Morris Minor Owners Club

The plugs look to be the correct 'biscuit' colour.

I took a video of the engine running. Does anything jump out as sounding wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHynPT5 ... e=youtu.be

What happens when you take the oil filler cap off and rev up? The exhaust certainly looks like blue smoke....and the timing chain is rattling horribly.. But unless it has jumped a tooth (v unlikely) I doubt it would have too much affect on performance.

When I take the filler cap off the revs drop and there's no smoke when I rev it. I'm not sure if the exhaust is blue or if it's just the video. The smoke/vapour disappears once the engine has warmed up which makes me think it's just water vapour. Some of the rattle also seems to be coming from the water pump. Does it sound like it's firing properly? It sounds rough to me but maybe I'm expecting too much from it.

Sounds fair enough - revs up nicely. Take the fan belt off to find out if the water pump is noisy. I honestly think you are expecting too much in the way of performance from your Trav - which looks v nice in that video BTW ! A Minor has nothing like the power of even the most basic of modern cars....you do need to change down for hills.

Okay, I'll try to get round to checking the water pump today. I think I'm probably expecting too much too. I must say that the power isn't awful and usually isn't problematic. It just can be very annoying when it starts slowing down on moderate hills with traffic behind me. And, as aupickup said, Hastings is basically one big hill! Do you think I'd notice any difference if I got the rings done and the compression sorted?

The other odd thing is that, quite often, I seem to get more acceleration with the accelerator halfway down than with it to the floor. If if floor it, it often does nothing then when I bring it up to halfway, it suddenly picks up. Is that normal?

Thank you for you compliments on my Traveller Roy!

I had that on my TR7 - cured it by using EP90 in the carb dashpot. Certainly sounds like the carb piston is jumping up too quickly - just check - is there a spring inside the bell?

If lack of power is spoiling your enjoyment of your Traveller a solution would be to put a 1275 engine in. Not cheap of course but it transforms the car into a totally practical vehicle that can live happily in modern traffic.

Instead of persevering with your current engine you could attempt to find a second hand unit to refurbish (if needed) to replace, even temporarily. Perhaps even a 1275 if you can find one cheap (as SteveClem says).
It's good to have a spare engine in stock to learn on, without causing any upset to the actual car. Good source of spares too!
For the price of a rebore (if yours needs one), an extra £50-ish for another engine won't be too extreme.

There's definitely a spring in the carburettor. I'll give EP90 a try in the dashpot when I can get round to it. I've got to MOT the car either tomorrow or Wednesday so I'll get that over with first.

In terms of a 1275 engine, that does sound like a good upgrade. I just depends on how much power I'm losing due to low compression. If new rings or a rebore will bring it up to a more acceptable level of power then that should be fine but, if not, the 1275 might be worth considering. I've never done a rebuild or any major engine work before though apart from changing the head gasket so I'm not sure I could manage. It also seems very expensive. The engine itself looks expensive and then there's all the parts for the rebuild plus machining work.

or maybe I could get another 1098 and do Roy's suggested head and manifold mods. How would that compare with the 1275? Again though, if my 1098 will be fine with new rings or a rebore, I won't need to do that.

New rings will obviously help - and not difficult to do. But how long they would last is another matter - maybe 10,000 miles - which could be 5 to 10 years if the car is lightly used. The 940 head and bigger carb does make a very worthwhile difference to a 1098. Effectively brings the engine up to 1275 power - but at higher revs of course... The power limiting factor for both engines being the 940 head air flow. But it's not worth doing unless you know the engine is in good enough condition to take the extra power.

Is that 10,000 miles without a rebore? How many would it last with a rebore? It's my only car and gets used every day so that wouldn't last me very long.

A rebore with new pistons makes the engine 'as new' - but of course costs a LOT more and a LOT more work to do. Would be unwise to do a rebore without also regrinding the crank etc etc - and the costs soon mount up.

Okay. So given that the engine has low compression with worn rings and is low on power, that I'm planning on keeping the car and that I don't have unlimited money to spend, what do you recommend?

Trouble with buying another 2nd hand engine is you don't know its history, sellers advertise them as runners but when it last ran well is anyone's guess. A recon engine will cost you around the £900 mark so you may be better finding a engine recon supplier locally and getting a quote from them, then weigh up the cost against buying a already reconditioned engine against having yours done.
I think personally I would be buying a reconditioned engine and keeping yours for spares. But ultimately it's your descion and your hard earned cash.

That recon engine price involves handing in the old engine in exchange.... I suggest you run what you have meantime, and keep an eye open for a spare engine locally - which you can overhaul at leisure.

Okay, I'll see how it goes with the existing engine. The car's in for MOT at the moment so I can't do any more checks for the next few days. I'll keep an eye out for another engine and think about slowly overhauling it (with help from this forum of course! ). I'm not sure whether to look for a 1275 or to just overhaul another 1098.

Only if you find a Spridget 1275 is it a 'straight swap'. The Marina 1275 is not quite so easy - although obviously it can be done.

I've got the car back from it's MOT now. Just needed a ball joint dust cap and some welding I got the wheel balance done too which actually made a big difference to driving at high speeds. I got the mechanic to look at the engine. Firstly, he changed the mixture as it was running rich. It seems a little bit better now and the exhaust no longer smells! He did another compression test and got slightly higher than I did but said that the compressions were the same on all cylinders and that they were holding them so it wasn't a disaster. He said that he didn't think new rings would be worth it and thought reconditioning another engine was a good idea.

So, I'm not sure what to do now. Ideally I'd like to drive a top condition Traveller with a rebuilt engine so I know what's possible. It could be that my engine isn't that far off and I've just got nothing to compare it to.

Do you think that I would notice any difference with a completely rebuilt engine?