Morris Minor Ratrod

[christine]

For christ sake do it over a drain.. you don't want oil on the drive !

[PhilA]

Yeah, ignore me. I had other things on my mind.

[SiC]

Since getting the engine started I've been fiddling with a few other bits.

Firstly I forced off the Petrol cap as I have no key. I undone the mechanism for now and left it unlocked. I'll replace this cap with a period style chrome cap. This is some 80s aftermarket plastic rubbish that the seal has long perished on.


Ran the fuel pump to drain out any remaining fuel. Removed the sump plug on the tank too. This is all that came out.


Replaced the fuel lines in the engine bay. These aren't E10 compliant but I imagine the aftermarket fuel pump isn't either. I'll get some Gates Barracuda at some point soon, just my local Moss branch is out of stock at the moment of it. Since this picture I've added an in-line fuel filter too.


Put in 5 litres of Esso Super Unleaded. Should still be ethanol free around here. Leaked out of this section. I'll probably have to get a new rubber pipe piece to replace this. I think I've got a MGB piece kicking around somewhere that will hopefully fit.



Then tried to get the thermostat housing off. It was completely stuck on there so used plenty of heat to try freeing it. No luck.

So used the double nut method on the studs to get them undone with heat as well. Managed to get two out of the three studs removed no trouble, then the third snapped when wiggling it free.

Make matters worse, the housing is corroded enough that the end cracked off when trying to wiggle it with my fingers.

Drats. I've yet to manage to save one of these A-Series housings without destroying it. So nearly managed it with this one too.


At this point the housing was now a bin job. So grabbed my grinder and cut near the stud.


Then used my much abused wood chisel to smash off each side and finish it off. I didn't want to go to the bottom with the grinder and cut into the head.


Then one last whack and the hole for the stud was big enough to free the housing. The remains of the stud was loose enough at this point to be removed with a set of vice grips.


Inside was extremely manky. This is the major reason why I wanted to get here. I flushed water back through the radiator hose at the bottom until it ran clear. I'll probably have to do this again once it's been run up to temperature a few times. Might bung in some Wynns cooling system cleaner I have on the shelf for a bit too.


Now need to grab a new housing. Appears two styles - Morris Minor flat and a more curved housing that was used on the Mini and others. Seems both are listed for the Minor but the Mini design is significantly cheaper. Not sure which to use as mine is a 1275 to complicate things and I believe slightly less room?

[Marvelous]

...

[PhilA]

That looks like it's seen years of well water, slightly acidic.

You need some EDTA. Not disodium-EDTA, just EDTA.

Phil

[Broccoli]

Great to see you getting to grips with this.
I’m hoping to have a project again n the coming months, but management is holding me to the strict, one in one out rule.
In the meantime, it’s fun living vicariously through your thread!

[Cruiser45]

The switch appears to turn on/off the gauge lights and apparently is factory. Surprised me as I thought slide switches were a much more modern thing than this.

I was looking at a different switch lol,yes the minor has a slide for the instrument illumination,bizzarely my dad's Somerset has a large pull switch just for that purpose as well,looks like they fitted it just to fill the empty space!

[Hooli]

My guess would be the Mini and Minor 'stst housings have the output hose pointing in slightly different directions?

[SiC]

That looks like it's seen years of well water, slightly acidic.

You need some EDTA. Not disodium-EDTA, just EDTA.

Phil

Probably the hard water of Bristol that's been sat in it for a large proportion of its life. Where do I get EDTA from?

The switch appears to turn on/off the gauge lights and apparently is factory. Surprised me as I thought slide switches were a much more modern thing than this.

I was looking at a different switch lol,yes the minor has a slide for the instrument illumination,bizzarely my dad's Somerset has a large pull switch just for that purpose as well,looks like they fitted it just to fill the empty space!

My 1100 had a switch for the dash lights too and my MGB even has a rotary dimmer switch. Both of which had dashes barely lit bright even with fresh bulbs! Maybe because my eyes are too accustomed to modern dashes that are all lit up really bright at night.

Early version of Saabs Night Panel mode.

My guess would be the Mini and Minor 'stst housings have the output hose pointing in slightly different directions?

From the FB groups it appears both angle and height are different. Mini housing fits but is an awkward angle to get a hose on.

[Scruffy Bodger]

It certainly sounds ok in that vid, that's a great start to the project. I'm still shocked there's no clothes peg on the dash, I thought every car of that era had one?

Isn't there another stat housing on one of the spare engines you have that'll do, sure I can see at least one fitted on the photo on page1 I know you don't have much luck getting them off but they are spares after all.