Morris Minor Owners Club

bmcecosse wrote:Not TOO bad for an 803........

Remember I put a brand new 1098 oil pump in... and I'm now a seasoned big end warning noise spotter.

We didn't expect you to run it with no oil pressure........

Is oil pressure always so desperately low on 803's ?

bmcecosse wrote:We didn't expect you to run it with no oil pressure........

Neither did I....

Just hoped for the very short time I ran it no damage had been done. Well, all was OK until about 10 miles and the familiar sound of big ends on their way out.

Mine runs at 60-65 psi at full revs with cold oil, drops to around 50 ish when oil is really hot. That's going by the original gauge which I'm guessing is somewhat accurate!

You have my sympathy JJ I have learned by many mistakes over the last 50 years,been down your route initially,mainly because in the early day of getting my hands into engine innards hadn't the money to buy new bearings and couldn't find any engineers who could do regrinds and rebores etc so used to convice myself that the crank was ok and shells would do.and then like you hear the dreaded death rattle again.My view now is that if an engine has developed big end or main bearing rattle,then there is a very strong chance that the shaft journals have worn oval,which will quickly knock out new shells,and need to be checked,damage like cracks and grooving is easy to see and assess,ovality needs measuring with caliper guages.And as an asside B series engines (I have mainly worked with MGBs) regularly needed a new conrod in the piston that had been knocking because the little end also got knocked oval and ripped out the new shells within 50 miles or so.So take heart many of us so called ancient experts have been in the same situation as you,I once fitted a minor gearbox and found the thrust bearing sitting on the bench Note must check the one I'm about to fit. GOOD LUCK

All too true - we've all been there at some point.... But - I do have to say my Traveller came to me with knocking big-ends. Pulled the crank - inspected it carefully - no damage - new shells (and pump) - and that was ~ 10 years ago and it's till running fine, despite being hammered regularly (940 head and large carb) - and it holds a good 60 + oil pressure when hot at decent revs.....

Thanks for the support, people. I'll see what needs to be done in the near future, but I'm going to be busy for a while now with other things.

I'll let you know what I find.