Sep 59 Morris Mini

[SteveG]

Hi. Been quite busy on the car but after starting it bought a 62 Tartan red 997 Cooper that needs full resto also! I'm gluten for punishment. I am kind of doing both at once but will get the Cooper finished first.

I had some problems with the 59 at the body shop. The company doing the work went bust half way though. He had the welding finished and most body work. I had to rescue the car and get it to another painter. The car got painted and dropped off to my house at night. It looked good but in daylight some horrors emerged. Under the car the has some patches like boot and floor. The welds (although good) have not been tidied up and there is no paint under the car! Also in the wheel arches the underseal was just painted over and not stripped off 1st. It looked quite good but i'm trying to do everything right on this car so today decided to strip all the underseal off the arches and under the car.

Heat gun came in handy! The original Clipper Blue paint is preserved nicely under the underseal but will need to be painted again as my scraper is marking it. I should have kept a closer eye on the painter but had thought he knew all the instructions. My bad. You live and learn.

I reckon I can rectify it. The shell is in good condition and it will be a top car once finished.

I'll try to add photos soon.

[SteveG]

Some Photos taken tonight. Getting welding certified tommorow to allow me to register it for road use again. Long way to go yet as engine rebuild has not started.

While the 62 cooper is getting painted this is keeping me busy in the garage. Amazingly it did not fall over in last weeks bigger earthquakes.

[nunecos]

Nice! Now you may start with the assembly!

[SteveG]

Some updates. Been busy on my 997 Cooper sourcing parts but while that shell is away I have spent some weekends working on some 59 stuff. I was not happy with the finish under the car and also the boot, engine bay and arches! (not much huh?)

I masked off all the good bits and stripped everything else back. I etch primed the underside and arches and re applied a smooth underseal, then primed and repainted Clipper blue. I finished the boot and engine bay tonight.

Also this weekend I have painted OEW wheels for 997 cooper and Riveted 59 wheels. I striped back the red fan for 59 and yellow fan for Cooper and painted those with correct colour. I also painted the fuel tanks. Note for photo 59 tank with no drain hole.

All in all good weekend work. Need a bit of tidying on the inside of the shell but its almost ready for re-assembly. I have to save up money to get the engine rebuilt as all my money is sunk into the 997 cooper

some photos below

[SteveG]

Fuel tank (bit dusty after sitting near somthing I was rubbing down)

[olddad]

When I mention my gas tank also has no drain hole, folks seem to be surprised. I wonder when BMC started with the tank drain??

Did you paint your speedo cowl OEW? Mine looks to be a bit more tannish (newly coined word) than OEW and could use a touch up.

[SteveG]

Hi Old Dad (is it really you?)

I painted it OEW yes.

[SteveG]

Some more updates.. sorry for slow replies. Been busy with moving house and Earthquakes.

Making great progress now. I bought a doner 1960 Mini for soem common parts. I got a nice heater from it 59 style which I have cleaned up and painted. The engine is painted and back in. I Found some nice single leading shoe brake cylinders and so keeping brakes original (and crap).

Original radius arms with tubes for handbrake cables have come up well. Subrames were acid dipped and painted and look tops. I got NOS hub caps which I'm chuffed about. I have the original rocker cover with 2 types of rivets. I am keeping that aside to restore later. I have a replacement painted up.

The paint job was not perfect. Some moisture under the paint so another thing to fix :/

I only have a original brake master cylinder which needs work as its damaged so I have bought 2 new replacements. They look far too shiney but are not a long term solution so atleast I know they will work well.

[66S]

Hi Steve,
Nice to see your progress. Have popped in to Chris's a couple of times but he has been away. It looks like your fan is fitted back-to-front, better check that.

Regards
Al

[814CWE]

mines got the earlier heater,with the 3 bolt fitting though out of the same batch of ckd cars!!

[SteveG]

Moved onto interior now.

Re used original dunlop foam in front seats as they were not to bad. Bought new bases to tighten them up. The rear seat was a little tricky as the rear back is only horse hair. After time the 'hair' has become a bit flat so I had to play with it to bulk it up (that sentence seems weird) Anyway, After alot of playing / leaving it a day / playing / leaving it i'm happy with the result.

[814CWE]

has yours got the beading across the rear seat base? mine hasnt

[SteveG]

Been a while sice my last update but I have been working hard on it.

Alot of midnights. I wait till kids (and wife) are in bed and get out there!

Updates:

Got the engine going and went OK for a first run. After a tune up it now sounds very nice and very quiet. I could sit there all day watching it 'tick over' (am I sad?)

After having to remove the radiator because of a leak I got it re-cored. I put it back in last week and drip drip drip grrrr! after wiping everything and filling water to the top I pumped the hoses to check. Turns out it was dripping from the hole in the water pump. Its the original pump which I had reconditioned. Thanks to AL its getting a new seal.

I finished refurbing the number plates. I had rubbed them down and put grease on the letters and numbers.. Then gave them several coats of paint.. left it a few days then wiped off the grease with a rag. They look very nice.

I fitted them up today onto the new backing plates (name?) Then cleaned up the chrome and glass on my old number plate light and fitted that also. After wiring that up I gave it a try and works perfectly. Nothing like working with a new loom!

I fitted new seat belts during the week so thats another thing off the list. The carpet is just about ready to go in now.

Not too many jobs to go so getting excited. Then the car goes for a very stringent MOT as its been off the road over 30 years. Thats a bit scary but should be fine as Everything is reconditioned and (so far) working well.

Sorry for lack of photos.. I always forget. I'll try to take more soon.

[SteveG]

Plates on in the early hours.

[SteveG]

sorry for the large photos

update : new seal in water pump (thanks 66S aka Al) and shes all back together.

Had to think If I can start her up at 10pm and annoy the neighbours.. I decided as its a 850 I can get away with it. Ran it up for 15 mins and no leaks!

[SteveG]

Got up this morning full of life and ready for some good progress. Fired her up to hear her run again and the bypass hose crapped out! and its new.. grrrrr

decided to focus on other areas today.

I had to make up some clevis pins for the rear handbrake cables as the 59 bracket is different it seems from later mk1's. It required a longer pin. Got that done. Then went out and got soem correct bolts to bolt the seats in. Next I finished my seat belt install and very happy with the results. I opted for stalks in the middle as I had always sitting on the buckle as they get caught under the seat. (i'm actually going to drive this thing so it has to be practicle).

I fitted the hose from rocker cover breather to air box. Then I attempted to get the doors to close properly with the new seals.. Bit of a job that was.. I have finished the passenger door. I had to bend the frame in a bit (another job I should have done before painting the car) Its shuts quite nicely now and the door is flush with the body. The driver door is closing but not happy with how far its sticking out so more work there.

I screwed in the retaining plate for the gearlever rubber boot.

Tonight I started to recover my roof lining. THe original plain gray ones were ripped transporting the car with no glass in. I have some nice replacements again in plain grey (this car is before the nice cream crackle fancy stuff)

All in all a good days work. Not too many jobs to go (bloody bypass hose aside)

[SteveG]

Jobs done last night.. not as much as I wanted, but some good results

- new kevlar bypass hose fitted
- new water pump gasket
- took off bottom hose as noticed it was too long and had a 'kink' at the bottom (might have been the cause of water pissing out the top) I cut some off and it looks good now
- replaced a U bolt to rubber coupling as thread had stripped
- fitted bracket onto manifold for throttle return spring. It feels great now
- took radiator right out and put the rubber around it (I had forgotten to do it and was impossible with radiator in). Also fitted the radiator better this time as it wasn't quite right before.

That's it. Not bad for one night.. Fired it up for a bit and no leaks so far!!!

List is shrinking. Just ordered more parts from Local supplier. Setting myself a goal of finishing the car Sunday night.. will see! I'll trey to take photos at the weekend.

[SteveG]

Its Sunday night.. Car not finished as hoped but more off the list. I'll go back out to the garage soon to kill time before the GP starts.

Jobs done today :

-Fitted new gasket to fuel sender ring (it started weeping when I filled the tank last week) Used some 'gasket goop' which is fine with fuel. I was told to do this as fuel can still leak from the screw holes where gasket it not present.
-Fitted other small carpet peices.. Had to trim up first (newtons)
-Fitted nuts and washers to trailing arms
-changed headlight bulb which had blown
-Fitted indicator stalk to column. Fitted column cowl.
-fitted dash surrounds- cleaned up ashtray and fitted that (yes it still counts as a job!)
- Tidied up the battery cable under the car which was sagging down in places

All in all the car is really starting to look like a proper mini again. I fitted my bonnet during the week but the threads have stripped so I couldn't tighted it up (the threads on the brackets that bolt to the bulk head and the back of the bonnet) I have some spare brackets but they are the type without welded on bolts so hopefully these will do the trick. I think they were off my 62 Cooper. I pained them clipper blue today and will attempt to fit tomorrow night.

I still have head lining to finish off, horn to make work (the horn works, but its not going when I push the buttom so need to investigate).

I took it for my 2nd sneaky drive round the block when dark. A policeman lives 15 doors down so I have a quick run then stright up the drive. It goes OK, but when I give it more gas there is some small backfire through the carb so needs looking at.

Any suggestions to what it could be?

Photos are of fuel sender unit starting to get cleaned up. (had about 3 coats of black paint on it)

[SteveG]

p.s. My fuel gauge now works after cleaning the sender up! So the fuel leak wasn't the end of the world.

[SteveG]

OK.. it was 10pm and 2 hours till GP starts.

Got back out there and refused to let the bonnet beat me.

I drilled out the factory welded bolts from the brackets.. Figured best to do it this way then use the other brackets. Then used some nice new bolts and washers and put bonnet back on.

I swear (actually I did swear alot) trying to fit the bonnet was like playing with a rubics cube... you think you are nearly there but then need to make 10 moves before making any progress.

2 steps back, one step forward quite often! Eventually i've cracked it.. gaps pretty good all round and bonnet shuts fine. Pretty chuffed with days progress now