This year the Dutch government finally agreed upon the 50 year MOT ruling. I will spare you the details but basically any car older then 50 year no longer requires a MOT. Effectively this means our Morris no longer requires one but since it will take a while before the RDW has implemented the new ruling our Morris still needs one as it expires this week.
A few weeks back my brother had the oil refreshed at a local garage where he freely could make use of the car lift on a saturday.
Due to ownership of my personal classic cars I have been touch with another guy who runs a classic car workshop/garage. He's a fairly young guy who started his business last year with a female companion. As my other cars also required new MOT's and some minor fixes I figured to have this all combined done at his place. And his garage is fairly nearby as well, making it very practical.
I did not expect much trouble for the Morris so I was expecting to get everything done very quickly. The only item it did require was fine tuning the carburetor as it was running poorly when idling freely (stationair), in fact the engine would stall without giving gas.
But there was more, I received the following report:
1 Indicator lightcap is failing (right front)
2 Claxon failing
3 Handbrake right rear brake is failing
4 Handbrake cable needs to be isolated - it's hitting the exhaust pipe
5 Leakage right rear axle
6 Gastank damage
All in all not to bad and clearly this requires to be properly fixed. Not only for the MOT but also to keep the car safely and in good shape. For some of the points I was surprised to see them reported as point 4, 5 and 6 were clearly there on the previous MOTs - they are visible on the photo's I made, just check the blog I wrote.
Point 2 appeared not to be true as that happened to be the only item I checked when I left home. But admitted, it failed the first time but on my second attempt I pressed it more firmly and it worked.
By now the carburetor adjustment had already been done, I was informed one piston was moving badly. Also the gas tank damage was corrected. And they also obtained a indicator lightcap.
Today I received a very nice update via Whatsapp, I like that very much. So nice to see details about the work done on the car.
Leakage was partly caused due to a bad seal and poor gasket. Both renewed.
Lekkage kwam deels via de kering van de as en deels via de pakking. Beide vernieuwd
Cleaning the whole lot
De spulletjes gereinigd
The sealings, gasket, seal and O-ring. If one of these is poor it will leak!
De afdichtingen, pakking, kering en o ring, als een van de 3 matig is lekt hij al!
The nut which tighens the wheelbearing was severely stuck and damaged in the past. Very likely due to not having the large size 50 mm wrench. After careful restoring the nut it has been put back.
De moer waarmee het wiellager vast zit was behoorlijk om zeep geholpen in het verleden. Waarschijnlijk omdat er geen dop 50mm voorradig was, voorzichtig opgeknapt en toen kon hij weer terug👍🏻
The nut also now has been secured, something they overlooked in the past. Luckily this nut never came loose though. Tomorrow the brakes will be adjusted and is ready for the MOT.
Moer ook weer geborgd, dit was in het verleden vergeten denk ik, gelukkig niet los gekomen maar ook dat zit weer goed. Morgen de remmen afstellen en dan kan hij weer afgemeld worden, tank is netjes in de bitumen gespoten
BUT - the next day a new issue showed up at the gastank. Apparently some chemical reaction occurred when coating the gastank. Which more or less revealed a poor repair by the previous owener. A large section had been fixed up using some kind of rubber and filler. This was beyond repair now and simply required a new gastank. This turned out to be problematic as well (mostly due to Corona and one supplier failing to deliver after all). Via another supplier one was sourced and installed
So last week the Morris got finally it's last MOT and I could pick it up last saturday. I was informed that also the clutch was further adjusted. The car is in very good condition again. Needless to say it ran very nice. Despite the weather was not ideal as it started to rain a little. Oh well. Back home to the garage.