1970 Morris Minor Traveller

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Further progress was made this week, with the fabrication of a gearbox cover made by modifying the original Minor one with sheet steel and fibreglass, topped off with a BMW E34 5-series gearlever gaiter:




Then it's a matter of fitting the rear dampers and finishing the electrical work...

[mirafioriman]

Looking good. I have a number of Fiat twin cams (in Fiat bodyshells) now theres a novelty! Great engine and looks right at home in the Minor, which looks rather tidy.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Thanks, Mirafioriman! I recall the Mirafioris from when I was a teenager, indeed, I had a model of a rally spec (Abarth?) one. Pity that so many suffered the dreaded rust

[mirafioriman]

I have that model too. My Father had a 131 when I was growing up which is the reason why I like them.

[UtterPiffle]

Good to see that engine/car combination - works very well. Nice solid shell by the looks of things too.

Doesn't look like too much more work to get it on the road...

It was my late teenage dream to have a twin cam powered minor. Ended up with that engine in a Skoda Rapid instead...

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

An update: The Traveller has had a partial rebuild as it needed a new nearside chassis leg and passenger floorpan, and some other rust was coming through in places, so I've replaced the front wings, front panel, nearside rear front spring hanger and had the front end and engine bay resprayed by Auto Body Care in Canterbury, Kent (http://www.autobodycareltd.co.uk), to freshen it up in time for its 40th year in September.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Finally, the Traveller is back on the road again following a 7-month partial restoration, and having had to have a few issues sorted for the MOT.

[pompeypaul]

love these cars .... colour suits the saloon

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Thanks fella. Not sure what particular shade of green that is; Almond Green, possibly, unless anyone knows better?

[moggyman]

Yes, that's Almond green. Same colour as the traveller I passed my test in.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

A little more progress was made on the Twin cam this week, removing the original external Fiat thermostat, fitting a 74 degree Celsius Mini one in the cylinder head as recommended by Guy Croft, and getting a local sheet metal fabricators to aluminium weld one end of the T-piece that protrudes from the head. To this has been fitted a 1/8" brass radiator bleed valve, to enable the removal of air locks which I suspect were causing some overheating.

Then, the correct Paraflu Fiat anti-freeze was added, which from the local Fiat stealer was only 97 pence more per litre than basic Halfrauds stuff!

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

A little more progress made over the last couple of days, MIG-welding in the top mounts for the rear telescopic (Spax adjustable) dampers, and fitting the shocks, so the chassis is in effect complete. Also fitted the rear lights, with new lenses.

Wiring is the next major task. Don't suppose anyone has a copy of the dashboard rocker switch wiring for a Mini, by any chance?

[manbearpig]

That minor is aweome. I love the way it just loks stock, but it would smoke most at the lights

[jefftav]

Hey 1275 your cars are looking good. Click on the link as it has a mini wiring diagram which might be of some use. Keep up the good work. www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=33764

[chaz]

Love what you doing to these cars mate have a soft spot for them, I once owned a split windscreen traveller for
a couple of years.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Thanks for those encouraging comments, folks - much appreciated!

[qwerty]

Two lovely looking cars. I love how they both look so standard! I'll definitely own another minor at some point! I loved my old one.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Cheers, fella More progress made on the wiring front, getting the dashboard/speedo sorted. I discovered that the original bimetallic strip voltage regulator for the fuel gauge was duff (open circuit), so I opened it up, removed the old gubbins and built a solid state regulator using an LM317 and a couple of resistors to give a steady output of approx. 10 volts. So, the car now has ignition warning light which shows the Magneti Marelli alternator is working, working fuel gauge and the speedo itself is also operating.

This is all useful stuff from the psychological point of view, as it creates the impression of a far more complete car!

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Well, a setback occurred on Wednesday, when I was attempting to sort out the non-working indicators. I fiddled with some connectors below the steering column, which brought the windscreen wipers into full play, with dual speeds, all functioning perfectly - great, I thought, as previously they had only worked on one speed.

Then, while focusing my attention on the indicator stalk wiring, I noticed a burning smell, but couldn't see anything amiss. I nipped out to take a look under the bonnet, to see the length of loom running to the wiper motor smouldering away nicely right on top of the battery!!! Had to quickly disconnect the rather hot battery live to prevent total meltdown.

Fortunately, damage was confined to that section of the wiring loom, so this has now been replaced, but what caused it remains something of a mystery...

I did eventually get the indicators to work, following a rebuild of the indicator stalk and hazard switch, a bit of rewiring, and experimenting with an assortment of flasher units.

So, at this stage, all lights work, also the horn and windscreen washer motor, and the wipers work again on both speeds but have for some reason lost the ability to self-park; duff limiter switch on the bottom of the motor, I think...





Speedo amber lights work in conjunction with the indicators - not normally the case on Minors, for some odd reason


Also, I have tidied up the engine bay:

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

I discovered today that the propshaft clonking noise when driving was due to the close proximity of the rubber doughnut against the side of the transmission tunnel, which in a Minor, is quite narrow. It was free to spin normally without touching, but under load, it would just catch the metal edge of the doughnut - not good. Also, the clutch was slightly touching the steering rack (a cutout has to be made in the Fiat gearbox bellhousing to clear the rack), making for graunching noise and vibration through the steering column - double not good

So, today I removed the gearbox cover and cut away the section of transmission tunnel that was contacting, and redrilled the rear gearbox mount so that the back of the gearbox now sits 10mm lower, giving the clutch a tad more room to rotate freely so I hope this will solve the problem. Also added 10mm spacers to the centre bearing mount to match the gearbox lowering.




While the gearbox was exposed, I replaced the duff reverse light switch with a working spare and wired it to ignition controlled live, so I can later easily fit a reversing lamp.