Morris Minor Owners Club

My car was registered Aug 1970. I thought the colour was smoke grey, read ended June 70 but assume that was a manufacture date. Anyway bought some paint BU15 code/smoke grey from a reputable paint shop and it is way too blue and dark. Mine is a much greener/grey. It had a wing resprayed by the PO an...

What year did black cease to be a standard colour

Got nowhere with finding the steering squeak, checked eyebolts OS slightly loose, NS wheel bearing tightened (tapered type) but think I have found what is clonking. It is when the NS front wheels goes over some pot holes. On jacking up under the wishbone I can feel the play/clonk moving the road whe...

Not had chance to check eyebolts with the rain. Did try running back and forth in the drive turning full lock to lock and all quite. When getting the noise the car was more loaded with 2 passengers and a dog. There are clonks going over potholes(not always) when the NSF wheel goes over them. Also th...

Quite a loud noise on a right turn which to start with looked like on a lot of lock but now can start on beginning to turn and then disappears. Intermittent anyway. Greased the rack from the passenger side nipple. 12 pumps of grease/80EP oil I made up. Thought all good but then noise came back. Jack...

My hearing is not the best but never heard any pinking (is it a high pitched noise) or other engine noises, only when it started chugging when running on 2 cylinders. The distributor is one of these electronic ones, maybe Accuspark, no adjustment and the vacuum cannister is much closer to the body t...

I have now replaced the cracked I. searle head with the replacement. A PO fitted electronic ignition and did not get the timing right. With the engine idling, vacuum plugged it was a good 30 BTDC. No idea how many miles ran like this but I was the unlucky one to get the head cracked or maybe it was ...

The cracked head looks to have new valve guides, they are grooved with top hats fitted. Are they easy to get out as can put these in the new head. Regarding the small O ring seals assume they will only fit on the long groove valves. Cannot see once in the groove how they work as no where near the gu...

The new head has 1 15/16 ins inlet valves which I understand is correct including exhaust(mine 1.75 ins). All the springs in the new head are longer than the I Searle ones so won't be using those. I read the long collet valves are the early ones replaced by short collet. Intake valves on the new hea...

Purchased a head supposed to be from a running engine. So far found one stud on the thermostat housing bent and with luck managed to replace with one from the cracked head. Now the differences. The cracked (I.Searle) head has exhaust valve seats inserted and the new one they are call done. Assume th...

It has the 1098 cc engine. Spoke to a mechanic who has a good knowledge of classic and moderns and he says quite common for cast iron as well as ali heads to crack through overheating. I have noted that the rocker cover is coated on the inside with a thick layer of what looks like dirty mayonaise so...

Took the head to be skimmed to remove what I thought was a shallow gouge between 1 & 2. They wire brushed around it and round the chambers and said it is cracked and scrap. Said the engine must have overheated. Not knowingly overheated in my short ownership, had been running fine until on starti...

See the spin off used on some Minis, Midgets as well as minor etc.
Are these the correct.
MAN W712
MAHLE OC21
GFE166
Man best price as can source local.

Have bought the ESM one so hope it is good. Will be taking the head to a skimmer for an appraisal, anyone know one in Notts/Derbys. Another question relates to ignition timing as mentioned to check. It has an electronic dist. and on cranking with the starter motor I get a spark but with the hand cra...

Pics are not always that good and can be misleading. Oddly no1 piston crown has no carbon deposits the other 3 have some and about the same. Cleaned the 3 noted +o.020 so must have had a rebore when Ivor S had it. Nothing wrong with piston 2, all the bores are perfect, nothing of note. There are two...

Measuring from the head surface to stud pillars (assume that is the thickness) I get 2.744 so looks to be standard

How can you tell if the head has been skimmed can you measure the thickness.
The mark can be just felt running my finger nail over, I guess that is bad news.

It looks like a crack in the pic but in reality appears to be a very shallow mark. If I take it to a skimming company they should know the best approach.

Are well the pics have been added in the reverse order to what I wanted

Head off, copper gasket very bad between 1 & 2, looks to have melted away, pic attached Not a good advert for an Ivor searle on 10k miles, unless it has been tampered with. Block looks ok slight scarring between 1&2, bores good no lip at top, pic att. Now I cleaned the head face all straight...