Morris Minor Owners Club

Ye Gods!
You're an optimistic one! Bad rear oil leak, slipping clutch, and you are hoping the oil pressure gauge is wrong! Go on-borrow another gauge, see what that reads! Having just rebuilt an (Triumph) engine only to see it self destruct in 200 miles due to a silly error, I tend to be the pessimist

thios car is going to be the death of me someday,

right, i have done the following,

connected the rocker vent to the inlet manifold via a nice pipe ( i didnt drill it, just whipped off the pipe that goes to the servo) and started the engine.
it wouldn't start. it point blank refused.
eventually, it started, but it sounded very very rough, and lumpy. almost like it was running on 3 cylinders.

i disconnected this pipe and reconnected the servo pipe and it started and all was well.

so whats going on? is the vaccuum being created in the rocker cover and the crank to much? are any fumes being sucked into the engine to much for it?

i am very confused as this method seems to have worked for other and yet not on my little lump, so what has gone wrong?

cadetchris wrote:connected the rocker vent to the inlet manifold via a nice pipe ( i didnt drill it, just whipped off the pipe that goes to the servo) and started the engine.

I think it needs to go through a small hole (say 1/8" or 3mm) to restrict the flow, otherwise it will weaken the mixture too much.

that would be a very logical explanitation.

however, on a lighter note, i have discovered the source of the oil leak, the sump gasket has yet again gone at the rear bearing, so i need yet another gasket, on number 5 this year. i have read that i can get rubber replacements for the cock a doodle diddley gaskets, any ideas where one can get some of these?

No need for rubber gaskets. You just need to fit the cork ones correctly. The cork pieces should be soaked in warm water first so they swell as the absorb the moisture. Then smear them both sides in grease. The round ends that go around the crank should be treated the same but left 1/4" pround either side of the sump so that when you tighten the sump the gasket is compressed fully into the bend. Also, no more than 15lb/ft for the sump bolts and make sure you have the correct spreader washers fitted under the bolts.

thats exactly what i have been doing, and still the ruddy thing leaks like a sieve.

Then I would check the sump isn't bent or the block damaged. A good smear of gasket cement might help if you find any "iffy" areas....

thankfully i do have a spare sump, so ill get a new gasket set tomorrow at newark autojumble, ill see if i can get a midget one with the rubber bits instead of the cork bits

Try your sumps on a flat surface to make sure they sit nice and flat, they can take quite a beating hanging down under the car.
Some I've seen have all kinds of dents from hitting things and the car being jacked up on them.
Heavy handed mechanics can take a toll too.
Do the bolts up progressively too, it needs to be pulled up flat to work properly.

You were told earlier that it had to be a 1/8" hole into the inlet manifold - yet you barge ahead with full bore servo hole!!
I despair.......

ah, i didnt read that bit.

so, now being armed with such knowledge, where can one get a fixing of this size?

I used a servo connection - filled it with Araldite - then drilled a 1/8" hole through the Araldite.

that would work,
ill get one from newark autojumble tomorrow.

what size should the hole be?

3/16" should do it

linearaudio wrote:3/16" should do it

Shurely you mean 2/16" or maybe 4/32"....?

these fractions on an inch are just getting confusing. what size hole would one need in millimeters?

About 3mm

that makes more sense now.
i might work in lb's feet and inches for large numbers, but when people quote things like 2/32 or 12 thousandths of things, my brain starts to cook