Rear Brake Cylinder Bits... Advice needed!

We're moving slowly now, trying to get the brakes all together...

Here's a diagram of the Morris Minor brake rear slave cylinder:






Notice how there is a piston and dust cover in one piece on the right.

Here's a picture of that piston and dust cover piece from one of the slave cylinders of our car:



As you can see in this image - the dust cover cap has come off of the piston.. Looks like it was originally tac-welded.

Any suggestions for how we can get them re-bonded???

Screw extractor fail

The screw extractor fails - we can't seem to get the bolt out.

The problem is that the tap we used on the top of the screw extractor couldn't grip the screw extractor tightly enough. The screw extractor slips when the tap is turned even when it is tightened as much as possible in the tap.

Uh oh... Thermostat housing bolt woes...

Well tonight was a little bit of a disaster...


We tried to remove the threaded pins that hold the thermostat housing on to the engine head from the head as the threads to hold the thermostat side were all damaged.



So now we've got the one bolt stuck in the engine head... We're going to need special tools to remove this puppy, we're thinking.

Gavin is sceptical as always, Joel is optimistic he's heard of the right tool to use...



We warm the area around the other remaining bolt before trying to loosen it with the vise grips.



We have a success this time.

Bits from the UK have arrived!

Good news! Bits from the ESM Motors in the UK have arrived to help us get the old girl running. Timing was impeccable as the courier delivered them 2 hours after Joel and fam arrived back from a restorative skiing sojourn in Japan.



Turns out ordering parts from the UK is surprisingly easy - delivery took just over a week after the order was placed. We have now received a new muffler, brake shoes, handbrake cable,thermostat and housing, engine manifold, as well as a myriad of other bits including gaskets, bolts, clips, pins and bushes...

Gavin displays the old vs new mufflers. We're very happy with our decision to purchase a ready made exhaust and muffler rather than have to get one fabricated here. This way it (hopefully) will all fit together easily. No need to drive sans muffler to get one fabricated..


Gavin has been becoming more and more itchy to get the car fixed up mechanically and back on the road. A short term win would be a nice motivator on this project.


Joel wisely checks the delivered parts with the manifest to make sure we've got all the bits.



Papa Goodman also inspects some of the parts delivered for quality assurance purposes. [he promises to invoice us for his consulting services]


We're yet to receive the replacement clutch plate we need as they were out of stock but are expecting this to come shortly. Also yet to come are replacement steering rack boots.

But, now that we have nice shiny bits ready to bolt on there is a renewed sense of excitement about the project. We will be back to business playing with the car now that Joel is back from his oriental exploits. That's the plan, at least...

We're trying to figure out what the rubber in the middle of the front suspension arm pictured below is called as Joel carelessly punctured it whilst degreasing the area with a sharp, thin screwdriver (Gavin exxagerating here). Any thoughts? We'll need to order new ones.


Another thing we'll need some advice on is where we need to replace these carbon parts for the clutch - is this crucial that we replace these whilst we replace the clutch plate? They look okay - we haven't ordered replacements from the UK.. Any thoughts out there? What are these bits even called?!



Here's what the old thermostat looks like. We've got a nice shiny replacement. Notice also how rusty and damaged the bolts are that hold the thermostat housing onto the engine head. We've bought replacements for these. Any advice on how to pursuade the old ones to unscrew from the engine head without damaging the threads? Papa Goodman recommended applying some penetrating fluid and leaving it for a week to seep in. We've done that but Gavin worries that this won't be enough..

Gratuitous engine bay shot. Joel's brother BrotherElliot is sceptical that changing the colour of the car can be done, given how many folds and creases that there are that need to be rubbed down in order to do that.

Notice that the mounting at the rear of the engine which connects it to the firewall preventing lateral movement has broken away. This will need re-welding. The battery tray is serviceable but also needs some metal added to the driver's side lip. Any recommendations/advice out there?



You can see the old manifold here. The bottom of the manifold snapped off whilst we were removing the exhaust, hence the replacement we have bought. We still haven't quite worked out what type of air filter we will fit onto the carbie, as the one on the car was totally unoriginal and ugly.





And here's a shot of the interior as it is right now. You can't see it, but the seats are unbolted, the panel covering the gearbox has been removed as have the brake and clutch pedals. Its going to be a fair bit of work to put all the peices back together.

Hope we can remember how... Joel reminded Gav that the service manual is very descriptive and has great pictures and explanations. This is a good point.



This mudflap is one of the last remaining... We wanted some quick wins and pulled the rest of the delapidated mud flaps off already with the engineering assistance of Dr Paully, an occasional contributor to the Lowlight project. Does anyone know if these are considered necessary or desirable? In our minds it doesn't really seem necessary to bother finding replacements.

Car Number...

We're appealing to the Morris community to help us identify what year our car really is.

Gearbox is out - the clutch is the culprit!

Very exciting - we've wrestled the gearbox off!

It is absolutely covered in a thick, difficult to clean off greasy mud.

Degreaser barely touches it, so we've been cleaning it by alternating between prying it off with a screwdriver, spraying on degreaser, brushing with a toothbrush and wiping with rags.

Hauling it out from under the car was a great achievement.

Now to tackle the inoperable clutch...

Joel manages to unbolt each of the six bolts which hold the clutch pressure plate unit to the flywheel with a half inch ratchet. The advice is to loosen the bolts a bit at a time in order to not cause distortion on the plate.

The bolts are finally removed and.... out pops the clutch disc!
Looks like the pins holding one of the anti-chatter springs have given out and the spring has come off.

We are wondering whether this is what caused the clutch to not function.

Light rust marks on the smooth pressure plate surface seem to indicate that the clutch disc material was bonded to the pressure plate - possibly this is the explanation?

Any thoughts would be welcomed!

We are now deciding what to do next... Ordering parts from the UK is a big priority. There is also a debate going on between us as to whether or not we should open up the gearbox now that it has been removed from the car. Given that neither of us actually has much of a clue what we are doing, its all very exciting!

Back On Track!

With our new tools at hand, we were finally able to recommence the tasks which had been holding us up. Despite the cramped workspace under the car, Joel was able to remove 3 of the 4 bolts on the flange pinning the prop shaft to the differential. The 4th bolt proved to be more difficult as both the head of the bolt and the nut deformed under the pressure of the spanner, and we finally resigned ourselves to cutting the head off the bolt using the Dremmel. Once this had been done and the remainder of the bolt hammered out using a screwdriver, we lowered the prop shaft and withdrew it to the rear, thereby completely detaching it from the car.
We've decided that this particular task should be a "one-off". In other words we'll completely clean, paint and oil the prop-shaft while it's off, so we don't have to re-detach it in the future.
Our next task was to try the advice given to us on the forums of morrisdownunder.com to detach the speedo cable from the gearbox. It turned out the advice was completely solid, and it was a simple thing to unscrew the cable itself from the brass fitting, as opposed to attempting to unbolt the large brass fitting from the gearbox manifold.