An Introduction: Chris Collins and Morris Tilly Project

[jack neville]

I cut a bit further along this rusty section of sub frame as it had another pin holed area a few centimetres further down so rather than have two small patches I put in one bigger one. You can also see holes drilled in the ribs in the floor. The previous onwer had stored the car outside and to prevent water sitting in the ribs he drilled drain holes. Luckily he periodically smothered the whole vehicle in lanoline which had crept into everywhere and helped preserve it. All these holes need welding up as well as some extra holes in the floor where the cars had attaching pins to retain carpet and different seat mounting holes.

[jack neville]

Next to attach the passenger seat re-inforcing panel and seat brackets I drilled some holes in the floor so I could plug weld from the top to the panel and brackets. To get the panel and brackets to sit tight I lowered the body onto a chisel and block of wood and moved it after each weld. To align the seat brackets I bolted up the top side of the seat mount and then removed it once I had then brackets in the correct position with the chisel.

[jack neville]

Next was the two panels that re-inforce the floor. I had previously removed these from the rusty Tilly as they are not part of a car chassis. Once again holes were drilled to plug weld. Then grind up the welds and touch up with primer. I need to get a worn down grinding disc to finish grinding up the welds in the ribs. Small enough to fit the radius at the end of the rib.

[Lang]

Jack

You have the patience of a saint!

Huge effort you are putting in and it will be a top vehicle when it finally hits the road.

Lang

[jack neville]

Thanks Lang.

Yes this body is coming along nicely and it is good to know it will have all sound sheetmetal in the end. It will get a good coating of rust prevention inside the vulnerable areas now that it is opened up so much. Having the later car chassis to provide the necessary parts has made the difference. The chassis of the second Tilly might be a different matter, although there is still some good metal on the remains of the rusty body that can be transferred. Another good sacrificial car might even be in order again. We have been keeping an eye out for one.

[jack neville]

Despite the rear body side panels appearing straight(ish) in most photos, none of them are good enough to use. Either too dented, bent or rusted or containing too many additional holes we considered they would detract from the final appearance if the rest of the bodies come up as good as we expect.

So new panels were decided on. The front and top folds were done at our local steel supplier and the rest of the forming will be done by hand.

Chris gave them a coat of primer to protect them pending further work.

[jack neville]

I am at the stage where I want to install the B pillars and attach the rear chassis rails and floor. I clamped the B pillars onto the chassis and hung the drivers door on its hinges to make sure it lined up properly. It did almost but not quite. The B pillar hinges have no adjustment but there is about 6mm adjustment on the door hinge. The best way i think will be to position the door and adjust it to the opening as best I can lining up the gaps and catches before I weld the B pillar. To make it a bit easier I decided to strip the doors now and lighten the load. This drivers door is in very sound condition including very good interior timber trim. Under the dilapidated bailey channel is a very good sample of original paint color, although Chris is going with a mid war brown for these restos.

[jack neville]

The doors will all need new glass and bailey channel. the windows raise and lower through an interesting set up with four pulleys and thin wire cable running through a gear on the window winder operating on a short section of wire chain.

[jack neville]

A bit of heat to loosen the hinge bolts. There are two different size bolts for the top and bottom hinge. And the rotten bailey channel.

[jack neville]

The cab with the drivers door fitted and showing the difference between where the door wants to sit and where I want the door to sit.

[jack neville]

I thought the passenger door was as good as the dirvers dide but I noticed some rot in the bottom skin. On closer inspection you can see that the entire bottom haf of the door skin has been replaced at some stage and the join just below the rib was leadwiped.

[jack neville]

These are the other five doors I have to work with to find another pair. These two from the original rusty Tilly are very solid and only surface rusted. Unfortunately someone sat a large excavotor bucket on the roof and crushed the top half of each door.

[jack neville]

two more photos

[jack neville]

The other three are badly rusted in the bottoms but are otherwise straight. One has had a different winder installed.

[Chris Collins]

Am I thinking there might be some grafting together coming up?

My Molasses bath is beginning to pay dividends, I just need a spare day to clean them up.

[colin jones]

Great job there Jack, that is some serious fiddly work but I'm sure the end result will be well worth the effort.

[cliff]

I recently visited Jack and saw the work in real life. Very impressive it was much better then the photos show. Thanks for having meg and myself it was appreciated Jack.

PS> have not won Lotto yet

[jack neville]

First I unpicked the good door skins from the rusty doors. A pinch bar worked the best.

[jack neville]

The skins were just cut off these two doors which were picked for having the best inner frames.

[jack neville]

The best tops and bottoms of the inner frames were cut out and will be rejoined and reskinned when I have them all either sandblasted or derusted in the electrolysis bath. This is what I ended up with. The second photo shows what I had to compare with.

[austin tilly]

I just stumbled across this thread. Awesome to see a Morris Tilly being saved.


Do you have the manuals that go with it? I'm scanning my manuals of the different makes of the Tillys. A few can already be found at:
austin.tillyregister.com
hillman.tillyregister.com
morris.tillyregister.com
standard.tillyregister.com

Cheers
Arjan

[john piercey]

Congratulations guys,this is some serious restoration work ,end result should be spectacular.
Cheers
John

[jack neville]

While the door pieces were off being sandblasted I turned my attention back to the rooves. The former car roof has been completed and just needs finishing off with its support timbers and spare wheel supports. The B pillars have been tacked in place and the lower bracing added. I have added one of the weather strips which had been removed for derusting.

[jack neville]

The original roof needs repairing on the windscreen pillars which have rotted almost completely away.

[jack neville]

First I removed the short section of weather stripping so it could be separately derusted in the electrolysis bath.

[jack neville]

Because the end plate position is integral to the two halves of the windscreen joining together properly I did not want to disturb that part on either side. So to effect the repair I cut a small section out, fabricated a repair piece and wleded that in. The next piece was removed and replaced and so on, working my way around the damaged area one small piece at a time.

[jack neville]

Then next bit.

[jack neville]

I should have added, that before each patch was welded in, I had to cut out the next pice or part cut it out as each new patch prevented grinder or tin snip access.

[jack neville]

The patches were shaped by hand using whatever I had that worked.

[jack neville]

The first side took about four hours and I was pretty happy with it. Will need some filler to tidy it up but it trial fitted perfectly and has got solid metal. The other pillar will be almost the same repair.