Newbie

Post by **Hellfish** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:33 pm

I thought I should introduce myself before pestering you with questions.

I'll start off by saying I know absolutely nothing about Morris Minors, or any Brit car for that matter, but I'm hoping to learn a lot. I've worked on a '73 Karmann Ghia and a '67 Volvo 122s. I'm currently working on a '65 Ford Econoline and a '48 Chevy coupe, and drive a '59 Chevy.

Why am I here then? My wife just bought a '58 Morris Minor 1000. She's no stranger to building cars. She built this '51 Chevy a couple of years ago...

and she used to race an RX7, but neither of us know diddly about the Minor.

The current plan under consideration is to stuff a 4A-GE in there.

Here's the bugger as it sat in a Texas field

Here it is in the garage

Ooh! Racing stripes!

Little 4 banger

Here it is next to my 48 Chevy coupe.

Elizabeth has already torn down half of the front of the car. It's remarkably solid. About 3/4 of the floors are shot, but the rockers are good. The windshield has a couple of bullet holes in it and so does the body. It came from Texas afterall! We know we're going to need a new hood and wheels (and I already found them).

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:48 pm

Welcome to the forum ! You can fill in your location in your profile - although you have already told us Tx - but it's a biggish place - I used to live in Houston! And I didn't see any Minors around. I like the bullet holes - we only do 'stick-on' ones here, well most of the time anyway. Looks like quite a project you have there - you can download a manual for the car from here http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/morrisminor.pdf always useful!

Post by **Hellfish** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 4:58 pm

Actually, I'm in Chicago. The car came from Texas (near Dallas). My location is in my profile, but it's not showing up on the board.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:00 pm

Wow - long way to move it! Good luck with the project - always someone on duty here to answer your Qs.

Post by **superchargedfool** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:20 pm

welcome to the forum.

looks like you are both serial car nuts! should fit in here well.

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:22 pm

Front grille could be a bit difficult to straighten out

But seriously, nice find and good luck !!

Post by **JuNK512G** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 5:41 pm

Welcome. Oh boy that Minor looks exciting, was the original owner Al Capone by any chance ?

I think you are going to be asking us many questions somehow. Looks like it has a van bonnet (hood) ,no side flashes present. Best of luck with, regards, Charlie.

Post by **Hellfish** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:06 pm

the good thing about the damaged grille is... she doesn't like it anyway and wants to fabricate her own!

The car was cheap and I found a friend who was coming our way with an empty spot, so shipping was cheap. The motor turns over easily, but is missing most of the distributor, etc. She wants a little more reliable power from the car.

I found a '70 MGB rear end for it just down the road. I've heard that will be stout enough, but I'm not sure about the dimensions. I need to measure tonight.

The wheels and hood are badly rusted, but I found replacements. The floors... well... there are no floors. All the glass is good except for the 2 bullet holes in the front windshield.

Ah, Texas. It sat in a field for 30 years, so it's actually in pretty good and complete shape

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:20 pm

The MGB axle does fit however your standard wheels won't fit cause the PCD is different, unless, of course, you modify it

I've got a couple of spare dizzy's if you get stuck but I guess you can source them locally OK?

Post by **jaekl** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:22 pm

Welcome to the Minor world. You'll either get completely hooked or move on. Besides the online help, we also have a US based club out of Ohio. E-mail MORRISMINR@AOL.COM
With what you have you can do anything from pure stock to a nicely updated daily driver, or to a full blown custom.

Post by **Hellfish** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:43 pm

PSL184 wrote:The MGB axle does fit however your standard wheels won't fit cause the PCD is different,

what's a PCD?
I'm not too worried about the wheels since the ones on the car are shot. I found some stock replacements, but if they won't work with the MGB rear, I'll have to look for something else. I understand the Morris bolt pattern is an odd one and hard to find good custom wheels for it (at least here in the States)

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 6:58 pm

Yeah PCD = Bolt Pattern

4" on a Minor and difficult to find over here too !!!!

Post by **mike.perry** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:05 pm

PCD = Pitch Circle Diameter. The diameter of a circle passing through the centre of the wheel bolt / stud holes. In the case of a four hole wheel it is the distance between the centres of diagonal holes.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:22 pm

The MGB is 4.5" PCD by the way! There may be a way to fit MGB discs and hubs on the front -I think that has been done before - then you would obviously use MGB wheels all round!

Post by **Hellfish** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 7:58 pm

I'm getting the rear axle from a wrecked MGB, so the disks, spindles, hubs, etc may still be good, too.

Anyone know if they'll swap over for sure? If so, what parts do I need? I should be picking the rear up this weekend.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:03 pm

Grab all you can anyway - I'm sure someone has found a way to fit them - but by no means a straight swap!

Post by **PSL184** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:14 pm

Minors are all about basic engineering so if you can find your way around a car fairly well you can make pretty much anything fit if you want it to.....

Post by **rv8** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:35 pm

best of luck mate