Morris 10M

[TWOTENS]

Not much progress this last couple of weeks. I am still awaiting the rechromed bumpers and have a few last tweaks to do on the brakes before they are finished. The problem has been working space and my reluctance to turn out the Austin into the pouring rain to give me some elbow room. I have done a little local tidying up on the bodywork, however, and managed to crawl far enough underneath to get Waxoyl onto the rest of the chassis and floor.

I have managed to give the Austin its long overdue Spring service at long last, with an oil change, lots of greasing and oiling around steering and brake linkages and some other odd bits and pieces. I could do with changing the points as well, and the offside trafficator is sticking (not too much a worry since the car also has flashing indicators as well.)

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1937 Austin 10 Cambridge

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[TWOTENS]

Bumpers have now returned from the platers and look very good. Spent an enjoyable few hours painting the reverse face and then fitting them again. Makes a great difference. Interestingly the plater said don't use chrome plated bumper bolts without some kind of isolating washer, either plastic or stainless steel. Apparently chrome on chrome can set up chemical reactions and create staining! I had bought some polished stainless bumper bolts anyway.

Spent the sunny part of this weekend finishing the brakes off. Managed to finally get a solid pedal by the end of the day and now it just remains to be seen whether the leaky joints on the master cylinder have responded favourably to a tweak with the spanner.
Things left to do prior to MOT are largely to do with the lights. Also found that the bottom hose clip is at a funny angle and is leaking. The whole thing needs flushing through and refilling anyway.

Alas, its tipping it down here now, which limits what I can do, in a rather congested garage. So much for weather forecasting which went (for today) from cracking the flags on Friday, to chance of rain on Saturday to heavy rain this morning. I don't think we need worry about climate change.

Will post some more pictures when I can get the Morris out of the garage.

[TWOTENS]

Finally got the Morris out of the garage into the sunshine after a break for hols and washed off all of the dust!

water spotted Morris

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Brakes now seem to be working as far as I can tell (firm pedal anyway)...but no brake lights.
The switch is mechanical attached by a spring and a short chain to the extension of the brake pedal, which sticks through a slot in the bottom of the box that the master cylinder bolts on to. The switch is pushrod activated and contacts must be held permanently open by a spring which acts against the linkage with the pedal. Thus when the pedal is pressed, the tension in the linkage is released and the contacts shut. Morris must have had some kind of a pact with the devil in terms of brake system design. The whole system seems to be designed to require you to be a contortionist midget to carry out any work on it whatsoever. Hooray for Austins with pushrods and levers.
I need to do some circuit testing to see whether the issue is switch or wiring.
Headlights too need some attention, and after a lot of head scratching I have found someone who will sell me double contact 15mm bulb holders that I can substitute for the ones presently fitted.
With a bit of rewiring I can then have proper double dip headlights to get through my MOT.
Other jobs done, cleaned out the carb and fitted a new damper rod (old one snapped and inoperative....can't imagine how they did that!) Also refitted a new bottom hose, after flushing out radiator and added in some leak sealant to act as anti corrosive as well as to pick up any minor pinholes here and there.

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[pryantcc]

Headlights too need some attention, and after a lot of head scratching I have found someone who will sell me double contact 15mm bulb holders that I can substitute for the ones presently fitted.

I'd be interested in seeing a photo of them when you get them please, have been contemplating something similar, but like you, couldn't find any holders!

[TWOTENS]

They are a straight swap, ordered from http://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/, who can also supply appropriate bulbs.

Some rewiring is necessary as well. In the original setup the feed from the dashboard switch goes straight to the single filament lights and the dipswitch only controls the solenoid, switching of the offside lamp being via an integral switch in the dipping mechanism.

If, however, you swap the power feed to the dipswitch for a line from the headlamp switch and then connect the two separate headlamp filaments to each respective outgoing terminal of the dipswitch, you should get alternative filaments in sequence as the switch is worked. It seems to work on the Morris anyway after a bit of headscratching. Make sure any redundant wires are properly terminated. It is fair to say that the amount of dipping effect generated is fairly token, due to the nature of the headlamp lens, but the only alternative would be to adapt the rim to take a modern lighting unit. However if you align the headlamps to the dipped setting then you should get lighting that is adequate for the sort of speeds that a 30's/40's car is likely to be travelling at.

I removed the solenoid from the dipping lamp and locked the reflector with a small self tapper. The whole installation could be reinstated as original if required, although unless something changes in the law I can't see why you would. Indeed, the dip and switch headlamp system was seen as a potential accident causer even in the late thirties, after a series of head on collisions caused by oncoming cars being mistaken for motorcycles on dark country roads.

[TWOTENS]

Not much activity on the Morris front in the last few weeks. The deadline for the Austin’s MOT came up and I spent some time tinkering with all of the bits that I suspected would be a fail....and then missed the one thing that actually failed it, the front wheel bearings.

I did the usual tug and twist to check for play, but found nothing untoward, I didn’t however, spin the wheel and if I had, I would have heard the rumble that presages the death of a bearing. Offside was quite bad, nearside less so. The garage retired to a respectful distance and waited for me to decide whether to do it myself or let them do it. After weighing up time, the cost of a retest and the hire of a suitable puller, I decided to let them do it and very efficient they were too, taking the old bearings to a local bearing stockholder, matching them up and reinstalling.

Why didn’t I hear the rumble when I was driving? Generally there are so many whirrs and whines in a thirties car going at any speed, that a bit of rumble from a front wheel is neither here nor there, especially when it is out in the open under a separate wing as opposed to contained under a modern enclosed integral wing. Plus I am a little deaf these days.....!

On the Morris front I literally took off the Morris front when I rewired the headlights, that is to say I took out the grille when I rewired, and then painted around inside the cowl and the front cross member, before replacing the grille with new stainless screws.

No grille!

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Almost time to impose another ancient car on my long suffering local garage for its MOT! But first I need to have a discreet ramble up and down the private lane to the rear one morning and make sure that it all works properly.

[paul]

Just spent my break ( and some extra reading your posts.

Well written and a cracking piece of work.

[TWOTENS]

Good news, an original Morris 10 bonnet mascot has turned up at a reasonable price and has been fitted to replace the distinctly non standard art deco streamlined hawk that came with the car.

New mascot

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This Morris 10 mascot is only the second one that I've seen for sale this year, the first being on Ebay in March, and which rapidly climbed to over £60.00, which was a bit more than I was prepared to spend at the time. I managed to get this one for £28, which is still not cheap, but is probably par for the course for a rare item of trim. I am still short of a length of chrome strip that fits between the mascot and the centre line of the grille down the curve of the radiator cowl, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.

Brake lights are still temperamental, and I suspect that there is insufficient travel on the pedal to set off the mechanism, which is a mechanical spring loaded set up. I'll check the pedal clearance at the master cylinder, for starters and then play with the spring linkage and see if it will adjust.

I have also finally refurbished the window sliding channels in the nearside doors, a great improvement both functionally and in appearance.

And finally, a new tyre. This started as a new inner tube for the leaky spare, but Longstone advised that the casing was rather elderly, and so I invested in a new Avon Tourist. This will go on the front nearside, which is a little worn and will be relegated to spare.

[TWOTENS]

Haven't been on for a while, but I have been working on the 10, aiming to get things ready for an MOT, amounting to lots of small fiddly bits, and then finally I got around to trying her out prior to a more serious road trip to an MOT station a couple of miles away.
Although she ran with a clear exhaust when tested when originally purchased, I have been aware that subsequent startups have resulted in increasing amounts of smoke, and began to wonder if the continuous inactivity had led to some of the rings becoming sticky. However, two ring soaks using Redex, yielded only a small improvement with smoke both idling (slight) and when revved (serious) and a compression test dry and then wet showed the classic worn piston ring symptoms.

Lifting and stripping the head (yes an OHV motor in a 1946 Morris!) showed that the valves were a very slack fit indeed and the stem seals almost useless. There was one certain source of the smoke anyway.

Bores were quite good, only a fairly small lip at the top and no apparent damage to crowns or bores. I have therefore obtained a set of valves and guides and tomorrow aim to take the head to an engine specialist in the area to have the guides fitted and the seats recut.

Meanwhile I will drop the sump, and install some new rings and big end shells.

[TWOTENS]

Sump is now dropped and cleaned out. Approx 5 mm of thick black gloop was sat at the bottom and the gauze filter was covered with a thick greasy layer the consistency of mushy peas!!!! Markings on the crank suggest that it is standard, but I have not yet undone the big ends and removed any pistons until I get my next supply of parts, to whit, a set of piston rings.
So, I have spent quite a long time cleaning everything up, have removed and cleaned and painted the dynamo and as soon as the rings appear, I will drop the first piston and see what state the journals are in.