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.