Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[Maurice Ayt]

There seem to be a number of owners who are getting M 8s back on the road : Great !!

I have the above M8 which came to me not having run for 12 years.Engine seized;fuel pump not working; carb float chamber broken.

On closer the 'petrol' had morphed into varnish;fuel system was blocked oh and the cooling system was blocked.

Not much chance of it going then.

Have replaced the pump and float chamber;got the fuel system sorted;disconnected the pipe on the front of the block and chipped the limescale out and assorted horror that was lurking therein; drained the 'oil' - not nice as can be imagined.

I'd got the pistons soaking in diesel for c 1 week without any movement so took the head off which was sensible as the car had been left without the plugs in so all sorts of stuff was present which I diligently cleaned out and decoked the head at the same time.

I freed the pistons by means of a stout bit of wood and a club hammer so the engine turns; the bores are nice and clean and the valves open and close as theyre supposed to.

I put the head back on with the right gasket/fresh oil/water/coolant fuel and followed the instructions my more experienced readers will take for granted about establishing TDC on no 1 piston and connecting the HT leads accordingly.

The result is I have spark at the points and plugs and I am semi confident that the firing order is correct.The dizzy could not be disconnected from the head when it was taken off so there appeared to be only one way it could be pit back as the mating between the bit attached to the head and the bit left in the block (technical terminology) appears unique.

Petrol appears to be getting into the cylinders as the plugs are damp on attempting to start the engine and the pump is delivering petrol under pressure to the float chamber.

Although the engine turns and there is compression at lest on no1 cylinder ( used to establish TDC) there is no sign of the engine firing up and starting and running. There have been a few desultory coughs and splutters but little else.

Any ideas please/advice to get it going ?

Otherwise it'sa nice vehicle- body a bit tired ( so live with it) chassis etc fine.

Oh by the way only the main and side lights and wiper work.The trafficators/horn/indicators dont. Anyone got any hints ?There are 2x 25amp glass fuses protecting the circuits in the control box but I havent got round to looking at this issue yet.

Any thoughts gratefully recieved !


Graham

[Rick]

Welcome along Graham, no doubt the other Morris 8 owners will be along soon.

Out of interest what is the firing order? 1-3-4-2? The old Ford sidevalves I used to have were a bit odd as they were 1-2-4-3.

rgds, Rick
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[Maurice Ayt]

Hi Rick,

All the technical stuff says the firing order is 1;3;4 ;2. so thats the way Ive connected the HT leads

Cheers


Graham

[Rick]

Do you have any photos to hand of the Morris? it'd be interesting to see them. 1934 - would that make it a Series 1 or 2?

RJ
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[Churchill Johnson]

Have you tried a drop of petrol down the carb not to much a couple of eggcups full should see it run if every thing else is ok, when turning it over slowly on the handle can you feel all four compressions, hitting the pistons with wood and hammer is not the best thing to do, when the head was of you should have tried rocking the car in gear to free it off pistons can easily be damaged,ref the the electrical problem use a multimeter cheap to buy and set it to DC voltage, most times this will be marked 20v, turn on ign and or lights and with one of the leads don't matter which, one on earth and put the other one on to either side of one of the fuses and you should get a reading either 6or 12v it may show 5.5v or 11.5v depends on the state of battery if no volts present then check the light switch same way and or the ign switch, both of these switchs should have power in and power out when on.

[welder]

Graham, you mention the fuses that are in the control box, concerning the lack of trafficators and wiper. My 1937 Series 1 has another fuse holder located almost beside the regulator. It's quite small, maybe 2" x 1", and the fuse is specifically for trafficators and wiper.

Worth a look? Perhaps yours is similar.

By the way, I'm in a very similar situation with my car and I look forward to desultory coughs and splutters from it.

Ian

[Maurice Ayt]

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Sorry about delayed update but much progress made to date

- engine freed up decoked and cleaned
- Carb stripped and operational
- New fuel pump
- Brakes stripped and operational
- Indicators working as are brake and stop lights.
- One semaphore works ( see later)
- Lubrication done

So the car starts on the button/drives/stops and seems to be basically OK so we can hopefully get an MOT.

Ive posted a photo .Body is basically OK- paint not so good but Ill live with it as chrome is now excellent.

O/s issue is semaphores.They are not identical. One works but does not fully retract.It takes the easily obbtainable festoon bulb.
The other is a TRICO which takes the superslim 6mm 6v bulb which appears to be v difficult to get.The unit does not work despite the blown bulb so Im not sure even if the bulb can be replaced whether it will work or not.

so
- can anyone tell me what the correct semaphores are for this car?
- Where to get replacement superslim 6mm bulbs ?
- Does anyone have a relacement unit for the TRICO .It would need to be an arm length of c 20 cm.

I understand the semaphore issue is not an MOT issue so long as the indicators are OK but it would be nice to get everything working as it should.

Happy to answer any questions from anyone wrestling with a car like this.I'm not an expert but maybe have some tips.

Itll be nice to compare the finished product with cars belonging to other owners.

Ill post again when weve been for an MOT !!

Cheers

Graham ( AKA Maurice Ayt)

PS got to put the back seats back in along with luggage rack and weather gear.

[ukdave2002]

Hi

Your 8 would have originally been fitted with Lucas SF40 trafficators, these are difficult to come by these days, however the later Lucas SF80's are a direct replacement, made in both 6 & 12v, and new replacement arms still available.

Semaphore indicators are fine for an mot without modern flashing indicators, that never quite look right on an 8, but I understand why folk fit them. For this reason I have recently been playing around with the sidelamps on one of my 8's using led's making it a combined side lamp and flasher.

Dave