Vintage Minor Register

John,

I have a new starting handle bracket and I'll take some photos of it for you.

Ian

Not very good shots, but I think you'll get the idea.

Thanks Ian - looks straight forward. - I notice from an eBay photo, sign-posted via PWMN and 'Market Place', that the dumb-iron surround might also include a 'fancy' number plate surround/cover? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1932-MORRIS-M ... 231301c189

Not sure if it this helps but here’s a picture of the apron and bonnet platforms on my 1934 LWB saloon.
The chassis on the 4-door is straight at the front and doesn’t curve downwards like the 2-door, so this may not be of much use.

The apron is 6 inches deep and the 4 louvres are 5 1/4 ins. wide.
It has a raised profile round the bottom and is cut straight at the top to fit under the side pieces which have a lip overlapping the apron.
There are 2 cut-outs to access the radiator fixing bolts and a hole for the starting handle.
It’s fastened into the cross member at the top with 2 L-shaped brackets welded onto the back and at the sides with 2 bolts into the chassis.

The bonnet platforms follow the line of the chassis and lie in top of the wings. They have a turned over lip which overlaps the apron at the front and follows its contour. They’re fastened with 3 flat-headed round bolts: two into the chassis side member and one into the front cross member near the radiator which also holds the brackets on the apron. There’s a 4th bolt into the chassis at the front, also holding the apron.

They’re all shaped to fit the chassis, and each other, so I guess cardboard templates would ensure a good fit if they’re being specially made.

Thanks Peter - the photos have really helped me; I now know which way round to form the lourves and approx how high tall to make the panel. Had not thought about leaving cut-outs for the Radiator fixing bolts.

Will try to find some cardboard now + think about how I might form a bead and make a lourve

John

Jpallis001 wrote:Thanks Ian - looks straight forward. - I notice from an eBay photo, sign-posted via PWMN and 'Market Place', that the dumb-iron surround might also include a 'fancy' number plate surround/cover?

dumb iron surround 2.jpg

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1932-MORRIS-M ... 231301c189

That's a separate steel bracket made from flat bar that bolts on over the front valence. The one in the photo is not original, but is roughly the correct design. Some people attach another guide for the starting handle on this bracket.

I am sure that a chap wearing a blind-fold; riding a galloping horse, might not notice the lourve spacing and openings!
Can now go back to try to sort out the bonnet. The longer bonnet looks to have a different angle on the front where it lines up with the Radiator. Anyone got advice on how to set the height of radiator? Is it just determined by the thickness of the Radiator mounting rubbers, or do you need to set the Rad height as well as its 'rake'? or is it simply vertical? with the Bonnet hinge being horizontal?

Suspect I might have to go back to Plan A and repair the 'shorter' bonnet .

Don't want to cause trouble but the 33 and 34 aprons should have the top curved to suit the curved radiator surround bottom! This removes the need to have access holes. I need a flat topped one as I sold my spare before buying a 32 car that needed one! If you want to do a swap for an original for your car I'd be interested. The rad is set up according to the bonnet... Height and rake to suit as the scuttle is a fixed point. I have a longer 34 bonnet if required that could be swapped for a 32/33 one if necessary.... The longer one had 2 catches per side and the earlier ones just one catch per side...

Here's a picture of the 31/32 type, then the 33/34 type....





and my spare...

Thanks Toby, since I last posted I have modifed the panel to solve the access to Radiator nuts issue. The bonnet has challenged me quite a bit. The Driver's side top section fitted quite well. The Passenger's side top did not; at the front it was suggesting that the front of the vertical side panel should not be vertical. The radiator was vertical fore and aft, and vertical side to side. The Radiator was parrallel to the firewall.

Wasted a lot of time until I folded the two halves back onto each other; both the front and back edges of Passenger side section were not at 90 degrees to the hinge. The Drivers side was.

A little bit of fettling with a thin cutting disc and the top sections now fit quite well. I now need to repair the side hinges.

It took quite a while to repair both of the bonnet side hinges. I welded a 16swg angle strip onto the sides of the bonnet and then welded on 16 50mm eyes that I had to form. It is strong and looks to work. Still have not found out how the bonnet rubber fits to the body - any ideas? (photos included in earlier post ).

What 'rubbers' should be fitted to the holes that are drilled in the corners of the vertical bonnet panels?
The repair of the wings is also taking a lot of time, hope to finish welding + prime by the end of the week. Does the front wing attach to the running board?
Managed to glue the vinyl to the roof today, just got to work out how to 'glue'/waterproof a couple of areas where vinyl meets vinyl and then to fit sliding roof tracks. Have not made or even designed the sliding componet of the roof yet - a job for later - I sure it will never rain again in Durham!

John,

Tremendous progress. To answer a couple of your questions, the corners of the vertical panels are protected by small leather traingular corners that slip over the corners of the panel and are held in place through the holes with bifurcated (posh word for split!) brass rivets and washers. These corners are no longer available in their original form, but you can obtain rubber ones from the usual coachwork suspects like Paul Beck and Woolies. The rear one should be about 60 degrees - to match the angle of the bonnet (on the post-1929 cars), so the new rubber parts (which are 90 degrees) aren't exactly a good fit - but at least they will prevent you from gouging paint off your newly-restored wings!

Regarding the attachment of the front wings to the running boards - the answer is yes. There should be a roughly rightangle steel strip that bolts through three holes on the rear edge of the wing and screws to the underside of the front of the wooden running board. I say roughly rightangle because there is a bit of a channel formed in the horizontal part with drain holes through it. I think that Harry Edwards used to suppply these, so I'd call Ian Harris who took over Harrys stock, as he may well be able to help you with a pair.

I don't know if this is original but it seems the right sort of thing.
I've got a few spare small bifurcated rivets for the bonnet corner rubbers if you need them.

Thanks Peter - that photo is really useful + timely. I made a pair of 'L' bracket yesterday, I will convert them to 'U' s this morning. I can now see how the gutter that Ian mentioned is formed. Thanks for the rivet offer, I will have a bit think about how to make the corner protectors next week. I have some bits of leather and some bits of rubber. Did think about cutting block of rubber and routing out a slot to allow it to cover corner or getting some leather stitched to form corners. I had some success making a pair of front bump stops from some rubber last week; I gripped the blocks (boat trailer keel blocks), by their retaining stud, into the lathe and turned them down to shape. I had not attempted to turn rubber before but was pleasantly surprised how it worked.

I could do with a photo that shows how the rubber strip that goes around the bulkhead works - is yours original/functional?

John

Not my car but looks right.
Acknowledgement TJ 3818