unimogjohn Posted April 16, 2017 Author Share Posted April 16, 2017 It is Sunday, April 16th. Happy Easter! Hope that you are all out looking for colored Easter eggs. Here is a picture of my favorites. Nice day, but decided to work on the Suburban sans the 2 post lift. Wanted to see why the windshield washer was leaking like crazy. Well I found out. The pump housing was cracked. It is a pain to take out the reservoir as you have to remove the inner fender liner and the battery and battery tray. At least I had the liner out for the brake job. As luck would have it, I had a new pump in my spares box. So put it in and got everything all connected and the battery back in it place. I hit the lever for the washer system and water came out everywhere. What! it is coming out a break in the hose under the driver's side wiper arm. I have to order some hose, I have none. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 16, 2017 Author Share Posted April 16, 2017 And I hate it when I wake up at 3 AM with nothing to do. I tend to get in trouble. And I hate Eastwood, they keep sending me specials with free shipping. So this morning I bought a little table top parts washer system, $54 to my door. Of course then I had to have cleaning fluid, so to Amazon I went. Got 5 gallons of special fluid, $47 to my door. No more using cans of brake cleaner at $7 a pop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 It is Monday, April 17th. Hope to hear something about the Morris Traveller that "I think" we bought. Glad I put down the deposit. If they do not call me, I will call them this afternoon. I would like to complete the deal and start making arrangements to get it up to Virginia. We headed over to Camaro Steve's place yesterday afternoon. He has been working on "Barney", the 1953 Ford F-100. He had the front seat redone and it looks really good. Added seat belts too. The floor was solid, but soft in a couple of places and had several holes where the floor mounted shifter resided. He cut out the soft parts and welded in new metal, and welded in new metal where the holes were. He buffed up the floor and put down a coat of "POR" to seal everything up. Next he plans to put down some thermal insulation and then a new rubber covering. We are all going up to the Spring Carlisle PA show on Thursday. Will be a great day for walking around looking for old car parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 John, do you know if Carnegie Pa 15106 is far away from your place? "my" car will be shiped there to make some maintenance/improvements. Your car may travel with mine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 (edited) Roger, Carnegie is 250 miles north of our home in Virginia. I would imagine that you car will be taken to the Port of Baltimore, MD for a quick trip across the pond. They have a couple of roll on/roll off ships there all the time. My Unimog came from Europe thru the port. If your new car is in FL then maybe they will be together for the trip north. I have contracted with Jim of Trulyvintage on this forum to pick up the Traveller and bring it to Virginia. He said that he will be in Florida at the end of the week. Looks like we will have our Traveller by the beginning of next week. And I tried to wire money to no avail. The bank wanted an address for the seller, which I did not have. So it looks like tomorrow morning for the wire transfer. Edited April 17, 2017 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Still Monday. Well, the Suburban is officially done. Got the inner fender back on and secure; and I got the windshield washer tube replaced. Everything is good to go. It was a little tight working around the Jaguar, but at least I did not have to kneel in the gravel and rain. I have been using a Crosland (made in England) oil filter for the Jaguar. I only have one left so decided to order three from XK Unlimited. They came today. They look pretty good, but they are made in China. Side to side they are pretty similar to the Crosland. The Crosland may have tighter pleats, hence a bit more filtering media. I also got the adjustment bar for the Jaguar brakes from Welsh Enterprises. The adjustment teeth look great. I will be able to finish the Jaguar tomorrow. Can hardly wait to take it for a test drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 1 hour ago, unimogjohn said: Roger, Carnegie is 250 miles north of our home in Virginia. I would imagine that you car will be taken to the Port of Baltimore, MD for a quick trip across the pond. They have a couple of roll on/roll off ships there all the time. Well, I was thinking that both cars could go with the same truck! I see that both locations are too far away and as you still have difficulties with the wire transfer, it's an illusion. Anyway, thinking that a large car like a '72 de Ville could travel with theat tiny car would have been fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Yergin Posted April 17, 2017 Share Posted April 17, 2017 John, I was under the impression that the "T" on the Virginia plates signifies they are for a truck. It could certainly be a wrong impression but you may want to verify with the DMV that you may use them on your car. Jim Yergin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 17, 2017 Author Share Posted April 17, 2017 Jim, Alice is going in to register the car, err truck. She will take a picture of the Traveller and try to convenience the DMV that it is a little English truck. Worse case we will just use them for display and run the regular vintage/antique plates, which you can get in black/white combo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 18, 2017 Author Share Posted April 18, 2017 Just a quick update on the projects as we are on our way to Long Island in New York. Going with friends to visit the east end of the island and staying away from the city. I got the Jagrar's brakes done late last night and took it for a quick spin. The brakes work much better without much of a pull. I am happy. I am sure they will improve with more time on the engine. No oil or water leaks that I could see also. I paid for the Morris Traveller. So I guess that the little station wagon is ours. It should be here sometime next week. Maybe as early as Monday/Tuesday. Alice is sure excited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 My '37 Cord has truck plates! It's not supposed to, of course. When I went to the DMV in Virginia to use the plates (not knowing about the T being Truck), I also had to renew my driver's license. The clerk started with that, opened my records on the computer, and went "HUH!!'....I asked her what the problem might be, she said well, you're in the computer as a female. Yikes! Thinking it was a simple fix, I found out it wasn't, one and a half hours and three phone calls to Richmond to the head office. Finally, I was male again. Then she picked up the plates. "Wait", she said, "You can't do year of manufacture on a CAR with TRUCK plates".....I looked at her and said "Hey, you just gave me a sex change operation, and NOW you're telling me I can't use these plates?"....she laughed and registered the car with the T plates.....always a source of a conversation or two when the car is out and about... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Stoneberg Posted April 19, 2017 Share Posted April 19, 2017 Thats great David... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 (edited) It is Saturday, April 22nd. A new adventure begins. After a short trip to Long Island, NY and then to Carlisle, PA we made it home late last night. I got a note from Jim, our hauler, that he had picked up the Traveller. He did not give me a schedule for his trip so he may be here late today or tomorrow. We will just have to wait and see. At least we know the car is on its way. I did call our insurer and added to the car to our "large lines" policy with JC Taylor. And while we are waiting. Here is a little video on the history of the Morris Minor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sD79yY2diMI Edited April 22, 2017 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted April 22, 2017 Share Posted April 22, 2017 Mine was loaded on April 20! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 22, 2017 Author Share Posted April 22, 2017 Roger, pls keep us updated on its journey through the shipping process. The location of the Traveller is unknown. Waiting for Jim to let me know his progress up the east coast. In the meantime I decided to assemble the Eastwood media blaster and parts washer. All was going well on the media blaster when I stgripped the threads on the air pressure gauge. So I stopped. Will have to get a thread chaser as I mangled it pretty good. My fault. I had better luck with the parts washer. Thankfully, I only had to install the nozzle and fill the tank with fluid. Works good. It is small, but will do probably everything I need to do. Here are a couple of pics of both machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 23, 2017 Author Share Posted April 23, 2017 It is Sunday, April 23rd. We received a note from Jim that the Traveller, now named Dexter by Alice, will probably be arriving on Monday. I have a spot in my garage for him. Alice vows to clean out the house garage for him. We will see. It is full of garden stuff right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 23, 2017 Author Share Posted April 23, 2017 Sunday PM update. Just got a note from Jim. He had a breakdown, and had to replace an alternator and two batteries in the rain. So that put him way behind today, and of course Sunday traffic on I-95 is terrible. So it looks like Tuesday will be his arrival day. Sure glad he is doing the driving, I would be hating it. Greg stopped by this afternoon for a chat. He said that he has ordered a custom car trailer. It is going to be a 26 footer, gray in color with a side door. It will be tall enough so he can drive in his antique cars with their tops up. Delivery is a couple of months away. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 Our Greg, over fifty years in the old car hobby, a dozen or so cars owned (and I don't think he's ever sold a car), and has never owned a trailer! That said, he has more friends than Carter has little liver pills, and helping him is always a pleasure.......as John and I, and others, know.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 24, 2017 Author Share Posted April 24, 2017 It is Monday morning, Jim just sent me another note. He is in Battleboro, NC. He said that it is raining so hard he can hardly see the road. So he is calling it quits for the day. On the plus side he is only about five hours or 250 miles away. Told him to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted April 24, 2017 Share Posted April 24, 2017 34 minutes ago, unimogjohn said: It is Monday morning, Jim just sent me another note. He is in Battleboro, NC. He said that it is raining so hard he can hardly see the road. So he is calling it quits for the day. On the plus side he is only about five hours or 250 miles away. Told him to be safe. I've seen Jim's posts for a long time, followed him all over the country it seems....I sure hope he doesn't have those problems on every haul!! Always fun to get a new toy delivered! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 25, 2017 Author Share Posted April 25, 2017 It is Tuesday, early PM. Another rainy day. Flooding in NC and VA. No wonder Jim is still in NC. He wrote me this morning that he is staying put and will head out tomorrow morning when the rains passes. Oh well, I can wait one more day. I received the thread maker last night so this morning I chased the threads of the gauge and the socket. Everything worked great and was able to screw in the pressure gauge. And in looking around the web I found a cute picture of a Morris Minor Traveller. Cannot wait until ours comes home. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trulyvintage Posted April 26, 2017 Share Posted April 26, 2017 (edited) John, i could not not find your address so I dropped your car off on a rural road this afternoon. These people seemed nice enough .... Jim Edited April 26, 2017 by Trulyvintage (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 26, 2017 Author Share Posted April 26, 2017 Jim, thank you for taking good care of Dexter and getting him home to Virginia. Well, the battery was dead, and there was no fuel in the gas tank. No problem, just towed it up the hill and into the garage. Charged up the battery and put in 5 gallons of fuel. The engine fired right up. We gave the car a once over and then headed out to test it out. Alice did a great job driving from the right side of the car and the car ran and drove great. Tomorrow it will go on the lift for me to check out all the systems, but he looks good. I did not see any issues. The engine started easily and ran great. The car was imported from Ipswich, England in 2006 with 88,128 miles on the clock, he now has 92,000. We have MOT documents from England, and parts receipts form the USA buyer. I will provide details when I get it all figured out. The car was originally gray and now is a light metallic green with red interior. The paint is driver quality, but certainly presentable. The interior is new and looks very good. Of course it is red. The car looks to be in very good condition except for a few pieces on the wood. Some of the wood has been replaced with new "timber". I can hardly wait to get it up on the lift. Here are a few pics from today to include Jim's rig. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 You will have to remember this car has a bonnet, not a hood; mudguards or wings, not fenders; and if it had one, a boot not a trunk! I suppose you already know this lingo from ownership of the Jaguar. The smokey steering wheel and dash board are a nice feature. I would think it should have a black radiator top tank tho'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 Spinneyhill, you are correct, there are a few thing that are not correct. They will be corrected over time. Went thru the paperwork last night and did another once over of the car. It has a spin on oil filter, which is good. Battery was flat, but was really low on water, on the charger now. Looks to have been sitting for the past couple of years. Still riding on its original shoe brakes, all four corners. Looks like it has new brakes, clutch and pressure plate, a upgraded head for unleaded fuel, and rebuild of the engine. I also found the names of the four owners, two in England, once in NC and one in FL. The NC owner imported the car; and had the car for about ten years and did a lot of restoration work and made it what it is today. Only thing I have found not working is the front parking light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 John, you now own more green cars with red interiors than anyone else in the world! Nice looking little car, congrats...... Umm, cancel that, should be congrats to Alice! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Bruce aka First Born Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 Lovely! I wouldn't change a THING. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 (edited) It is Thursday, Last night Alice took Dexter out for a short run. She did great, and said that she had a super time. Of course I was afraid to death. Made it home OK. Today I did a full service while Dexter was on the lift. Everything looks great except for some rust through places in one wheel well and under the doors. They sprayed a rubber coating on the underside of the car so really no way of telling what evil lurks. The wood is OK except for a few places. With a fully charged battery, he fired right up. So I lubed up the car, checked all the fluids, and then decided to fix the door handle trim that had fallen off. A clip holding it on had given up, but i found it in the door with a magnet. Well, that is done. It is such a simple car, it is a joy to work on. Only thing I have not found is the brake master cylinder. It must be under the glued down carpet and pad. The title and bill of sale are suppose to be mailed today so hopefully we can get it registered with the DMV next week. The tires look brand new, but the date code says they are ten years old. I will run them this summer, but will replace them next year. Edited April 27, 2017 by unimogjohn (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laughing Coyote Posted April 27, 2017 Share Posted April 27, 2017 Congrats on the new wagon John. Looks pretty nice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalef62 Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Looks good Alice! Have fun with Dexter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 On 15.04.2017 at 6:42 PM, unimogjohn said: Roger, congratulations. Cannot wait to see pictures. Thanks John! I promised to make something in due time; for the moment I just have some pictures and the information that the car arrived at the place it will be verified. The first picture is when it left Florida, the other ones are at his temporary place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 28, 2017 Author Share Posted April 28, 2017 Roger, it looks fantastic. What a find. Can you tell us some history? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Yes, John, I also have the impression that the car is fantastic looking. If you allow me, I will tell the story in a dedicated post. To be honest, I don't know the history; the present (sorry, past) owner sent me papers to my home address; that package is not yet arrived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 30, 2017 Author Share Posted April 30, 2017 Roger, cannot wait until you start telling us about the car, and it's color is the same as Dexter, the Traveller. It is Sunday, April 30th. Heading out with the Jaguar XK120 to an all British car show. First of the season. Pictures later. I had an hour or so yesterday with the Morris Traveller. I wanted to see how rough the wood was on the back barn door where the joint was flexing. So I pulled it apart and had a good look. The joints are coming apart so they will need some reinforcement. And all the screws that hold on the flat steel panel were corroded and not holding the panel firmly. I had some screws but not enough so have to get some to do both doors. That will firm things up. This will be a quick fix as I plan to do rework both doors when I get a couple of days. The wood itself looks OK, not great, but certainly serviceable. There are kits available from the UK if I want to make a new set. And I got the right repair book for Dexter also. Alice is driving it around the neighborhood. It starts right up with the recharged battery. I do not see any mechanical issues right now that need attention. I found the spin on oil filters for it. They are an odd size Fram PH966B, but RockAuto had them so bought three. I will change the oil when I get them. The oil looks great in the car now, but will change it to make me feel better knowing what is in the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Zimmermann Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 5 hours ago, unimogjohn said: Roger, cannot wait until you start telling us about the car, and it's color is the same as Dexter, the Traveller. I will do it when I'm getting the paperwork the seller sent me. Yes, the paint is looking similar to the one from Dexter...Who knows, maybe it was repainted with a Cadillac color! I assume that my car is painted Sumatra Green metallic, code 44. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted April 30, 2017 Author Share Posted April 30, 2017 Still Sunday. We had a great time at the all British car show. Looks like over 200 cars attended. But it was hot, we were cooking all day. Lots and lots of nice cars. There was even one Morris Minor Traveller (not as nice or complete as ours). And three XK120 FHC were in attendance. We made a 3rd place award, yahoo! Here are the pics I took. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted May 1, 2017 Author Share Posted May 1, 2017 It is Monday, May 1st. I am sure glad that I am going through the Traveller, system by system. Today I pulled the wheels to adjust the brakes and also put oil into the rear Armstrong shocks. All the wheels were on tight except for the driver's side rear. It was only held on by two of the four lug nuts. I found a couple of regular nuts and put them on just to be a bit safer until I get lugs nuts for that wheel. Everything is back together. The brakes needed some adjusting especially the fronts. They are simple to adjust, just turn a screw with a flat blade screwdriver. Tighten until the brake locks up and then back off one click. The brakes and cylinders look new as well as the master cylinder. Both shocks needed just a little oil to top them off. They look like they have never been touched since new. Tomorrow I will take a look at the front shock fluid and also put some oil on the generator's rear bearing. Then I think that I will take it for a drive, my first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1lark Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Good looking little car John. I like how you are methodically checking it over to make sure it's safe and reliable to drive. Now you have two Buicks, and two British cars.......you need to consider a second Studebaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unimogjohn Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 Paul, I am running out of room..........but.......... It is Tuesday. Spent an hour working on the Traveller. Checked the two front shocks and made sure they were filled. The generator looks to have a sealed rear bearing so no oiling to do there. Nothing else to do but take Dexter for my first drive. Boy, easy steering, and smooth shifting. And he really scoots down the country roads. Alice is going to have a great time with Dexter, I might even be replaced. Ah, but then again I am the mechanic, so figure I will be safe. Now that I am done, took a few beauty shots of Dexter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SeventhSon Posted May 3, 2017 Share Posted May 3, 2017 I don't know if I could ever get used to shifting with my left hand Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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