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Boris the '59 Minor.


Joey spud

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On 4/10/2021 at 10:53 PM, Joey spud said:

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My Sealey welder is nearly twenty years old and has started to complain.

Rather than just change the nylon liner again i went in big and purchased a complete torch assembly for £28 instead.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/14AK-MB15-MIG-WELDING-TORCH-REPLACEMENT-GAS-GASLESS-FIXED-WIRE-3M-CABLE-w-TIPS/282801135461?var=582116662555

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This one is three metres long instead of the old ones two and the liner is much more robust being made of steel.

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Now i can lay a tidy weld again without it "coughing and snotting' everywhere.

My mask is even older than my welder and hasn't been great for a while so i spent £36 on a SIP one from Toolstation.

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Much recommended too.

If it don't snow tomorrow i should get a bit more of Boris done. 

That torch is identical to the ones supplied with Lidl flux-core welders.

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On 5/9/2021 at 8:47 AM, Joey spud said:

While i had a couple of hours i did a bit more reassembly of the drivers door.

Luckily Boris came with a full set of new window rubbers including the quarter light ones.

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These with the aid of a bit of liquid soap fitted very nicely.

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I fitted the frame to the door and everything still opens and shuts ok but the frame is quite close to the top edge of the B post,maybe i can tweak it better when the car is back on its wheels.

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One thing that i have noticed is the door skin repair panel i slaved over fitting is a bit pants in the squareness department.

Its rear edge wasn't folded square when it was formed and now the door is on the car it is quite obvious as the lower rear edge of the repair panel starts to taper away from the B post by about 8mm at its bottom corner so that'll have to be rectified at a later date too.

I would try a shim or two on the lower hinge to open up the gap at the top of the b post slightly, it should also line the top of the door skin up with the rear quarter panel line just under the window, this may through the centre body line out though but I'm sure it can be improved on, the reverse rims Look really good by the way

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I think you are right about adding another spacer to the bottom hinge.

I did make some hinge shims out of 1.2mm zintec but only fitted one on each hinge,i may well make up some thiner lower hinge shims at some point once it's back on its wheels and i have fitted the front wing see what the gap is like there too.

Also i think when i replaced the bottom six inches of the door skin i have accidently introduced a bit of a twist into the door as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was iddly thumbing through Lindsay Porter's Morris Minor restoration book that Christine of this parish gifted me (he hasn't been on here for months is he ok does anyone know?) and it showed a dodge to improve door alignment.

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Basically you place a socket over a hinge fixing bolt and try to close the door against it a few times.

This action changes the shape of the doors frame which is especially useful if you bottom hinge had previously been seized for many years.

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I think that's as good as i am going to get with this door.

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I have done a bit more welding and added more new metal (a sort of sill to door closing panel this time).

So far the all the panels i have purchased came from Andy Eggleton and have been concidering their cost fine but this one didn't fit within a mile although some of that may be down to me not triple checking alignment before welding it all together but with a bit of trimming and reshaping i got it on in the end.

Now that this panel was fitted i could trial fit the door step and the outter most trim panel that should fit snuggly below the door.

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It fits inline with either end of the door well but really exposes just how badly i cocked up the fitting of the door skin repair panel as the door curves in about a quarter of an inch at its centre.

But to be fair i think once it's painted and sitting back on the floor it will be fine,i was never looking to create anything like a perfect car as there's loads of them out there already.

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So what do you do when your latest cool car seems to be going nowhere fast and your mojo starts to drop ?

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You fit another fat red wheel and dream of 'parping' around the village getting disapproving looks from bystanders.

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I took the front panel back off the other day.

I am 99% certain i am going bumperless at the front and i really like how scruffy the paint finish is,it has reacted in places,gone a bit cloudy and there's some iffy filler work too.

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But around the edges it is too far gone to ignore so i am going to wire brush it back to clean metal and treat it and brush paint it with enamel paint.

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The grill slats have needed straightening and a touch of filler before getting two coats of my favourite ever red paint.

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I can't recommend this stuff highly enough,two coats applied an hour apart and then leave it somewhere warm and most of the brush marks disappear.

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Nature has slowed me down too.

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Two weekend's back i noticed these cute guys breaking out of their webby nest thing in the Birch tree right where the Minor sits.

But by last weekend they had all shipped out to pastures new so i picked up the dog poo's,cut the grass and settled down to a bit metal bashing / weldage.

Next morning  i noticed i had come up in scores of red spots on my arms and around my neck which began to itch like fuck for next seven days.

Naturally I blamed Boggy the dog for the mystery bug bites but after a bit of googling my bites were actually caused by those cheeky caterpillars (brown tailed moth) and their tiny barbed hairs that float about in the breeze and literally get under your skin causing a rash and an irresistible urge to scratch. 

I did my weekly poo pick and grass cut routine yesterday after work and today i have come up in little itchy spots on my arms again.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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Work on Boris has slowed to a crawl lately as other stuff has got in the way but i aquired this 1275 badge (mini Cooper?) and thought it would look ok on the boot but not sure now it's on there.

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The front panel that i didn't want to improve paint wise is really a bit too scruffy around the edges.

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So i got the filler out and tidied up the previous 60 years worth of dents and scuffs.

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Looking ahead to painting Boris i want to keep as much of the original finish as i can and just try to blend in my repairs.

With this in mind i have had a litre of Clarendon grey cellulose paint mixed up which is well premature as i am only 30% thru the welding but while its Summer and warm i can have a go at painting all four wings and the drivers door.

I have spray gun for applying primer but don't possess a top coat spray gun and i only own a 50 litre / 2hp compressor so i have looking at low volume/low pressure (LVLP) guns to suit my amature ability and lowly compressor output but haven't made my mind up yet.

Anyone have any thoughts on the pros and cons of low pressure v high pressure equipment ??

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As a child I recall rummaging in a tatty cardboard box, marked up Hoover, and finding a kind of jamjar with a bakelite screw on top, a piece of ally pipe that fell into the jar and two holes drilled into the top....

I was informed, by my mam, it was a paint spray accessory for our Hoover vac.

You fill the jar and when you put your finger over both holes <ooh err, mum!> it creates a suck and introduces the paint into the airstream [vac arse end connected = blow].

Probably best for fence painting/preserver, I reckon.

..... as we were.... ;)

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Although Boris has a 1275 engine he is still running his original baby carb and pea shooter exhaust.

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The plan is to fit this bigger and better flowing Marina/Ital manifold.

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I know the engine is an Ivor Serle reconditioned unit and looking down the inlet ports the machined profile doesn't look like any A series i can remember.

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It also has the later one piece rockers fitted too.

Annoyingly lack of use and condensation has left a some rusty spots on things.

I am going to email Ivor Serle with the engine number and see if they can tell what the spec the engine has. 

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The Marina/Ital manifold fits fine but its matching twin down pipe needs to be radically altered to swing around 90 degrees to pass through the hole in the chassis leg like the Minor one does.

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It needs to end up looking like this one.

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I have noticed that on some of the 1275cc engines the breather canister is mounted on the timing chain cover and so fouls the Minors fan.

 The recognised mod/bodge seems to be to slice it length ways,throw half of it away and weld it back up again.

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The chassis legs and front box section are all in good order except for this bit.

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I'm not sure whats happened here its like a tear/cut but it'll be easy to make it good again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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Boris not only has rusty bodywork but also a scabby front plate,timing cover and engine mounting posts too so earlier i wire brushed it all back and applied a couple of coats of zinc rich black paint.

He also arrived with a new water pump and various hoses in the boot too so i bunged these on as well.

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New water pump fixings and a silicon by-pass hose,such decadence.

I wanted to change the stat (again in the boot) and although the three fixing nuts came undone the housing was totally stuck solid on the studs.

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I managed to remove two of the studs just by locking two nuts together and winding them out but the third one needed the housing twisting back and forth to break the corrosion between the stud and the housing first before that too wound out.

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I call that a bit of a result,alas i haven't got a gasket yet so it has just been loosely assembled.

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The engine mounts are just starting to crack but are still good enough.

I was going to change them as they are only £12 a pair but a chap on a Moggy group reckoned their rubber compound is rock hard and transmit bad vibes through the car.

Final quick job was to wash off the worst of the oil and crud from the engine / engine bay.

I recently bought five litres of No Nonsense HD degreaser for about a tenner from Screw fix and i used it neat and worked it in with a paint brush before rinsing it off again with a garden sprayer thing.

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Can't argue with that.

I am looking at deleting the twin blade pulley driven fan (couple of extra horse power released maybe ?) and mounting a small electric one instead in front of the rad and behind the grill and with this in mind i saved the fan from our recently scrapped AX but a quick attempt to fit it tonight revealed it is too deep.

Maybe it'll fit between the rad and the engine instead otherwise i'll see what's on fleabay.

 

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While not as good as using stale petrol this stuff ain't bad and is probably a bit more stupid dog friendly too.

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Fan can be bench tested and use a bit of bog roll held in front to determine which way the fan works the most efficiently. 
What is the cannister type of thing on the timing chain cover? Why doe it look as if it has been cut and welded at home?

 

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13 minutes ago, Remspoor said:

What is the cannister type of thing on the timing chain cover? Why doe it look as if it has been cut and welded at home?

Presumably this:

On 7/16/2021 at 11:46 AM, Joey spud said:

I have noticed that on some of the 1275cc engines the breather canister is mounted on the timing chain cover and so fouls the Minors fan.

 The recognised mod/bodge seems to be to slice it length ways,throw half of it away and weld it back up again.

 

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I tried the AX fan on a battery today.

Conveniently it has an arrow printed on the blades hub to show its correct rotation and to be fair it seems to create a good blow output when you reverse the polarity compared to running its designed direction.

All this is pointless though as it wont fit between the engine and rad either.

I remounted the alternator too but i need to purchase the proper lucas plug as currently the wiring is just two baggy crimped on  spade terminals.

Actually i think a quick rewire of the alternator to battery circuit using thicker cable is required.

And i moved the coil from the side of the engine over to the inner wing.

There can't be anything worse than repeated heat cycles and vibration for an electrical component.

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I loosely fitted the radiator and front panel earlier and realised that my rads inlet and the engines stat housing don't line up too well.

Previously they were connected with a shoddy bit of flexible hose. 

 

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Looking at other Minors their rads only have a short stub for a longer hose to attach to.

 I know an excellent Radiator man so i will get him to alter mine.

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And i already have the correct hose.

 I am working down in Hailsham East Sussex tomorrow so plan to pop in to ESM the minor place and collect some bits including a rattle can of Clarendon grey to paint the front panel with.

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Although i think the current yellow primer and dog dick red combination has a certain charm all of its own.

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With the fan, the general consensus is that the Moggie radiator is massively overspecced. So you can get away with no fan in most conditions. The two bladed fan is small enough that it shouldn't cause much of any power loss either. I don't plan to go electric on mine tbh. Something else to draw a heavy current load from the alternator and probably decide to not work at the worst possible moment when I do really need it. Also the sound from the fan adds part of the characteristic classic British car sound to my ears. 

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