Morris Minor Owners Club

Wahay! another student!

Grab the 948 anyway and round up some help to stick it in. It's only 2 - 3 hours work. Put the old engine in the boot!! It will help traction in the winter. When I was your age I had a Minor - and rallied the nuts off it.

Would I have to get the engine rebored? It doesn't burn oil and the pressure is good.

Well, you probably don't NEED to have it rebored, but if you are regrinding the crank, fitting new bearings etc etc, you might as well do the cylinders too (and fit new pistons & rings) as then you'll effectively have a 'new' engine that should last you many 10s of thousands of miles without worry. That's what I would do anyway.

Grab the 948 anyway and round up some help to stick it in. It's only 2 - 3 hours work.

yup - or stick the old engine off the edge of the bridge over the straights.... Sploosh.
Once you've fitted a decent engine, the old one isn't going to be of much use ;-)

It's a shame your location isn't in your profile! I could have sent you an engine by Relfy mail this weekend ;)

yup - or stick the old engine off the edge of the bridge over the straights.... Sploosh.

tsk tsk Ray, you arnt advocating fly tipping are you? Although it wouls make a good splash!

Don't dump a Minor engine - they are getting scarce. Always someone who will have a use for it.

Always someone who will have a use for it.

Artistic flower pot?
Mount a sheet of glass on it and call it an arty table?

Mount a sheet of glass on it and call it an arty table?

I was going to do that, but then I decided to sell the good bits (and it didn't half have some good bits) to Nikki Along with my engine rebuilding services...

[any tips?]

bmcecosse wrote:Don't dump a Minor engine - they are getting scarce. Always someone who will have a use for it.

948s seem to be getting a bit thin on the ground (not to mention 803s and sidevalves. ). Still a fair few 1098s about though, but save it if you can! They don't make 'em any more!

Hey,

Sorry, I should have replied on Friday.

I put Wynns 'oil enhancer' in (it's like clear glue!) and it managed to get me home!!! For the first two hours the pressure was glued to 43psi @ 45mph, but for the last 4 hours the pressure slowly dropped and by the time I got home it was at 20psi (yes that is a 6 hr journey!!!). By then, the engine was really throbbing and rattling when it was idling.

I was really tempted to throw the engine in the straights about a week ago, when the oil pressure was low and I couldn't work out why. The only problem was, I don't think I could carry it from my Halls to the Menai Bridge and still have the energy to throw it off!

I've been offered a recon block inc. sump etc. for £15, so I think I should be easily sorted for repairing the existing engine, however, it does have a leaded head, should I do both at the same time? I suppose changing the block and then changing the head is just the same as having a new engine isn't it?

I got back to uni this morning via train and after travelling at 2mph for what seemed like miles, the journey took 5hrs!! I managed to drive it in 6; and I was being really, really gentle (I coasted down one of the hills in neutral and picked up 70mph at the bottom!!).

I've left the car at home with Dad - he'll do what's necessary in his spare time, so I might be able to drive back at Christmas!!!!

Cheers for all the help!

I think I'll fill out my details when I find out how.

Regards

Don't bother about the 'leaded' head - it doesn't matter a hoot unless you are going to be thrashing the car day in and day out. Just concentrate on getting a good crank in there. Get Dad on the Forum and we will guide him through the engine replacement!
And comment was made about using it as a coffee table - there is one such on ebay at the moment - made from crank/rods/pistons from a Minor engine with door glass on top ! I saw it in the flesh yesterday when picking up rear seats I had won on ebay. Looked great - but my wife would kill me !

The only problem was, I don't think I could carry it from my Halls to the Menai Bridge and still have the energy to throw it off!

well they'd probably closed the bridge in that direction anyway, so no chance of getting a lift unless they went round the other bridge first
it seems to be closed which ever way I try to drive over it (guess where I was all weekend...)

rayofleamington wrote:well they'd probably closed the bridge in that direction anyway, so no chance of getting a lift unless they went round the other bridge first
it seems to be closed which ever way I try to drive over it (guess where I was all weekend...)

Hmmm... that's a difficult one, but I'd say the Isle of Skye?

And now to show my ignorance,

what the idael pressue for tick over and running when warmed up?

The running pressure on a good engine should be glued to 60psi
at anything over 25 mph in top gear. The tickover pressure totally
depends on the tickover speed! With a 'normal' tickover speed
a figure of 40 psi would be excellent but the 'A' series is quite
capable of going on for ever at much lower tickover pressures.
The figure of 60 psi is governed by the Oil Pressure Relief Valve
which is situated under the domed nut to the rear of the oil pressure
switch. The spring in there should be of a particular length
(2+55/64" or 72.63mm) and if shorter should be replaced by a
new spring. Do NOT be tempted to stretch the spring to increase
above the 60psi figure as it could introduce leakage into the clutch
housing via the rear main bearing which is of a poor design.
If you cannot read 60 psi with the spring of correct length then you
have wear in the bearings or you have a worn oil pump. The 'A'
series is very accomodating as regards oil pressure and will go
on for ages with 'low' pressure.

And bear in mind the effect of good quality oil.

If I threw in the cheap as chips stuff (well, okay, the stuff I got was never that cheap, but certainly with the cheaper oil) I'd find that the oil pressure was terrible when the engine was really hot (say, as I stopped after coming off a motorway) and if I really thrashed the car then the oil was knackered.

With the better quality rated oils you don't get that problem (so much)

wilhelm116, Wil did you manage to get home ok, I have a 1098 engine that you could hve for free but its been standing for many with the cylinder head off.
Jimmy (I live in Bull Bay Amlwch)