Sep - Oct 2013

Ok sorry to anyone that regularly reads this (if anyone regularly, or otherwise, reads this at all) for the delay in posting updates. I have been away on holidays and have not had access to a computer for the last 5 weeks, which has been great! 

Holidays were in Europe, and went to the Goodwood Revival, Frankfurt Motor Show, Classic Remise in Berlin , Haynes Motor Museum , Beaulieau Autojumble, and various other places and locations, not all car related I must add. Goodwood was, as previously just really quite fantastic, the racing was great, the Spitfires brilliant and the atmosphere as always fun and relaxed. It is great to see so many people getting into the vintage spirit of the event and dressing for the occasion. The car park alone is almost worth the visit by itself, such a amazing array of vehicles parked in the paddock. It is great to see that people are happy to use cars that are worth such vast sums and not just leave them locked in a shed. Over all Goodwood Revival is a great event and it really has grown in size quite noticeably since the last visit to it a few years ago. No wonder it is a sell out every year. 

The Frankfurt Motor show was just out of this world, it really makes the old Melbourne and Sydney “International” motor shows look quite tragic and tiny by comparison! To be honest the old Sydney or Melbourne shows would quite easily have been accommodated in just the Mercedes pavilion alone at Frankfurt , and quite comfortably at that! The scale of the pavilions and variety of cars and parts suppliers on show was truly overwhelming. Really such an amazing spectacle and the amount of money they must have to spend to present it is really quite mind blowing. Whilst we didn’t get into the Audi pavilion the Mercedes on was by far the stand out in style and scale. 

A recommendation for Berlin, make the effort to go and see the Classic Remise, which of course is moving to a new home in 2015 I believe, the current building (an old imperial tram depot) and setup is really quite something and the range of cars that are there being stored or waiting for sale is just amazing. Really like the two Horch 853A Sportroadsters which would have to be a personal favourite. Whilst travelling about the UK in our rented bright red Fiat 500 (what a great little car!) was trying to decide if I should look up and visit a few Morris Minor parts places prior to going to the Beaulieau Autojumble or not, as maybe all that I wanted would be at the Beaulieau and “special” prices, but in the end decided to visit Bull Motif Spares in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. I purchased quite a few parts and bits most of which I managed to pack into my luggage and some larger parts that I had mailed home. I was very glad that I had stopped by Bull Motif as, maybe I wasn’t looking carefully, but I didn’t see many Morris Minor parts at Beaulieau at all, and no specialist suppliers that I saw. I had though that as Beaulieau was such a big event and grandly advertise as being an International Autojumble that there would have been a great many traders of Morris Minor parts, so that was a insight to the event. Don’t get me wrong it was great to attend and see what this event I have heard so much about over the years was actually like and there were a vast number of traders and private sellers, and it was definitely international, so many Dutch nationals, both selling and buying, they must really like the British cars. Mind one question remains, clogs, really, you actually wear them, surely they can’t be at all comfortable walking for miles through wet and muddy grass! There was so much “stuff” at the Autojumble that it would be almost impossible to actually take everything in, there was certainly some amazing items and I think it would be hard to locate the exact obscure part your after without actually scouring each and every stand, though what your after is probably there somewhere. Well not so much Morris Minor spares, but plenty of other stuff anyway. 

So anyway heaps of bits and pieces for The Count, which should have it looking and running mighty fine for a while. Thus now it is the hard slog of saving the money for the actual trip and figuring out when I can actually get to the car and install the parts that are needed to get it road safe and legal, so that I can then either just drive the car from Queensland to Melbourne or have it freighted. I have been looking at freighting it and it has to be fully operational and running for that, so with the brakes needing doing and such like that I may as well just drive it down once it is all done I think, well that is what I would prefer to do. 

Well hopefully now I have all of these parts, one day in the not too distant future I will be able to get to the car and start to sort it all out, I would like to be able to get it down to Melbourne prior to Christmas, though this may slip a little to early in the new year, I hope not, though as there is only 11 weeks to go until Christmas it may just catch me out.

Goodwood Revival parking lot

The mighty 500 in the UK

August 2013

Well have just been looking through some photos that I forgot I had and well here are a couple of The Count preparing for the journey from the farm to the new garage and of the car in residence at the new place.

Funny how you forget about taking some pictures until you start looking isn’t it. Thank goodness for the 4x4 because the weight of that trailer alone was staggering. The only reason that the car was trailered and not driven is that the master cylinder had given up the will to operate (probably the seals) and as I have not obtained a new one yet to replace it with it was an impossibility to drive down the highway and across town. Completely aside from the fact that the radiator needs a recore still and would have overheated by the time it got to the end of the drive, well maybe an exaggeration though I am sure it would not have made it too far before it did. 

Plans are afoot to get hold of some much needed parts in the near future, though actually getting time to fit them and start the process of getting The Count roadworthy again is seeming hard to nail down, maybe around December I will actually get to start, depending on funds and leave availability. I need to source a master cylinder and brake shoes front and rear, a complete set of hoses, rear window seal, horns that actually make a noise, water pump and a new thermostat housing and the outlet on the old one has been eaten away. Of course there are other items too like gaskets and exhaust hangers and flange clamps and such, but the main parts are just to get it running rather than required “spare” parts. 

I hear that the International Autojumble at Beaulieu in the UK is Europe ’s biggest and as it is a British car I reckon that I need to see about visiting there one day, maybe, one day anyway. 

 I’ve been working out a few wiring diagrams to get my head around what I need to do so as to install the necessary upgrades as well. The car already has a alternator fitted so that is a start, but I need to sort out fitting relays into the system in a few places so that I can run halogen lights without melting down the original switch with the extra current load which would be nice. I also want to have the trafficators working again (they probably just need a good service after sitting so long, I’ve had them working before) and I want them working along side the indicators and all controlled by the one switch, so I have been thinking about that as well and I think that along with a couple of relays I will be able to sort that relatively easily too. Oh well back to planning, not long now till until it all starts to happen, really looking forward to that!

July 2013

Not really sure that much has been going on at all though I guess plans change and improve and things are really starting to come together with the planning. I think I have finally figured out the route that I want to take and that lands to knowing the proposed total mileage just to get between those points, It also lets me plan on how long it will take in hours to travel between those points so I guess I can also start planning on where I will be looking at staying after the particularly long runs. 

Of course once I get the car home a great deal will change and work will be able to commence properly, though by that time all of the planning should be complete and it will just be the mechanical side of things to progress with. I have managed to find a place that does tyres of the type I am looking for at a decent price, so I am pleased that I have located that and I have something to compare all the other tyre sellers to now. So if prices are to madly expensive I can always get them from this company I have found and then just have them and new inner tubes fitted to the rims at any tyre place which should cost less. Mind I would have to pay to get rid of the old ones as well so that is another cost factor to remember in the comparison costs. I have to additionally sort out the problem with the mysterious one side scrubbing out the inner edge of the front tyres and then once it is replaced the other side has a turn. Not sure why it is doing this it certainly is most odd I can understand one side doing it continuously, but swapping from one side to the other is a concern. 

Hopefully the trunions aren’t worn out too. I have to say though that I have recently been re-reading some of my Morris Minor books and old Morris Minor Owners Club magazines and the old Morris Minor magazine “Minor Monthly”, and reading about the methods of setting up the wheel alignment on the Morrie which has brought on a very vague recollection. When I was replacing all of the old original rubber suspension bushes etc in The Count, some years ago now, with polyurethane ones I have the very slightest of ideas that when I took the eye bolts out of the chassis legs I may have removed the spacer washers whilst thinking to myself “why the hell would you put a washer on this side of the chassis leg”. As I say I very vaguely recall that and it will be interesting to check if it is so once I go and visit the car again to start replacing all the brake parts. I am hoping that this is the case and I have simply to replace the washers and all will be good with the geometry again. It would after all be great not to scrub the inside edge out of a brand new tyre straight away, let alone at all, I think! 

 Oh and the tyres, well I know it is non-purest, but after so many years with antique and out of date cross-ply tyres I want new belted radials, obviously with inner tubes inside them. Perhaps the handling will be better, maybe, though lets face it the handling is great anyway, it is a Morris Minor after all, what I am hoping for though is a reduction in road noise. Let’s face it the last “new” set of cross-ply tyres I put on the car (well they are actually still on it now) was quite a long time ago and yes they were starting to get a bit thin on the tread, they were well past the mandatory replacement age of 5 years old when I actually bought then “new”. 

Sadly we don’t have the European laws relating to tyre age in Australia and they are legally permitted to sell "new" tyres that could be well over 10 years old before they ever see life on a vehicle at all. The old rubber hardens and whilst they still do the job reasonably well they also transmit a heck of a lot of road noise into the cabin. So I am hoping that new tyres that are guaranteed less than 12 months old from date of manufacture, and being not cross-ply, will bring a whole new level of noise buffering as well as better grip and comfort. We shall see I guess...

June 2013 pt 2 - Current Planned Route

Well I have been working through some maps and web sites and have decided on the third planned route so far this year, so it will probably change yet again, though it would be great to be able to go with this one as it covers areas mostly that I have not seen before, rather than travelling over roads that I have already done in the past (admittedly not necessarily in The Count though). I have checked out a few forum groups and some other information on the web and it seems that all the routes I have decided on so far are actually fairly much all sealed roads, besides people tow caravans over the roads so I think a Morris Minor should be able to make it as well. This is the proposed route

(sorry the quality is not the greatest, will have to try another scanner and replace it later if it works better) Currently the total distance works out to be approximately 24,061 kilometres (14,950 miles) and it includes some back tracking points, but worth it for the experience and seeing lots of "otherwise never going to get there" places. Given that it is possible to try and figure out what it will cost in fuel and such working with a few random guestimated input data, thus: Supposing that The Count has a 22 litre tank and that it is running at 8 litres/100 kilometres and that fuel is averaged at 172cents/litre it would be working out at: Total Litres - 1925 No: of Tanks - 87.49 Cost - $3,272.00 AUD So given that I can play around and come up with various figures that range from a cost of $2,695 to $6,256 for that cost of fuel for the whole trip by varying the average fuel consumption and the cost of fuel at cents/litre. Certainly is an interesting exercise

June 2013

Well here we go, not much at all has been happening, though have spent some time reviewing the planned route and where I want to go and see. With a better idea of where I want to go this has led to a revision of the distances to be covered and even to a proposed projection of what the fuel for the trip may cost. Give the variable cost of fuel I have worked it out at various cents per litre amounts just to see what I should be budgeting for, surprisingly it isn’t actually too bad (well from this end of the trip anyway) so that is something. I have redrawn the line around Australia and through the north south middle that will be the proposed route and have come up with a new total distance to drive just the trip as planned of 21,725 kilometres, so that is only 13,500 (ish) miles. 

Have to say the kilometres total does sound more impressive, though as the speedo is in miles I guess its best to have both figures. The speedo will require a re-calibration though as it only reads about half the actual speed and as such the “mileometer” is well out unfortunately. This distance of course doesn’t include any “off route excursions” so it is just a general guide, though I have amended the route plan to include getting too and from Uluru and going to Longreach as well. Oh and down to Port Lincoln rather then just taking the direct route to Adelaide from the Nullarbor. I am sure though I have not added even half of the things and places will end up wanting to see and do, thus there is no doubt the distance and fuel cost will climb.

 I have also been looking at how to get The Count down to Melbourne and been pricing having it freighted, the costs for which vary and it is between $650 and about $1650 with various companies. Some figures will permit the car alone, not carrying anything inside it and some will allow items to be in the car. There is of course the option to get a vehicle permit and drive The Count down to Melbourne, which isn’t a mad as it sounds as I have to have the car running and brakes working etc before it could be freighted, so why not drive it anyway and it can be a shake down trip for the drive to follow. I have of course got top level breakdown cover with the motoring organisation and they assure me it will cover me for any vehicle I am driving so that is good if it works. 

I would prefer to drive it down to Melbourne myself as it is much more interesting a prospect that loading it onto a truck and waiting for it to arrive at the other end. Time will tell I guess, one needs to be able to get insurance cover for it first or it won’t be driven anywhere and with it not actually being registered yet that can be a hassle for a permit drive of such long distance (across three States, all with different police forces and vehicle registry authorities!). Anyway time will tell. 

 I was actually looking into registration in Victoria and what rego plates I may be able to get on the car. Since Victoria had started to issue plates commencing with a “Y” I was actually hoping that I may actually be able to get the “Victoria” version of the plate The Count used to have when it was registered in the ACT. Back in the day all of the States had a block of letters that registration plates in their territory could start with and the ACT had “Y”, so if you saw a plate that started with the letter “Y” you knew it was a vehicle registered in the ACT, which made things so easy. 

Now those rules have changed and all of the States seem to be going off in all directions relating to rego plates, which is not a bad thing, though it would have been good if my old ACT number was still available in Victoria. Doesn’t matter though, it isn’t as though it was a special number, it is just the first number it had from the time I owned it, just a bit of nostalgia. Victoria now has a whole range of different types of plates available, as well as the old standard size, so I will have a look through those and see what is available. Hmm maybe some euro style plates would be the go, at least they should fit into the plate mounting on the boot lid, unlike the standard type plate…

May 2013

Oh well here we go, another month and things progress slowly.

Going back to last month I have passed up on getting a gearbox and will probably just aim at getting the original reconditioned once the car is here and I am at the rebuilding stage. It’s the original so it may as well stay in the car, and yes true there is so much that has been changed already for later model and other parts it’s probably silly, but what the heck I have it and know it, so it may as well stay. To be honest I probably don’t need to do anything to it to be able to undertake such a drive, though with the jumping out of third under acceleration being annoying….

On the radio front I am mostly looking towards the Oricom UHF300 5W UHF 80 ch. mobile transceiver, though not really sure. I don’t need something with all the bells and whistles as it isn’t like I will use it constantly, it is only a just in case measure (as in just in case a massive road train needs to let me know it is about to run over me) so realistically it just needs to do the job. Thus mainly I am being driven by price, though I am reading reviews of different units from different suppliers and will continue to compare then to identify which one will work best for me. Space is also an issue and being small and easily able to mount it out of view so as to not spoil the interior look would be good. I have toyed with the idea of getting a hand held item as it would certainly be easier to pack away and would definitely be portable, I just think that mounted in the car will be less hassle and more practical and possibly have a slightly better range, though I may be mistaken on that.

I have lately been looking through a variety of sources of information on places to pitch a tent and camp along the routes I plan on taking. It is amazing just how many different resources there are out there that you never hear about, unless you actually start looking, though I guess that is true with just about any subject. There are a number publications that look particularly interesting to me , I am looking at WikiCamps Australia , which is an app (there is one for everything isn’t there!) at the moment that looks like it would be fairly useful. I have also found out about “Camps Australia Wide”, Version 7 (http://www.campsaustraliawide.com/ )   which looks like the best source of information for me, free and budget accommodation that’s just the price range I will be looking for, so that looks like it will be quite the useful investment indeed. Not that I plan on only looking for free accommodation places, I have a Youth Hostel Association membership as well which will no doubt come in handy.

On the car front, well it is still not in Melbourne so everything is still limited towards actual hands on processes. Sometimes it feels like there is only so much planning that I could possibly do and that everything has been covered, then something else will crop up and get me to thinking again. This is probably a good thing really as it would be quite tiresome to get part way through the trip and suddenly be in need of, or wanting something that could have been available if only a bit more thought had gone into the process of planning. It’s not that such a situation isn’t likely to occur anyway, but it is nice to think everything has actually been covered before hand.

I have been fine tuning the lists of items that I think  the car will need, hoses, brakes, head gasket and the like, that will need to be done before the trip can start and additionally the list of items that I will need to take as spares. Further I have a list of items that I will need to take along, tent, cooking stuff, etc. and a list of tools that will be useful to have, lets face it there is no point taking tools I don’t have any hope of using and no point not taking tools that I know I can use and may actually be useful. So I check them every now and again and add items and then take some away, what I actually would like to achieve is being able to fit everything into the boot as that is the tidiest and most practical way to be getting along I think.

Down on the farm

April 2013

Ok so having seen a reconditioned 1000 gearbox on e-bay for a good price I am now back to wondering what to do with The Count.
The Count still has the original box in it and it has never been opened up, worked on, etc. since I have owned it, and it is seriously going to need to be looked at before the trip. The car started jumping out of third under acceleration quite some time ago, though it doesn't really throw the lever out in any really forceful way so it is easy to hold it there before changing to forth, and it is somewhat of a noisy thing too. It doesn't make any unusual sounds though it is more just that it has been doing the job for a fair amount of time now and it could use a recondition.

That is the point of the deliberations about the situation, do I pay over $1000 to have the gearbox reconditioned, being original the to the car 803 box with the three foot direct shift lever, do I just get another second hand 803 box, do I get a second hand 1000 box or do I get a reconditioned 1000 and then just change the gearbox cover for the 1000 item and change the handbrake lever to the 1000 item as well so the remote lever can sit in there nicely. I am sort of torn between the two as being the original box I would like to keep it, though the 1000 would have better ratios and lets face it the original engine has long gone, it's been a 948 ever since I have owned it and even that has been replaced once.

I would like the later box as it would be nice to have better ratios and syncro all round, though I rather like the handbrake lever as the way it is supposed to be. Changing gears after chasing the gear lever about the passenger side of the car though would probably be something that I wouldn't miss too much as the lever currently flops about all over the place even when in gear, though it is easy and direct enough to use. It would be like driving a completely different car though I think, maybe it will all come down to availability of iems and their cost when the time comes.

I am though sorely tempted to get the reconditioned gearbox on e-bay though. Damn you e-bay!

I have to work out what I have done with the mechanism in the passenger side front door too as the locking jams up when the window is wound all the way up. This is a problem as unless you "waggle" the inside door handle the locking pin won't engage properly and as such the door is prone to opening iteslf when cornering, which can be a little disconcerting so the passenger. You could of course just wind down the window an inch or two and all is good, but it is not an acceptable situation. I must have put the thing back together the wrong way around, so I guess just a straight forward strip down and reinstall and see how it goes time will tell...