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Friday 24th August 2012


"...So tomorrow all going well...the '33 will probably be fired up...for the first time in about 6 years..." Famous last words, also known as the kiss of death, because all did not go well and the '33 did not fire up! First up, on arrival, found Wade trying to fit the heat shield to the carburettor. Appears the reason it wasn't fitted was that part of the linkage setup was bent so therefore the shield had been left off! But with a little grinding to the shield as well as some judicious action the shield now fits. I'm sure Wade's action was much more circumspect than whoever did the original action! Then the insulating block had to be ground to remove the surface imperfections to eliminate the chance of vacuum leaks. Fitting the carb to the manifold was not helped by the car being outside, especially for me the gofer, as in go for this or go for that! And in the middle of the exhaust horn there was a stud with a nut on it, this also interfered with the carb linkage! Off with the carb, out with the grinder and problem solved. Next were the fuel line fittings. But, because the needle and seat supplied by Max were different, the fitting on the outside of the float chamber wouldn't accept the fuel line fitting. A scramble through a couple of boxes of "bits" found a fitting that would do the job, but...it was a 90 degree fitting in lieu of the straight fitting required. Meant some bending of the fuel line, but that was helped by the fact that at some time in it's past a section of rubber hose had been used from near the float bowl inlet to down where the line hooks around across the front of the block. The rubber hose was also replaced with modern fuel injection hose. That side done, around to the fuel pump side to finish connecting fuel lines and also hooked up a temporary inlet line to the fuel pump to draw from a fuel container perched on the inside of the mudguard(fender). But the fuel container, partly filled a couple of weeks ago for the 356 start up, was empty! I had used about 1/2 of it in my Coupe to make sure I made it home on Monday, but the rest????? So off around the corner to the fuel station and back with with fuel. All set, reconnect battery, some "start you b@$tard" down the carb throat and the motor turns over albeit slowly although Wade had charged up the battery overnight. But no sign or sound of any action and neither did the glass bowl fill on the inlet side of the fuel pump. What we did have was some smoke drifting from the solenoid housing on top of the starter causing some excitement from yours truely. By this time Wade had had enough, and although there was a quick check of the distributor which looked clean inside further investigation will wait for another day.

And I think I can answer the question I posed back on 8th August of "...someone may be able to shed some light on the fact that Big Red's 320 block had a single looooong tappet cover while all the other 320 blocks that Wade has seen have two tappet covers. Any comments or insights? ..." Noticed the '33's block also has the single loooong tappet cover and I now recall the Big Red's block has a casting date of '33 on it! So I'm surmising the early 320's were like that.
Early in the piece today, while Wade was undertaking his action on the '33 carb, I had been shaving the plastic from one end of the filter element bought yesterday and it now fits inside the aircleaner "hat" better. But it is about 1/2" too tall and is going to get a haircut on Monday. But first I wanted the foam, which will seal the cut end of the filter, on hand so I know how much to cut off. To do so, on leaving, I drove to Grippy Rubber to purchase a metre of adhesive backed foam for the modern filter element to be used in The Fossil's aircleaner. Then home, then off to the book parade!

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Monday 27th August 2012

Wade was literally clearing his desk top when I arrived at the workshop. No, not a PC, Laptop or other electronic device but the good old fashioned wooden type, you know, a desk top! He'd tried to access a phone book earlier and couldn't get it out because of the buildup of stuff, this precipitated the clean out. And sorry to say I was a contributor, with parts, journals and boxes of mine spread over one end of the desk, but no more! Some went into "stock" while other stuff of mine I've taken home. Wade also rationalised the remainder of the stuff into that which needed to stay, that which could be shelved and that which could be tossed. Result? See pic below.

It was then off to see JohnM and his TJ Richards bodied '39 110 Sedan. Scooped up the bulbs I'd brought over, tools, torch and multimeter and off we went. At Johns inserted a pair of bulbs, and......nothing. Tried another pair of bulbs,......still nothing. Last chance, when I had my '38 Eight I'd bought a pair of halogen bulbs for it off eBay but never fitted them, but again......still nothing. Wade checked there was power at the contacts, and there was. Then checked the orientation of the contacts at the base of the bulbs and therein lay the problem, at least for the original type bulbs, the contacts are 90 degrees out from that required. With the bulbs I'd brought over, when installed, the contacts are horizontal while the contacts in the bulb socket are verticl! While for the halogen bulbs, they wouldn't work even though the contacts have the correct orientation because they are single filament, not double. At that's where I got lost, not a bright spark, when it comes to things electrical. Most would say not too bright in most respects. Apparently, the halogen bulb needs an earth???? With this hiatus, packed things up and left John to it......again. Then back at the workshop, what does Wade find? A pair of bulbs with the correct contact orientation. These were spares for Big Red but it looks like little brother TJR will be a beneficiary of Big Red's current enforced lay up.

Also had a call from Noel who asked if I knew he'd dropped over some rubbers last week which Wade required. Said yes but some weren't as required whereupon the phone was passed over to Wade for detailed consultation. Upshot is Noel needs to source a set of 4 Radiator Rod Bushes. Mounting the radiator on the chassis will also clear some bench space with the radiator, collar and mudguard(fender) brackets currently taking up plenty of space. Noel also put the hard word on me to do a little job for him, install the decals on the oil filter, air cleaner, etc. Well, if he's game for me to try to do it, so am I! Not much recent experience but plenty 50+ plus years ago building plastic model kits, lets see how I go. Noel also passed on that he'd seen Mat's, packard34, '55 Caribbean and it's coming along nicely with the front end refitted with much better gaps, the interior detailed and a new windscreen, Although it only took 3 windscreens to get there! Noel will be over on Wednesday because tomorrow Wade and I are attending the funeral of TrevorF, one of the founding fathers of the Morris Minor Picnic Club. We'll be going in the Coupe about a 40 mile run, to Faulconbridge, in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney.

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Tuesday 28th August 2012

Good trip with Wade up and back in the Coupe to Faulconbrige for the Funeral. Returning to the workshop, where I'd picked Wade up in the morning, there was an examination of the Coupe's radiator collar and mounting stays as a reference for Noel's Coupe chassis. Reason being yesterday Wade had temporarily mounted Noel's radiator, collar and stays on the chassis but it's currently tilting forward so something isn't right. Wade had also installed the upper radiator hose but it seems to be too long and could be a contributing factor to the radiator lean. Had also tried to install the lower radiator pipe metal bend but it needs some further tweaking, read 'bending', before it's right to go. Seeing we couldn't see much today, returning tomorrow in the Coupe for undercar examination of the radiator collar stays. Also the routing of the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump because, as yet, Noel's chassis is missing the line.

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Mal, I don't recall if I ever posted this before, but it's for you Morris Minor lovers with yours truly crammed into the front seat. RHD of course, and badged as a Riley.

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Wednesday 29th August 2012

When I arrived Wade was tightening up the upper radiator hose on Noel's chassis. Had trimmed about 1/2" off the hose then ensured both ends were as far as they could go on. Tightened up and vertical now. Then turned to Noel's steering box and removed the pitman arm. During this process LesF arrived, bearing gifts in the form of bolts and nuts to mount the steering box to the chassis. Except they wouldn't, being too big in diameter, so Les set off to exchange them for some that would fit. Noel also arrived and he too was bearing gifts in the form of a new Optima battery for the '33 and the engine compartment decals for his 356 together with a book explaining which goes where. However some of the placement descriptions are a little confusing, well they are to me! So.....if anyone has pic's of decals on '41 160's for aircleaners, oil filters, oil fillers, etc, or can point me in the right direction of same, I'd be most appreciative. On Les's return one of the conundrums Wade had been facing was addressed, the routing of the fuel line from the tank to the fuel pump. Wade had tried to assembled the cut pieces but nothing seemed to work. Les was able to demonstrate, with a piece of the original line, where it had run behind the crossmember in front of the tank and down the outside of the right frame rail. After this there was an inspection of the '33 outside, Les having 2 Standard Eight Sedans so has a particular interest in that year.

However after both Les and Noel had departed there was an inspection of my Coupe, which I'd brought down today, of the routing of my fuel line. And surprise, surprise! It runs across, in front of the crossmember and down the outside of the LEFT frame rail. Maybe Les's memory was reversed, like a photo negative? But in his defence I think the car was disassembled about 4 years ago so it wasn't exactly yesterday! Wade took some pic's for reference purposes as well as spotting an oil leak at my fuel pump, something more to fix. Back inside, after sorting through the cut pieces of fuel line, found the piece that runs alongside the left front frame rail then across behind the front of the front crossmember. And it fits! Next the rear piece, when transferred to the left from the right side, also fits! The other 2 pieces on the outside of the left frame rail were then the easy part. Orientation and location of fuel line finally established ran a tape over it's route and determined 6 metres was required but will err on the side of caution and order/buy 7 metres. While under the front of my Coupe Wade also established that the stays for my 120 radiator collar mount differently than those on Noel's 160 radiator collar so that wasn't now a factor.

Just before Noel left Wade had turned to the 2 care packages from Max which arrived while Les and Noel were there. Wade had had a quick look at the invoices enclosed and informed Noel there wasn't anything included for his 160, wrong! The fuel filter with ceramic element was there! That was besides new pistons and valves for Big Red among other things. Then after attending to that turned to Noel's steering box which is now on the to do list. Disassembled it and thanks to the fact it still had oil in it, which you wouldn't know from it's external appearance, the internals look in pretty good shape. As Wade was disassembling I was cleaning, removing excess dirt, excess gunk, washing, cleaning, wire brushing where required and blasting also where required. But further cleaning will be required before paint gets near it as this was to get it to an acceptable handling state. Looks like we'll be making a run to ABC bearings in the near future to determine whether they have suitable seals. Next was Noel's snubber. Ahhhh, a subject dear to my heart, but for such an upmarket car the 160 has a rubber bushed rod instead of the tie-rod type ends my 120 does. Wade had been struggling for a solution for the rubbers on Noel's snubber because he hadn't been able to source any replacements. Then he remembered he had a box of assorted rubber bushes at the back of a drawer and lo-and-behold found some bushes that fitted, albeit with a bit of a struggle but fit they did. Next I was deputised to make some rubber washers as part of the solution. Then assembling it all on the chassis. But to do so had to remove both brackets, install the snubber on them, loosely, and reinstall the brackets. Upshot? Noel, you now have a snubber!

Quote:Dave,

You did, but it seems Morris Minors have become one of the sub-themes of the Blog, so it fits right in!

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Mal, I have a similar clutch anti-chatter rod (read: snubber) on my 47 Custom Clipper. I replaced the rubber bushings from my parts department stock. Not only did the re-bushed snubber eliminate most of the clutch chatter (especially in reverse) it made for a much smoother shifting transmission. I was always getting a syncro crunch going from 2nd to High and High to 2nd, but that has all been eliminated. Bonus fix, I like that. Too bad you will not be in Texas on your Grand Tour of the U.S. Travel safely.

(o[]o)

Quote:John,

Actually I will be visiting Texas, Houston airport to be precise, as I fly from Orlando to Los Angeles as I start my trip home. I'm there for all of 48 minutes!

Mal, maybe you can stay longer next time. A layover time of 48 minutes is cutting it close to get to your connecting flight. Good luck on that. Take care.

(o[]o)

Thursday 30th August 2012

Found the '33 in the Workshop when I arrived. Last night Antoine, the owner, had come over together with the bloke who's going to do the body. The '33 had been pushed into the workshop because there's little light outside at night, whether it be moonlight or artificial, so it could be inspected for an assessment of what's required bodywise. Now that it's inside, currently in front of a car that John is working on in his area, it was time to drop the fuel tank. The diff was jacked up and jackstands placed under each side of the diff housing and the fuel tank removed. It's not held in by straps but by 3 bolts, 2 at the front and 1 at the centre rear with captive nuts in little brackets mounted on the tank body. After the '33 was on the jackstands first thing was to drain the tank. All Wade got for his trouble was a face full of dust when the bung was removed! Then the sending unit wire was disconnected, the fuel line fitting released and the retaining nuts removed. The jack had been placed under the centre of the tank and once all attachments removed it was lowered and transported to Packard Corner. There, the sending unit was removed and the extent of the interior deterioration became evident.

Then Wade called Harvey who advised that Hills District Radiators at Pendle Hill would be able to clean it out. So the fuel tank, as well as Big Red's radiator were put into the Ute and off we went. Reason for Big Red's radiator going too? Because it's out and, although it had been through a clean, rebuild and testing about 2 years ago, now was the time to have it cleaned again, checked and tested, so all's ready when the engine returns. Called into ABC Bearings on the way there and picked up a couple of Bearings for Rick for a 2008 Audi S3 he's currently working on. At Hills Radiator learnt they couldn't clean the tank because WorkCover NSW the government regulatory authority won't allow them to. This followed an industrial accident where one of their workers was badly injured cleaning a fuel tank. Instead, they recommended the tank be taken to Redi-strip who would be able to soak in their caustic tank and clean it. Leaving Big Red's radiator at Hills Radiator then set off for Redi-strip, well known to us having cleaned many Packard blocks, heads crankcases over the years. We went by a route, trusting the Navman to guide us, which turned out to be very circuitious adding quite a distance to the trip. On the trip back to the workshop Wade used his tried and proven route instead of relying on modern technology.

Quote:John,

Don't know if I actually set foot in Texas. It might just be a connection being made. If the opportunity does present itself, I'd certainly be looking to spend more time in Texas on my next trip to the US. Whenever that might be.

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Mal, you should be okay if you have a direct flight from Orlando to Los Angeles. Fly safely, and have a great trip.

(o[]o)