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Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe

Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Jul 13, 2024 10:27:16 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	I'm still slowly ticking off jobs on the whiteboard, and although this wasn't a "pre-wof" job, I wanted to get it done before a couple of other jobs in the queue that were. Back in Feb I reinstalled the refurbished and tested heater box, but I never actually connected the heater core to anything, presuming that I would do it later. I'll tell you now, I wish I had at least fit a pair of 90 degree hoses off the heater core when it was out and easy to access, instead of doing it in the car. The plan here to was get the heater connected and working, before installing the carpet into the car, just in case it did decide to spring a leak, it won't damage the carpet. A while ago I ordered 1 meter of 51mm flexible ducting from Aliexpress to run from the outlets on the bottom of the heater box and up to the windscreen vents, this will allow me to direct air to the windscreen to demist it. This fits inside the plastic 90 degree joints on the bottom of the heater box, and on the outside of the dash vents, as per factory. I installed the vents into the dash first. These were a real pain in the backside to get into place, and work out which one went on which side. I got there in the end, and then cut some ducting and slipped it into place, using duct tape to seal and secure it. The driver's side is a bit less fun as there is less space to work and more wires in the way Unfortunately, after all the faffing about getting the dash vent in place, for whatever reason, it turns out the vent doesn't clear the speedo on the three-dial cluster and no amount of forcing it was going to allow them to share the limited space available. I don't know if this is because the car originally had two dials and the vent is different, or if I was doing something wrong, but in the end, I removed the dash vent, and zip-tied the duct to the dash structure. This still blows out through the slot in the dash, it's just not as directed as it should be. It's better than nothing. Speaking of the dash cluster, once I refitted it, and the steering wheel (since I removed it to give me more space to work under the dash), I refitted the steering wheel center pad for the first time since I got the car. This wheel is only until the car is on the road and then I have a nice aftermarket one to fit, but it's a milestone nonetheless. Who doesn't love a good plughole of despair? Testing the vents with the functional two-speed blower showed ample air being blown in the general direction of the windscreen. The next step was to actually hook up the heater core to the cooling circuit. This required me to obtain a couple (2-3) meters of 1/2" heater hose, and a pair of "Z" hoses (universal hoses that have a 90 and a 45 degree bend with a couple of straights, for cutting to fit). I also obtained a brass joiner, and brass "ball" valve. The Z hoses are to give me a pair of 90 degree fittings out of the heater core. I'm not running the standard heater valve that mounts to the box and is controlled with the cable, as I don't have a good one, and replacements are expensive. I don't care much for needing to change the temp often, so I chose to regulate the temperature with a ball valve in the hose instead. Winter mode, and summer mode. Because I'm not running the standard heater valve, I needed the hoses to clear the brackets immediately in front of the heater core outlets and then exit through the hole in the firewall. A normal hose would kink when trying to bend that sharp, so it had to be a 90 degree moulded bend. The upper heater core pipe is above the one visible, completely blocked by the bracket Z hoses are perfect for this sort of thing. I found these Aeroflow silicone ones locally at a reasonable price I cut the 45 off and shortened the 90 so it would fit I then proceeded to fight with the hose for the next half hour or so, trying to get it fully onto the upper pipe. The space is limited, and the visibility is zero, so it was all done by feel, and I sure felt the sharp bits digging into me. I was very close to just giving up on fitting the heater, it was fighting me that hard, but eventually, with both hands up under the dash, my head on the trans tunnel and my legs hanging out of the car, it finally slipped into place. The next fight was the hose clamp, getting that into place and tightening it, but we won't go into that. The lower hose was much easier to fit, it more or less pressed into place and the clamp went on without much fuss. Now that I had both stubs of hose poking through the firewall, I sprayed some silicone spray on the rubber grommet and pressed it onto the hoses and into the firewall. I had previously looped the heater hoses at the engine, as the previous owners had too (albeit their loop was a lot longer and had a joiner in the middle of it) A bit of research showed that the top heater hose was the one that went to the standard heater valve, so that's the one I fit the tap into I had also seen in photos that the hoses are usually secured to the inner wing by a pair of P clamps. I located a hole that would've been where a self-tapper went into I hate using coarse threaded screws to secure things, so drilled it out a bit further After coating it with some Rover Zircon Blue paint, I whacked an M5 Rivnut into it This allowed me to use a pair of P clamps to secure the hoses in place, keeping them tucked up nicely I then quickly juggled the old loop hose, spilled some coolant, and connected the two heater hoses It's quite a nice tidy setup, and I'm quite proud of how well it has worked out. When the red lever on the valve is in line with the hose, the coolant is flowing in that direction, turn it 90 degrees and it's closed. While I was there, spilling coolant on the floor, I also removed and swapped the coolant temp sender. I had never seen the coolant temp gauge rise, even when the coolant was warm enough to cycle the fan, so I wanted to see if replacing the sender helped. I believe the old one was original and is marked Smiths. The terminal was wiggly, which I'm not sure if it's meant to be The replacement went straight in without issue. Before firing the car up to take it outside and bleed the cooling system, I quickly filled the hole in the floor for the shifter. Originally this would've had a lump of foam around the shifter shaft and covered by a nice "leather" shift boot with a metal ring tasteslikepetrol.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Screenshot-2024-07-13-at-9.24.03 PM-967x1024.png[/IMG] I have all these parts, but the boot is so manky you wouldn't want to touch it, let alone install it in the car. I plan to remake the shifter and handbrake boots in the same tan vinyl as the door cards, but in the meantime I just wanted to block it off so the WOF man wouldn't be looking at the road during its test. I bought a MK2 boot from a nice fellow Marina owner, and figured I could make it work. This is the less attractive once-piece rubber deal, which was also used on some UK MK1 cars I removed the surround plate from the floor and inserted the rubber boot. It turned out that almost all the holes in the boot lined up with the surround, so it screwed in nice and easy It's not perfect, I suspect cars that are meant to have this boot will have a larger opening in the surround plate, that locates in a ridge on the bottom of the boot, but mine has a smaller opening to support the metal ring of the standard boot. It still works though, and seals the cabin from the outside world. And with that done, I topped the radiator and expansion tank up and started the car. It really needs some nice new fuel, the old stale fuel makes it really hard to start, but the replacement starter is bliss to use and the engine turns over quickly every time. Eventually the engine fired up on all cylinders and settled into a nice fast idle. I jumped in, popped it into gear and headed for the garage exit. I didn't quite make it the first time before the cold engine bogged down, so I rolled back and gave it another go, with more revs, and a bit of a run-up to get up my steep driveway. Apparently, this also meant that I did a nice unintentional single-wheel burnout in the garage Just can't harness all that OHC power! But make it we did. Once outside I got the hose out and gave the engine bay a quick hose down to wash out all the coolant I had spilled (and all the dirt and muck from years of sitting). This little burst of "cleaning" ended up in the Marina finally seeing the first "wash" of my ownership. Yes, it was only a hose down, but already it's a lot cleaner. It's crazy how much dirt was washed away, after 20+ years of sitting and 3 years of me cutting, grinding, and sanding. It's no show car, or even clean, by any stretch of the imagination, but at least I can touch the panels without getting filthy now. Even with me blasting the car with the hose, the interior was reasonably leak-free, except where expected. The front windscreen leaks like a sieve (expected, the seal is wrong and doesn't fit), the rear windscreen has a tiny leak in the bottom corner, and the front quarterlight windows leaked a little too. Once the windscreen seal is replaced, the others should be fine to handle a little rain if I happen to get caught out. The whole time it was outside the engine was just happily ticking over at idle, with the fan cutting in and out as needed. On a huge plus, the temp gauge now works. So what of the heater? well, I can confirm it blows nice warm air around the car, and if you leave it idling with the heater on, the blower on fast, and with the windows up, it becomes uncomfortably warm inside the car. Great success. As far as I can see, there are no coolant leaks and everything is doing as it should. Next, sound deadening and then carpet.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Sept 15, 2024 11:42:51 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Like usual, it's been a while between updates, but progress has been progressing. Finally, we're reassembling the interior once and for all. I had been asked about and pondered for a while, on whether I would be sticking some sound deadener under the carpet on the new floor. I wasn't going to, but since I was here I grabbed some cheap no-name butyl stuff and got to work. The main places were the two footwells in the front The front of the tunnel under the heater The front wheel wells (where stones would hit) and finally, the rear footwells I'm not certain it will do anything, but even if it can stop the floors drumming, that's a win. It was reasonably easy to apply, although I did do it in winter so had to use a heat gun to get it and the metal warm so it would stick properly. I also grabbed a small rubber roller from the hardware store to roll it out. With my newly applied sound deadening in place, it was time to lay down some carpet underlay. I also stuck some underlay over the trans tunnel, hopefully to keep some noise and heat down. Now, it was the less fun part. The carpet. The very first part to go in was the rear bulkhead. This has to go in before the rest of the carpet since the main carpet will butt up against it. Thankfully, this was one section of carpet that still existed, even if it was some manky old faded house carpet. I carefully removed them and used them as a template on my new carpet. A little bit of jiggery pokery had the first bits of nice new carpet stuck in place Next, I did a quick test fit of the fitted carpet set. This was made by a local supplier. They had two options, UK or AU spec, but couldn't actually tell me what the difference was. I had hoped it was because the AU spec cars, like mine, have the seat rails welded to the floor, whilst the UK ones don't. The other option was that the later 025 AU spec cars have a bigger trans tunnel, which is more likely the difference, but they couldn't even confirm if that was the reason for the difference. In the end, I decided to take a punt on the UK spec carpet set as my trans tunnel is the small UK size. The test fit was promising. But before I got to work fitting it properly, I wanted to refit the rear seat as I'll need to climb into the car to do so, and would rather not be climbing on the new carpet. Since I was making the interior nice, I couldn't just refit the dirty old rear seat. I've never cleaned it in the years I have had it, and who knows how many decades it's been. With the help and advice of my wife, a bucket of hot water, rags, some Jif cream cleaner and a spinny brush on my drill, here's a quick half and half of the base This was quite satisfying as the vinyl was cleaning up really well. Its not even the same colour as before. Once it was clean, for the first time since I've owned the car I actually screwed the seat in place. The base is a bit of a pain. At the back there are two tabs which get screwed to the body And the front has these annoying hooks that go through holes in the body, and then get secured with nuts After a lot of stuffing around, I found the easiest way to fit the base was to get the hooks in place and loosely secured, by tipping the base forward. Then you tip the base down, and secure the screws at the rear. The back of the seat needed a clean next. This had some old contact adhesive running down the side Which after a lot of work, got a lot better. Not perfect, but its usable Once again, its a completely different colour to what it was There is quite a bit of sun damage to the top of the rear seat, and the vinyl just shatters when you so much as look at it, so I had to take a lot of care there. I need to find an OG tartan woollen blanket to drape over it like my old Marina. I have no idea why, but I have no photo of the rear seat completely installed, but the backrest went in easy enough. It hooks over tabs on the body, and then two screws through tabs on the bottom hold it in place. Now it was finally time to fit the carpet kit. I didn't particular enjoy this as it took something like 14 hours to do, and was not as straightforward as I had hoped for a "kit". The first problem was that there were zero holes in the carpet, which was a pain. I thought they would've pre-cut the shifter hole at least, and maybe the handbrake, but no. So to help get everything centered and aligned, I used some brown paper to make a template, and locate everything using the center bolt for the seatbelt receiver Once I was happy with the template, I transferred it to the carpet Then i started the scary bit, cutting the brand new carpet With the handbrake and bolt aligned, I made the first big I cut for the seat rail. I knew I would need to cut these four slots in the carpet, but it didn't make it any less scary A second seat rail appears I did the same on the other side, and using the same high temp ADOS glue as I used on the TVR, I carefully glued the carpet down. I didn't go too nuts, mainly sticking it down around the edges, not slathering the whole thing in glue. After that, it was time for the front half of the carpet. This was more of the same; cut a hole for the shifter, glue on the pieces that go on the wheel arches and in the footwell, and then slip the front section of the carpet into place. Oh and surprise, its a TC center console! I bought this on Facebook ages ago, the seller took my money then promptly ghosted me, after months, I thought it was lost forever but it turns out he was known to some absolute legends on a local forum, who paid him a visit and recovered the console for me. I know the car wasn't fitted with a console originally, but it wasn't fitted with carpet either, so lets just call it an upspec. The final step to fitting the car was to glue the front down, trim the door jams, and then fit the plates that clamp down the carpet The heal pad is a nice touch The biggest issue with the fitment, that you cant easily fix, is the wrinkles around the trans tunnel. This is caused by the cut and stitched sections designed to help it fit the tunnel, but its almost like my tunnel was too small and the inserts were sitting in the wrong place. No amount of tweaking was going to make it fit any better. In the end though, its 100x better than what was there before (nothing) or the house carpet it previously had, which rotted out from sitting. Its not perfect, but it's good enough for my Marina. What good is new carpet, if you don't have any front seats? I've had both seats in at some point, but for ages the passengers seat has been out of the car, and the drivers seat was only partly bolted in. Now we're going to fit them both, properly. First things first though, seatbelts. The car came with both old crusty belts, I took them out a couple of years ago, and had them rewebbed by an awesome outfit, Autosafe, who rewebbed the belts with new black webbing, cleaned up the hardware, and mixed and matched bits with some spare belts I supplied to make the best pair. Everything is properly tagged and certified, and comes with the relevant paperwork I had also sourced a pair of new old stock plastic covers for the top bolt, which has the integrated belt park. These came from the UK with the help of an awesome fellow Marina enthusiast The car came with one cover, along with a single bolt cap (missing from the new ones) I had considered the usual option of converting to retractable belts, but there is something about static belts in old cars for me. Its a novelty, even if its not practical. I gave the bolts and washers a quick cleanup and then fitted the belts And it clips nicely into the buckle With the belts installed and working nicely, it was time to clean the front seats and bolt them in. The drivers seat got the treatment first. This is in pretty average shape, with a couple of tears in the base which have been stitched together with some red twine. Before cleaning it I flipped the seat upside down and greased all the moving parts They're a very simple rail, but with the added complexity of the tilting mech for getting passengers in the back seat. This little lever is what releases the backrest The lever releases a big hook on each side The lever acts directly on it, with a rod going to the opposite side Everything got some grease on it, and is moving nicely. The actual sliding adjustment is very simple, with two independent rails, a U shaped release lever and two pins. You lift the bar at the front, it disengages the pins and the seat can slide. You release the bar, and it springs back into place, slotting into one of the notches. All of this got greased and then the seat was flipped over for cleaning. Cleaning up well I'm very impressed how well these seats clean up Its like two different seats So the base got the same treatment too. The decades old tape residue doesn't seem to want to budge, but otherwise its looking good After a coating of 303 Aerospace Protectant (all seats got this treatment, it's meant to treat and protect vinyl), it was bolted into the car Moving onto the passengers seat, it had obvious had a life at some point. The seat release bar/adjustment was very bent on one side. The left side pin wasn't even engaging with the rail Some careful percussive persuation, and it was all as it should be again This one wasn't as drastic as the drivers seat, but still changed colour quite well Which could only mean one thing, the final seat got bolted into place I kicked off my shoes, hopped in, belted myself in, and spent some time making vroom vroom noises. We're very close to WOF time now. It'll be a couple of weeks, so I'll have to book a day off work, book it in for a WOF and then I'll have a deadline for the car to be ready. I still need to do an oil change, drain the stale fuel out of the tank, fit the new wiper blades and then see why the engine top end is rattling, but thats a days work at most.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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darrenh Posted hell of a lot Posts: 6,655	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe darrenh @darrenh
	Sept 26, 2024 9:52:44 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	another top tier honest DIY restoration from kelvinator industries plc
	1989 Astra Merit estate 1991 Astra GTE 16v group A build 1982 land rover 88 sw

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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Sept 28, 2024 9:53:44 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	It's happening, the Marina is finally booked in for a WOF. It's only a couple of years late, but better than never. I started the day with a checklist of things that needed to be done before the WOF booking in a couple of weeks. The first was to drain the fuel tank of the 2+ year old fuel because it stinks, and the car is hard to start. With 18L of new high-octane fuel in hand, I used the drain plug on the bottom of the tank to get as much out as I could. I underestimated how much was in there, so couldn't completely drain it, but the fuel coming out was definitely yellow, and stank of varnish. The new fuel can mix with whatever was left in there, it'll be fine. Moving forward I wanted to drain the filter, pump and lines too. I unhooked the feed hose to the carb and stuck it into a bottle. I disconnected the coil and fuel pump, and turned the ignition on. Using the handy dandy connection under the bonnet, I ran the fuel pump and pumped the fuel into the bottle. This is what came out It's much darker than what was coming out of the tank, and stank. I ran the pump until nice clean fuel came through. I tossed up wether to drain the fuel bowl on the carb or not, but in the end I removed the three screws and removed the top And I'm glad I did. The old fuel was rancid, but there was also an amount of sediment in the bottom of the bowl I used a hand vac pump to suck the old fuel out and used a rag and carb cleaner to clean the bottom of the bowl. Once I reassembled the bowl and used the pump to fill it with fresh new fuel, I wanted to check the spark plugs. I haven't checked them since I fitted them a few years ago, and with all the cold running, hard starts and bad fuel, I expected them to be pretty grotty. Surprisingly they weren't that bad. One was a bit darker than the rest, all had some degree of black carbon, but none were really fouled. I gave them all a quick clean with a wire brush and brake cleaner and refitted them. Since I was there anyway, I thought it was wise to have a look at the points. It's a good thing I did, as forget the points, this is what I found instead Yup, the center carbon post is completely missing and the spring has been wearing the center of the rotor down After some investigating I found the little carbon post down in the bottom of the distributor, under the points, sitting with the mechanical advance. I didn't want to leave it there just in case it jammed the advance, so using a small pick and a pair of offset needlenose pliers, I managed to fish it out I have no idea how long it's been like that, but it wouldn't have been doing anyone any favours. Thankfully I'm a hoarder, so I had a replacement cap and rotor in my stock. I quickly swapped them over and after a quick sand of the points we were good to go again. With the ignition back together, I tried to start the car, and despite the fuel being fresh, the ignition working, and the choke pulled out to its stop, it wasn't having any of it. It was then that it occurred to me to check the choke Sure enough, with the choke pulled as far as it could be, the jet under the carb wasn't pulling down like it's meant to (to let more fuel into the carb). With some gentle prying it slowly started to move At this point I stripped the top off the carb too, so I could access the top of the jet. Whilst there, I also found the same excellent piston lift pin that I used to tune the Mini I thoroughly cleaned the jet and gave it a little WD40 to help it move freely, and now the choke operates as it should. It should've been obvious that the lever in the cabin was only pulling out about half way, but it's been a long time since I've had another manual choke. I cleaned up the piston and needle, and refit with new dashpot oil Now the car started, easily. It's amazing what a functioning choke can do! With the car starting and running well, the next thing to do was an oil change. Of course I had to warm the engine up for this, as I did the last oil change cold and 20W60 flows real slow when it's cold. A quick trip to Mexico for a closed road test was needed It runs and drives really well. The brakes are terrifying, but more use seems to be helping, although a remote booster might be on the cards at some point. A loud rattle present on decel turned out to the hood prop rattling in its bracket and on the air cleaner housing. Easy fix. It was still flat and gutless though. I had wanted to check the timing for a while, but it's a pain in the bum to do on these, plus I needed the car at full operating temp, which I didn't often do. A normal car would have the timing marks easy to access and see, usually by just pointing the timing light down into the engine bay. Not the Marina though. The timing marks are on the bottom of the engine, accessible through the front of the lower bash plate I painted the timing pointers yellow and the crank mark white ages ago, so it was easier to see. The four pointers are TDC, 5, 10 and 15 degrees Before TDC. tasteslikepetrol.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Screenshot-2024-09-28-at-9.00.53 PM.png[/IMG] The timing when I started was so far off the scale I think it was actually after TDC, not before. The spec is 10 degrees BTDC. I slackened off the distributor clamp and gave it a tweak. The revs picked up and the idle smoothed out. It didn't take much, but we were sitting bang on 10deg now. I adjusted the idle back down to 500rpm, and tweaked it a little further. I'm running approx 13-14deg timing now, because I'm a spicy lad that wants more power from his 70s Sports Car, and I'm running high octane fuel. With the timing where it should be, I wanted to see what the mixture was doing. What better way than to use the lift pin on the carb that I just found? I lifted the piston and the revs rose significantly, indicating a very rich mixture. Using my handy little SU jet adjustment tool I tweaked the adjustment nut until the revs only slightly rose when the piston was lifted. Perfect. With that, it was time for another trip to Mexico and hot damn, the car boogies now! Previously it felt really flat, didn't want to rev and couldn't get out of its own way. Now it wants to rev, and properly hoofs it down the road (for a Marina anyway). Great success, can't wait for it to be legal and I can see how it really goes. Another plus is that although noisy in a couple of gears, like all Marinas (it reminds you it's doing actual mechanical things), the gearbox shifts lovely, even at high RPM and on downshifts. Back home, I put the car on stands and drained the oil. It wasn't that dirty, but it was quite thin and although stuff all Ks, it's had a lot of cold starts, and it's been in there over 3 years. Oops. I decided not to change the filter this time, since it's expensive, rare, and it's not really done that much work. I'll change it once the cars been on the road for a bit. 3L of Penrite 20W60 went in the top and didn't come out again. Yay Another quick fix for the WOF was to replace the wiper blades. The old ones are proper plastic, so didn't really do the job of clearing the glass. I grabbed some Tex stainless wipers with the bayonet fitting They fit well and look good. I gave the arms a quick scrub with some scotch pad and they look a lot better Sadly I can't test them properly as it appears the Lucas washer pump I fitted in Jan has seized and failed. Lame. I have a replacement on order which will hopefully be here this week. Lucas ain't what it used to be, and it wasn't that good to start with. The last thing I needed to do was to clean all the windows and then fit a high stop light to the rear. I didn't legally need one, but I hate how invisible classics are these days. The brake lights are small, dim and low down on the car, so hopefully this LED unit shining into the eyes of people behind me might give me a chance of them actually seeing me. I picked up this Hella Matrix unit and really like how it kinda looks period correct but uses modern LEDs. Fitting it was less than fun. Trying to line up the grey decal on the glass and get it centered and straight, took a lot of tries before I just gave up and sent it. I flipped the pads on my clamp and used it as a one-man brake light tester It works well Standing behind the car seems to be about the height for it to have the hot spot right in your eyes. Hopefully that's about standard modern car driver eyeline too. With the help of my wife, we tested the rest of the lights, which did initially show up a dodgy connection on the RH brake light bulb, but a quick reseating of the bulb fixed that. Thats it. There is only one thing left on the board. I guess the next update will be after the inspection, where I know it'll fail. What on, well that's yet to be seen, but having been off the road for almost 30 years, it could be anything. It's been good to finally be doing mechanical work again. I was sick of bodywork.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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mrbounce Posted a lot Posts: 2,294	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe mrbounce @mrbounce
	Sept 28, 2024 21:17:53 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Superb update - looking forward to hearing about the WOF!
	Nothing points at bad engineering more than creases in Gaffa Tape. redirect.viglink.com/?key=63364c64c1bea2953642596e66a2463a&subId=2095273&u=http%3A//retrorides.proboards.com/thread/191577/1981-midas-coupe-project-zippy%3Fpage%3D1

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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Sept 29, 2024 0:54:17 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	I couldn't help myself, I wanted to know what the cold start was like now with a working choke, correct mixture and advanced ignition timing. It's very good. It has never started like that when cold. Usually it's ages of cranking, the starter kicking out a few times when the engine tries to fire, a couple of backfires out the intake and then eventually it would rumble into life, begrudgingly. Once it was running it wouldn't take any throttle until it had warmed up a bit, and the choke was a balancing act (particularly since it wasn't working properly). The engine is running so well I need to completely reassess how I use the choke. Apparently this time I had it out for too long and it started to misfire, but pushing it right in, the engine dropped to idle and ran smoothly, like it was already warmed up, and that was less than a minute after starting. I'm very impressed, for a 50+ year old car to start and run like that.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 2,921 Club RR Member Number: 40	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe jamesd1972 @jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member 40
	Oct 7, 2024 6:28:39 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Waiting with bated breath! Nice job. Just a bit of paint left to finish off? James


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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Oct 7, 2024 17:30:58 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oct 7, 2024 6:28:39 GMT jamesd1972 said: Waiting with bated breath! Nice job. Just a bit of paint left to finish off? James Only a couple of days to go until I finally have the list of what it needs in my hands. Getting pretty nervous! I have a vague plan to brush or roller paint the car in one colour at some point when its on the road. It wont be perfect, but I don't have the time, space, equipment or skills to paint it properly with a gun. I'd just like it one colour. I do keep being told it looks cool as it is and I should leave it, so paint wont be in a hurry.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Oct 12, 2024 7:18:12 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	The time finally came. After many years and countless hours of work, it was WOF time. Before the WOF, the first thing to do was to replace the failed Lucas washer pump. This was completely dead, even when powering it straight from the battery with a test probe. It turns out I bought the pump about 3 years ago, and only fitted it in Jan this year, so way out of warranty now. I sourced a cheap unbranded replacement locally. This didn't even get the honour of arriving in a box, just some bubblewrap with a part number sticker on it. Other than the label, they're almost identical. No surprise. Both from China no doubt. I quickly screwed it into place and rejoined the hoses Finally everything was working again. The new Tex wipers were a bit disappointing, with a very average effort clearing the screen, but hopefully they just need some time to bed in. I've been doing some closed road testing recently to make sure everything is working well, and trying to bed the brakes in a bit too. It turns out, I had done almost exactly 10km since getting the car. As bought, back in 2021 The day before the WOF, 2024 In my travels I did notice two things. First, the ignition timing was just a smidge too spicy, and there was some pinging noticeable at lower RPM. Not good, so I wound the timing back from nearly 15deg to 10deg, and that seems to have fixed it. It's a little less keen to boogie now, but it's still 100x better than it was before I set the timing the other day. Plenty of time to play with that once we're on the road. Secondly, the front bash plate that protects the alloy sump from getting its face smashed in, was scraping a lot coming in and out of my driveway, and I noticed how close it was to the road when cornering in the video the other day. tasteslikepetrol.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Screenshot-2024-10-12-at-6.40.12 PM.png[/IMG] So I wanted to raise it just a smidge in the front. Sure, it looks cool as heck that low, but I don't want to smash the poor thing to bits. After MUCH fiddling with the torsion bar trim adjusters, I finally got it to settle at about 10mm higher than it was. It's lost the forward rake it had, and the sill is about level now, but it brings the bash plate just high enough that it's not hitting things now. Finally, just to be cocky, I jacked the rear of the car up and fixed the exhaust leak I had at the join above the rear axle (with lots of paste), and adjusted the handbrake just a little bit tighter. Maybe, just maybe, it'll pass with no issues now. The next day I got up bright and early, played musical cars and fired the Marina to life. It was pretty cold this morning, so the engine was a little grumpier than in my previous testing, but quickly sorted itself out. I backed out, closed the garage, got to the end of my street and turned the corner.Right into the path of a police car full of officers. To say I puckered a little is an understatement, but they didn't even give it a second look and I spent the rest of the drive to the workshop laughing my off at the odds of that happening. I arrived, parked up and then the waiting began. For the first time in almost 30 years, the old girl was waiting for a checkup. After a bit of a wait, the tech hopped in, fired the old girl up and took it for a quick road test. Here we go! Seeing him coming back up the road really hit me, it's such a cool looking car to see driving around. I hope when I drive it around, I can brighten the day of people on the street too. He rolls it onto the hoist and proceeds with the checks. TOOT, yes the horn goes. All the lights worked (a miracle), and the wipers and washer worked. They have a good look around with a torch, checking all the nooks and crannies, near hinges, down pillars, inside the boot, everywhere (I'm not sure they're usually this thorough on my other cars...) The hoist goes up, and my heart is in my throat As it was in the air and being checked over, a young couple picking their car up walked by and the girl commented to her partner "oh wow, look at this beauty!" pointing at the Marina. The tech is poking around under the car, checking all the usual things. Bearings, suspension, steering, etc. He also did some poking with a big prybar. After a long wait, I got the news. It's not going to pass. Long story short, he stopped the inspection and basically changed it to a pre-WOF check instead of an actual WOF check. A variation of my worst case scenario had happened, he wasn't happy with the underside. To clarify though, he made no mention at all of the work I had done. The issue he had was the old curse word lumpy tar-based underseal all over everything. In places where it was chipping off, there was surface rust, and for the rest he wasn't happy with what it could be hiding (nothing, I've seen the other side of the metal, but he can't check that). The stuff covers literally everything under there Very old photos from when I got the car There were also some other stupid things that I'm beating myself up over for not sorting, like the chassis rails having some rust flakes still in them, visible through the drain holes (from the old floor and rear panel rusting). Despite trying to clean them up at the time, I didn't do a good enough job. The other spot he was concerned with was inside the boot, near the hinges It's all surface rust and will clean up easily, but I guess since it's near the hinges he wasn't happy with it being like that. There were some mechanical issues, but he wasn't really keen on going into detail on them after showing me the bodywork issues he wasn't happy with. He mentioned the RH Rear wheel bearing was noisy and there may be play in the rack. Overall, I was devastated. It really crushed me, after all that work, for it to fail on bloody bodywork issues. The only positive of it was that it wasn't the work I did (as I feared), it was the work I didn't. I have always hated the underseal, it's on everything, it's really clumpy, and it's uneven and chipping off. It covers all bolts, nuts, threads etc under there too, which sucks to work around. If you try to lubricate anything with CRC, it melts the tar and turns to a hell of a mess. I should've really removed it all when I did the floors. Because he decided to not proceed with the WOF, it also means he hasn't entered it into the system as a fail, and I don't have to fix it within the defined 28 day timeframe. I'm thankful for that, because it'd be a pain if the workshops were busy. So, where to from here? Well, he explained what he wants to see; he wants all the underseal gone, and any surface rust and any uncovered issues to be sorted. He suggested having it sandblasted, treated and then undercoated again in something modern. I've been mulling it over and looking at my options, and I think from here the best option is indeed to have it sandblasted, to remove the underseal I hate anyway, and then have it zinc coated by the blaster. Once I get the car back, I will then paint the underside in a hard wearing single stage paint (yellow, of course). I'm not really interested in undersealing it again, I'd rather have it painted (unless anyone can convince me otherwise? This isn't a daily and won't often see rain). I have some calls to make tomorrow, to see what options are available to me, and the costs. I'm not made of money, but this car has cost me less than any of my other projects (monetarily, it's a complete time hog though) so it deserves to have some money spent on doing it properly. We ain't done yet, there is no option other than pushing forward.
	Last Edit: Oct 12, 2024 9:59:58 GMT by Kelvinator Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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westbay Posted a lot Posts: 1,886	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe westbay @westbay
	Oct 12, 2024 7:32:33 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Well that's disappointing but, not too bad. Hope the sandblasting isn't ruinous


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glenanderson Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 4,352 Club RR Member Number: 64	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe glenanderson @glenanderson Club Retro Rides Member 64
	Oct 12, 2024 8:12:35 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Disappointing, but not the end of the world. I don’t know whether “sandblasting” is a generic term for any kind of media blasting in your part of the world, but I would be careful not to use anything too aggressive. Additionally, over here, most media blasters will be reluctant to attack sticky stuff, and I suspect that, if your under seal softens easily with solvent, that you will be better off getting the bulk of it removed that way first. Best of luck. 👍
	My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...

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820 South East Posts: 793	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe 820 @820
	Oct 12, 2024 9:31:20 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	All the repairs and work you have done passed the inspection, that is a great result, now you know exactly what needs to be done next. The 2 door coupe Marina does look good, I think you have it sat just about right on those wheels.
	www.rovervitesse.com

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biturbo228 Posted a lot Posts: 1,867	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe biturbo228 @biturbo228
	Oct 12, 2024 19:00:34 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oofda. WOF seems a lot stricter than our MOTs! Did you just get a jobsworth or are they all like that? My experience of media blasting is that it doesn't touch underseal tar at all. The stuff is designed to be resistant to abrasion by grit after all! It's a rubbish job, but the best way I've found is to chip as much of it off as you can with a chisel. There might be smarter ways, but I haven't come across it. Sandblasting would be perfect for the surface rust photo though.
	Simon Unibody Spit6 X1/9 Turbo XJ40 Superturbodiesel Citroen BX MG F Lada Niva Alfa 75 24v Triumph 2000 AJ6 Rover SD1

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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Oct 12, 2024 20:29:18 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oct 12, 2024 8:12:35 GMT glenanderson said: Disappointing, but not the end of the world. I don’t know whether “sandblasting” is a generic term for any kind of media blasting in your part of the world, but I would be careful not to use anything too aggressive. Additionally, over here, most media blasters will be reluctant to attack sticky stuff, and I suspect that, if your under seal softens easily with solvent, that you will be better off getting the bulk of it removed that way first. Best of luck. 👍 I'll admit i don't know much about the process, having not had it done before but "sandblasting" is a service provided for cars with rusty undersides in order to get them clean and through inspections. I don't know how aggressive the media they use is, and i'd be pretty keen for it not to be that aggressive, being 50 year old steel and all. I'll have to rely on the guidance of the pros for that. I am also being told by various people that i may be out of luck with my thoughts of having the tar blasted off. I really don't want to have to manually strip it, but I may end up there. We'll see what they say.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Oct 12, 2024 20:31:20 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oct 12, 2024 19:00:34 GMT biturbo228 said: Oofda. WOF seems a lot stricter than our MOTs! Did you just get a jobsworth or are they all like that? My experience of media blasting is that it doesn't touch underseal tar at all. The stuff is designed to be resistant to abrasion by grit after all! It's a rubbish job, but the best way I've found is to chip as much of it off as you can with a chisel. There might be smarter ways, but I haven't come across it. Sandblasting would be perfect for the surface rust photo though. Honestly I think he judged the car by its looks before he even got into it. His attitude towards it wasnt great and has rubbed me the wrong way a little, so it wont be returning there again. It was always going to be a risk taking a car that looks like it does, is over 50 years old, hasnt had a wof in over half that, and is a car that is widely regarded as one of the worst ever made, in for a wof.
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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glenanderson Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 4,352 Club RR Member Number: 64	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe glenanderson @glenanderson Club Retro Rides Member 64
	Oct 12, 2024 21:53:00 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	I have to admit, here in the UK, you’d be up against similar prejudices. Maybe a rattle-can paint job to cover the primer would be a good idea too, before the re-test? Are there any more “classic friendly” garages around? I have to admit I know nothing of WOF standards/requirements.
	My worst worry about dying is my wife selling my stuff for what I told her it cost...

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wildrover Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 417 Member is Online	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe wildrover @wildrovr
	Oct 13, 2024 1:45:07 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Dry ice works wonders with old underseal - it makes it brittle and it comes off in lumps. Of course, there is the issue of gravity to overcome. Good luck.


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jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member Posts: 2,921 Club RR Member Number: 40	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe jamesd1972 @jamesd1972 Club Retro Rides Member 40
	Oct 13, 2024 14:28:41 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Feeling your pain! Not liking surface rust sounds like a real jobsworth, probably got shares in the local media blasting firm! The base is good and you’ll get there I’m sure. James


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kevins Posted a lot Posts: 4,858	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe kevins @kevins
	Oct 13, 2024 17:04:06 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	It's a horrible job but if you crack away at it a couple of square feet at a time with a chisel it doesen't take that many sessions to get it off, either get it cold and it may come off cleanly in lumps or warm it and scrape it off then use something like white spirit to remove the residue.


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Kelvinator Part of things Posts: 689	Full circle into a Marina again. My 73 Morris Marina Coupe Kelvinator @kelvinator
	Oct 13, 2024 17:36:26 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Back to Top
	Oct 12, 2024 21:53:00 GMT glenanderson said: I have to admit, here in the UK, you’d be up against similar prejudices. Maybe a rattle-can paint job to cover the primer would be a good idea too, before the re-test? Are there any more “classic friendly” garages around? I have to admit I know nothing of WOF standards/requirements. I have been recommended another garage that a friend with an SD1 Vitesse had success with. He was also kicked back by this same workshop I was for some weird things, which turned out to be nothing, like the end of one floor stiffener hadn't been fitted properly at the factory and had a small gap to the floor panel. Its been like that for 40 odd years, passed decades of warrants, and only then did it become an issue. I do have plans to tidy the paint up, but I'm leaving that until the car is on the road as it'll take a reasonable amount of time and money to do so ( even with rattlecans)
	Tastes Like Petrol - A Man And His Cars My Car Projects Morris Marina Coupe Project

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