Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[acogman]

Afternoon all,

I think it's time, after lurking for a while, that I finally show my project and join the fun...

My current project is a 1935 Morris 12 Series II.

Maybe some background first - I've rebuilt a mini when I was 17 and it's still my daily driver (with a few mods!), I then helped restore a TR7 and rebuild a glider trailer, hopefully this has given me enough knowledge and skills to do justice to the Morris.
It's currently in pieces in my parent’s garage (house, shed, lounge, kitchen, garden, bedrooms, attic...) just outside Norwich, and I'm working on it as and when I'm back from University - this is not going to be a fast restoration!
It was bought, like many projects I suspect, from Ebay - sight unseen and in poor condition!
I knew this was going to be a long term project and would involve a complete strip down and nut & bolt restoration, so the condition did not matter as much as the completeness.
Time hasn't treated it well and the chassis was badly rotten, the bodywork poor and the engine seized, but it was wonderfully original and complete.

So far we have:
- Removed the body and it's gone into storage (a shed) until we're ready to start on repairing it - we need a solid chassis first!
- The chassis has been repaired with new sections welding in and dressed.
- The chassis has been painted and corrosion protected.
- The floor has been straightened, repaired and new battery boxes made (not yet refitted)
- The rear axle has been drained, cleaned, inspected and painted
- The front axle has been stripped, repainted and reassembled.
- The gearbox has been drained of the oil(!), inspected and painted.
- The suspension has been rebuilt and worn components replaced.
- New kingpins have been fitted
- All new brake pipes have been fitted
- A new wiring loom has started to be fitted
- The engine has been stripped and inspected
- We are currently restoring the inbuilt Jackall jacking system.

Unfortunately after stripping down the engine, we found a couple of the big ends are breaking up and will need to be recast, plus after sitting +40yrs against the tappets two lobes on the camshaft are heavily pitted. Other than that the lack of wear on the engine is amazing; the main bearings are still tight on the crankshaft and camshaft and the cylinders are clean and haven’t been over-bored, in fact three of the pistons look like the ones original fitted by Morris!


Anyway enough talk, here are some pictures showing how we're getting on so far...


This is what it looked like when it arrived.


One seized engine.


What have I bought!


More rust.


Stripping parts off to remove the body.


Body bracing before we try to lift it off.


Naked chassis!


Ahhh I think there supposed to be some metal here!


One completely stripped chassis.


Deciding how to begin!


Welding in new sections.


Chassis welding done, rebuilding the suspension.


Rolling again!


Stripping and inspecting the engine.


Amazing how much extra space it takes up when it’s in pieces!

There are more in my photobucket, if you're interested: http://s1193.photobucket.com/albums/aa351/acogman/Morris/

We are looking for recommendations for good companies to recast the Babbitt and regrind / metal spray the camshaft? Preferably East Anglia / close by as I don't trust the Royal mail with the rods etc.

Andrew


P.S. Apologise if the pictures are too big, are there suggestions / guidelines for maximum resolutions when posting?

[Rick]

Welcome to the forum (the photos are aok), interesting to see progress so far - I once had a 10/4 Coupe (unrestored), and I'd often wondered what the chassis/structure was like underneath

Rick
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[Roger-hatchy]

Looks great.
Another Morris on the forums.

As to image size.
I have been using Pixresizer for a number of years now.
Very easy to use and you can size up or down, also single or multiple images.

Can also change the file type

I regularly resize folders full last lot was 197 images

I find different sizes suit different websites, I find max 800 on this site is about right.

anyway it's on here if you wish to try it
http://pixresizer.en.softonic.com/

Roger

[peter scott]

Hi Andrew,

Welcome to the forum. That does look like a nicely complete car but, my goodness, you were a brave man to take it on. Having said that your progress is very impressive. The chassis repair in particular looks superb.

Please keep us posted with lots of photos.

Peter
_________________
https://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[acogman]

Thanks for the encouragment

It'll be a long process, but I will certainly keep updating the thread with pictures as and when we do more to the car.

There's a huge time gap, mostly full of chassis welding, where I should have some more pictures of the repairs, I'll have a play with the suggested software and see if I can resize and post them.


Cheers,
Andrew

[alan 869]

That is fantastic! You really are a brave man. Hope the body matches the frame when the time comes Really first class (right down to the coppar pipes for the brakes )

[smiffy220]

Nice to see the pictures, will follow this thread with interest. My father owns a 1934 Morris Cowley Four, so I will have to show him this thread next time he's over. Have you joined the Morris Register? There are some knowledgeable folks there who can offer advice should you need any. If not, they'll be pleased to see this car being restored no doubt.
Dave
_________________
Born to rally, forced to work!

1980 Opel Manta 2.0 SR Berlinetta
1934 Morris Cowley Four (my late fathers)

[acogman]

Thank you to everyone for the encouragement, sometimes it's seems like we're not making progress and will never finish it!

I am a member of the Morris Register and they have been fantastic - helping to find difficult spares, offering advice and answering all my stupid questions. It’s a huge source of knowledge.
We were at the National rally in August and got to see some really beautiful cars, hopefully next year mine will be ready to take.

It's been a while, so time for an update...
I haven't had a chance to get back to Norfolk to do much, but my father has been hard at work.

First the floor and support brackets were degreased and the surface rust removed before being painted.





The inbuilt Jackall jacks have been reconditioned with new seals and pipe-work. Finding seals for the rams and pump proved challenging and quite expensive.



The fuel tank has been thoroughly cleaned and painted, 60 year old dried up petrol is really difficult to clean thoroughly!
The tank was also lined with a slosh kit just in case there are any pin holes.

All the copper pipe-work is now complete and the loom has been roughly placed to work out how accurate it is and where it needs to be fixed to the chassis.



The Battery boxes have been remade as the originals were beyond help!
I'm not sure yet whether to go for the two 6v, as original, or a single modern high performance 12v, which should just fit into one of the boxes?

The floor has been test fit and the closing panels on the chassis rails remade.
Hopefully that means most of the metal work on the chassis is now done.
Quite a difference from when we started!



Still some work to do before the floor, support brackets and closing panels can be welded in.



The Master cylinder has been cleaned and new seals fitted and the petrol pipe cleaned inside and out and refitted. Now we just need to get the bulkhead installed and the engine work done!

We're currently struggling to find four working 'pear' shock absorbers out of the 13 or so we've got. We might end up unsoldering them and using the best internal parts out of each - the price to have them professionally reconditioned is shocking

The task over Christmas is to look at refitting the body onto the chassis, then the hard work really begins!

[Beetlefan]

Your a braver Man than Me! Congratulations on the work you have done so far it looks first class!!

[acogman]

I managed to escape for a few days over Christmas to do some more work on the car.
All the welding is finished now on the chassis, the floor is welded in as well as the rail closing panels and the battery boxes. Plus the seat runners have been cleaned up and welded in.
They have been given a quick coat of paint until the chassis is cleaned up and can be painted finally.

The weather was kind so we were also able to unearth the body and reunite it with the chassis!

So onto the pictures...

Removing the side of the shed to remove the body, only 18 months after building the shed round it:




Pushing the complete chassis out into the daylight:



Body carefully lifted back onto the chassis with a little help!




Maybe we went overboard with the bracing, but it doesn't seem to have deformed and there's no evidence of damage from being in the shed:




Now the hard work begins, carefully removing the remaining interior, inspecting the body, removing the rust and fabricating new pieces!

[Rick]

Really enjoying the updates!

RJ
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Home:https://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk
Videos:https://www.youtube.com/user/oldclassiccarRJ/videos
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[GraveFate]

HI there

Your car looks awesome and your restoration is helping me with my work.
I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work.

grave

[Ivanwill]

Can you tell me what is the button on the floor beside the Clutch Pedal. is it the starter switch or the dip switch?

[Kelsham]

I have no specialist knowledge.

However the size of the connection terminals will be a guide, if it is a dip switch the terminals will be small suitable to the wiring.

If a floor starter the terminals will be about 1/4 inch or larger in diameter. This is needed to pass the current, also terminal numbers should be a clue. Three terminals on a dipswitch two for a floor starter.

regards Kels.

[acogman]

Sorry for the lack of updates, progress has been made I just haven't found a quiet moment to upload photos etc!

On this model, the floor switch is the headlamp dip switch - originally is turned off the nearside lamp and activated a solenoid in the offside to physically tilt the reflector down.
This is now illegal and we'll be replacing them with two dipping lamps

Update time....



So once we replaced the body on the chassis it was clear how much work was needed, especially around the front corner!
The writing says 'Green' - the colour of the body




The box section sill on the body which forms a second chassis rail was removed to copy as it was too far gone to repair really.




After clamping up and tacking the cut out parts on the car, it was removed and seam welded off the car (being careful so it didn't distort too badly!)




After cleaning and refitting it we checked to see how well it fitted, not too bad really! It's a complex shape and key to the integrity of the body so needs to be right.




At the same time the front corner was rebuilt with a new mounting bracket, panels and wood. The difficult task of rebuilding the door aperture is still to come!



The rear of the sill is a complex joint where several panels come together and there's not much help from the rotten originals.




After cutting out the rotten sections, new rough panels were made and held in place for finishing in the future when the body has been fixed.




The doors needed to be fitted now to check how they hang and to ensure the panel gaps are right.

Once we've fixed the welder and bought some more gas, we can make a start on checking the body shape and position and finally fix all the panels into position.
It's beginning to look like a car again!

Then we can turn the car round and repeat the whole process
Hopefully more updates will follow soon...