project 1968 Austin 1100 Mk1 (Take 2) - Gone :(

[mk2_craig]

This looks promising! Rare to see a Fife car lasting so long, though it was clearly sparingly used. Wonder what shade of green it would have been originally. 
 

What’s the current status of the purple mk3? I enjoyed reading your thread on the project but lost track when you moved it on. 

[Mally]

Re the indicator stalk, the end of yours is breaking up slightly, my Minor was the same.

Goes worse over time until all the thread falls off the arm.

New arm for the Minor was around £80, so I temporarily* fixed the green cover on with self amalgamating tape.

[SiC]

9 hours ago, plasticvandan said:

Heat and plus gas.

Unfortunately I haven't got much to produce decent heat. I might leave it to begin with. Might end up being a bit of a fight and I want to get this back on the road pretty soon. 

8 hours ago, Asimo said:

I would try and remove the studs. Two nuts, back to back tightened to grip the stud, heat and then try to wind out the stud. And as said, plus gas. Always PlusGas first.

Have considered welding a nut onto the studs then hit it with the impact. Bit brutish though. 

2 hours ago, mk2_craig said:

This looks promising! Rare to see a Fife car lasting so long, though it was clearly sparingly used. Wonder what shade of green it would have been originally. 
 

What’s the current status of the purple mk3? I enjoyed reading your thread on the project but lost track when you moved it on

Connaught Green I believe would be correct for the age. 

Sharley on here took it on. I saw on Facebook last week that he's moved units and there was a picture of it in the background. So it's nice that it still exists. He mentioned that a mini fuel injected engine is due to go in it. Probably with all that metal now in it means it probably could withstand the extra power. ?

1 hour ago, Mally said:

Re the indicator stalk, the end of yours is breaking up slightly, my Minor was the same.

Goes worse over time until all the thread falls off the arm.

New arm for the Minor was around £80, so I temporarily* fixed the green cover on with self amalgamating tape.

Yeah I did see the replacements are not cheap. Nor do the modern ones give the same click feel. Small thing but my experience of the new switchgear is that they feel crap. 

If it gets worse, I might put an LED in the end and glue the cap on. Hopefully make it last a bit longer if it's going to disintegrate anyway. 

[SiC]

Bit of an update.

Saturday I didn't get a chance to do anything. Sunday evening I started on trying to remove the thermostat cover again.

First attempt was to try the double nut method of removing the stud. Except while tightening I got that horrible feeling when it suddenly goes loose. Yup the bottom nut had stripped the thread. Even worse, I couldn't get the nut back onto thread to undo.

I don't have a nut splitter and even if I did, I don't think I could get one in here. So ended up cutting up the nut

You can see the stripped thread on the stud here.

At this point I was cheesed off and knew that really the only next step was violence. So I left that job for the night and went on to the next.

As it was half done, I decided to fit the gasket and heater valve. Simple job right? Well I got it on ok

Except I still managed to bend the wire into an L-shape when tightening up the trunnion.

Next was the radiator to expansion tank hose. This went wrong when one of the new clamps fell apart during tightening. FFS.

Finally for the night was removing the electric windscreen washer pump and fitting back in the manual push pump. The electric one worked but I just like the quirky manual pumps on old British cars.

Removing the dash pump was uneventful. Ignoring the scratch I put in the dash. Day really wasn't going great...

The old one was completely jammed up. Pulled it apart and it looks like the rubber dome has completely disintegrated. This pumps aren't made for repairing and obviously at the time would just be cheap enough to dispose then replace.

I removed the electric pump. While removing the earth connection that was made on the windscreen wiper motor, I took off its main earth spade. Very much needed a clean. Surprised the wiper motor even worked.

Car washer pipe is rather expensive for what it is. Instead I paid half on Amazon for some silicone fishtank pipe. Being silicone, it's an upgrade right? Colour matched the car well too.

I don't know the original factory route of the pipe but I put it through where I thought was sensible. Washer bottle is an original Tudor unit with some nice original script on it.

Thankfully the bottom of the box of crap manual pump worked!

Last night I took action on the thermostat housing. This simply wasn't going to come off without a fight. I really would have liked to have done it without breaking up the original thermostat housing, however they're cheap to replace and I really didn't want to damage the head or get a stud snapped in it.

The way I did it successfully before on the last A-series was breaking it up into smaller chunks. I did the same this time but with a grinder, multi tool and a wood chisel. Pictures show the story. Idea was basically break it up into stud sized chunks and use those chunks to unscrew the bits.

And then we are out. Cleaned the block up around the top surface of the head and scrapped + vacuumed as much crap out under the thermostat as I could.

Thermostat was supposed to be a 82c unit, so it must have been on its way out. Going by the mess it was down there and on the thermostat, the cooling system has been neglected over the years. Bit of a shame to destroy this old thermostat as I'd liked to kept it as some shelf decoration. However it was properly stuck and required prizing out.

New thermostat sits in perfectly.

That setup looked original and the thermostat looked like it had a 1967 date code on too. Bit of a shame to go violent on it but I didn't have too much choice with the tools I had. New housing cap, studs, nuts and gasket is £12.99 delivered from eBay so cheap enough to replace. The other studs are staying as I'm not going to risk trying to get them out of the block. If it ain't broke...

[Anglevan]

Great work, had a similar issue on my 1275 mokie {moke kit car) as the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed get a bigger hammer... Do enjoy keeping track of your tinkering. 

[Vince70]

Sorry  for the thread hijack but I just wondered whatever happened to the Purple 1300 that  was being welded up on Autoshite.

[SiC]

57 minutes ago, Vince70 said:

Sorry  for the thread hijack but I just wondered whatever happened to the Purple 1300 that  was being welded up on Autoshite.

Got all the welding done and then for several reasons I sold it on. Combination of loss of enthusiasm after spending a year under it and then needing all the mechanicals doing, being an eyesore/problem while trying to sell our last house and needing a lot of (expensive) mechanical bits to get it finished. The new owner has a plentiful supply of spares, so can get it back on the road much easier and economically than I ever could. 

A bit more info on a few posts up here:

Then a recent picture on FB from the new owner here:

https://m.facebook.com/simon.harley.50/posts/pcb.10157002504902633/?photo_id=10214488930210728&mds=%2Fphotos%2Fviewer%2F%3Fphotoset_token%3Dpcb.10157002504902633%26photo%3D10214488930210728%26profileid%3D100039541024708%26source%3D48%26refid%3D18%26__tn__%3DEH-R%26cached_data%3Dfalse%26ftid%3D&mdp=1&mdf=1

So it still exists which is nice and just in the project backlog with its current owner. 

[PhilA]

Missed the violence before you began- my old man has a 150 Amp SolArc welder that can be used to put some heat into old studs. 

He might let you borrow it if you ask nicely.

 

Phil

[SiC]

11 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Missed the violence before you began- my old man has a 150 Amp SolArc welder that can be used to put some heat into old studs. 
He might let you borrow it if you ask nicely.
 
Phil

Actually reminded me that my welder can be put into ARC mode, just need an electrode holder. Apparently up to 200A in either MIG or ARC mode from a 13A socket because it's inverter based and so rather efficient.

I did consider putting a few MIG blobs on but I haven't got my fire extinguishers back from moving yet. Also my violent method I'd used before on the purple engine and worked well. Definitely one of those things that once you start there is no going back though. Half way through you do think to yourself that you hope this bloody works again.

But there is no damage to the mating surface on the head and the garage hasn't burnt down, which is exactly what I wanted.

[PhilA]

Sounds like you got it covered. His one is just Transformer In A Box which does all the pre-requisite buzzing and growling noises. Not high tech.

 

Phil

[SiC]

Fitted the thermostat housing last night. Went on with no trouble. Interesting to note that the hole around the studs is significantly larger than the original housing. I guess to reduce the chances of it seizing on due to material difference. Put copper grease on the studs to make sure next time isn't going to need so much violence.


Next was replacing the coolant hoses to the cabin heater. These are a mix of old and new pipes with some interesting bodges in-between. Some of the old pipe is really quite floppy and decrepit.




Came off without too much of an issue. Really not sure why these pipes weren't replaced, rather than bodging new sections in with bits of copper tubing.


New pipes went in easy enough. I guess if someone replacing these sections had limited mobility, they may have struggled to replace the whole lot. That's the only explanation I can think of.



Replaced the clutch rubber. I did buy a spare for the brake too, but the new one is a very different consistency and a lot softer. So probably won't last anywhere near as long.



Fuel hose to the pump in the boot looks very much had it. Not sure how this isn't leaking. This will need changing and hopefully isn't too much of an issue to get to. Possibly pump out from the boot should allow me to get my hand in.


Then checked the oil pressure relief valve. This is worn on one side but I don't think it's enough to be worrying about just yet? I'm led to believe from Google that it's only a concern when the end mating section gets a lip on.


Moss stock replacements cheap enough so wouldn't be a big deal to replace. Just, like the pedal rubber, some of this new stuff doesn't last anywhere near as long as the original.

[RobT]

7 hours ago, SiC said:

New pipes went in easy enough. I guess if someone replacing these sections had limited mobility, they may have struggled to replace the whole lot. That's the only explanation I can think of.

Could also be a make do and mend giffer mentality too, which in some respects isn't a bad thing.

Good progress, particularly with the thermostat housing.  I think I'd be crying when that happened.

[SiC]

Probably should do another update. Been working on this here and there when I get time in the evenings.

First order of business was to treat the a-pillars of some rust was krust I noticed hiding.



Next up was to tackle the fuel pump.
Wasn't too tricky to remove. Just a bunch of old clamps to undo or move.



Then finally pulling out the back.


Hose has had it.


You can see it's completely busted here. How it wasn't spewing fuel everywhere I don't know.


Went to refit with new pipe but found I only had a short bit of 1/4inch pipe left. Local car parts shop had pipe in the right size but only J30R6. This isn't really fully ethanol proof, especially under pressure. Seems pressure gets through the membrane of the rubber and higher ethanol content limits the pressure it can withstand. Looks like R6 is rated up to 5% ethanol. Irritating but I put this bit on the suction side and I'll be just careful to only put 5% in.


Presumably this is a date code. If so then it's made this year. So hardly NOS.


Pump went in but was bit of a bugger to stop the outlet from kinking. I suspect this is what busted up the hose previously.



Another quick evening job was cleaning up the main earths and doubling them up. I like to do this on older cars as nothing more frustrating than being stranded with braided earth breaking.




Also noticed the earth terminal on the dynamo control box was heavily rusted. Gave this a quick clean too.


When I bought the hose I saw a can of Pagent Blue. Rest assured this is the incorrect colour.


Finally replaced the dodgy looking front nipples. I was a bit concerned these would be a right mare to remove but actually ended up being real easy.




Shiny nipples.

[SiC]

As the list of jobs needing to be done was getting shorter, I was getting to the point where I have to start thinking of tackling the brake system. I hate working on brakes as you can't afford to get it wrong but the fluid is nasty, brake pipes a pain to shape and usually everything is rusted up.

Did the easy job first - handbrake cables. Existing ones looked original and fraying.

New old stock cables were supplied with the car, so it looks like someone expected to be doing this job sometime soon.

Job went realatively uneventful. Only pain was the clamping plate that retains the cables fell off. I tried avoiding this by not undoing the top plate all the way but I was one thread out on the very last cable.

It's a pain as the bottom retaining plate always wants to fall off - thanks to gravity. Had the bright idea of using these inflator bags I bought from Lidl ages ago to hold the plate in place. Worked a treat.

Cables all shiny now.

As I had a bit of spare time on Friday evening before I packed up, I had a go on the other rear hub. This time with a proper puller.

This went so far but the bolt supplied wasn't long enough.

Used the old bit of water pump casing as a further spacer. This is why I don't throw anything away!

Drum fell off shortly after without drama.

I don't think this was easier because of the puller (would have helped admittedly). The other side was a left handed thread and I reckon someone previously had been in there and done it up way too tight when trying to remove.

This brings us onto yesterday. Pretty much spent the whole day tackling the rear drums. I hate drums, brake discs are so much nicer to work on. Less fiddly and moving bits. So there isn't too many pictures on this as I was getting cheesed off doing it.

Started by pressure draining all the fluid out.

Then undid the hard lines and had pretty much every one seize up and snap.

Removed the springs from the drum and then the shoes.

Went to change the rear cylinder and then realised there was no way of getting my magic tool in to put the retaining clip on.

So ended up having to fully pull the drum apart and remove the backplate.

 

Being really crusty, project creep got in. Attacked it with the wire wheel on the grinder and threw some paint on.

Then a case of putting it all back together. Here is the tool in action putting the clip on. Not a cheap tool but one that I've used on two cars now.

Incidentally the cylinders didn't look too bad inside. However at £13 for two, it made sense to lob replacements on.

Amazing what a lick of paint can do to tarting something up.

Hard line I got from LMS was much longer than the original. I've bent it to fit but I'm not sure if these radii are too tight.

Original

My shaping effort. Reckon this will be alright or need redoing with a shorter pipe?

Then set on the other side. Removing the Flexi I came right unstuck. When trying to use force on remove the seized retaining nut, the whole section came out.

Snapped.

Completely stuck. FFS

Given how solidly stuck they are, it does likely mean they're original and ripe for replacement. Justify this ball-ache. Do still wonder if I should have not bothered with this job just yet though!

I fabricated a new piece to go in out of a bit of steel. The clip is one I bought from Moss and supposed to stops the Flexi pipe twisting when doing up.

Now I'm not sure how I'm going to affix it. Welding is the obvious answer but right above it is the fuel pump and it's rubber lines. Given I can smell a slight whiff of fuel, I'm a bit apprehensive about any hot work around there.

I'm thinking of possibly drilling into the subframe and riveting or bolting the new plate on. That rear subframe is the worst bit of the car and I can see it being needed to pull out in the future for replacement or heavy refurbishment.

 

 

[SiC]

Could also be a make do and mend giffer mentality too, which in some respects isn't a bad thing.
Good progress, particularly with the thermostat housing.  I think I'd be crying when that happened.

The thermostat housing I had defeated before, so didn't fear it too much.

This brake hose mounting point however did leave me to expell a few expletives...

[cort16]

That was some battle with the stat housing. A classic old car job that should take 15 minutes but ends up taking 3days.

Whats your thoughts on it general condition wise now? Do you think its maybe been sitting for a while?

[SiC]

2 hours ago, cort16 said:

That was some battle with the stat housing. A classic old car job that should take 15 minutes but ends up taking 3days.
Whats your thoughts on it general condition wise now? Do you think its maybe been sitting for a while?

Not too bad still. The cooling system definitely needed attention but that was the only big one.

Probably could have got away with these brakes a bit longer but being a single line system, I didn't want to take any chances. Right now though I wish I did. ?

For the money it's excellent condition really. Can tell it's spent the last year or so outdoors though. Really does these cars in being out in the open.

[purplebargeken]

Brilliant work as ever mate, kudos to you. When shall I pop over with cleaning stuff?

[Joey spud]

Am i right in recalling the dealer selling this little Austin was fishing for £4000 for it ?

There is some top work going on here in my opinion.

Not wishing to sound creepy or condescending in any way,shape or form but your skills have come on massively over the period you've been posting here.

[SiC]

1 hour ago, purplebargeken said:

Brilliant work as ever mate, kudos to you. When shall I pop over with cleaning stuff?

Hopefully not too long! Should be around mid July when the other stuff in my life has settled down a bit. 

1 hour ago, Joey spud said:

Am i right in recalling the dealer selling this little Austin was fishing for £4000 for it ?

There is some top work going on here in my opinion.

Not wishing to sound creepy or condescending in any way,shape or form but your skills have come on massively over the period you've been posting here.

The guy before the dealer was asking £4k to begin with (I think to try recouping his costs) and then dropped it to £3k iirc. He then part-ex it with an S-type jag for a XJ8. 

If it wasn't for the marker, it's probably worth £2.5k to £3k all day long as it stood. Unfortunately the marker will always count against it and also selling during COVID if course affected the price a lot too. 

Once a bit more sorted again (and MOT'd) this surely is worth an easy £2k to £2.5k. Remember by then it would be a MOT'd, running and driving 50+ year old classic car with reasonably decent paintwork (generally better paint than my MGB to be honest!). Especially when compared against something like this that sold on eBay during lockdown: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1969-Morris-1100-lots-of-history-great-starter-classic/124165168858?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

Thanks for saying my skills have improved, means a lot coming from you as a professional mechanic. The reason I do all this is to learn new skills and there is no better way than doing that + build confidence by doing. When you get these tricky situations (like flexi mount breaking), it's when you really learn how to sort stuff! Also my skills have moved along with my facilities and equipment at a constant rate. Quite key as it opens up new possibilities. Next big thing I need is a lift (probably scissor) as that'll open up a whole world more easier repairs. Could have bought one if I didn't buy this mind... ?

There will get a point where I become fairly average in a particular skill and then get bored, leaving me to move onto something else. Right now I'm a bit fed up rolling under old cars and trying to bust fittings open... So possibly not long before I do a big change!

What next? Dunno. Probably back to moderns again. Quite a few that I fancy that I risk missing out as prices have already started climbing (Clio 182 & Ford Puma to name two). Possibly might venture into kit cars too?

[sharley17194]

Nice to see you returning to Ado16 ownership! I am just about to start the rebuild of your last car!

[SiC]

1 hour ago, sharley17194 said:

Nice to see you returning to Ado16 ownership! I am just about to start the rebuild of your last car!

I've got these closing panels staring at me in my garage!

[RobT]

Excellent updates, and useful for when I eventually decide to tackle the rear brakes on mine.

One other thing you might want to change/check is the piece of hose connecting the filler neck to the tank.  The first time I put pez in mine I noticed a puddle under the car.  I bought a length and have got spare if you'd like me to post.  One less thing to buy...

 

 

[SiC]

Excellent updates, and useful for when I eventually decide to tackle the rear brakes on mine.

One other thing you might want to change/check is the piece of hose connecting the filler neck to the tank.  The first time I put pez in mine I noticed a puddle under the car.  I bought a length and have got spare if you'd like me to post.  One less thing to buy...

 

 

Possibly! I managed to double buy one when I did the tank in my MGB and that looks similar size. So I'll probably give that a go first as have it on the shelf here. Definitely looks original like yours though.

 

I think the tank will probably have to come out of mine sometime soon. As a minimum to treat it and prevent it getting worse. But also would give a chance to drop the rear subframe and tidy that up with paint.

 

Want to drive it before I get to that point! Slightly envious that you've managed to drive yours and I haven't mine. I'm still jealous of yours and would happily sell mine for it, if you ever decide to move yours on!

 

 

[SiC]

Decided I am going to rivet that brake hose plate on. Safer option in regards to fitting and there is virtually no load on it either.


Will be the first time I've ever rivetted something though. Also hoping I'm going to be able to get a drill both in place and through the metal.

[busmansholiday]

Fitting them should be easy enough (somebody used slightly bigger ones to fix the driver's seat to the floor on my MGB Roadster!). Just be aware that aluminium and steel usually results in galvanic corrosion, but if you're planning on removing the sub frame in future it's not going to matter.

[SiC]

17 minutes ago, busmansholiday said:

Just be aware that aluminium and steel usually results in galvanic corrosion, but if you're planning on removing the sub frame in future it's not going to matter.

Is that a bad thing when you're wanting to bond the two together anyway?!

[Fumbler]

8 minutes ago, SiC said:

Is that a bad thing when you're wanting to bond the two together anyway?!

If they make contact then it's a problem AFAIK. As long as there's clearance between the two I'd assume you're fine.

[sharley17194]

looking through this, your car desperately needs blue seats, not sure if you are aware but an F plate mk1 is a rear beast by this time they were Mk2 form. 

[SiC]

52 minutes ago, sharley17194 said:

looking through this, your car desperately needs blue seats, not sure if you are aware but an F plate mk1 is a rear beast by this time they were Mk2 form. 

Yeah it did cause me a bit of confusion as I read that MK1 ended in 1967. So a very late registration! 

I've already bought beige seatbelts so I can't change the interior now. ?

Actually quite like the colour of that interior too, goes quite well. Blue seats might make it a bit too over blue. 

Still not figured the colour. I'm pretty convinced it's painted in Ford Blue tractor enamel. So convinced that I'm tempted to buy a can to see if it matches!