KR 5670

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ian judd
Posts: 176
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2008 6:01 pm

Re: KR 5670

Post by ian judd »

Ian, re: oil pressure - was this 35psi hot at idle? My engine when really hot is usually around 25.
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Yeah, it was 35 hot/idle, but (gentle) revving didn't seem to boost it any. I plan to Araldite a coin or similar over the hole in the sideplate this weekend so I should be able to run it for a longer time and see what happens. After 15 minutes of idling, the calormeter was still only showing luke warm, which I guess means that the block isn't totally clogged with rust! if I can get the brakes back in, then I can actualy drive it up our hill and hopefully get it to something like normal runnning temperature.

I'm sure, for the mileage I'm going to be looking at, its probably got years of life in it. If I double the mileage since it was built, it'll only be at 8,000 miles. :o
Trevor Wilkinson
Posts: 161
Joined: Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:44 pm
Location: Bedfordshire UK

Re: KR 5670

Post by Trevor Wilkinson »

How is the 1970s oil looking now? I remember years ago buying a car that had not been used for years and as I was only "getting bits off it" and was scrapping the remains. Thought I :( would drain the engine oil as it was "clean as a whistle". When I removed the sump plug thick black treacle came out first, all the muck had settled,followed by clean oil! :(
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Yep - I'm wondering the same thing Trevor!
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Unbelievable that, looking back in this thread, it was 4th May this year when I last found time to work on the fabric saloon!

Well, I got a pretty good session in today, replacing the offside front road spring. Both front springs are seriously flattened, so much so that there is less than 1/2" clearance between the rubber bump stops and the chassis. This has to be sorted before I can drive it more than a few yards. Luckily, the McEvoy, which is currently in a million pieces has two good front springs, so I decided to borrow them for the time being for the fabric saloon while I get the fabric saloon's springs re-tempered.

So today, the plan was to replace both front springs. But due to the usual gotchas along the way, I only managed to get the offside spring replaced. It is not a simple job to replace a road spring on an assemble Minor. I jacked the car up on the offside front engine mount, but I needed to put blocks under the jack because, with the new spring in place, I needed to raise the car about another two inches after the wheel came off because of the curve of the new spring, in order to get the wheel back on again. The old spring came off with not too much swearing. Interestingly, there was no steering wedge fitted, but there is one (the correct way round with the thick end to the rear), on the nearside! Once again, the McEvoy donated a wedge.

Then the real problems started to set in. I noticed that the stud that located the spring onto the front axle was actually in the top of the axle beam and not under the spring on the lower plate where I'd expect it to be. I'm not sure whether this is a feature of the early cars or whether the stud had seized in the beam and become detached from the spring plate. But in any case, I solved the immediate problem by swapping the lower spring plates from the two springs. As I was doing this, I noticed that the two pairs of spring assembly countersunk screws were of considerably different length, which could only mean one thing. Sure enough, the fabric saloon springs had six leaves, while the McEvoy springs had the normal seven - hence the longer screws. A bit more general fettling and I had a complete spring with seven leaves ready to fit. The refitting went fairly well, except that, with the additional curve, it was impossible to get the front shackle pin in once I had bolted the spring to the axle beam, so the spring had to come off the axle beam again so I could fit the front shackle pin first. Once this was fitted, I was able to strong-arm the axle beam into position to accept the spring on the stud and hold it there while I got the first of the four attachment bolts in - definitely a three-handed job but a string of suitable and well-timed curses did the job!

After that, the rest was relatively plain sailing, but before taking the car off the jacks I refitted the cleaned up offside front brake cam, cam lever, cable and pulley gear - all original, and not needing anything more than a clean and grease.

So I decided to finish for the day on a high note and not start on the other side. With no room to work in the garage, I have to push the car out into the drive to work on it, and I didn't want is up on the jack when it gets dark this evening and have to spend the next week outside. Today was a rare cloudless and warm autumn day in these parts. Let's hope that there is a similar day next weekend so that I can do the other side.

Incidentally, when I finally let the car off the jack, it now has a very pronounced list to port which will remain until I replace the nearside spring!

Once the springs and brakes are all back in, the next tasks will be to replace the rusted out water jacket side plates and then tackle the wiring, which is original, but in poor condition. This will involve removing the instrument panel - always a fiddly job. I have authentic black woven wire from Paul Beck going in and will run the new wires exactly along the routing of the originals. If I can get this little lot done by winter, then I should be able to drive the car up the road for the first time in about forty years, and be much closer to being ready for the Two Hemispheres!

One enigma remains. When I was cleaning the shackle pin, I found a tiny ball bearing in the pin's side-drilled grease hole - almost the exact size of the hole. What on earth was it doing there?
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

While I was under the car at the weekend, I came across this tiny but very telling mod. This is the view under the rear of the offside front wing where it meets the running board. If you look carefully, you can see where a small flap has been cut and folded back on the wing - to accomodate the front corner of the body sill. On Minor bodies, the ash is chamfered so that it dsoesn't interfere with the wing, but this was not necessary with the Wolseley Hornet bodies because the chassis - and hence the running boards - was longer, and so there was no interference. When this Hornet body was fitted to this MInor chassis by Matby's, they took the opposite approach - cutting the wing open instead of chamfering the body - presumably so as not to disturb the fabric covering.

Image
plj
Posts: 157
Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:23 am

Re: KR 5670

Post by plj »

Ian,
Re the "small ballbearing", some clip-on type grease nipples used to have a spring loaded ball to keep dirt out and grease in, could it be one of these?
Regards,

Philip
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Ah - yes, actually it could be that a grease nipple 'swallowed' its own spring-loaded ball bearing at some point in thr dim and distant past! It was only about 1 mm in diameter.
Ronald
Posts: 327
Joined: Sun Nov 26, 2006 10:05 pm
Location: Dorset.........

Re: KR 5670

Post by Ronald »

Glad to see you're using a period JACK Ian........... although i can't quite work out why you might need to have your name on the inside of the rear tyre.....??
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Ha! The jack came with the car. The rear tyre has my name on it because when the car got here, I cycled all four wheels through the local tyre shop to have new inner tubes fitted as all the originals were perished. I think they crayoned this on so they could keep track of whose wheels they were!

Incidentally, the spare tyre has 'LONDON TO BRIGHTON' painted in white paint around it. Since the car was rallied in the early sixties by Olive Willats, I'm not sure if this pre-dates the Morris Register Brighton runs or whether the car was a spectator in the RAC run. The GB plate was fitted for the Italian trip.

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plj
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Re: KR 5670

Post by plj »

Looks as though it's fitted with a Series 2 Morris 8 type luggage rack.

Philip
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Ah - is that where it came from? Another piece of history falls into place! Thanks!
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

I'm planning a bit of a blitz on KR 5670 this weekend. It has been gathering a coat of dust over the winter, so, with a dare dry spring weekend forecast in Seattle, I've decided to get it running for Drive-it Day. It doesn't have any brakes (other than the transmission brake) right now because the brake shoes are with Ian Harris for lining. But I'll get it out this weekend, give it a good clean, change the water jacket side plates, re-wire the ignition, charge the battery and generally prepare it for the road so I can actually drive it the following weekend!

Being at the start of the vintage motoring season, Drive-it Day provides an ideal incentive to at least get your car out, give it a spring clean and fire it up - and even better if you can give it its first run of the year. And since we no longer need an MoT in the UK, there's no excuse not to!
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Yes, I know. I should have finished M 149 at the weekend, but the weather was perfect, so I worked on KR instead.

It was covered in dust from a long winter laid up, so I pulled it out and gave it a bit of a clean. I am replacing the rusted water jacket side plates with stainless steel ones from Mike Dowley, so removed the carb. and manifold. The carb was gummed up with stale fuel, so a good time to clean it out and also add an inline filter, as the tank floor looks pretty nasty.

Next job is to replace the nearside front road spring. I replaced the offside one last autumn, so the the car has a distinct list to port right now!

Then the job I am not looking forward to - the ignition rewire and sorting the seized ignition switch. Never fun to pull the panel out.

The plan is to have all this sorted by next weekend, so I can drive it gently around the property using the transmission handbrake.
Ian Grace
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Re: KR 5670

Post by Ian Grace »

Well, that was the plan - so I could run it on Drive-it-Day, but the weather here has been terrible again, after a brief few nice days, and I can only work on the car outside as there isn't a spare inch in the garage. Not that I could drive it far yet even if I had it running, with the brake shoes in England. All of the rest of the brakes have been dismantled, cleaned and greased, with no wear found in anything. The 180 degree cable system is still in place - it will be interesting to see how well they work, given that they are virtually as they left the factory.
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