Dave's Solutions

22/09/2026

10/09/2026

I normally like to wait until a car is finished before posting about it, but this one has been with me for a few weeks now, so I thought I’d share some of the progress so far!

It came to me with quite a list of jobs, upgrades and a few things that needed finishing or checking over. However, during my initial inspection, I found some fairly serious corrosion underneath the car that needed addressing before I could move on to anything else.

The ends of the crossmember, sections of the sills, spring hangers and several areas of one of the chassis legs all required replacement or repair, along with a few other smaller areas I found along the way.

Once all the welding was completed, I thoroughly went over the underside with the wire wheel, sanding and scraping everything back to remove the surface rust and old underseal.

The entire underside was then treated with rust converter/preventer before being repainted and finished with a protective stone-chip coating. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s made a huge difference!

It’s now at the point where I can start working through the rest of the original job list. I’ve already managed to tick a few things off while waiting for various paints and coatings to dry.

Hopefully it won’t be too long now before this one is back with its owner. The worst of the work is behind us, and when it goes home it’ll be a much safer car than the one I originally collected, with the added peace of mind that the underside has been properly repaired and protected for the future. 🙂🔧

04/09/2026

It’s been a busy few weeks!

One of the cars I’ve had in recently has been this MG. It came to me not running, and the brakes weren’t particularly happy either!

The main issue with the engine was the twin SU carbs. One had the choke permanently around 50% open, while the other wasn’t connected to the linkage at all. The linkage needed fully resetting, one of the jets had an issue and needed taking apart, the dashpot springs were incorrect, and the oil in the dashpots was too thick. The list goes on — lots of little things that needed adjusting or changing on these carbs!

They’re now balanced and the mixtures have been adjusted. Along with this, I re-gapped the spark plugs and adjusted the tappets.

While investigating the lack of brakes and solid brake pedal, I found that the master cylinder wasn’t working correctly. It wouldn’t allow fluid through to the rear brakes and was holding pressure in the front circuit.

A new master cylinder was fitted (what a fiddly job!), the system was bled and the rear brakes adjusted.

While changing the master cylinder, I also replaced the brake light switch, as the old one was permanently on and leaving the brake lights illuminated all the time.

I also found that the brake pedal was binding on its bush and pivot pin. I stripped it all apart, thoroughly cleaned everything up, and it’s now operating smoothly again.

The MG is now ready to be returned to its owner and, most importantly, enjoyed! 🙂🔧

20/08/2026

Think we have a new first place for the worst oil filter I’ve ever seen! This was solid!

17/08/2026

Another mixed week last week! 🔧

Started the week making control pendants for my old workplace, along with carrying out some machining work for them.

I also looked over a Morris Minor for a customer and put together a list of jobs that need doing. Unfortunately, there’s quite a bit of work required, including sill replacement, crossmember replacement, other welding repairs and seized rear brake cylinders.

While I was there, I also investigated the engine as it was no longer running. A compression test showed all cylinders nicely in the green and even. I replaced the spark plugs and condenser, and we now have a running engine again! 🙂

The carburettor is another story, though. It needs rebuilding, as something definitely isn’t right — the mixture adjustment is wound as lean as possible, yet the engine is still running exceptionally rich.

Due to the extent of the structural corrosion and the faults found, I’ve stressed to the owners that the Moggy isn’t safe to drive in its current condition.

Then another Morris Minor was collected and brought back to the workshop. That one is now up on the ramp and has had a thorough inspection.

There’s plenty to get stuck into — quite a lot of welding, some previously started jobs that need finishing properly, as well as a few upgrades along the way.

Looks like I’ll be spending plenty of time with Morris Minors for the foreseeable future! 😎🔧

13/08/2026

Last week was a busy week and I only took a few random pictures!
Service several more modern cars, replaced a fuel pump on a classic VW after diagnosing the fuel pump was the reason for the brake down, compression test on a Morris minor after it over heated, and carried on working away on the Morris pick up.
(There were a few other small jobs helping people out, quoting for jobs etc)

31/07/2026

A few pictures from this months work on the Morris pick up.
The battery box was removed from the donor car, trimmed down, welded in.
Then some more rust repairs on the drivers side inner wing.. sadly this wing is a bit of a patchwork quilt, but earlier in the project when we were at a point we could have replaced it, this panel was out of stock, along with the slightly issue that we had very limited reference points to begin with with this car, cutting such a large panel out didn’t seem such a great idea.
The repairs I’ve done to this wing will blend in well so won’t be noticeable once painted. The lower repairs from a previous owner stick out a little further than I’d like, but they are passable at the moment.