I’m not quite done, but the axle is largely back together and in-place. I still have to finish the handbrake cable, run split-pins through all of the clevis pins, have my olde shock links rebuilt, and set the preload on the differential nose. Both tubes of the axle were bent, which probably didn’t help!
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I’m not sure replacing the layshaft and rear cover is really a rebuild, but hey, I’ll give myself whatever unearned credit I can on this car.
OK, so the above image has nothing to do with fixing damage to the gearbox, but it’s where the chassis is at the moment. This is completely irrelevant, actually, so let’s move on and pretend it never happened. Let’s see what an evening with drills and files can do for you…
1955 was the last year of rear springs secured with “sliding trunnions” on the Morgan +4 — for those fortunate enough to not know, the rear of the leaf spring was plain, rather than fixed by an eye and shackle. Instead the leaf goes through a “trunnion” held within the rear tubular (totally!) cross-member.
As a reward for years of yeoman service, I took a set of spare heads for the F250 into the machine shop today in preparation for FINALLY fixing the cracked exhaust manifolds. The day was mostly spent running Morgan errands, though: Dropping the body panels at the media blaster, the exhaust manifold at the coating specialist, picking up the chrome to ponder what to do after the chromer’s quote came in at an eye-watering level, dropping the axle to be straightened at the differential specialist, handing the kingpins (new bushings), carbs (new throttle shafts), and inlet manifold (aluminum welding) to the machine shop (along with the truck heads), and most of all collecting the World’s Largest Box, seen above, from the trucking company.
And the first “restored” piece is…a rear spring? I do lead an exciting life. Above you can see the new hardware for the spring eye, all comfy in the new metalastic bushing pressed into place.
I don’t think every nut and bolt has been undone, but we’re close. Thankfully, the part I like least, removing ancient grease from everything, is mostly done, though that means a fair amount of equally tedious blasting awaits.
If you ever hear me say something like “the car has no rust” or “it seems like a good deal” please stage an intervention. Or at least make sure its mentioned at one of the regularly scheduled ones held by my few remaining friends and not-yet-estranged family. Let’s take a look at the wood frame–be warned, plenty-o-photos inside.
It turns out my car was delivered with the same engine, gearbox, and interior color it currently sports, but the original paint color was listed as “light green”. So I did some Photoshop work, rather badly, alas, to see what it may have looked like. I rather like it, and at this point the car is definitely returning to this shade.
We’re looking at the underside of the right front wing–this is the side of the Moggie which was clobbered. Alas, this wing was not to escape Bubba’s “restoration” efforts, as you can see. Looking at the photo, and before clicking through to the rest of the post, what do you think the pipe is for? Reinforcement? Smuggling narcotics? A swallow nesting box? What do you expect to find on the upper side?