Morris Minor Owners Club

Then at least one must be ready to become a doner car

Alas no Paulk, one is his daily driver and the other he rallies.

Just as an afterthought, try looking for mark 1 cavalier/chevette gearboxes too, they were RWD.

Quick question - wondering why an engine might only be suitable for FWD/RWD - whats the difference??

It depends how it mates to the gearbox and drive shafts.

Nothings impossible but some engines are more suitable than others. If there is no RWD gearbox with the same bolt pattern as your FWD engine then you have to get an adaptor plate made (ker-ching!). Most Ford engines and gearboxes have the same bolt pattern whether FWD or RWD which makes things easier to chop and change.

Interestingly, the FWD A series engine from a Mini won't work at all in a Minor because the block is completely different to its RWD cousin with the gearbox being attached underneath the engine.

A lot of modern engines in small cars are FWD with no RWD equivalent so there isn't a stock gearbox that will fit. Various companies have come up with adaptor plates to mate all sorts of things to a Ford type 9 RWD gearbox for example.

Once the engine to gearbox challenge has been solved you still need to fit a spigot bearing to the end of the crank, sort out a suitable clutch, and ensure the sump, baffles and oil pick-up are okay in their new orientation. (ker-ching!)

Often fwd engines are leant over at odd angles to fit in the engine bay. Once in RWD config, if they have been straightened then the oil pickup might not be in the best position, baffles might not be effective, carburettor float might be skewed from correct position etc.

Exhaust manifolds might point somewhere very odd meaning a new one has to be made. This can be the case on RWD transplants too but it's more likely that the tinkering will be on a straight piece of downpipe rather than the manifold itself.

So, if you find a rwd engine and box combo it can be a lot simpler, cheaper and quicker.

and there was me thinking that an engine was just an engine *blush*

I helped fit a 1.5 psa tud5 diesel from an citroen ax (same as metro) in to a 2 door '63 shell for a friend..

Engine is nice an small... and man handable so not too heavy.

was fitted using a new metal back plate to adapt the psa block to a 1275 midget box and redrilled midget back flywheel..

cooling via an alegro radiator..

Standard fuel tank with a diesel return fitted to top of the fuel filler neck.

diesel battery fitted to standard battery location.

Rangerover heater timer relay for the heater plugs

exhaust was fabricated from bits of minor and citroen

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it started and drove ok.. midget clutch was ok and did not slip..

acceleration was ok and would pull 75 is @ the govened 5000rpm

unfortunatly it was writain off before much more could be done..


but it fitted and worked!


Dont be put of by using a transverse engine in a rwd config (appart from vw due to funny clutch or a fwd a series due to the odd crank) as you need to get an engineering firm to make a new back plate and drill the flywheel from your gearbox to suite the new engine and make some engine mounts

Hi Iain - love the info on the PSA 1.5 Diesel conversion
I don't suppose there are any pics?
Minor Matters was asking for diesel conversion info quite a few times over recent years too...

the nuffeild tractor had a deisel engine, that was a 1098 i think

But only develops about 15bhp!

Hi Ray.

wish i had taken some pics!.. will see if i can track the guy down..

best way to look at the a conversion it to make the engine fit the original flywheel and bell housing... not make a new bell housing.. then uprate the clutch if needed..

other alternaive is the 3cyl diahatsu td or the new lupo/polo 1.4 pdi unit.... but someone needs to check if they have a normal end on the crank..

I recon the vag 1.4 pdi would be the one as it is nice and powerfull but short as it is a 3 pot..

soon as the devorce comes through i will be on the prowl for a nice moggie van..... then i will sort some sort of clutch conversion or autobox and an interesting engine conversion!

There is a bespoke bell housing for Vauxhall 16v to Ford type 9... not sure if it's common with the diesel.

Dan