Morris Minor Owners Club

As has been said fit all the new bits a few weeks before hand in the comfort of your garage and then go safe in the knowledge that you have a reliable car.

With the poor quality of certain service items these days (rotor arms & condensors come to mind) it might be wise to carry the replaced parts in case the new ones fail!

Innovator wrote:I have done many owners club overseas trips and I do not think we carryed any spares.

During a recent MOT trip, a Minor Traveller suffered an exhaust valve failure. Fortunately someone carried a spare valve, someone else a head gasket, someone else.....etc, etc. Result, owner continued to enjoy their holiday

rac card seems to do the trick ok

Every overseas trip we went on we would await the rebuild project on the rally field...a few doing the work and many stood around with bottles of beer supervising......all part of the holiday!

[quote=With the poor quality of certain service items these days (rotor arms & condensors come to mind) it might be wise to carry the replaced parts in case the new ones fail! [/quote]

That is very good advice.

I found it impossible to buy a decent condenser for the Elan (good old Lucas distributor) one after another set of points were burning, so in the end I gave up and fitted an Aldon igniter contactless unit - I still carry points and condenser in the boot.......... just in case

It really went against my philosophy. I have always argued for keeping it simple but the quality of some parts these days is really poor.

FWIW the Aldon is a nice neat unit and it all goes inside the distributor so apart from two wire it looks original. The only issue I have is a slightly bouncy rev'counter - not a problem on a Minor of course

I love my Aldon ignition. My MM will have one on her sidevalve engine. So much nicer for the idle

Innovator wrote:Every overseas trip we went on we would await the rebuild project on the rally field...a few doing the work and many stood around with bottles of beer supervising......all part of the holiday!

Obviously the words of a true MOT'er

When I went on the JohnoGroats to Lands End run I carried the usual hoses and pumps points etc. But the key as suggested above is good maintenance and above all if at all possible don't fiddle with anything for a couple of weeks before. Parts are generally reliable so resist the temptation to readjust every thing the night before, I think thats what cause a lot of problems.
I never opened the spares box. I did however use oil like it was going out of fashion, buts thats another story!

I did however use oil like it was going out of fashion, buts thats another story!

Its called a Drink problem Roger

It is essential to carry the obvious spares such as points,condensor, rotor arm
etc especially if you belong to the AA and do not have 'Home Relay' membership! I spoke to an AA man recently and said "my car is a 1957 Minor, would you be able to supply new points etc. if I broke down"? No, he
said, we do not carry them any more! We would have to transport your car
to wherever you wanted!!

Cor! Steady lads! Pim's not doing anything desparate. He's only doing 900 miles over three days and he's on his home territory. And its all in Holland where there's no hills and millions of bicycles - if he does more than 50 he'll probably get arrested. Anyway, the Dutch are so friendly that if he did have any trouble the natives would push him the rest of the journey.
As the rally's next year Pimm, you've got plenty of time to get it sorted. As suggested above, I'd do a thorough check over and service some time ahead (say a 1000 miles) to let things settle. If you're like me half of all faults are self inflicted (hoses not done up tight, etc). Then carry a selection of the above especially the perishables, eg fan belt, etc. Nothing fancy like cylinder heads or half shafts! All I would add it a can of fuel if your gauge is as erratic as mine and also because you're doing more than a tank full a day. You might get caught short. Also oil, if like my Morry your's does only a couple of hundred to the pint.
Best of luck, MikeN.

Mike, you are right, it's not a very demanding rally I think. But as a new Morris owner I get a lot out of all the tips i get on this topic. You are summerising the tips very well I think. (just one thing...Luxemburg is city in a totally different country, namely Luxemburg and I can only get there by driving through Belgium.. so it's an international rally

OK, planning a 1350 mile trip in May. Read this thread, very useful. How much wonga am I going to have to lay out though?

Trip to where?

Trip from Manchester - Cairnryan, then ferry to Larne, then an anti-clockwise around Northern Ireland and Ireland, and return. I've got about 9 days, some days more miles than others.....

How much wonga am I going to have to lay out though?

Depends on what spares you intend taking and you can get all you need from one of the specialists without spending a fortune.