Squire's voitures

[DodgeRover]

It's even heavy to look at!

[fried onions]

It was an awkward bugger aye but I didn’t struggle for long in between catching breath.

The good thing is, as soon as this replacement cog-box is in, I can refit all the interior. I am really going to town with the sound deadening. I’ll detail that when I get around to it. In the meantime I have fitted the passenger door card, after brushing 5w30 inside the door bottom and spraying with Tectyl. Then I cut some stout polythene to size and covered the cut-outs, to keep any water off the door card’s board frame.

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I cleaned the grubby door cards with warm water and lemon cream cleaner. Don’t want anything aggressive on this rare old trim.

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I then fitted my Jayem ‘Kickaplates’. An excellent Beaulieu find I had earmarked for this car with its narrow door openings. Really nice heavy gauge stainless.

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Still a long way to go with this little car but am well on the way to getting it done.

[mercrocker]

Nice to see such progress. Interested in your sound-proofing arrangements in due course.....



P.S. if you think Traveller front doors are narrow openings, try a bloody 4 door!

[Scruffy Bodger]

Cleaning up those door cards must have been quite satisfying? They really look to have been transformed.

[fried onions]

Yes, it was nice to revive the door cards. Will probably give it a spray with Autoglym to enhance it further.

I put this in today. Minor gearboxes are heavy. Had to push it up from underneath the car whilst lying on my back, and navigate around the steering rack. Basically took all afternoon and still not quite finished, but there's only a few nuts and bolts to see to.

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Fingers crossed it's a good one. At Beaulieu I bought this old sticker from the 1960's and like the Frosties Tony think it looks grrrreat.

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[Hooli]

Try a LR Disco gearbox with the transferbox attached to find out what heavy is. You need two trolley jacks to get one of them in on your own.

[fried onions]

Nah, I'm not daft enough to own a Land Rover.

[fried onions]

Had prepared the gearbox cover ready to fit, just needed new sealing strips. I scraped the original gooey remains of whatever was applied at the factory off. Then made up my own using some rubbery self-amalgamating tape.

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Marked the holes and punched them out.

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Used my sacred stash of Dum Dum to hold the tape in place.

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Then, with the old shite out of the way and the captive nut threads cleared out, I fitted the cover and was amazed at how much easier the screws went in now that the nuts aren’t clogged. The four longer screws engage with the gearbox crossmember. Hopefully I won’t have to remove the cover again for a very long time.... not tested the gearbox yet.

[SiC]

Not sure if you know but you can get a discount (iirc used to be 7.5%) and free delivery on order over £60 from ESM Morris Minors with the discount code morris3. A lot of their parts are already pretty competitively priced and the discount code makes it even more so. I know you like your NOS parts but not everything is easy to get hold of NOS nowadays.

Interestingly the AP branded Brake Master cylinder had a Moss Motors SKU sticker on and their pre-discount price was cheaper than Moss listed at.

[fried onions]

Flat out all day trying to get this car ready. So, the replacement gearbox had previously been installed and was just awaiting testing. With the car still up on axle stands I wanted to do the exhaust (relatively simple) and the leaking rear hub oil seal. When I put this axle from the scrapper on I didn't touch the hub seals, because they are a tedious job to replace, so instead took a chance. One of them is oil-tight and the other is not, so something had to be done about it. I removed the half shaft and then the hub using my own special tool and puller. Whacked the bearing out with the aid of a large socket. The oil seals on any car are always a PITA to remove and this was no exception. You just have to destroy them and use brute force whilst trying hard not to damage the surfaces of the hub.

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As it was, despite using my old universal tool (blunt screwdriver with rounded edges), a little damage did occur. You will notice the second step of the hub, where the oil seal sides contact. I smoothed it down as best I could.

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Then fitted the new (Unipart-Gaco) oil seal with a little grease. I cleaned the hub and bearing etc in petrol prior to fitting anything.

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In went the bearing by sledgehammer and socket (no press, you see), and I was beginning to feel rather pleased with myself.

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Turning to the axle tube, which was not looking too clever and was certainly not going to do a new oil seal any good. So out with the 1500 grit and WD40 to smooth the corrosion. This axle came from a car which had been dry stored too.

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Moving on to what drew my attention to the fault in the first place, this little drain hole, which I cleared when working on the axle, did its job and diverted the oil down the outside of the backplate away from the brake gear. Usually these are blocked and the brake linings are ruined as a result.

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The half shaft had developed some rust bloom since I fitted it, so I brushed it off and sprayed the whole length with WD40 before shoving it back in.

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Then finally replace the brake drum and adjust the shoes, operate the brakes to centralise the shoes and re-check adjustment.

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Interesting that these oil seals also fit my Humber. In fact the oil capacity of the differential is not much greater than the Minor, despite being a much more powerful and faster car.

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As there were literally millions of this type of axle in use using the same sealing arrangements, and I have owned cars before with it, and had no leaks, I am hopeful that this will be the end of the matter.