After the longest, coldest, snowiest winter in my lifetime, spring has finally opened its doors. Now, my detached and unheated garage has beckoned me.

It’s amazing how quickly the 70-plus days of snow covering released its hold on lawns and flower beds. I am equally amazed how quickly the 30-plus years idle in storage released under the bonnet of my Morris.

At the encouragement of my mentor Randy, I attacked the mostly empty engine compartment. The goal is to strip it and “rattle can” it the color I plan to paint the rest of the car, when it finally comes to that. While that is sage advice, even wiser was Randy’s nudge to “do something on the car everyday.” Keep the focus; maintain the enthusiasm. During our brutal winter, that was a major challenge. But winter is behind us now. Onward, onward.

This is all uncharted territory for me. I feared frozen bolts, broken bits and second thoughts. After sitting idle since our country’s bicentennial era, would components have fused to their mounts? Would hidden damage, perhaps at the hands of a previous owner, become apparent?

To my delight, the answers were clear. It started with the pair of master cylinders and front brake lines. The nuts at the base of each cylinder gave up their decades-long hold with little effort. I hit them with a short blast of penetrating spray, just to ease the spin over the rusty ends of the bolts. Removing the cylinder shafts from the clutch and brake pedals proved a little tedious, fidgeting around in a tiny space under the dash.

For the most part, the removal of the brake lines went as well as the removal of the master cylinders. Fittings twisted off as if they had been tightened the day before. Lines were in good shape, given their age. It wasn’t until the last fitting that I had any problems. The left front connector loosed from its seat easily enough, but it held its grip on the tubing and twisted the end clean off the tube.

Now that winter is but a memory, I’m looking forward to many warm months of work.

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