1955 J type for sale.

A 1955 Morris JB is on e-bay at the moment, never seen this one in

"the flesh" looks a good one.

The van is located in Redruth Cornwall. It would be nice if the seller would list some more pictures of the van and some history as it's a fair distance to go to view.

There would be nothing to do to this van, its all been done.

Taxed till November 2009. Just take it to rallies and enjoy the drive.

First registered 13/10/1955 In Croydon South London.

e-bay Item No 250349776913.

It's now at £7500 but not yet hit the reserve, which has been lowered.

I wonder how high it will go, or how high the reserve is?

Who is looking at this blog?

The first weeks numbers.

Well the counter has been running for a week and I though I would share the numbers with you, it was also interesting to see how long people were stopping for. A few were only here for a few seconds, so not interested in Morris J types but I would like to thank the reader who read every entry and was online to this blog for over three and a half hours, did you fall asleep?

My I wish a Happy new year to all old vehicle owners!!

Another van needs a good home!

Well what a nice van to find, a bit of a film star it would seem, might have been used as a "donor" vehicle to keep another van "on the road" but its still a very good restoration project.
The original registration has been lost, so therefor its history is lost but I'm sure some one out there has a buff log book for sale, much better than a "Scottish" age related number. Do let me know if you have one for sale and I will pass your details on to the new owner. Further details of this van too follow. Keep watching....

Quiz Answers

These are all Underground Station names, Honest...

1, Warren Street, 2, Preston Road, 3,Bond Street, 4, Baker Street, 5, Chalk Farm, 6, Red Bridge, 7, Blackfriars, 8, Stockwell, 9, Old Street, 10, High Gate, 11, Cannonbury, 12, Grange Hill. 13, Tottenham Court Road, 14, Mile End, 15, Royal Oak, 16, Rayners lane, 17, Upminster, 18, Snaresbrook, 19, Barbican, 20, Greenford..

Well I hope you liked that and now back to J types.

Check out this new blog about a very early J van in Canada, you might think you have a challange with your J type, spare a thought for this J owner with only the second known J in his country.

http://www.victoriajvan.blogspot.com/

Might need wiper blades and a few light bulbs for the M.O.T. but I'm glad to say another J type found and is being saved and restored... Well done Charlie.

A Christmas Quiz

So your bored, you must be, to be reading this, when it is Christmas and you should be so busy helping around the home, decorating, out shopping for last few presents (don't forget me) and planning how to eat too much, lay off the drink if your driving please.

So here is a little quiz, to see how many London Tube stations you can remember from my clues.

1,Rabbits would feel at home here.

2,This might happen to a dead hedgehog.

3,Where 007 might live.

4,An elementary station.

5,Agricultural writing implement.

6,Colourful constuction.

7,A power cut in a chip shop.

8,Healthy herd on the farm.

9,It's not a new road.

10,A very tall entrance.

11,Put a clergyman underground.

12,Famous television school.

13, Small rum and pork on legal highway.

14,Roger Bannister got here in under 4 Mins.

15.King of trees.

16,Agony Aunt owns this byway.

17,To the top of the Cathedral.

18,Traps a stream.

19, Girls toy in a tin.

20,Environmental crossing.

Answers will posted shortly....well maybe in a couple of days!! Happy Christmas to you all.

Stuck for a present this Christmas?

How about a nice J type book?

Contact 

harvey@jtypevan.com

For price and p+p.

Paint colours and codes.

A current question doing the rounds of various www sites is "what were the original colours of a J type?"

Well my under standing is that when the 10 CWT van was launched (it got called a J type late 1952 early 1953) that it was available in four standard colours.

These were taken from the British Standard Range of Colours for Vehicles, which is B.S.381C standard. Each shade had a number and later a name!

Example the blue van would have a paint code of B.S.381C 107, later called strong blue.

Here is the list,

B.S.381C 107 "Strong Blue"

B.S.381C 221 "Brilliant Green"

B.S.381C 539 "Current Red"

B.S.381C 642 "Night"

G.P.O vehicles were,

B.S.381C 223 "Middle Bronze Green"

B.S.381C 538 "Post Office Cherry Red".

Any car paint supplier should be able to mix the correct colour in what ever medium you want, i.e. cellulose , 2 pack, water based or even emulsion. That's the whole point of having standards.

Triplex glass and date coding.

I have been helping a fellow J owner with various parts for his J type restoration. During our e-mail exchanges I mentioned the quick way to date a vehicle was to check the glass. he had never heard of this and so I explained how it works.

Remember you are only dating the glass of the vehicle and it is best to check as many of the pieces of glass as you can.

First you need to have an idea what age the vehicle might be, well to the nearest 10 years at least.

You now need to look for two dots, one dot will be above the letters T,R,E, or X

 (in TRIPLEX) and gives the quarter of the year the glass was manufactured.

T=Jan,Feb,March

R=April,May,June

E=July,Aug,Sept,

X=Oct,Nov,Dec.

The second dot to look out for is below one of the letters in the word TOUGHENED.

T=1, O=2 etc (if no dot the year is zero).

Therefore a July 1955 J type should have glass with a dot above the letter "E" in TRIPLEX and a dot below the letter "H" in TOUGHENED.

This is only a rough guide but might be of interest to you all.

Scenic views of a rusty chassis.

To help out a Canadian van restorer who is tackling a rebuild of an early 1950 van that had been customised/butchered, part of the front chassis has been cut away.

Well he wanted some pictures of the missing items so here are a few i took in the rain Sunday morning. So all other J'ers reading this he is in desperate need of various items, will you help him out? Rear door hinges, rear doors, late engine covers both parts, Wiper motors, steering wheel, handbrake lever, instruments and binnacle etc etc, What have you spare?.

Chassis plates and body plates.

1966 Morris body plate.1966 Morris chassis plate. (uses the words car number not chassis number.)
1955 Morris car body plate, similar to the type used on C.K.D. export J types. ( uses words car number not chassis number)
1960 body plate.
1960 car  chassis plate.

Late 1957 jb Chassis Plate (UK )Late Jb body plate showing body number 35381 but is fitted to chassis jb/mr 37200.
Body plate close up. (Australian)
Early Australian brass chassis plate.
A nice Australian plate showing the word chassis is missing, replaced by the word car number (a term used on Morris cars and car derived vans ).

The chassis number is 41271 as to what the prefix 7/ relates to, any ideas any one?

I have been talking to many people around the world via this blog and the MCJTV site and some confusion has occurred as to what and where they are as they differ on export vehicles. Morris J types were made in three types for the home market, chassis, chassis cabs and complete vans.

The chassis being the main item as all other units are fitted to the chassis.

The van bodies were made as stated on their plate by the Nuffield Metal Products Co. They produced van bodies and put their makers plate on it with their own serial number.

In the U.K. only the chassis number is used on official paperwork.

When J type production started the vehicles had a large brass plate with all the serial numbers of the chassis and large units on it. During the formation of the B.M.C. group and with the second type of engine cover being introduced (to improve air flow, as over heating was a problem) the brass plate disappeared and a small aluminium plate with only the chassis number on it, took its place. It would seem that export vans were different. Australian vans seem to be fitted with a type of aluminium plate more in keeping with the type fitted to Morris cars of the period, of course cars did not have a separate chassis so for a car or car derived van they had a Car Number which equaled the chassis number and which went on to be the VIN number. Morris products whether vans or cars still had body numbers, but they were never logged in an official way.

  

NEC Birmingham, preview of the J type stand.

Picture taken Thursday night before the show opened to the public Friday morning.

Snap taken by The Great Harvey pitcher, Thanks mate.

A sneak preview of the J type stand at this years NEC classic car show.

And now for something completely different.

As you know I have some other vehicles than J types, my first car needed my attention. The other morning a guy in a large white van, that was behind me, jumped out of his cab as we had stopped at a junction and banged on my window. Quote " nice motor, but I nearly shafted your rear end, your xxxxx brake lights don't work" , He had been following me for some time, so close if fact that I thought he was trying to get into the boot.

So Sunday afternoon I was let out for half an hour to change the brake light switch.

The brake lights were working, but I must admit the pedal needed a hard press to get the brake bulbs to light. So I needed to change the pressure switch which is the same as a J types and is located in the same place. Easy job one large socket for the switch and a spanner on the 3 way union.


So you just know an easy job was bound to go wrong. The spanner slipped and the large socket twisted the switch and 3 way union braking the brake pipes!

It was now raining and the wind was getting up. So into mad panic mode, into the garage and found various copper brake pipes and replaced them on the car.

New switch fitted to the union with the aid of the vice in the garage. A quick bleed of the brakes and we were back on the road.

I will have to order the correct pipes as some I had used were a bit long and I had to loop them to take up the excess.

Oh well at least I could drive to work this morning and not walk the 3 miles.

The van found in Canada is a very early 1950's vehicle and this morning I got to hear about a J in New Zealand that is in need of spare King Pins, so I have offered to help but as yet have no details of the vehicle.

Fuel Tanks and Fuel Gauges.

New fuel tank senders are available from ESM Morris Minor suppliers.

http://morrisminorspares.co.uk/The wiring diagram of the J type fuel tank sender and meter.
So if you re having problems with your fuel gauge, here is how to test it and how it works.

With 12 volts on the "B" terminal  BUT no connection on the "T" terminal and the gauge earthed the left hand coil (C1) would be fully energised and show full deflection of the fuel gauge needle. The right hand coil (C2) has the resister across it so has less "pull" than the left hand coil but does give a "damping" effect to the needle. (When driving the float would be bobbing about all over the place,). so the the coil (C2) slows and dampens the erratic needle movement.

With a working tank sender now connected the resistance will vary,depending on fuel level. 

With a full tank the senders resistance will be very low so now the "T" terminal is nearly earthed, this means the left hand coil (C1) has "earth" on both sides of it so has no current flowing through it and therefore the coil (C1)has no effect on the needle. This now means the right hand coil (C2) has full voltage across it and so has current flowing so it does effect the needle and gives full opposite deflection.

Looking at the circuit its very basic but very clever, the resistors job changes, in certain situations it is a "current" limiting device, when you have a full tank or shorted wire situation it stops the coils burning out, in other situations it balances " in a voltage potential "whetstone" bridge" kind of way, it would take too long for me to explain this.

Also it and both coils balance the gauge reading making the gauge practically independent  of  normal variation of battery voltage.

The circuit is happy and works just as well on positive or negative earthed vehicles.

A very very clever Mr Lucas.

ROD 525 fuel tank (above) showing it was easy to see the sender but hard to remove. The fixing screws at the rear of the sender were hard to remove as the wooden beam above hampered access and they had been chewed up by a previous attempt to remove it.

OBL 432's Van sender unit sitting under the nice round cover plate by the nearside foot well. Easy to get to and replace if need be.

While restoring or conserving ROD 525 one of the job's I needed to do was get the fuel gauge to work. It always showed a quarter of a tank. I drained the tank of water/petrol/dirt and grit and the gauge still said A quarter of a tank. So out with the sender, very easy to get to on the pick-up but due to the timbers of the load deck very hard to remove due to lack of room and chewed up brass screws from somebody else's previous attempt.

Once removed it was easy to see why the gauge said what it did, the float pivot was totally rusted solid in the casting and the coil mount was brittle allowing the coil to move around.

So I had to find a replacement, so I purchased a new one, the sender units are the same as early 1949/1955 Morris Minor which are easily purchased. One word of caution, try to get an original Lucas one as opposed to the re-manufactured look alikes, I have had trouble with both regulator boxes and sender units that look good but have been faulty.

While the sender is out of the tank, switch the ignition on, the gauge should now read a full tank and with the sender unit supply wire earthed it should read empty.

The only thing you have to swap over from the old sender to the new Morris minor one is the float and wire arm which is crimped into the pivot shaft of the sender unit. It is easily done.

Progress has slowed, so here's one I found earlier.

As I have been unable to work on my vehicles this week and I did not want any readers to think I had given up, so many other J blogs have stalled recently I thought you might like to read about this lovely mini bus.

Some years ago while working I came across a J type under a large plastic sheet. I went back later as it was a private house to be told that the owner was going to restore it.

Some time later it move and the cover was now off the vehicle.

I had returned in my van and spoke to the owner who was now knocking down the garage and bungalow to build a new property, he was now keen to sell, just at a time I was cash strapped.

He was going to advertise it in a classic commercial magazine but he let me find it a new owner, somebody who would not break it for spares or sell the number.

This I did and I'm glad to say restoration work is progressing if a bit slowly due to a recent house move.

A nice Morris Commercial van with a Martin Walter mini-bus conversion. Worked for the Hounslow Health Authority and then a motor cycle dealer ship.

It will be nice to see it out on the rally field soon.

How long to change rear shockers on a J type?

ROD out in the sunshine again, nearly ready for its first MOT in 30 years.How long to change rear shock absorbers on ROD, both sides done in 35 minuets.

As these on a J are fixed with a nice bolt and washer both top and bottom. Its an easy job. Yes I know there is still plenty of cleaning and painting to do on ROD's chassis.
I painted the shockers white so they would show up in the pictures. As you can see there is plenty of room both top and bottom to undo the two bolts and change the shock absorbers easily.
On a standard van the floor bracing timber gets in the way of the top fixing and if its a JB version vehicle it has the later split pin and washer fixing so you have to take the whole fixing bolt out. This took me over 45 minuets to remove just one shock absorber from OBL and take the whole assembly into the garage to clean up and remove the split pin.
Sorry about the quality of the pictures but not a lot of room for a camera and inspection lamp.

Any way ROD has now nice new shockers on the rear and just a few more small jobs before I take the plunge and drive him on the open road to the local MOT station.

Has any one heard from Tinworm or Trumans? their blogs have died again.

When four inches makes a difference.

The four inch difference between a J and Jb "parcel shelf/tray.

 

The weekend progress, none!

One of ROD's old shockers, in quite a state.

Hi all, no progress this weekend, busy with the in-laws. What's the difference between in-laws and out-laws?

Out-laws are wanted!

I was going to take pictures of me fitting new rear shock absorbers to ROD, but had no time to play. The front and rear shockers are the same on a jb the only difference is the stroke, front are 5 inches and the rear 6. (length of piston travel).

I hope to start this little job if the rain eases off some night this week.

To help a fellow J owner, has any one out there got a seat base and seat assembly in any condition.He is also looking for a repairable front grill panel, headlamps, instruments  etc.

Do let me know if you have any spares, I can always put a free advert here for you.

Front Panel and Badge for sale.

Yes a front panel with a good bottom edge for sale and it even comes with a badge!

Offers please.

MINI E-BAY

Bidder 1 £100

Bidder 2 £200

Bidder 1 £150?

Bidder 3 £225

These are firm bids, in writing via e-mail, any more any one?

New Shock absorbers for ROD525.

Hi all, not much progress to the vehicle fleet this week but felt I had to replace the front shock absorbers on the pick-up truck.

These are the same as the later vehicles its just the method of retaining that is different. On the early pre 1956 approx they are held in with good old bolts and washers, on the later vans they used washers and large split pins, see previous pictures of OBL432 new front shock absorbers.

I now have a cheaper supplier of these, this set was £16.50 each plus postage.

I have the following spares in stock,

One front grill panel (Morris) £ ask

One king pin set original type £30

One king pin set later type J2  £10

Pair of front shocks, New old stock, see above £33

One axle set of new bonded brake shoes £35

One very rusty 15 inch wheel rim £ free!

One Lucas PCL6 lighting/ignition switch, only needs a key FP743, I will get one shortly. £ offers.

All plus postage unless you pop in for a coffee.

Camber,Castor,Toe-in and K.P.I.

The four things that govern front wheel alignment, so your driving a J and not a wonky wheeled shopping trolley.

Correct Camber and Castor is pre-set and would only alter if the front axle is bent or you have forgotten to fit the aluminium wedges under the leaf springs.

K.P.I. King Pin Inclination is machined into the castings and would only alter if the king pins or bushes were badly worn. So regular greasing is very important. Always make sure clean grease comes out of both top and bottom of each bush.

The main adjustment is of course Toe-in.

J types toe-in 3mm, a method of checking and adjusting toe-in is in the workshop manuel and is easy to do. You could try taking your J to a tyre fitting bay that also does wheel alignment but you will find they will ask you the degree angle of toe in not a measurement in millimeters. They will guess the adjustment.

Do it yourself by the book or get a plastic drive on tracking plate for about £25.

Did you know that the type of front axle on J type is called a reverse Elliot? Why? Because the king pins incline inwards but the road wheels incline outwards.

Mr Maurice, an understanding vehicle restorer.

Here is the business card of MTR Restorations. As a fellow old vehicle owner he understands the type of vehicles we love.

Having seen his workmanship I can honestly say his panel work/welding is first class.

I have trusted him already with one of my vehicles and the JB van is next in line for his excellent talents. 

So if you need help with welding work on your project, contact Maurice a quality restorer. "Mr Magic with a M.I.G.".

Sorry about the quality of the above scan, my scanner is playing up.