Morris Minor
Ben races to get his Minor road-ready
It seemed like a good idea. Just five weeks before Beaulieu’s International Autojumble, I booked in my newly-purchased Morris Minor to join the show’s ‘Golden Oldies’ classic car display. What a great incentive to get it back on the road, I thought, giving me the chance to show off the charming old car to friends.
But there was a problem; it had been out of action for at least seven years and needed plenty of work to make it safe for the road. With time against me, I came up with a plan – no more aimless tinkering, I had to get the car up to scratch in double-quick time, ready to tackle the 40-mile journey across the New Forest. An MOT test was booked for the week before and I got to work. My first priority was the bodywork. Letting the side down were the crusty wings, which were unbolted to reveal localised rust damage. Armed with my MIG welding gear, letting in fresh steel to the problem areas was a simple but timeconsuming fix. As a temporary measure, four glassfibre wings were pulled out of the shed, brush-painted black and bolted in place.
Peeling paint on the roof was scraped away and surface rust sanded back, before priming and painting; not perfect, but presentable. I couldn’t resist cleaning and repainting the
not strictly necessary, but well worth it for the pleasingly shiny appearance.
Spark of inspiration
More concerning was the dead wiring. As all of the disintegrating wires that made up the original loom were either black or brown, attempting to trace its numerous faults was a nightmare. Saving time, I opted to simply replace everything with a new off-the-shelf wiring loom. Minor 1000s made from 1963 to 1964 had flashing indicators, but still retained the old pull-start control, so I chose to buy a loom from this era as an easy lighting upgrade. The plan worked; aside from re-routing the windscreen wiper motor wiring to suit its different split-screen location, it all fitted easily.
The mis-matched headlamps were swapped for halogen replacements incorporating separate sidelamp bulbs, while Humber Sceptre reversing lights were repurposed with orange bulbs to become smart-looking indicators.
So, did it all work? Well, no. Switching on the ignition for the first time, the indicator flasher relay expired in a puff of smoke. Checking all connections, I couldn’t see anything wrong, so connected up a spare relay. Big mistake! With the second doing likewise, I realised that the aftermarket indicator switch I’d fitted to the dash was shorting itself out on its own mounting screws; embarrassing, but easily rectified.
Brake lights that stayed on permanently were cured with a new brake light switch, while the flickering generator warning light was extinguished by swapping the dynamo and
Hardened grease in the windscreen wiper rack and wheel-boxes was making screen-clearing painfully slow; stripping and re-greasing everything worked wonders. Meanwhile, furious flushing of the cooling system could not shift the rust and silt that had clogged up the radiator and heater, so these were swapped for better replacements.
Testing times
Luck was on my side with the brakes, which had clearly been refurbished shortly before the car was laid-up. Checking and adjusting the drums ensured that the Morris pulled up straight and true. To celebrate, I took a leaf out of Matt Tomkins’ book and bought a set of remanufactured 4.5J Minor van wheels, complete with radial tyres. Replacing the skinny original wheels and their perished cross-plies, they look superb and nicely match the cream front grille.
Precious time was frittered away trying to cure the 803cc engine’s uneven running. Re-setting the timing and endless distributor fine-tuning failed to completely cure it, until I discovered the distributor’s vacuum advance mechanism to be seized. Transplanting a later 25D distributor, complemented by a 1.25in SU carburettor in place of the gummed-up 1.125in original, finally had the motor purring.
Full of trepidation, I trundled to the MOT station in the Minor. I needn’t have worried; it sailed through the test, proving that the long evenings and busy weekends had not been wasted. Days later, I pulled out onto the open road and pointed the Minor’s bulbous bonnet towards Beaulieu.
Beaulieu and… bust
With its pin-sharp steering, I had almost forgotten how nice a decent Minor is to drive, so I was really enjoying myself by the time the glorious scenery of the New Forest filled the split windscreen.
Arriving at the International Autojumble showground, I triumphantly parked up in the Golden Oldies display between a Jaguar MKII and an earlier Minor Series MM. The range of historic motors also on show was staggering; just feet away was a pair of pre-war Bentleys, a lithe 1969 Marcos 3-Litre, a colossal 1964 Rolls-royce Phantom V, a fascinating 1959 Fairthorpe Ashley Special and more besides. As show-goers strolled past, it felt like a very fitting destination for my first Minor adventure.
Sadly, my overwhelming satisfaction with the successful trip was cut short on the journey home. A persistent knocking from the engine became louder and louder, with the oil pressure warning light changing from an occasional flicker to a permanent glow. Oh dear. Still, I have another plan. There just happens to be a beefier 1098cc engine sitting on the garage floor, waiting to be installed along with a matching gearbox and 4.22:1 differential. Phase One of my Minor project may be over, but Phase Two is only just beginning.
practical.classics@bauermedia.co.uk
‘My satisfaction with a successful trip was cut short on the way home’