Minor split windscreens!

For all the tennis fans out there here is one of the hundreds taken by my wife on Monday.

Sorry no pictures on this posting,(PICTURE NOW ADDED HERE AND OTHERS ARE IN THE UPPER POSTING) Caroline my partner in life has taken the camera to Wimbledon to watch an Australian play Tennis. All my pictures from this weekends vehicle work went with her.

It was time to fit a new windscreen rubber to the pick up. The glass was being held in place by a vast quantity of silicon sealant, no rubber at all. Now I have heard this is a nasty job, I have done a couple of J types before and many one piece later Morris Minors. I also worked at a FORD garage in the early seventies I changed many a screen there. I work better on my own, so dreading the worst I checked the owners club forum site on windscreen replacement. Here are a few of their comments to give you a taste of the job.

The rear is manageable with a bit of help, but having done a SII front windscreen once I'd ask the garage. It took 4 people and was a pig to do I had a very enthusiastic windscreen fitter do mine. He spent all morning around my house and still wasn't satisfied so he had the car in his workshop for most of the following day and fitted it to his satisfaction.

The pattern windscreen rubbers are also a lousy fit, mine is all out of shape in the bottom r/h corner and still drips despite lashings of sealant.
I agree, an awkward job. I cut about 1 1/2" off each end of an old scrap pillar and the inside strip. I then fitted the two halves of screen together and tightened up the pillar. Then I fit the rubber to this and put the string in place, don’t forget to put thin string in the chrome slot at this point. This makes it possible to fit the screen in one piece similar to the 1000 screen, though obviously from the inside. Once in place the cut down pillar can be removed and the gap should be correct for refitting the proper one. I had 2 goes at this before I was happy and then sealed the edges all up with 3m sealer. Messy stuff!

Mine is also a poor fit inside but looks fine outside. I was told by one trader to glue the edges down inside.... I'll tell you now(Having been there three times) the replacement rubbers are more than useless, they do not fit, the slots are too tight and they don't close up onto the car frame at the corners, and therefore don't seal properly, its time the suppliers did something about getting a better pattern. There's been several discussions, regarding the best method. The last time I did mine I put the glasses into the rubber, fitted it to the frame from the inside without the central filler(the glasses touch so be care full) then fitted four straps, two on each glass through the gap at the centre and round the side frame and over a period of a week gradually tightened the straps and progressively pulled the glasses apart, until I could fit the inner strip, then the outer.

Then using the stuff they use to fit bonded screens to modern car stuck the corners bottom and top of the rubber to the car, lengths of timber pushed onto the rubber and onto the garage walls works to hold it down. Still drips slightly in heavy downpours on the move, fortunately not when just standing. Once you have done this then you can fit the chrome strip. Another story and another easy job.

So I thought we might be in for a game with this, the workshop manual, states assemble it all on the bench, with a dummy spacer between the two panes of glass, offer up the assembly (2x glass, 1x rubber 2x chrome inserts) and from INSIDE the car hold in place. Then using the string threaded in the slots, push from inside and second person from outside pulls the strings to pull the small lip over the body lip. EASY.

Well I started this job on Friday night but had to give up, due to failing light. One of the pieces of glass was on the bonnet of the car and slipped off, it hit the bumper and then the ground but did not break or even chip, good old laminated glass.

Saturday morning, saw me with a new plan. I cut the rubber so I now had one length, using super glue I fixed the rubber in a couple of places. Just the smallest amount of glue on the upper edge of the drivers side to hold the rubber in place. Now the side and bottom rubber section would stay in place so using a suction pad, (one I had for lifting and fitting floor tiles) I offered up the pane of glass from the inside. With plenty of lubrication and a metal knitting needle to poke/lever/ease the rubber lip round the glass edge, the pane slid into position. I then was able to (from the outside) pull the centre edge of the glass with both hands. I then had to re-seat the inner rubber many times as the glass settled in.

I then repeated this with the other pane, not so easy, as the first pane restricted just how much I could get the glass vertical. Slowly the more the glass shifted to the left, the more the glass became vertical and so it would move further to the left etc etc. Once in place the outer chrome trims were fitted, these were badly out of shape, and in fact came from another vehicle. They should be "C" shape but they needed lots of tweaking. Still they went in no trouble, rather too easily in fact and tended to "POP" up a bit in the lower corners. I may try to reform them some more or get out the dreaded silicon mastic and "give them a squirt" to hold them in place. Caroline wonders why I fitted them, they are after all so discoloured they are nearly black themselves and blend in with the new rubber rather well. Well they will do till some better ones come along.

Latest e-bay purchase.

Well I saw this one on e-bay Australia, alright its from an LC3 lorry that was being scrapped, It looked in very good condition. Well I won the item and it arrived just four days later.

Why buy an LC3 dash panel, well it has given me a period Lucas Amp meter, ignition warning lamp and a nice working PCL6 ignition lighting switch all of which fit our wonderful J types.

New (reproduction) switches are around £90, good second hand on e-bay go for £40 so I'm well pleased. Frank the seller e-mail to say he forgot to enclose the two keys for it and will send them shortly. He is also now on the hunt for other J type items for me, you never know what he might turn up.

Polly B Pick up and the classic car weekly J type.

Here is the battered pick up side, as often happens, the load floor and wheel arch corrode causing the sides to flap. An easy but incorrect repair is to weld a right angle section along the edge of the load floor and side section.

Cutting off the old outer wheel arch showed up the very rusty inner arch, it should be only spot welded where the two lips meet. This one as normal had been repaired with plates and all sorts of welding and filling. It has been done as a very temporary measure. There should not be any weld either side of the wheel arch ( load deck to side panel, it should have a nice shaped rubber gasket).
I now have to decided, what to do, spend a lot more money on further repair panels, after all this is a very "B" up pick-up, is it worth spending hundred of pounds on a none original vehicle? Make my own repair sections? Or buy a very big tin of cheap filler?
Its time to make a phone call for help, this I did and he was out...
I will have to think about this while at work tomorrow.

I have added 6 more J type van pictures and 4 more Morris Minor van pictures to the albums on the right.

In last weeks classic car weekly, I was told there was a j type van for sale. Well the details of this van are slim .

 

1954 Morris J Type side-Valve.

29479 miles.

Cream and black..

Original brown log book and new V5.

£8000.

Tel: 01979 260846.   ( Shropshire ) .........  ask for Peter.

You wont be surprised to know his phone never stopped ringing, he could have sold it ten times over. New buyer arrived same day with a lot of cash!

10,000 visitors, period pictures and Cracking on with the basket case.

10,000 visitors, since Christmas, Many thanks to all the web clickers out there.


Three J pictures, you have seen these before but they are now slightly better images.

The "Polly B Pick-up".
Another view of the house brick, my welding is rubbish, that's why OBL is away being welded correctly.
I'm having J type withdrawal symptoms.

Back to the brick, should I leave it there? No a better idea use a nice "G" clamp on the tail gate hinge plate and let the brick just take the weight of the load deck.

Yes that looks better, paint the brick with underseal, nobody will know.

So I tacked in place a repair panel, welding outside is a right pain, the slightest breeze and the Argon gas has gone. The holes are for the rear lights, and these are the main reason it rots here, a great mud trap, mud/water from the wheels sprays all over the lamps and just sits there all nice and damp for weeks on end.

Other jobs carried out were new brake shoes, the brake pipes were connected up and with new fluid in the new master cylinder, we had brakes that worked.

Still need to find a driver seat, roof lining, door cards, radiator hoses, windscreen and rubber, rear lights. etc etc.

Still have to repair the deck floor and then finish the nearside light cluster and bolt the load bed to the chassis.

New project wanted, new project found.

Well a new project, not true, had a bit of a tidy up in the garage, moved some plastic sheeting and behold the "Polly B Pickup". You will soon work out what the B stands for.
Rather sparse cab area, missing windscreen, lots of dangling wires.

Shades of many colours, this is a real "bitsa".

Oh it does have an engine, a mighty gold seal 948cc, an engine with hidden power, Well hidden, I have never found it in any of my many Morris Minors.

Any colour you like, take your pick (up). Might need a bit more work before it's due for its MOT.

Rather novel tail gate assembly, unpin it and the offside moves away from the chassis.
Rather loose side panel, problem located, due to the house brick holding up the side incorrectly fitted.

All joking aside, I had started making a list as requested by RODs new owner of spare parts, not being a tidy person, you can never find the floor in the garage for example due to all the "stuff" littering around. So I needed to empty it to go spares hunting.

After a while of hunting I thought, hang about, it would be easier for them to tell me what they want rather than me spending time making a list of new and second hand stuff. Then later on I thought, they don't need any spares, I've replaced most things on ROD. It transpires they want spares for the ESSO van, engine and brakes as well as some body panels.

Well I need all the bits I've got, you never know what you might need one day.

My Jb van is nearly finished at MTR restorations, the pictures I've seen make it look stunning, I wish I had enough money to get them to do an all over body refurbishment, I know it would end up as a real show winner.

Having taken it to a restorer that has worked on J types before and as they do have a J type themselves it has paid dividends. They know what their doing, they know how it should look and "what goes where". An ordinary body shop might well have done a similar job, but I bet they would have been "scratching their heads" and wasting time trying to piece together how the step/door runner/sill etc should fit.

Now that I'm going to be working on a MORRIS MINOR, for the next few months, (unless a J type turns up) I'm deciding whether to stop blogging, (let some of the other J bloggers take over), do a separate Minor pick-up blog or just delete the whole of this site and give myself a couple of hours extra a week to play out in the garage.

It could all change, you never know, my spy has been sent out to locate the site of the the J van pictured on the top right hand side of this blog. It was photographed only 4 years ago, so might be still there!

Another project might well be on it way in a few months who can tell, I have had a couple of calls about an early van in FINLAND, LHD and missing many parts.

I then got to hear about a GUY Vixen lorry (1948) with a nice Meadows petrol engine, then a rather nice 1950's Albion recovery truck, with the wonderful EN286 oil engine. I love this engine, I rebuilt one (top end) in one of my vintage coaches that I had in the 1970's, that's when I had money and space to keep big boys toys. The latest "find" is a Morris Commercial LC3/5 Crane!! What interests me on this is that the crane controls, (lift/slew and rotate) are all electrically controlled. A bit like a mad professors lair, levers and switch gear/rheostats all over the place. This has frightened off most people but not me!! Time will tell.

Don't trust what you read.

Through the post came this 4 page wine club booklet.

Now I don't drink but the image on the bottom right hand corner interested me.Inside yet another drawing of something that looked familiar.

And another view/drawing of the same little van. How interesting. So hot on the trail, lets find out about this van. Maybe they would have a nice period shot of it.

Having trawled the web site and e-mailed them it would appear that they have never had a j type, the advert agency in their wisdom using a "generic" old van drawing to brighten up the pages, looks better than the actual first van they had, a MK1 Ford Transit. Therefore the quote has nothing to do with a J type and I would have thought a Ford Transit  could have easily managed 40 mph.
In the blurb they quote "wines of authenticity" unlike their sales leaflet, which is a bit unauthentic in truth.

The next unanswered question, why have most of the other J blogs dried up? Come on boys ONCE a week maybe Ok for your sex lives, but most have slipped into the marriage thing, once a year on your Birthday, we want more entries!!! (on the blogs).

Hi Charlie, watch out for the mailman, small package on the way to you......

ROD (Stewart) has moved on to better things.

The last view of ROD, just off on his 400 mile trip up the road for his new owner.

ROD (Stewart) and the Dolly Mixtures!

Sounds of the Sixties swept over the village fete when singing sensation ROD Stewart and his backing group the Dolly Mixtures appeared at this local show.

The crowds went wild at this 1960's themed event.

ROD's next appearance is a booking in Edinburgh this week, date to be announced.

ROD's last event down south before he moves on to his new home in Scotland, the local girls gave him a good send off! He will be missed.

Just trawling the net!

G.D. sent me this wonderful period shot of Birmingham. It shows the construction of Pearks Supermarket on Watford Road, Cotteridge.
Rather a shame about the holes in the 35 mm film, I had forgotten all about them in this digital age. Then just a day later G.D. comes up with the following.

G.D. has found another period Morris Commercial J picture, its 1958 in Chesterfield and a lovely J.Lyon & Co van goes about it's business. I will buy a copy of this picture so we can see it in its full glory . (without the copyright mark). The registration number is LUR 626.

OBL 432 update.

One of the many stage pictures of OBL, kindly taken by the staff at MTR who are giving my van a make over, it should look at least 10 years younger shortly.

They have added yet more stage restoration pictures to their site, do check it out.

ROD has sold!

ROD has sold, the price sounds better when its in AU$ 12,219.24.It all happened in the last few seconds of the auction, watchers got up to 188. The second place bidder has e-mailed me to say he still wants it, and he was bidding but the bids were not being taken by the site, he was bidding higher than the winning bid.

How true this is, site problem or internet connection at fault we shall never know.
New owner is planning to rebuild the cab and back end of ROD, throw away all of Mr Snow's hard work 55 years ago, seems a shame but that is PROGRESS?

On a lighter note G.D. has again come up with a little gem of a period picture!

Members of The Southbeats band pose in front of their van

Producer: Grant, Henry

Date: c. 1964

Members of The Southbeats band pose in front of their Morris J-Type van. Young followers of the band aped their style, often sourcing their fashionably neat gear from boutiques in Carnaby Street or the King's Road.