Last month I spent a week up at the farm and had a chance to check the Morrie out again. The humidity has obviously been a bit of a bother up that way as well as the rain, cause I had to clean down all of the upholstery again, well not the hood lining, but all of the seats and door cards and kick panels were turning a fetching furry and matte and shade of green, yes mould making it presence felt again, but a good old clean down got that sorted out and a sit in the sun with a breeze flowing through should have helped. Over all the entire car is looking ok though there are two “blisters” on the drivers door where the paint hasn’t taken properly, unfortunate but I guess it happens, otherwise it’s not too bad. It did take quite some time to get the engine started this time around, though I put that down to the petrol going off sitting in the tank for so long.
The brakes have finally given up the ghost, I think the seals in the master cylinder have given up and all the brake fluid escaped. The rear wheel cylinder had seized on the passengers side as well which took some work to loosen, not too much of a hassle though. I am thinking at this stage it would be good to replace the brake drums and shoes when I install the new slave cylinders, so I shall have to get some new ones and I will get a new master cylinder as well and flex hoses, may as well do it properly. So far it looks like if I buy a master cylinder in Australia, its going to be about $175.00 AUD for a reconditioned second hand one, and that is changeover as well. Now thinking about that and checking parts prices online I can get 4 new brake drums, all the brake shoes and a brand new master cylinder for $207.00 AUD out of the UK, so I guess it comes down to the fact that there are only basically two suppliers in AUS that you can get new (as opposed to second hand) parts from and they, I guess, have to pay a premium for importation duty and shop fronts/storage, staff etc. Though really for me to obtain everything I need from the UK would cost less (including postage) than I will be able to get second hand items here. I mean look above the difference between getting everything (less postage) I need and just getting a second hand (reconditioned) master cylinder in Australia is $32.00 AUD. It certainly makes it difficult to buy the parts you need in Australia when you can get a substantially better deal over seas. I will though find out the cost of all the parts I require in Australia, and I want new parts not second hand or reconditioned, and see how that compares with the OS purchase and postage costs, we shall see, though I expect that to purchase such items in Australia as new items it will cost at least $500.00 AUD. Expect the worst and one can only be pleasantly surprised I hope.
Oh and the car is no longer at the farm in the shed either. Time has come and the farm is being sold, so this time everything was sorted and moved. Luckily for me my parents have bought a house that has three garages and they have let me move the Morris into one of these! Its very exciting as The count hasn’t been in a real garage for so many years now it won’t know what is going on. I must say what a garage it is too, the wee car looks quite dwarfed in all that space, its fantastic! Wish I had one that size here in Melbourne I tell you, mind that would probably be dangerous as I would just want to fill it with cars and bikes, which would be counter productive to this trip. Hopefully the Count won’t do what Morries generally do and drop oil and such fluids on to the nice clean garage floor before we can get something under it, really such action would not be very sporting of it given the nature of its new accommodation.
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| Leaving the farm, |
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| Temp home in the new garage |
The paint isn’t looking too bad considering I have not ever done spraying myself before and that it was sprayed in the open air in reasonable hot and humid weather. It probably needs to be flatted down and buffed but I am disinclined to do that because I rather like the finish, though really a nice deep shine would look mighty good. I am less inclined to do it though as it means I will need to strip the driver’s door, where the previously mentioned “blisters” are and start over. Perhaps that would not be too bad a thing though as at some stage while it has been sitting in the shed, something had dropped onto the top of the front passengers guard and left a slight scratch down the side of the headlight “extension” and then a small dent in the guard proper, which is a shame as there were no dents before and it has taken the paint off in that spot too. Must have been something substantial though to make the dent in the first place! Actually it’s going around Australia so really why buff it all nicely to a lovely shine when by the time it gets back it will no doubt need another re-spray. Mind I am going to wash it as a regularly thing whilst I am traveling as it will need some help to continue looking good, after all lets face it you never really notice what is going on with your car until you get a good look at every bit of it while your washing and drying it with a chamois, all the little problems become obvious.
