563 MWL progress

Wow!!!

All that work would take me days, if not weeks.....

Well done Kev--- know those stops are all being pulled out for Goodwood in 2 weeks time. Barring any major problems am sure you will make it.

Looms in today plus some other bits. Car down on its wheels and the handbrake works. Back home to work nightshift so hoping Simon can get the supercharger fitted by Friday. A couple of good pals coming to assiist next week so should have it up for an Mot by the end of next week. As always, fingers crossed. Kev

Yesterday fitted glass, exhaust system and sorted out a bit of the wiring with pal Andy. We then connected up the battery and built up oil pressure, finishing on a high. Today, pal David finished off the fuel pump checks and gave the carb a checkover before fitting both, connecting the wiring and fabricating new hoses. Meanwhile Andy and myself resolved some more of the wiring at the main dash panel, it appears the car was built with a mini loom which made the dash connections rather tight. We also discovered why the dash mounting panel is different on production cars - it's a nightmare to assemble. We also stripped out the new radiator as it sprung a leak fouling on the inner wing cowl. We did a few mods to increase the clearance and re-fitted it after having it repaired. We then fitted the brake servo and made new pipes to and from it. With the radiator filled with water we checked out the ignition circuit and resolved the lack of spark - we need to connect the rev-counter, but by bypassing it we got spark at the plugs so called it a day at 8pm

Engine fired this morning - screaming like a banshee. Found the supercharger belt tensioner not retaining the belt so had to chop out one belt. Ran the engine up to temp and dropped the flushing oil out. During the day did all the other jobs needed on the car that could be done while waiting for the bonnet boot and doors. It was fired up and drove forward and back in the workshop and braked. Resolved a few more electrical issues but a couple of components are still not working - the rev counter and cigar lighter, they will be addressed at some point in the near future. Tomorrow, we'll bleed and adjust the brakes again, set the tracking and fill with running in oil. If the bonnet, boot and doors are ready in the next couple of days, I'll be trying for an MOT on Monday then doing a couple of days running in and fettling before leaving for Goodwood. Holding my breath. Kev

'Many hands make light work' at The Miniworks this week by Kevin n the helpers---progress pictures on 563 MWL. Now moving under its own power again and almost ready for MOT time.





Cheers Andy

looking most fine!

Looking good Kev, fingers crossed for Goodwood ! Might take mine !

Pete

Got the car Mot'd and taxed on monday, took for a drive and again yesterday and all good except low oil pressure. Engine out yesterday, stripped , re-assembled with new oil pump and pick-up pipe and re-fitted today. Hopefully start-up tomorrow first thing will have resolved the problem!

Bummer!!

Hopes all goes well in the end.

I will be at the Revival Saturday and Sunday. Hope to see you there. Will you park your car at the pre`66 parking lot or will it be exhibited?

reymondos wrote:Bummer!!

Hopes all goes well in the end.

I will be at the Revival Saturday and Sunday. Hope to see you there. Will you park your car at the pre`66 parking lot or will it be exhibited?

Sorry to report the car didn't make it to Goodwood. The oil pressure problem wasn't resolved so we had to give in. I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you but hopefully we will meet in the future. I did get a few miles in before we gave up and the car continued to settle in nicely as the components and tyres bedded in. I need to pack the offside radius arm as it has too much toe in and the exhaust will need a bit of adjustment when the engine gets fixed, otherwise all seems pretty good. We went in past Southam Mini's on the way back from Goodwood and they are keen to get the unit down there to investigate the problem so I intend pulling it out tomorrow and shipping it down there. Unfortunately, by the time I get it back it will probably be a bit late in the year to get it run in so it will be spring time before the car ventures out again. There are a few jobs to do that were overlooked during the hasty rebuild which will hopefully be attended to in the meantime. Now that I'm back I'll try to get my photos downloaded and include some more details on the car.

hard luck but it was a valiant effort - hope it all gets sorted and we'll look forward to seeing it out and about next year. Brooklands in march?

Finally got the engine back home this week. Finished building it up ready to re-fit. Back to work tonight so looks like it won't be in for Gordon and Lisa to see on Friday. It will be running again in January though.

this motor looks epic fella! look forward to seeing it in the flesh

Engine back in today, easiest so far. Hope to get it finished tomorrow ready to fire up in the new year. Gordon and Lisa Furness in past to see the car and have made plans to get down to Brooklands in March. Probably trailer most of the way. Hope to see a few more interesting cars down there

Elf was "shot" last week for forthcoming Mini Magazine article.

and about time too!! sweet!

1071kev wrote:Elf was "shot" last week for forthcoming Mini Magazine article.

Kevin Murray's pre-production Riley Elf is described by the author( Pete Flanagan )of the " Non Cooper Corner " in this Month's Cooper World
as another special 'mutant'. A concise history of the car in Kevin's own words then follows ending with the comment " At each event
the car was well received although not many people knew they were looking at a factory built Cooper S beater ! "

The car now looks absolutely fabulous Kevin - does it have a Fisholow Body Number or is it too early to have one ?

David2010

David2010 wrote: Kevin Murray's pre-production Riley Elf is described by the author( Pete Flanagan )of the " Non Cooper Corner " in this Month's Cooper Worldas another special 'mutant'.

Well I'm glad someone reads my waffle ! Yes the 'mutant' tag I use alot is a dig at Presnell's description of our beloved booties. It's a shame the photo of Kev's car wasn't printed bigger though .

Pete

[/quote]
The car now looks absolutely fabulous Kevin - does it have a Fisholow Body Number or is it too early to have one ?

[/quote]

Or perhaps as a pre-production model it was built without the involvement of the Fisher & Ludlow people at Castle Bromwich ?
A very early 1961 Elf has come to light here in Ireland - with original all black paint job - I am in the process of having it examined
for a (hopefully) very early " FR ** " Body Number.
David2010.

Cheers Lads,
Hope the future Mini Mag article fills in a few more blanks. The car doesn't have a Fisher and Ludlow plate but the chassis plate indicates it was built at Abingdon. The car has a number of features the Fisher and Ludlow cars didn't have. The Irish Elf sounds very interesting. Thanks Pete for featuring the car.
Kev

Just a quick update on the car. I've now secured a place for the car at Grampian Transport Museum for next year and possibly a bit longer. This means I don't have to worry about storage for a while. The Curator wants the Shorrock back on the car for display so I retrieved the mounting plate which I dropped off to be copied back in May but still not done, dismantled the tensioner pulley and dropped it off at my friendly machinist to modify it to take the wider belts. I've done a dry assembly of the supercharger, manifolds and carb on the bench and hopefully only slight adjustment to the mounts when in position will be all that's required to drop it back in place. Since the oil pressure is still too low I'm not intending driving the supercharger as I don't want to starve it of oil. Unfortunately this means the engine will need to come out again to fix it. Hopefully by the time I get the car back I'll have plucked up the courage to resolve at least some of the bodywork issues and get the car repainted correctly.
Kev

Hi All.

Just a quick heads up that my Elf is featured in the current issue of Mini Magazine on sale 3rd May. Hope it inspires!

Kev

As a subscriber I get my copy a few days early, & read your feature with great interest, lovely car. Didn't join the dots to realise it was your car though.

Hello All,
Been out of action for a while due to a change of job and house move. The Elf is spending another year at Grampian Transport Museum in Alford where its warm and dry! Nothing's been done to the car while there but I've got the modified belt tensioner ready to fit on its return. Might drag the car to a couple of events when I get it back then start fixing some of restoration issues to get it running again. Kev