Bit of an update. Not got anywhere near as much done as I hoped. Partly other stuff but mostly because Royal Fail are uselessly slow at the moment. Despite ordering what I needed on Monday and most shipped on Tuesday, none of the parts I've ordered online have arrived.
Firstly that wheel. I eventually got it off by using successively more washers on the spare wheel clamp and doing up the wheel nuts. Then finally good whacks of the tyre.
Actually doesn't look too bad in there. Shoes are worn but there is still a good 2mm of material left before it gets to the rivets. As I'm only going to be doing low miles in this (insured for only 1500miles a year), I'm not going to replace them.
Brake cylinder looks alright. I'm still going to change it as it's rusted up something bad on the other side and the bleed nipple looks like it'll be a fight to get out and back in. Plus a new set of cylinders with hard lines to them is only £20 for the pair.
Other side I've already have a Sealey hub puller arrived to use instead.
I bought the big pressure plate from Charles Ware Morris Minors in the Bristol - mostly as this was £2.20 and Moss wanted £12 for the same thing plus needed to order it in. Admittedly the Moss one probably would be better made than this. It looks like someone used a pair of tin snips and roughly cut it to shape. Better than nothing though.
Fresh oil went in and I cranked the engine over to circulate it. Took quite a bit to get the oil pressure light to go out (even with the plugs out), so I suspect the filter is now working properly.
Next up was the cooling system. This was a bit of a mess and looks like possibly been a problem for a while on this car. Not least the brown explosion that looks to have happened in the past.
I removed the front radiator. This car has the shroud and is a right pain to get out. The purple MK3 I had didn't have this and was an awful lot easier to pull. You can also see the expansion tank in this picture at the bottom. Also a awkward thing to remove and looks like it'll be just a pain to fill.
Shroud came out.
Then a bit more fighting got the radiator out and bottom hose off.
Then removed the tank.
A very brown mess came out the whole system. Either it's been run on straight water or someone has mixed long life with older style coolant.
Replacement pipes lined up. The new one on the right is for a mini. A tad short at the end but it went in after a bit of a fight.
Then put it all back together again. Easy to say but hard to do. Took a good few hours to get that damn radiator and it's shroud with its fiddly bolts back in. Not filled with coolant yet as I need to get some 8mm (5/16th) radiator hose for the connection between the radiator and expansion tank.
The radiator had a standard cap on. This has been replaced with the proper blanking cap and a new 13psi cap on the expansion tank. No point me filling the system though until that tube comes.
I've also noticed when I ran it up to temperature last, the top of the radiator was only getting to around 75c. That number tally's with the hot environment thermostat that opens up at 72c. I suspect it's had problems with overheating and water leaks under pressure before, so by putting the cooler thermostat in it doesn't boil off. Would also explain the mayonnaise mess under the rocker cover if it's not getting fully to temperature.
I've got a replacement thermostat to go in but I forgot to buy the gasket. Also need to attempt to get the thermostat cover off - last one I had to do resorted to smashing the alloy case up to get to it. Completely seized to the studs. So before I buy a new gasket, I need to check I can get that off. As I may need to order a new cover too.
Next up was getting the carb off for inspection.
Air filter off
Then removing the accelerator spring and cable. Irritatingly it looks like someone has replaced this previously but the old ferrel was stuck in the car body. Instead of removing it they just put the new cable over the top. I hate when people bodge things because they're too lazy to fix properly.
Set of mole grips and a good twist + tug, it came loose.
The choke cable was being a pain to undo. I decided to chop the cable instead. Bit of a shame to do as the choke control looks original. However it's currently stuck half out and refusing to go in any further. So will need replacing or attention anyway.
As soon as I cut that, the choke control snapped back to full off. I suspect it's been stuck like this for a good while. So long that someone has retuned the carb with the expectation it's stuck on.
Carb itself looked in good condition but very grubby. Needle has no noticeable scores.
Some black crap on the throttle plate face. Looks to be silicon sealant that someone has used to seal the carb to engine.
Jet doesn't look oval either. Some light scoring on the body of the jet but I don't think that is a major problem.
I'm not intending to replace the jet or needle, only strip the carb down to clean up. I didn't buy the kit to replace those bits as they're a fair bit more expensive than just the gaskets and I didn't want to replace stuff unnecessarily. Given that these bits both look alright, I'm not going to get the service kit.
Float bowl was filthy. A good poke with the screwdriver and spray with brake cleaner got the brown glittery mess all over me but out of the bowl.
While the carb was off, I checked the gear linkage tightness but they were all done up well. The remote change bolts were loose underneath so I tightened them up. With the carb off, I've got decent access to that gear linkage grease nipple. So this is an ideal time to get that pumped full. Possibly a very long time since it was last done.
As I write this, it sounds like Royal Mail has arrived with a few more bits. Hopefully my brake bits so I can start on that.