Will Armston-Sheret Contributor
Will has been collecting Morris Minor’s for the best part of a decade and uses them as a daily drivers. His current collection includes a 1967 4-door (his first restoration project), alongside two 1950 Series MM Lowlights. As well as these, there are regular interludes from the rest of the family’s fleet.
the box out of the way, we decided to probe the rusty crossmember that sits behind it. A few taps with a hammer revealed a rather large hole extending into the side chassis rails – not good! While there, I decided to embark on some further exploratory work and investigate how rusty the bulkhead was. It didn’t take long to find loads more work.
Thankfully, Land Rover panels are well made and quite cheap, but there was a long list that required replacement or patching. To date we’ve replaced half the bulkhead, two chassis outriggers and the bottoms of some of the chassis. This has taken many hours of welding and grinding and substantial dismantling of the body, taking off both doors, one front wing, the bonnet and front panel, plus brake and clutch master cylinders.
With the Land Rover so dismantled, it made sense to swap the engine over for the spare one, which we thought was in better condition. Our engine crane would not reach far enough to pull the engine out, so we reinforced the roof of the shed to make a lifting beam and bought a chain hoist to remove the old one.
The spare gearbox came from a Land Rover sort out. The bloke selling it promised us it worked OK, and it turns smoothly by hand in all gears. However, when it came to refitting the engine to the gearbox, it just wouldn’t go into place. It took a while to realise it but, somehow, we had a non-standard bell housing. This put the job back by a few days whilst another one was obtained, and the engine and gearbox were then re-fitted.
Although the new engine was in good condition – dad had heard it running before buying it – we thought it prudent to replace the timing belt. We waited until the engine was in so we could exert enough force on the crankshaft pulley bolt, which is supposed to be enormously tight. However, this moved very easily and we were worried. Investigation showed that the key holding the crankshaft pulley and timing belt pulley was mashed and the crankshaft keyway terribly damaged: the engine, at least the crank, was scrap! So we sadly removed the spare engine and replaced the old one. There is nothing terribly wrong with it, although it’s a bit rattly, the oil light comes on when ticking over and it needs a long time on the glow plugs before it starts on a cold morning. It should last a while yet given the low mileage the Landy covers, While the whole lot is in pieces next to the workshop, we are taking the opportunity to repaint it with some Matt NATO green, which would make it look smarter, even if only brushed on! We have also decided to replace the rather nasty Vauxhall Vectra seats with some proper Series ones while the seat bases are out, and to tidy up the tatty wiring loom. We might as well do the job properly and enjoy the result, as there is no rush really.
Needless to say, all this has resulted in absolutely zero progress on other projects. In fact the van is being used to hold up panels that are being painted, and I can’t get near the lowlight for Land Rover parts! It shouldn’t be long before we can road test it; I just hope the spare gearbox works properly.
“We sadly removed the spare engine and replaced the old one”