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Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:50 am
by greyghost
it's a march '63 CKD car built in Australia. the colour is Saxon Green. this is a matching numbers car, motor/body and everything on this car matches to when it was built. i've kept this as original as possible, but i'm struggling with the interior parts. none of the material is available and it's different from the british built cars.

this car was removered from a garden in August 2008, where it had sat under a cover for a number of years (unknown but the rego expired in 2003)

when i went to look at it, it was full of condensation and looking very neglected with four flat tires and lots of dirt all over it.
when i recovered it there was a broken side window and was covered in mould and spiders but was pretty rust free, only the usual around the seams an some surface rust on the floors and everything metal under the bonnet

here it is being recovered
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got the car home, and within four hours i had it running. the only parts i replaced was the points, plugs and coil. :D

i then set about cleaning it up and making it ready for the road. this involved replacing most of the suspension components, found out that it had steel rear trumpets factory (this is not that uncommon with these cars in Australia). fitted a set of spare front seats (the originals have been lost :( )

here is a pic of it cleaned up and with its historic rego

ive been using it a lot on club runs (part of the rego restriction), with the longest run being about 800Km (500Miles)
The only visible mod's so far are that i've fitted 4 1/2 inch cooper s rims and an Australian cooper S heater

in this photo. the car is not perfect, but it is all original and all the bits i'm putting on it are period 60's parts.
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here is a pic from the mini50 drive from Melbourne to Brisbane and back (for a one day show), a total of 2600 miles in 5 days.
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the mini has covered quite a few miles since i rescued it.
i've been testing my "new" motor. which is a 998 block bored out 0.060 thou and running an 850 crank, a 998 metro (it was all i had lying around at the time) camshaft.
topped of with a 12G295 head that has had the inlet ports opened up (again it was all i had in the shed)
well after a few miles, a grand total of 10000 :shock:
i have come to the conclusion that the motor was working well. so a gave the car a cut and polish for the winter, and fitted some standard rims.
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so now i've finally fitted my 60's Smiths impulse tachometer into its CCC tacho pod and got it to work with the electronic ignition :D
which i've decided to remove and replace with a smiths chronometric tacho, for that more period feel.
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currently i'm rebuilding the rear subframe, and a set of H2 carbies.
coming in the next few weeks is a fibreglass boot lid and a new light weight battery, these are to shed some weight and follow on with the 60's race car theme.

Re: Morris 850

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:45 am
by dhenry
Really like this car. Loads of patina. Fantastic.

Re: Morris 850

Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 10:55 am
by 59fan
Fantastic car, wears it's miles with pride.

How tight are the 'Rego' restrictions?

Ian

Re: Morris 850

Posted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:16 am
by greyghost
59fan, the rego is quite restrictive. the car can only be used for gazetted club events and servicing.

well finally got the rear sub-frame rebuilt.

it was a little rusty but solid, so it was striped, acid washed and repainted
the radius arm bushes were replaced. these had never been apart before, they still had their steel sleeves for the grease.
everything else was good, as i had replaced it before.
while the rear frame was out i decided to protect the steel. i removed all of the body "deadener" then the floor was covered with an epoxy primer/sealer, which just happens to be a very similar colour to the factory paint.
now for the task of reassembly.

next time the motor is out i will drop out the front subframe and rack, and repeat the process on the firewall and engine bay.

the rusty sub frame. this is the top side.
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the repainted subframe.
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the floor.
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Re: Morris 850

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 4:04 am
by greyghost
well i finally rolled the car out of the shed, for the first time in 12 months.
i ended up having to re-paint the entire car. after the colour couldn't be matched.
after a long hunt, i found someone who had the correct colour code from BMC and the correct paint manufacturer.

the car has been painted in Enamel as it was from the factory, to give it that original "luster"


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before photo of the front corner

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after i've worked my magic

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i still have the interior to finish, so if you have a set of red/grey fleck seat covers. i'm keen :D

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 3:09 pm
by ronie
Wow, what a beauty!!!!

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:44 pm
by JC T ONE
Really nice 8-) me like a lot :)

Jens Christian

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Sun Jul 17, 2011 11:17 pm
by InimiaD
Very nice indeed. Great work. 8-)

Re: Morris 850

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 1:50 am
by Tim
The car looks terrific, thats one of the best colours from that period too. I'm curious though, why you didn't repair that small crease in the rear quarter?
greyghost wrote: Image
Tim

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Mon Jul 18, 2011 7:24 am
by greyghost
we never intended to restore it, so it still has some battle scars. there is another one just above the fuel filler and the pic makes it look a lot worse than it really is.
its not "that" straight. as someone drove it through a wire fence in it's past, so the shell is "solid" but banged up
and its not for show, i like to drive it and drive it "hard" :D

this all started cause i was re-building my rear subframe, and then thought "i'll just get rid of the rust in the rear seams". then "oh no" i can't get the correct paint (or rather the car was the wrong colour), so it became "oh well might as well paint the whole thing"

first time in 5 years

Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 6:19 am
by greyghost
well for the first time in Five years, I've driven the mini out of the shed and taken it for a short (for this part of the world) drive of approximately 100km
gave her some fresh fuel and a wash,
I'm now contemplating whether to keep it or not :( , I just no longer have the time to use it or the inclination as I drive high miles daily for work. and the last thing I want to do with my spare time is drive
also with the total lack of safety features I refuse to put my kids in there. besides they are too scared to go near it "cause that makes dad grumpy"

well as all the pics in this thread are dead (thanks photofail) here are a couple from today.
in this one if you look closely you can see the accumulation of dust
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tucked away after a run, all clean and shiny
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one last pick outside while its all clean
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Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:45 am
by SKIPPY68
that is a lovely colour ..

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 10:39 am
by UHR850
:D Lime Green :?:

Kees.

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 11:10 pm
by greyghost
Saxon Green is the official BMC colour

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 11:26 am
by mk1
Sorry to hear that you feel it may be time to say goodbye to your lovely little Mini.

If you do decide that it is time to part company, I am sure that it will find another home very easily.

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Fri Oct 12, 2018 2:00 pm
by motodevo
I love it, looks spot on. Clean and original with a few tasteful period mods, and saxon green is probably my fav aussie 850 colour. Hold onto it if you can, they're getting harder and harder to find. If you do decide to sell, i might be interested if finances allow (I'm in SE melbourne), i just dont have the time these days to get my 64 astro grey 850 on the road

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Sat Oct 13, 2018 10:19 am
by greyghost
I am looking at sending it to a Shannons auction in the new year.
if you find yourself heading up towards the Ballarat way, I could possibly bring the car out for you to have a good look at

Re: Morris 850 Finally Painted

Posted: Wed Oct 17, 2018 2:58 am
by motodevo
Probably couldn't scratch up the cash to be honest. But will keep an eye out at shannons as its only 5 mins down the road. Good luck with the sale.
Just gotta get the motivation to finish mine i guess