Morris Minor Owners Club

This problem was two-fold. 1. From factory, plastic dowels were used to locate the head and if you get severe overheating problems these dowels fail. The new gasket kits have steel dowels which solve the problem.
2. Rover used a really tiny capacity water system, so when there was a leak it does not take long for the car to boil up and so coupled with the plastic dowels you have a knackered head gasket.

From what I've heard it was more than 2 fold - One additional problem comes from using porous castings. The castings were impregnated after machining to stop leakage but impregnation is not the most robust process in the world, and a porous base material with a skin on it is not the same as a non porous casting.
The K-series range was expanded in a hurry when they had to stop using Honda engines and some of the original handling equipment and tooling was 'overworked' as the acountants didn't allow enough investment for the expanded range. Any machining imperfections and inherent porosity can add to the problems.
This is of course just what I've heard (from ex-Rover design guys)

The problems became more widespread after the range was increased but as mentioned already - the improved gaskets are a big help.

The difference between a K series headgasket failure and any other car is that people are in a rush to dwell on any problem with Rover parts.
My mum's Fiat Punto head failed after less than 5 years, and apparently this is quite common, but as it's not British I've not heard much about the problems.

Can you really get over 50 to the gallon with a K series?
That sounds optimistic by any standards surely?
Would you need to drive like your grandad?

If only I had the money for a conversion.... still, I guess it'd eventually pay for itself if you owned the car long enough.

dunketh wrote:Can you really get over 50 to the gallon with a K series?
That sounds optimistic by any standards surely?
Would you need to drive like your grandad?

Well, my heavy Rover 400 estate 1.6 if driven carefully will return slightly over 40 MPG, so in a light car and with a 1.1 then 50 MPG might well be possible but that would probably be on a run.

If only I had the money for a conversion.... still, I guess it'd eventually pay for itself if you owned the car long enough.

Probably, yes, but it all depends on what you want out of a car doesn't it?

I like the idea of the conversion but not for me as I prefer the A-series engine, but I still like the K, the B, the V8 and of course the sidevalve!

Can you really get over 50 to the gallon with a K series?

I would expect it isn't hard.
I've managed over 40mpg with a 948cc Minor running on unleaded, so with a decent fuel injection setup and nice gasflowed (efficient) lightweight K-series engine, it has got to be possible.

rayofleamington wrote:

I've managed over 40mpg with a 948cc Minor running on unleaded, so with a decent fuel injection setup and nice gasflowed (efficient) lightweight K-series engine, it has got to be possible.

Was that doing about 30mph everywhere?

I doubt it, I've seen Ray drive!

Was that doing about 30mph everywhere?

no, however the wheels were out of balance so I couldn't go over 60mph...

I doubt it, I've seen Ray drive!

I recon Cam had slipped in one of his economy devices (a half brick under the accelerator pedal)