Morris Minor Owners Club

At the 350 mile mark of running in the rebuilt engine. Warm day, 25 Centigrade. 40 mile run including a steep, long hill uphill (Titsey Hill). All went well. On return home I just had a quick check under the bonnet. No issues other than I noticed that some of the grease in the windscreen wiper motor Bundy tube had melted and leaked out. Engine was very hot. Not abnormally hot but I noticed that my Grumpy rising fuel pipe heat shield was really hot yet the pipe behind was cool. Clearly working as intended. Trip to France is likely to be hot in a few weeks. Still haven't worked out what the rattle/buzzing is but it's the car not the engine per se. Revving the engine with the bonnet up doesn't produce the buzzing sound there.


Stephen

Well when I put the front panel back on I forgot to put the rubber seals on the ends of the inner wings. When everything was done up and finished I found the 2 rubber seals sitting in the battery box.....Probably one of the reasons I forgot is I did not even know of the existence of these seals until very recently. In my tenure of ownership, 36 years, my car has never had them.

So I thought, I absolutely can't face taking the front panel off to put those seals on now. I'll wait until there's some other reason to take the front panel off in future and do it then. But......with the over-hard new engine mounts there is too much vibration and I think if the seals were installed there might be fewer rattles. This morning I am deciding whether it is worth fitting the seals. I don't want to do it but I will be driving large distances in France next week so for the sake of bothering to do this job it might save me hours of irritation from rattles!

I think it might be possible to squeeze the seals in just by loosening the bolts or by disconnecting one end, fitting the seal, doing up the bolts loosely and then the other end. It's just a pain with so many fixings and the awful hockey stick nuts inside the wing but I do have BA spanners and sockets to make this easier and everything was copper greased when assembled so there won't be any fighting.

Stephen

I'm sure it will be worth the effort and much easier sans rusted bolts. If you don't you be thinking all the trip, would it be quieter with the seals installed

I'm not sure that fitting the seals will make it any quieter but it is still worth doing. I think that maybe by undoing the screws and bolts along the bottom of the front panel and moving it forward a little, you should be able to slide the seal strips up the edge of the flitch panel - particularly if you have lubricated the seal with a brushful of waxoyl or similar. Good luck

All done and all the fixings had to come out eventually but not all at once. It does seem less rattly.

Worth doing because during testing the fan belt started squealing so I re-tensioned the belt (and of course I am taking a spare).

Quick question about the blocked oil filter warning light. I know this is basically useless because I will always change the filter long before it blocks but out of interest.....

With the ignition key at the first position I am only getting 1 amber light not 2. I had to check before the long trip that the 1 light is definitely the oil pressure light. It is definitely that because if I remove the wire from the oil pressure switch there are no lights.

Then I determined whether the other amber light would illuminate if I disconnected the spade connector from the oil filter and connected the wire directly to earth. It does illuminate on the dashboard (so no wiring fault).

So.......is the blocked filter light supposed to illuminate with the ignition on like the oil pressure warning light does?

A tip about the front panel. The 3x fixings in the middle at the bottom are really tricky if you try to use 1/4" BSF x 3/4" set screws all the way around. It is much easier to use 2BA x 3/4" set screws for those 3 fixings. You can use a 2BA washer and a larger washer and a flanged 2BA nut behind. Since the hockey stick nuts are 2BA I assume you'd have your 2BA spanner and socket to hand anyway!


Stephen


These 3x fixings



2BA x 3/4" and flanged nut

Next task, fit period Lucas beam deflectors for the continent.....

The front panels were held on at the factory with 2BA screws in the 3 centre holes as you have done. Just the 2 outer ones on each side should be 1/4" BSF

ManyMinors wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 6:50 pm The front panels were held on at the factory with 2BA screws in the 3 centre holes as you have done. Just the 2 outer ones on each side should be 1/4" BSF

Thank you. So that is why they fit and 1/4" BSF does not!

Took the car to a small classic car meet this morning at The Bull, Chelsham.

Noticed oil dripping from the timing chain cover. My heart sank. Newly rebuilt engine leaking oil and going to France on Wednesday. I had visions of last year's trip to Holland when the engine was also leaking from the timing chain cover and we used/leaked 1 pint of oil per 100 miles! Neither the timing chain cover nor the front plate are the same ones on the rebuilt engine.

Got home and carefully went round all of the hex machine screws on the timing chain cover. One of the small ones at the bottom was rather loose, most of the others needed nipping up. No room for a torque wrench so just used a small spanner. Having stripped the thread of one of the 1/4" fixings in the past I was most cautious.

Now totally dry. Not the slightest leak or weep. Very relieved. Presumably just the effect of repeated heat cycles on the rebuilt engine.

Oil and filter change, cylinder head re-torque, valve clearances all done last week. Engine runs well and spins up much more freely since the first oil change. Absolutely minimal metal on the powerful neodymium magnet sump plug. A massive contrast to the engine when it was heavily worn and the sump plug magnet looked like a punk hairstyle with all the iron filings on it. Engine also idles quietly and smoothly. You could probably balance a coin on edge on the rocker cover.

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 1:48 pm
So.......is the blocked filter light supposed to illuminate with the ignition on like the oil pressure warning light does?

A good question....Was it not working before ...

I would expect a 'Filter Blockage Switch' to operate on differential pressure across the filter, so it doesn't matter what the pressure is, so long as it's pretty much the same both sides of the filter, indicating no blockage.
If that's the case, I don't see a simple way to have the lamp lit when the pressure is Zero, because the oil pump isn't running.
It would still be balanced.

I don't think the blocked filter light is designed to come on when the ignition is switched on. Certainly I have never seen mine light up - so I cannot be certain it even functions - but I've owned and driven other BMC cars of the period which were equipped with those lights and haven't ever seen one lit

geoberni wrote: ↑Sat May 17, 2025 4:22 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Thu May 15, 2025 1:48 pm
So.......is the blocked filter light supposed to illuminate with the ignition on like the oil pressure warning light does?

A good question....Was it not working before ...

I would expect a 'Filter Blockage Switch' to operate on differential pressure across the filter, so it doesn't matter what the pressure is, so long as it's pretty much the same both sides of the filter, indicating no blockage.
If that's the case, I don't see a simple way to have the lamp lit when the pressure is Zero, because the oil pump isn't running.
It would still be balanced.

I just don't remember! I think it was always just one yellow light at startup but now I am not sure.

Stephen

ManyMinors wrote: ↑Sat May 17, 2025 5:35 pm I don't think the blocked filter light is designed to come on when the ignition is switched on. Certainly I have never seen mine light up - so I cannot be certain it even functions - but I've owned and driven other BMC cars of the period which were equipped with those lights and haven't ever seen one lit

Ah good! Thank you.

I was just doubting myself because the car has a new loom. I wondered whether I had made a mistake but the light does come on if the lead to the oil filter is connected to earth.

Stephen

Ready for France. Well maybe not with scissors still on the bonnet!

Have you got yellow headlights or is just the camera?

Period yellow Lucas beam converters for continental touring. One of the clips snapped whilst I was replacing the perished elastic straps so the converters are stuck on with (allegedly) removable sticky pads (on the bonnet).

Stephen not a requirement since 1993
Don't forget your UK sticker as GB is now out of date

Yes quite right they don’t have to be yellow for France since 1993 but you still do need to adjust the dip so as not to dazzle oncoming traffic when driving on the right. The modern way is to use a stick on mask on the headlight glass or even just black tape. The yellow ones do look the part but they do cut the light down rather a lot. Fortunately I don’t intend to drive at night.

UK sticker in place!

Stick on beam deflectors work well rather than masks or tape as you are not losing light.
Easy on moderns, just lower the headlights with on board adjuster. As the rules are don't dazzle oncoming vehicles. Pity some of the UK vehicles don't abide by it over here.