My new project - 1965 Morris Cooper S - HOY 500D

[Andrew1967]

Thanks Ian

Subframe going in tomorrow night.

How you finding the fit on those Genuine full inner wings against the M-machine outers ?

Pretty good Ian.

Profiles seem good and the hinge holes line up on the passenger side. Yet to get the drivers outer in place properly.

Have you done the same ? What are your thoughts if you have ?

[STG95F]

Always used m-machine full outers , but I haven’t used my full inners with the inner already attached ( that’s for my mk2 project )

[Andrew1967]

Early indications are that the Mini Machine outers fit very well indeed with the factory complete inner wing assemblies

[STG95F]

Good to hear

[Andrew1967]

For anyone who has bought the factory inner wings from Joaquin in Spain, some alterations are needed to convert to UK Mk1 spec.

On the R/H inner wing there is a bulge where the regulator (wet S) or fuse box would go. This needs to by removed and a flat plate welded in. Then the reinforcing plate is incorrect. I made a new one from an original removed from the donor bulkhead and spot welded it into place.

The bonnet support bracket is in the wrong place and there are various holes to weld up and re-drill in the correct places. With the help of Dermott and the remains of HOY's original inner wing, I have almost finished the alterations this morning. Just one hole to weld up, reposition the bonnet bracket and the regulator holes to drill now.

Other than that, those inner wings are superb and with the inner A panels already attached (and radiator shroud on L/H) they are a much better alternative to the Heritage wings IMO .

PS - You may think I've gone overboard with the spot welds on that reinforcer, but there were actually a lot of welds originally

[tedmcedd]

Just read through this!

Mega build this! Very impressive!

Also disappointed the dash isn't going back in... I would have, and I'd have done the roof blue again too!

Ed

[Andrew1967]

If I had to choose one Ed, it would be the blue roof and you never know, I might experiment when the time comes ...

The dash is just too scabby for my liking.

Heritage windscreen surround panel arrived today - possibly the last big and expensive panel to buy.

[WMU 211G]

Andrew, can you post up another pic of the dash please..?

Just had another look at the first pics you posted on page 1 and they got me thinking - the roof colour looks faded to a darkish grey, I think it would suit the car very well if you did it in this colour. Long time before you have to decide anyway!

[Andrew1967]

Here we are Nidge

The roof, as found, had something on it that resembled thinned down black underseal

[WMU 211G]

Cheers mate - doesn't look too bad there.

[spoon.450]

Just caught up with your progress Andrew. You are doing a fantastic, transparent, honest job of preserving HOY, without having to use the body from another car. Credit due to your skill and commitment. You will end up with a brilliant car.

[Andrew1967]

Bit more progress this week as on holiday from work.

Managed to get the doors fitted, along with the door steps and outer A panels.

Due to how I've had to suspend the shell to fit the bulkhead, I've been unable to fit the doors I am going to use. I know this is not correct BUT unless I want to cut the front quarter of the window frame off, I can't get the doors on !! Subsequently I have used some doors that I can sacrifice for first fit. Look back at the large timber support going through the door apertures to see my predicament !!

The gaps are not bad and the swage lines are good with the rear panels and A panels. Appreciate I may have to do some jiggery pokery with the correct doors when I can get it out of the support frame and fit them - nothing I haven't done before though.

Still not in a position to weld anything up yet though

Next up is the windscreen frame - not looking forward to that (especially repairing the roof edge)

Will post up some pics of progress tomorrow.

[Andrew1967]

Door pics ... you'll see why I can't fit the doors I'll be using yet

As has been pointed out by Tim W and Nick W, the MiniMachine door step first 'vertical' does rise towards the front and will need slicing, lowering and re-welding to get a good lower door gap and line.

[STG95F]

Great work Andrew , looking a bit different now !!!

[Peter Laidler]

I had similar(?) probs with my bodysides when doing it. I made some left and right hand 'doors' from shutter-ply copied exactly from the doors that I took off and made sure that the ply doors fitted the shell before I started on it. Bloody problems........ Unbeliveably, both templates of the shutter ply doors differed in their shapes left to right as though the door openings weren't symmetrical.

The new replacement doors didn't even fit properly in the old rusty (but not previously repaired shell). So I had to get the new Unipart doors (at cost plus 10% luckily) first and then make new shutter-ply doors copied from the new doors and build the shell sides around the later shutter ply doors so that the new doors would fit. What a bloody palava. My young daughter became an expert at fitting - and unfitting - mini doors a zillion times and grassing me up to wifey for my 'high language'

[Andrew1967]

What I found inside the cant rail/screen frame when I started cutting away surprised me. Presumably a mouse or something decided it was a good idea to stash some acorn kernels up there.

I took a carrier bag full of them out of the car when I got it home.

[Daz1968]

They get everywhere, I had a mouse nest behind my dash panels when I disassembled mine, they hadn’t damaged anything though

[nick@dunsdale]

The dash is just too scabby for my liking.

Looks like it could be refurbished though ..............

Impressive build

[Nick W]

Spotted your car in this month's classic car magazine

[Andrew1967]

It probably can be refurbished Nick...but not for my car

Nick W ... I've been waiting for that article to go in since about February. Will have to go and buy a copy

I wonder if its been published to coincide with the similar condition S going up for auction in there weeks time