NMP (Nuffield Metal Products) Plate.

[firedrake1942]

As many of you will no doubt know, the Minor had a maker's plate, separate from Chassis plate on the nearside engine bay tie plate, under the bumper stanchion. (see picture) Over the years, because of the spot welds and general decay many rotted away or were lost when the tie plate and underlying chassis leg were replaced. (See picture for rotten versions)

Having got mine to a star where this is about the only thing missing, i and a retired engineer firm Uttlesford branch of the MMOC managed to obtain a good early plate (Series MM were on the bulkhead or firewall so less prone to rotting), related a mould and have pressed some new ones. They are not as good definition as the regional but good enough, certainly for me and others in the branch to stamp the numbers, (found on the small strips on the top NS of the bulkhead above and to the right of the battery) ZXXXXX and XXXXXX which define a) the batch and era and the body type - and then body colour and glue (not spot weld this time) in place.

We are going ahead with ordering a batch of laser cut 0.5mm MS blanks and the final product will be ready shortly. If you are interested in that last touch of 'originality' or simply are a geek like me and would like one, please let me know via the forum message board or dadmjsdm@aol.com or via the Uttlesford Morris Minor Owners facebook page. We are not looking to make money on these, simply cover the costs of the mould, blanks and time etc so they should be affordable, plus postage of course.

The photo attached is of prototype pressings.

[firedrake1942]

Updated and body coloured photos

[firedrake1942]

Updated and body coloured photos

[firedrake1942]

Tests of the reverse punches for the Z numbers on prototype NMP plates, went well....... in Ray's man-cave !

[Panky]

Brilliant work

[frosty]

Interested when you have some ready

[firedrake1942]

Bit of a setback on the NMP plate front. I took the blanks along to the hydraulic press with the mould set and due to the galvanising (which we didn't ask for) the thickness of the plate is about 0.65 mm as opposed to our test plates which were 0.5mm. The results were simply not good and certainly not good enough to put on my car, or indeed anyone else's.

We are looking at 0.5mm aluminium, which if painted and insulated with adhesive or similar from the steel of the tie plate / bulkhead, should not cause any problems. Early pressings with aluminium have proved very positive in the past, especially as regards definition which has been better than steel and should prolong the life if the mould too..

I am sorry to delay this process but the sheet metal supplier cannot get us mild steel or tin plate in the quantities which will justify laser cutting and the blanks we did get, although disappointing in terms of definition are absolutely spot on for size. It should only be a week or ten days before we have the aluminium plates. Ali is dearer but we will absorb that cost.

Top two plates are today's and the bottom is a previous hand cut test plate. I am sure you will agree the difference is worth waiting for.

[fasthamster]

IMG_2205.JPG

Bit of a setback on the NMP plate front. I took the blanks along to the hydraulic press with the mould set and due to the galvanising (which we didn't ask for) the thickness of the plate is about 0.65 mm as opposed to our test plates which were 0.5mm. The results were simply not good and certainly not good enough to put on my car, or indeed anyone else's.

We are looking at 0.5mm aluminium, which if painted and insulated with adhesive or similar from the steel of the tie plate / bulkhead, should not cause any problems. Early pressings with aluminium have proved very positive in the past, especially as regards definition which has been better than steel and should prolong the life if the mould too..

I am sorry to delay this process but the sheet metal supplier cannot get us mild steel or tin plate in the quantities which will justify laser cutting and the blanks we did get, although disappointing in terms of definition are absolutely spot on for size. It should only be a week or ten days before we have the aluminium plates. Ali is dearer but we will absorb that cost.

Top two plates are today's and the bottom is a previous hand cut test plate. I am sure you will agree the difference is worth waiting for.

Also Interested when you have some ready please

[firedrake1942]

Success at last! After a week in which the laser cutters for the NMP blanks told me that they had cut over 200 blanks 10mm short and I had only 40 of the right size....just about to order some more tin plate when I checked the original against the 'correct' plates to find that they were, in fact 10mm too long. A frantic phone call to the steel fabricators to make sure they had not ditched the 'short ones.....
Well, we test pressed 10 this morning and they are brilliant. We always acknowledged that we would not get the definition of the originals but they do come close and Ray is stamping my and his numbers onto our plates ready for body colour and fixing. I will be stamping out the rest next week (Right arm will look like Popeye's) and Ray will be starting to stamp those who requested them stamped. We will only be doing those who have supplied addresses for post so far. As soon as they are done , along with the orders for blank plates, we will be in touch re postage and payment via bacs.
Apologies for this long process, but we wanted to get it right and after the debacle where the 250 mild steel plates were delivered galvanised (AAAARGH) making them a) thicker and b) harder i is a joy to have some good news to report.
If you have expressed an interest and not either given Z number etc details and / or postal addresses, please do so asap via dadmjsdm@aol.com as we have 213 orders so far and only 240 blanks.

[firedrake1942]

Just a quick update on the NMP plates Pressing continues apace - we have pressed over 100 now and no deterioration in the mould. I have dispatched all orders for blank plates - feedback has been excellent - but we have hit a snag with the punches for the right hand number - that was the bit I thought would be simple .

The punches from Pryors (5 mm high) are the right height but much too wide. This is a problem as a) it looks god awful and b) does not allow 6 characters. We will in any case have to hand punch (IE not using the jig) the early T, R C P prefixes in a slightly different font to get them to fit. Same is true of the '-' and '/' as on some these are in addition to 5 or 6 numbers and very tight.

We have been in contact with Pryors who do offer a bespoke punch-making service and I am hoping not, but may have to take Rob's plate to Sheffield to have it computer scanned to match size and font.

Apologies for any delay in people's plans but we want to get this as right as possible. All the Z numbers on plates ordered with numerical details and address supplied are being reverse stamped as original and just await the punch issue being resolved. Plan B is to stamp with the same format as Z number so slightly smaller than original or to supply with right hand box blank.

There are still a number of people who have ordered plates who have yet to supply a) the numerical details or indicate that they want blank stamps and / or supply an address for postage. We now have a growing reserve list and I will soon be processing those in preference to the non-responders. We have got around 250 blanks and they are rapidly running out. Without the address and / or Z / RH numbers , people will miss out so please contact me at dadmjsdm@aol.com to supply the missing info.

Thanks again for everyone's patience

JM

[firedrake1942]

Right, good news and bad news .

Good news is that we have pressed another 100 plates. The Z numbers have been stamped as far as we can. (Some are very long and will not fit)


Bad news is the reply from Pryors regarding the bespoke number punches for the right hand side. They have a lead tine of 4 weeks - not a great problem but also want £648.00 for the privilege.

We simply cannot afford that ! The previous Pryors pouches were the right height and much to wide, meaning the numbers would not fit. I have contacted numerous companies regarding this and none do a punch that fits our needs, even in Imperial sizes. I have also searched for old / imperial / secondhand tools and punches. Ditto there.

Whatever Morris / BMC used is long gone and without significant cost cannot be reproduced.

I am sorry that this has delayed the despatch of these plates which in themselves have been a year in the making with attendant ups and downs.

We now have several choices.

1) We can opt to stamp the RH side number with the same size punches used for the Z number. Ray and I have elected to do this for our cars as although not an original size for the RH side it does not look bad and will look even better once painted and affixed to the car.

2) We can supply the plates with just the Z number supplied , stamped. and leave the RH side blank if you want to try and find a suitable 3/16 punch which is also 1/16 wide.

Please let me know which would be best for you and once again could I PLEASE ask those that wanted plates but have yet to supply a preference for blank / stamped and / or a postal address to reply vi dadmjsdm@aol.com . If within 7 days I have not heard from the latter cohort, I will prioritise the reserve list and delete those who have not replied.

Please see the attached image on a test plate to illustrate Option 1