Morris 1300

[HMC]

Anyone remember derek the PC 1100 in the 1990s?

IIRC Nick larkin was given a grand to buy a car and (after viewing another one) ended up with a connaught green, tidy looking 4 door which Was used as a pool car for a while. HTA***D I think

[Tetleysmooth]

Hey Rob

I've got a delivery to SE 18 this morning at 9am. If you fancy taking the 1100 out for a tootle, why not come over and have an elbow bump. If you fancy it, pm me and I'll send the full address and the lorry to look out for etc. Just a thought.

[RobT]

Soz m8, I'm working this morning...also not sure if I trust it yet beyond a run around the block.  Ta for the offer though.

[SiC]

Gone out on any jaunts on this lovely bank holiday weekend to build up some confidence in it?

[Shep Shepherd]

On 5/3/2020 at 10:59 PM, HMC said:

Anyone remember derek the PC 1100 in the 1990s?

IIRC Nick larkin was given a grand to buy a car and (after viewing another one) ended up with a connaught green, tidy looking 4 door which Was used as a pool car for a while. HTA***D I think

I do. It looked like a decent car. I wonder if it still exists?

[RobT]

11 hours ago, SiC said:

Gone out on any jaunts on this lovely bank holiday weekend to build up some confidence in it?

Yep, done a few local runs this week and it seems to be running fine now.

There's an awful drumming noise coming from the NS front, so I'll need to get that checked out.  Apart from that it's still a great thing to bomb around in.

[RobT]

For no particular reason have some pics.

That'd make a good combination.  The Morris for local trips, and W123 waft for longer journeys.

The giffer home made carpets went back in yesterday, but I think I'll leave the side panel sections off for a more basic look.  They were held on with Blu Tack!

[BeEP]

9 hours ago, RobT said:

There's an awful drumming noise coming from the NS front, so I'll need to get that checked out.  Apart from that it's still a great thing to bomb around in.

Does the drumming sound like something knocking against the floor where a passenger's feet would be?  If so, it will be the bush in the nearside end of the rack failed.  Very common and it will go on like that pretty much forever if you can tolerate the noise!  If not, replacement racks are available but replacement is a pain as the rear of the front subframe needs to be lowered slightly to gain clearance.

[RobT]

That's exactly it, thanks.  I'll just keep using it for the foreseeable then and add a new rack to the list.

Replacing a rack is the sort of spannering I can manage fortunately (famous last words).  I once did it on our old Rover 114 that was also a slight faff, having to drop the subframe a touch.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, BeEP said:

Does the drumming sound like something knocking against the floor where a passenger's feet would be?  If so, it will be the bush in the nearside end of the rack failed.  Very common and it will go on like that pretty much forever if you can tolerate the noise!  If not, replacement racks are available but replacement is a pain as the rear of the front subframe needs to be lowered slightly to gain clearance.

I always wondered the best way of removing the rack. Never did get to the point where I removed the front subframe - only removed the engine.

When I did the front subframe footwell mounts, the other mounts were more than sufficient to keep everything inline.

Offside looking up. Top of picture is looking inside the car ... there was no drivers floor at that point!

 

With the mount removed, everything stayed in place. I did double check carefully as I was releasing it all as I didn't want to weld it all back wonky.

Do you have to loosen all the mounts? Or replace the bolts on them with longer ones and then drop it down using that. 

[inconsistant]

Proper classic! I reckon these were the pinnacle of BMC/BL/AR/MGR manufacturing. A success never to be repeated. 

Looking forward to seeing it for real. I looked at one of these for my first car but instead went for the practicality of a Mini Clubman estate.

 

Also, 

[HMC]

33 minutes ago, inconsistant said:

Proper classic! I reckon these were the pinnacle of BMC/BL/AR/MGR manufacturing. A success never to be repeated

Agreed. They got the numbers wrong on the mini, and around the 1100/1300 the mix and influence of the personnel was about right in development. Soon after the dominance of issigonis would start to be counter productive.

[Richard_FM]

My Uncle used to have an Austin 1100 which he said was always comfortable to drive but underpowered for a family car.  It had big end trouble while they were on their way to a holiday & arrived on the back of a recovery truck.

I am just too young to remember it but in the early 1980s he exchanged u it for a late mk2 Cortina which I do remember. 

[RobT]

59 minutes ago, inconsistant said:

Also, 

I did consider that as it's the sort of car Timothy Lumsden would drive.  But I'm not one for naming cars normally unless it's an expletive.

[Richard_FM]

1 hour ago, RobT said:

I did consider that as it's the sort of car Timothy Lumsden would drive.  But I'm not one for naming cars normally unless it's an expletive.

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

[NorfolkNWeigh]

These were everywhere when I was a kid, mostly smelling of burning oil. Don’t know why but that’s the first thing I think of when I see an Ado16.

My one Grandmother had a friend who’s husband was a Sports Reporter for the Birmingham Evening Mail and he had two different Wolesley 1300s, that I remember .My Grandad had. a Triumph 1300 and I could never decide which was best when I was about 10. I think the Ghost Light probably swung it over the folding window winders, or it could have been that Mr Reeves swore like a trooper and had a, to me, glamorous job.
 

I should hate them, because when I was 11 in 1975 my Mother bought a B reg 1100 in light blue for £20, me and my 2 younger brothers went to school one Friday as normal. When we got home she’d buggered off in the new 1100. We didn’t see for over 4 years- she’d got a Mk2 Capri when she came back, no idea what happened to the 1100!

[SiC]

On 5/3/2020 at 6:21 PM, RobT said:

It also seemed to be running fine today, with the inline filter showing a healthier level.  I know people said not to be too fussed but it was bothering me slightly.

Just remembered that I took this earlier. This was my MGB fuel filter after a run earlier. The pump is nearly brand new. Note filter half full.

When the fuel pump cut on the motorway and the carbs bowls ran dry, the filter was actually full! These filters won't drain under gravity unless pressure is forcing fuel through. 

I've learnt not even to look at the fuel level in the filter as it doesn't tell you much. Maybe why Moss sell a translucent filter! The only useful thing about it being see through is to track what dirt is coming through in the fuel system. 

Only thing that is important is to have the carb side on (usually) the white end plate side. I think yours is right, if I remember rightly the fuel line comes straight up from behind the subframe on the ADO16. 

[RobT]

1 hour ago, SiC said:

Only thing that is important is to have the carb side on (usually) the white end plate side. I think yours is right, if I remember rightly the fuel line comes straight up from behind the subframe on the ADO16. 

Yes that's right, and here's mine.

If I was being fussy that hose could do with trimming down.  But it tucks under the scuttle OK, and if it 'ain't broke...

I hope you're enjoying having the MGB back at home!

[SiC]

Trim it down and use the offcut to replace that horrible old bit of pipe under the fuel filter! I have bad visions of that old pipe splitting or pin holing (from age and/or ethanol degradation) and spraying fuel under pressure onto the hot manifold underneath. Usually ends badly ? ?

Really looking forward to going back out in the MGB! Especially as I have a legitimate excuse to go for a drive in it after Wednesday, to somewhere a bit further away for a walk. 

[paulplom]

I had a metro where the fuel pipe came off and started pumping petrol onto the manifold. Loads of smoke/steam but it never ignited.

You'll be fine.

[RobT]

I had the exact same thing happen on my Metro, on a very hot day too.

I will get rid of that old bit of hose though.  Meant to do it when trying to fix the starting issue but forgot.

[chaseracer]

On 5/3/2020 at 7:26 PM, wuvvum said:

(It had also been hand painted red and fitted with a shotgun cartridge under the bonnet, operated by pulling a wire under the dash, to simulate backfiring as part of its role as a prop for the professional John Cleese impersonator I bought it from, but that's another story.)

No.  Just NO.

You cannot leave that one hanging!

?

[LightBulbFun]

3 hours ago, paulplom said:

I had a metro where the fuel pipe came off and started pumping petrol onto the manifold. Loads of smoke/steam but it never ignited.

You'll be fine.

reminds me at one of the past FoD gatherings, I was doing something fuel related with me Invacar, and I was a bit nervous about things knowing how flammable petrol is/can be

and @Slowsilver said something along the lines of Ahh don't worry about it, then proceed to describe something like what you described about how he had petrol boiling off a hot manifold LOL

that made me grin  

 

[RayMK]

I had the same happen to me on the way to work in the early 1970s. The photo is of me and my brother inspecting what was left the next day after recovery had swept it off the A41.  The car all but disappeared in 20 minutes after my wife and I bailed out.  

[SiC]

 

[RobT]

Mine's got the same brake noise as his.  Wonder if it's a thing with these.

[HMC]

Nice vid. Typical that there is more street furniture there now. But still a decent supply of branches at least.

[HMC]

A bloke who later appeared on Bergerac goes off and interviews Dr moulton, racing drivers and others about the 1100/1300 for a frightfully British BMC film. Austin and Morris seem to have separate films showing essentially the same thing, with a strong element of duplication. How appropriate.

 

“Dr moulton, what a fascinating lounge you have”

 

https://vimeopro.com/user16110839/bmiht/page/2

[RobT]

That's brilliant.  At one point in the vid Charlie Hungerford randomly interviews a pilot:

"Well, as a jet plane test pilot you're used to dealing with some beautiful machinery.  How do you find your 1100?"

!!

[RobT]

Plus John Cooper talking about fitting hydrolastic to his F1 cars.