Pride comes before a fall
In a recent Driver Diary report, I foolishly remarked that I hadn’t broken down for a considerable time, so now I’m somewhat embarrassed to report that I spluttered to a halt with Lily, my 1967 four- door Morris Minor, suffering from a loss of power (on my birthday, no less!). Lily appeared to be suffering from some sort of ignition or fuel-related fault, because the engine would tick over roughly but not develop any power. Suspecting the electronic ignition, I fitted the spare points distributor I always carry in the boot and was off again fairly quickly, but as the timing was only roughly adjusted, rather cautiously.
When I got home, I investigated and found the carbon brush in the distributor cap had worn completely away, leaving dust everywhere, so the spark was not making its way down the leads to the plugs. It was just over a year old and so out of guarantee. I’d purchased it from a reputable supplier and it had only lasted about 2000 miles, which is not very impressive. A new old stock Intermotor distributor cap was purchased, and after I’d refitted the electronic distributor with this new cap I soon had Lily running smoothly again
Anyhow, it was time to give her a thorough service ready for the winter, so I set to work changing the oil and filter, greasing the trunnions, checking all levels and adjusting the handbrake. I found that one of the steering rack gaiters needed replacing yet again. As I’ve had to fit a lot of these over the years, I’ve now got the knack and it didn’t take me very long. The trick is to use a very blunt screwdriver poked up inside the gaiter to lift the inner collar over the end of the steering rack. I’ve been buying the more expensive Nitrol longlife gaiters, but these don’t seem to last nearly as long as
“I was surprised to find the jacking point on the bottom of the crossmember on the driver’s side bubbling up with rust”
the original Morris ones.
The coolant level was low, despite a recent top-up, so before filling up with fresh antifreeze it seemed sensible to track down the source of the leak. I’d already tightened all the hoses and checked the radiator, but by looking carefully with a bright light, I noticed the water pump was wet. Testing showed lots of play, so this had to be replaced.
While the car was up on stands, I had a good look around for any rust developing and was surprised to find the jacking point on the bottom of the crossmember on the driver’s side bubbling up with rust. As this was within 12 inches of the end of the torsion bar, it would result in an MoT fail. I had to carefully remake the bottom of the crossmember and weld it all up, but this was not too difficult with the car up high. The jack socket was not refitted – I never use it anyway, and it is a rust trap.