soon settles down), and number 4 plug is on the oily side of acceptable, so I think I'm going to have a crack at doing the job myself.  Obviously I should have done all this in one go rather than put the replacement manifold on, but at least I know it'll come off again.  Plus it's handy not having the car immobile for long periods, as I like moving chod about for no apparent reason.  Not much else to do at the moment is there...

With the carb and manifold off I decided to have a poke at the bulkhead.  I knew it was crusty, so dug out the worst where I could and in true horse has bolted style put some rust converter on the remaining metal.  That can be something to deal with in the spring/summer.

I also took the radiator off and gave it a good flush.  Battered but it'll do.  Probably needs a recore at some point, but it doesn't leak.

With everything back on it wouldn't idle at all, but tightening up the manifold bolts underneath the inlet ports, plus a fair bit of carb tinkering, got it running more or less on song bar a few pops from the exhaust.  I leaned it off a few months ago so it wasn't running too rich, but I fancy getting the old Gunson Gastester going for a more accurate idea.  I tried using it the other day but it wouldn't run off the battery for some reason, so I'll have to hook it up to something else.  Or it might be broken of course.

So the next exciting* instalment will be me ruining my cylinder head and valves...lots of research and buying of stuff to do first.

[RobT]

I also did a couple of easy jobs.  The giffer carpet was looking a bit manky, so I gave it a wash in the bath when Mrs T wasn't looking.

Proper replacements are 200 quid, so I'll stick with the Allied off-cuts.  Suits the oily rag nature of the car anyway.

ACF-50 to protect the chrome from winter salt.  I saw Harry Metcalfe use it in one of his vids, so figured I'd give it a go.  Mind you two cans were £26 and there's no doubt cheaper alternatives.

[RobT]

ULEZ exempt yet it does this...

Mind you that's a cold start in 3 degrees, and it soon settles down.  Since I've done the manifold gasket it no longer stinks either.

The Morris is now my main car as I had to bin the Xantia as it broke on a multitude of levels.  So far, so good, and we're only doing local trips at the moment anyway.  In a perverse way I'm enjoying having an old shitter with no heater as a winter beater.  Every journey is an event!

I've also done some That'll Do seat repairs.

[lisbon_road]

Is the Cavalier having a rest Rob?

Good to see the Austin doing well.

[barrett]

What's going on with the mysterious Xantia then? You should add all your fleet news to this thread, I never see anything about your other cars! Kudos for motoring in a shit old British car in Winter though, there is something incredibly invigorating about having to rely on a 'proper' car to actually get you from A to B at this time of year. I genuinely miss having to keep a shammy on the dash to wipe a misty windscreen of a morning, or sit waiting for a carb engine to warm up enough to drive without the choke right out etc

[RobT]

I'm afraid within a matter of weeks I've become a fraud Scott, and bought something else to replace the Xantia.  A Mk2 Clio, which actually feels modern despite being 22 years old.  But I suppose it will in comparison to a 52 year old Morris...

4 hours ago, lisbon_road said:

Is the Cavalier having a rest Rob?

Good to see the Austin doing well.

Sadly the Cavalier will be going soon as it's surplus now.  Plus it's a bit knackered and has been for a while.  I'm hoping the bloke who's bought GM chod from me before will take it and use the parts, or fix it up.

[lisbon_road]

Shame about Cavalier, perhaps you'll tell us more sometime.  And I called your other car a Morris!  Sorry.

[uk_senator]

A lovely little thing. I`ve never driven one, but always hankered after one, & a burnt orange 1300GT is on my extensive lottery win list.

My Mum had one as her first car too, a bottle green Mk1 1964 one.

Personally I always set up points with a dwell meter rather than a feeler gauge, as it makes up for any slop in the dizzy shaft & averages it out, although if your timing light isnt working off the battery, maybe you`ll have problems with a dwell meter as well... 

Someone said, some cars have resistance wiring to the coil, which caused me headaches on my first Viva HB, I cant remember what I`d done now, but I did manage to melt the wiring harness after changing some parts in the ignition system, very nearly setting it on fire in the process..

I`m not sure how you can cock up the manufacture of points, I mean there's bugger all to them really (has anyone tried gold plating them for longevity with one of these new fangled home plating kits? Might be worth a try?). Condensers can indeed be sketchy, personally I prefer OE or NOS Lucas, as I`ve had agro with budget ones, especially Intermotor. Same with caps & rotors.

I have got an Uno electronic dizzy to go on my points equipped Panda, as its a straight swap & improves starting/running no end & isn't noticeable visually in the engine bay, I`m not sure if there's a later OE option on the A-Series, but its worth a look into. 

I`m rambling & going off on tangents aren't I..

Anyway, once again, lovely thing! Followed!

[lisbon_road]

I own an HB Viva and fitted it with electronic ignition in the 80s as that system was really really dreadful.  There must be Metro systems that can be used, but now it is probably easier to go for a decent after market one.  I do think the Lucas distributor on a Mini/1100/1300 was much better than a Delco one though.  The Viva has a cold start system, which does start quite well, but it must increase the running current across the points which seems like a bad idea.  Better to have everything in decent order and dump the cold start. 

[uk_senator]

8 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

I own an HB Viva and fitted it with electronic ignition in the 80s as that system was really really dreadful.  There must be Metro systems that can be used, but now it is probably easier to go for a decent after market one.  I do think the Lucas distributor on a Mini/1100/1300 was much better than a Delco one though.  The Viva has a cold start system, which does start quite well, but it must increase the running current across the points which seems like a bad idea.  Better to have everything in decent order and dump the cold start. 

Yeah, you don't have the option of a later OE electric ignition upgrade on the Viva unfortunately, but the later 80`s A-Series Maestro`s Metro`s etc had breakerless?

[lisbon_road]

I originally had a Mobelec Magnum system, which actually did last for many years.  I then went for a Lumenition system which is generally well thought of.  I think I got it secondhand, though not much used.  I just looked them up and they're quite a price now.

[uk_senator]

27 minutes ago, lisbon_road said:

I originally had a Mobelec Magnum system, which actually did last for many years.  I then went for a Lumenition system which is generally well thought of.  I think I got it secondhand, though not much used.  I just looked them up and they're quite a price now.

I`ve never fitted an aftermarket electronic ignition to any car, I stick to OE upgrades. Thinking about it, all the piggyback ones I inherited on bangers I got back in the day had all been disconnected before I got them (but left in situ). I took that as a sign to never trust the things...

[lisbon_road]

That's fine, and I don't disagree.  OE upgrades will use proper automotive electronic components and might be much more reliable. 

Providing you can get them - if they were ever fitted and if they are available now and not too ancient.

 

[SiC]

Metro electronic distributors aren't cheap now and rare.

The best fix for a dodgy Lucas 25d dizzy is to either send off the distributor to Distributor Doctor for a rebuild or fit a 123 Ignition distributor! Both not cheap options though. All the "new" Lucas distributors aren't the best quality, so not worth bothering imo. I've got a 123 ignition distributor waiting to go in my MGB and looking forward to finally having a rock solid ignition system.

Alternatively there is electronic modules such as powerspark and others. Quality appears variable. Some have no problem, others have them fail. My suspicion is a mix of poor quality control and inadequate heat dissipation.

Finally there is a points assist module. These reduce the load on the points and prolong them. They also don't need a condenser to work properly. However they do need points still. My experience of these modules is that the quality of them is a bit sub-par.

If you stay with points, there is the HQ Condenser from Moss that is one of the very few Brand New condensers built properly. I think I mentioned about them previously in the thread.

[lisbon_road]

That 123 ignition is interesting.   When you rev the engine on many older cars, the timing light just shows a blur.   Be really interesting to see if your MGB runs better, probably less fuel and better emissions. 

Sorry Rob, we've gone a bit off topic..........