1960 Austin Seven resto

[jeff10049]

I have the Austin speedo the restoration of it is in the DIY section of this site. The face color is also cream rather than silver on the Austin.  Here is what the 59 mini register has to say about it http://1959miniregister.com/variations-interior-general/


On the signal stalk I made the hole a little bigger than the stalk with the idea of just using 3m panel bond or other epoxy to attach.

[jeff10049]

some slow progress being made been working on some parts that I had not yet restored.
Wiper motor is ready.
Dist. is ready and installed.
Also got the parts I needed in for the canister oil filter, mounted the starter and generator put oil in and cranked it with the plugs out 60 psi oil pressure just cranking, might need more shims on the relief will wait and see what hot running pressure is.
Painted the fan shroud and brackets, fuel tank, bunch of other small stuff.
Put in the rubber u joint things.

[MiniDave]

Did you know that the armature on that wiper motor can be used to rebuild the unobtainable fan motors on an E-type? Ask me how I know!  ;D

I did the same with my Mini, the wipers wouldn't even move before I took them apart and cleaned them, in my case it was the wheelboxes that were stuck, the grease had turned to rock and wouldn't let them rotate.

Looks like you're making good progress......I spent as much or more time cleaning, painting and refurbishing "parts" as I did rebuilding the car.

[tsumini]

Jeff thanks for the speedo info. Didn't think to check DIY section. I must review that section periodically. I think my speedo got changed to a Morris speedo at some point. But I can live with that. It's in good nick.

[MiniDave]

My new favorite tool in the whole world for restoration of parts is the bead blaster, using glass bead media. It makes aluminum parts look brand new and leaves the perfect surface for paint to adhere to for those items that will get a coat of color. 

[jeff10049]

Yes the blast cabinets are great the glass bead also works excellent for cleaning up electrical contacts on stuff like old fuse blocks with the pressure turned down.
I also use green sand for striping paint and rust off of bigger parts works much faster but leaves a rougher finish.
I'd hate to know how many hours I have stood over that cabinet just blasting parts for this car.


Few observations for those just getting one or thinking of one first off do it you won't regret it.

I also find that the blast cabinets I have used work best around 80-120 psi running full compressor pressure seems to be a bad thing. Dry air is important.

It helps to degrease the part before and after blasting if you're going to paint it.

Don't blast internal engine parts with glass bead or sand, there may be a few exceptions to this it's generally not a good idea. Especially on aluminum as the sand embeds in the metal and comes out later with heat cycles, silica is not something you want in your bearings.

Experiment with different media to get the results you want. Baking soda works well for some things too.

Jeff

[jeff10049]

Did you know that the armature on that wiper motor can be used to rebuild the unobtainable fan motors on an E-type? Ask me how I know!  ;D

I did the same with my Mini, the wipers wouldn't even move before I took them apart and cleaned them, in my case it was the wheelboxes that were stuck, the grease had turned to rock and wouldn't let them rotate.

Looks like you're making good progress......I spent as much or more time cleaning, painting and refurbishing "parts" as I did rebuilding the car.

About that armature I would recommend anyone with a old wiper motor clean it first.
I hooked a battery to mine to see if it would run, like your's the grease was rock and it did not turn, but for the few seconds I had power to it the weak link was where the winding soldered to the com bar.
It melted the solder off that's better than what could have happened, it could have burnt the winding.


Jeff

[MiniDave]

Mine was already toast, and you cannot buy new ones so I had an old wiper motor off of a Triumph (same motor used on pretty much every British car) and used the armature out of it - all I had to do was cut the worm gear off and grind a flat spot for the securing screw for the fan blade and put it all back together - worked a treat!

On my Mini, the wheelboxes were stuck good, but some penetrating oil got them moving again, I took them apart and cleaned and greased everything and they work smoothly now.

[jeff10049]

Fixed a bunch of bs little stuff like slider window latches, working on restoring heater,  wiring mostly done, cleaned up the 59 pd fuel pump and it pumps fine, got the thing running it runs sweet ran for 20 min. or so to break in the cam at higher rpm them slowed it down idled smooth revs nice just sounds right. It's been a couple years maybe more since I rebuilt the engine so it was nice to here it run. Got the exhaust on of course before running.

Had to make the guts for one slider window latch orig. parts on left in pics. works well. now I have a set of four.
Also made a dog bone bracket to look like the correct one last pic showing the three steps.

[jeff10049]

Also sand blasted and painted the headlight buckets and installed along with headlights got them working, the 1/60 dimmer switch works, along with the 9/59 toggle switch kinda cool all the old stuff is coming to life again. also got the turn signals hooked up and the 10/59 flasher works too!
At some point just for fun I will make a list of all the correctly date coded stuff that managed to stay with the car all these years.
Took apart all three lock cylinders to clean and send to a lock smith to get keys made. and get keyed alike they were three different keys for some reason, even though the the ignition switch is dated 8/59 and the door has the correct round lock button along with the little dot above the key hole on the door and boot handle the should make them correct for 59/60 cars I guess somebody did some changing around at some point. unless the cars came with different keys for door, boot, and ignition.

Also took apart the heater cleaned painted checked the core, put it all back together with foam around the core so air has to go through it and not around. Heats good as far as I can tell even though I hear that mk1 heaters don't do much maybe the foam around the core is gone in most of them.

[tsumini]

Yeah I need keys made for all my locks too. Do you just find a local locksmith and have him make a new key? Do they put in new tumblers or do they figger out how to grind a key so it works with the old tumblers. I was thinking that they may not have a blank and may have to order some from the mini parts store.
Been kinda keeping track of dated parts and taking photos of date.  Lots of electrical parts are date 59.
Was your chrome retaining ring on the headlamp good. Mine has some surface rust and should need re-chrome.

[jeff10049]

tsumini,

A locksmith can make a key for the old tumblers all they need is the lock cylinder.
I thought I was being smart and ordered the mk1 key blanks to take to the locksmith from seven, turns out very early cars are different and they did not work.
However the locksmith had key blanks that would work so they are using theirs I should of just went there first.
If a locksmith local to you does not have them let me know I can send you some or maybe a number for the correct blank so they can order, as the guy here seemed surprised he had them they may not be all that common he also had tumbler rebuild kits.

I did not have any retaining rings so I ordered a couple universal rings from the local parts store and they fit ok. the plating is not great on them and I don't know if they look like the correct ones but I imagine most headlight rings look about the same.
This is the one I got I just cut off the tabs I didn't use. https://www.google.com/search?q=dorman+universal+headlight+retainer&safe=off&rlz=1CAACAC_enUS553US554&espv=2&biw=1093&bih=526&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=TDzgVMuZFsnzoAS0moG4Cw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg#imgdii=_&imgrc=I2XpL-RqqcmG6M%253A%3BDvV273zUnr-bcM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fecx.images-amazon.com%252Fimages%252FI%252F61fOozcKFhL._SX355_.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.amazon.com%252FDorman-HELP-42408-Headlamp-Retaining%252Fdp%252FB000CO91M2%3B355%3B340

(edit) just noticed seven has them also they might be more correct or have better plating on the sides that you see quite a bit of on a mini. The parts store here had them and it was convenient I might order some mini ones at a later date I'll need to look at some other cars and see if there is any reason to.

jeff

[jeff10049]

video of first run this is the very first time I started the car  it had been running about 20 min. already at higher rpm to break the cam in before video. No oil in dash pot timing just by ear and it still was running pretty good, runs really good now that the timing is set and i put oil in the carb. just need to re torque the head and re adjust the valves. now that its been up to temp a few times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpM_b8uQFu8

Jeff

[tsumini]

Wow that's a really nice install.

[MiniDave]

They sound just terrible when you have the mic down close to the engine, don't they? All sorts of clattering and knocking and such......but even tho it makes pretty much the same noises mine runs pretty sweet too!

Glad to see you got it going!  4.gif

[jeff10049]

They sound just terrible when you have the mic down close to the engine, don't they? All sorts of clattering and knocking and such......but even tho it makes pretty much the same noises mine runs pretty sweet too!

Glad to see you got it going!  4.gif

Yes they do! I almost didn't post the video I thought it sounded so bad. I did not notice any bad sound at all when taking the vid I was actually really happy about how smooth and quite it sounded since I had adjusted the valves really quick knowing Id be doing them again shortly the mic makes it sound like crap. Even sounds like a rolling idle near the end when I slowed it down but it was actually super smooth just purring.

Did you re torque the head on yours? i'm told that the copper gasket I put in the mini should be re torqued after a few warm ups.

Jeff

[jeff10049]

Wow that's a really nice install.

Thanks I just need to get the correct hose clamps at least for the upper that can be seen and clean up a few other things for the engine install to be done. I need to figure out if i'm missing some bracket to hold the throttle cable off the exhaust manifold did yours have one?

[MiniDave]

They sound just terrible when you have the mic down close to the engine, don't they? All sorts of clattering and knocking and such......but even tho it makes pretty much the same noises mine runs pretty sweet too!

Glad to see you got it going!  4.gif

Yes they do! I almost didn't post the video I thought it sounded so bad. I did not notice any bad sound at all when taking the vid I was actually really happy about how smooth and quite it sounded since I had adjusted the valves really quick knowing Id be doing them again shortly the mic makes it sound like crap. Even sounds like a rolling idle near the end when I slowed it down but it was actually super smooth just purring.

Did you re torque the head on yours? i'm told that the copper gasket I put in the mini should be re torqued after a few warm ups.

Jeff

I absolutely re-torque the head and re-adjust the valves, just let it cool down overnight or so before you do. When I do it I don't just try and take it down further, first I break each nut loose slightly, then apply torque. After that, reset the valve clearances. I'm running a bit of a cam in mine, so the clearances are way out there at 15 thou......so they rattle a bit, especially at idle. But like yours, it sounds really sweet when I'm on the road and it pulls nicely.

What oil are you running? Be sure to use something with a lot of zinc in it, otherwise you can ruin a new cam in just a sort time. I run Brad Penn 20W40, but may switch to 20W50 for the summer.

[tsumini]

Wow that's a really nice install.

Thanks I just need to get the correct hose clamps at least for the upper that can be seen and clean up a few other things for the engine install to be done. I need to figure out if i'm missing some bracket to hold the throttle cable off the exhaust manifold did yours have one?

My old double wire hose clamps have slotted and Phillips head screws. One ebayer is pretty proud of his slotted head ($9 ea) vs $2 ea for hex head.
I presume you're talking about where the thotttle cable comes thru the bulkhead since your video of the carb side looks right. See my last pic in the heater thread for original install on a 1960 Morris.
http://www.restorationmini.com/forum/index.php?topic=711.0

The other end thru the bulkhead is just a flat strip bracket mounted to the clutch MC with a grommet where the cable goes thru. Should be easy to make.  I don't have access to this one right now to measure but you should be able to scale it from the nut dimension. I think it's about .875 wide. This is the same 1960 Morris installation.

[Spitz]

When replacing front floor panels....how is the starter button area handled.  Is an earlier panel available, or will the "run of the mill" floor panel work (with a bit extra work)?

[jeff10049]

Run of the mill with extra work is what I did.

Jeff

[jeff10049]

Thanks tsu for the picture got one made.

[jeff10049]

Took a few pictures of the work covered in the last few posts and some stuff I did last week.

Got master cylinders rebuilt did the clutch and brake bleeding they work well.
Drove the car around the shop and onto a trailer took to dmv got all the paperwork done plates coming.

All the glass is in other than the sliders, doors go on next.

Wiring is pretty much all done just need to tidy up a few areas. I found a bulb for the stalk signal indicator I'll look and post the part number it was not a led all the led bulbs needed a resistor to work with 12 volts easy enough, but I didn't feel like messing with it so just got a normal one two in a pack so should last me forever.

I noticed even all four of my brake drums are in good shape and from 1959. First pic is a drum date code.

Also got a new lucas fuse box cover and voltage reg cover they were missing.

[jeff10049]

Got the new speedo housing installed I have a good cardboard one but very fragile Rhino fabrication cast a tool from it and will soon be offering the very early mk1 speedo housing in a tough plastic if anybody needs one. http://rhinofabrication.com/


Also got the parcel shelf lights working I don't see a lot of early cars with these working or even the switches in the housing the switch on one side controls the gauge lights the other controls shelf lights.

[MiniDave]

I've never seen those lights before! Very cool!