Morris Minor Forum

Sounds a great day Louis,

I love your Velorex

Cheers Johnny

It was great to have Louis and Jayden visit. I owned several Jawa motorcycles decades ago, so getting to ride in a Velorex, with its mechanical bits coming from Jawa, was a real treat. Turns out Louis has three of them out of about 20 in the U.S. He also has four Morris Minors and a bunch of other strange and wonderful small automobiles, including a Morgan F4 three-wheeler, a car I have always wanted. Jayden got to sit in the Model T, and it obliged us by starting right up and throttling down to a smooth idle. I need to reline the transmission bands, so we didn't take it out for a spin. I took the spare Midget gearbox apart yesterday and it is in very good condition. Today I'll pull apart the box from my Morris to see what I did wrong, but I may very well install the Midget box (suitable modified). It shifts like a knife through melted butter, at least with no power applied. I have a lawnmower to repair this morning, but later today I'll twist some nuts and see what's what.

Ray, that's not a Model T, it's not black. It appears you have the later front spring perches with the wishbone attached to the bottom. Worthwhile change. The front fenders don't have the front cowl, so either someone installed 14 fenders or it's an early 15 using left over parts.

WHAT!? Someone used leftover parts on a 105-year-old car!!!??? That's outrageous!

Parts for old cars? Hording? Sure, why not. I have a complete spare rear axle and a spare rebuild gearbox for my MG, plus starters, generators, and boxes of other stuff. For the Morris I have a spare gearbox, starter. generator, voltage regulators for both cars, etc., etc, etc. If you have a 106 year old car you might accumulate any parts you could find whenever you find them. If I had something rare, I would. My Model T is not rare, and other people have huge stashes of parts, so I don't have to do that. I don't consider that hording, just being prepared. So far, I found two Model T enthusiasts within reasonable driving distance who have enough spare parts to build up several cars. They have the space, and both are organized guys who know what they have.You can't go down to the local auto parts store and get what you need fr any of my old cars, however my local hardware store has most of the nuts and bolts. Now - front ends - My 1915 has the stock radius arm mount - over the axle, with an under the axle accessory brace. I also have the parts to rebuild the front end to post 1918 specs with an under the axle radius arm mount and spring perches, which is safer. Over the years many early cars have been converted to the later spec, and parts for the early cars are not reproduced, hence the use of good, rebuildable spares. Now, here's a tip of the day. I just overhauled a lawnmower for my daughter. It quit because there is the equivalent of a fuse between the crankshaft and the flywheel in the form of an aluminum key. If you hit something hard enough, the key will sheer, the flywheel will spin, and the timing will be instantly thrown off stopping the engine. I had to make a new aluminum key because I didn't want to wait around for a spare to show up in the mail. Mechanical "fuses" are common place, such as sheer pins in snow blower blades. I'm sure you can think of other examples, such as sheer pins in the blades of outboard motors. So, in your mechanical travels, be aware of these safety devices. I could have replaced the key with an off-the-shelf steel key, but that would have defeated the purpose. Replace like with like sand save yourself, and your parts from injury. The oracle at Gurnee has spoken.

My Morris also has a mixture of 1961 and 1963 parts/ it was built in 1961 and title in 1963, so go figure. Yes, somebody repainted this T sometime during the late 1950s. The rear fenders are stock, and it looks like factory paint. The front fenders have seen their share of minor accidents, so the paint is more like Rustoleum black. The engine was painted Model A green, which is wrong but restorers used to do that. The turquoise is not car paint. It's enamel, sprayed on, and I was able to have the local paint store match it. My wife likes the color. The front fenders are definitely 1914, and so is the Holly G carburetor. I think this car was assembled at the Seattle branch assembly plant. My evidence for this is that the car had Washington Horseless Carriage plates on it with a low number, and there were tour badges on it from 1961, so it was a west coast car. The engine was cast on 2/2/1915, and the serial number indicates a build date of April 1915 which would be about right for a car assembled at a branch plant. Cars assembled at Highland Park had only a two week to two month gap between the casting date and assembly date. It has electric headlights with the later pattern headlight stanchion. One third of Model Ts were assembled at branch plants in 1915. They could have used leftover fenders since Ford wasted nothing and made running changes. I will never know. I know the fenders are not reproductions. I will never know for sure, and I think the 1914 fenders add some charm and patina.

That's the beauty of Ts and Minors. There is no great intrinsic value, so a little mix and match doesn't really matter. What matters is getting on the road and enjoying. For those who aren't familiar those magneto driven headlamps are in series. You either have two or none, never just one.

I've always liked playing around with cars. I like old cars, and on my budget, that means inexpensive cars, and before that, motorcycles, I often joke that the vehicles I sold went up in value (Mini Cooper, Peerless GT 2.0, E-Type Jaguar, Vincent Black Shadow, Velocette KSS) and the cars I kept didn't, but I was never in this hobby to make money, although it's nice not to loose. I like o learn every detail about the old cars I own (and watches and clocks).. It helps tell the tale of the times in which they were made, the thinking that went into them, and the people who made them. They are a kind of living history. I also try not to make irreversible changes, although my Morris didn't have its original engine or gearbox when I got it, so I felt free to play around. The body and interior are stock and the engine is still an A series, but a 1275. Today the weather is lousy, so I'll be working on the gearbox which is all apart on my workbench. I didn't put anything together obviously in the wrong place when I had it apart last time, so the problem is probably one of clearances. The main shaft assembly is sitting too far aft, and the first motion (input) shaft is too far forward. That's not supposed to be possible, so I have to figure out what's not right. This is why I have a chest full of machinists tools. Oh goody! I get to play!

Ray, I have a nice clean ribcase and a nice clean smoothcase sitting on shelves. If you need to dissect either one for clues, let me know.

I am into cars because they tick all the boxes for me. I have been a decent artist since I was very young, and have had the pleasure of doing many paintings and drawings for fellow car nuts. Cars are art in themselves. I love the design aspect, and since my dad was a machinist, the inner workings have always been fascinating to me as well. I have also been interested in History for as long as I can remember, so I know about Syd Enever and Cecil Kimber and John Thornley, Henry Ford and Walter Chrysler, Charles Nash and The Packard Brothers, The Duesenbergs and E.L. Cord, Andre Citroen, etc. The history of the companies that produced the cars I admire is frequently as fascinating as the cars themselves. I suppose you could say the same about boats and aircraft, but cars are so much more obtainable and available than either one. And I can keep a couple in my very own garage.

Good morning, Tom. You and I are on the same pages, or pages, except I'm a better artist with words than with visuals. I just posted my latest novel on Amazon. Back to Morris gearbox: Thanks for the kind offer, but the spare rib-case I have seems to be in fine shape and worthy of a transplant, however that won't be necessary. I started a very careful inspection of the 'box out of Miss Marple and found the two errors causing all its problems. One was my fault, and one was not. The first is that there is a locating peg between the rear bearing carrier and the tailshaft housing. This has to be inserted and lined up perfectly. There is zero margin for error. I got it a hair off and just took out the peg when last I overhauled the gearbox. That meant that reverse gear ground away at the bearing plate. The trick to the installation is to drop the assembled mainshaft down through the back of the gear box with the box pointed tail up. Do not press in the bearing carrier. Drop the tailshaft housing over the bearing carrier and engage the locating pin. Now try to insert all the bolts that hold the tailshaft housing in place. They must fit perfectly. If they are a little off, remove the tailshaft housing and rotate the bearing carrier just a smidge one way are the other until the line up is perfect. Then remove the tailshaft housing and tap in the bearing carrier. Everything will line up. my second problem was that I bought an NOS 3/4 shift rod from ESM, which came in its original wrapper. It was defective. The dimple into which the shift fork locating screw goes was drilled in the wrong place, an 1/8th inch too far aft. The proper hole and bit drilled and filled with epoxy. I drilled that out and compared it to my worn shaft. It looks good. I drilled the correct hole a little deeper than standard, so it should be fine. I'll finish the assembly today, but my prediction is that is will now be an excellent, rebuilt gearbox. Of course, by predictions are worth the pixels they are printed with. And now, back to the workshop...

I went to the parts shed today , found a pair of sunvisors and an interior light for the van . Looks like I will have to order the plastic clips for the visors . It's going to be difficult for me (scottish heritage and all) I spent a little time doing plastic injection moulding and have subsequently developed an aversion to paying $16 for a pair of 20c clips . I know , I know , (wife says "don't be tight , just buy the bits" ) LOL .

Oh Foxglove...Years ago my father had a couple large willow trees cut down on our property. The guy who did it wanted an extra $200 to haul everything away. Since we lived next to several un-developed lots and a farm field behind us, my father declined. He hooked up our garden tractor and decided, with my mom's help (I was only 8 at the time) that they would cut and drag the huge limbs off of our property. During the effort, my mother managed to step in a rabbit hole, and compound fracture her right leg. Out of work for 6 weeks and with a $1800 hospital bill (this was the early 70's) she told my father, next time, just pay the man the money.

Sounds great advice from your Mum Thomas, but somehow I just know that I would take your fathers line

Great tales the pair of you CM & T

No matter what happens with your Morris from day to day just think of this one and try not to laugh too hard.

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Of all the things I've lost - I miss my mind the most.

everybody has a gimmick of a sort..............guess the top hat beats mouse ears...

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I've seen better days but they have cost me more money..!

5 out of 5 people usually think the other 4 are idiots....

If you always do what you always did you will always get what you always got.