Morris Minor Owners Club

Could be a combination of both, Les.......too much taken on and then 'that'll do' to try and keep up with the work schedule?

Maybe but usually when a company has plenty of work, it’s because they have a good reputation, if they rushed things their reputation would disappear.

Reluctantly I took the front of the car off today so that I could change the engine mounts and replace the incorrect length bolts on the timing chain cover.

The reason for changing the engine mounts was that the new ones are too hard and transmit too much vibration. To my horror I found one of the new mounts falling apart after only being fitted in March this year (2025)!!!!

The engine builder used the smaller of the 2 timing chain cover bolts that were too long. They fouled on the block and the sump so that the timing chain cover was never clamped tight. The larger of the 2 timing chain cover bolts he used bolts that were too short!!! Not impressed with any of it today.......

Stephen


Here you see a timing chain cover bolt fouling the block. It can never clamp the cover properly. You can actually see a gap between cover and gasket. It would always leak.


Then here with the correct length bolt


Comparison of bolts

New (March 2025) engine mount rubber. Too hard and falling apart!!!!

Quick run of the engine up to temperature. No oil leaks. Old engine mounts much better. Far less vibration.

Stroppy e-mail "snotogram" will be sent to the engine mount supplier tomorrow morning. Too tired now.

Stephen

One consequence of putting old more squashy engine mounts back is that I have had to adjust the clutch. Presumably the engine now sits lower and this caused excessive clutch pedal free play presumably due to different geometry of the linkage. With clutch pedal to the floorboards there was an unpleasant shuddering. I've adjusted the free play to back to spec and all is well again.

Stephen

In the garage today I found my car's old water pump. This was removed several decades ago due to a seized bearing.

There was discussion about bypass hoses on another thread. I noticed my water pump still has a concertina type bypass hose attached. This one lasted a very long time and it hadn't failed when the water pump was removed. It still concertinas under pressure but rather than being just rubber it is reinforced as well. In fact it is something like a rubber impregnated sock.

Stephen

Yes I think I remember them, rubber with what looked like a fine furry cloth skin, for want of a better description.

les wrote: ↑Fri Sep 19, 2025 9:03 pm Yes I think I remember them, rubber with what looked like a fine furry cloth skin, for want of a better description.

Yes it is like that. It does show that not all easy-fit concertina types are the same. Some of them last a very long time if they are the reinforced type.

Stephen

Regarding the bypass hose, it's possible to do without them.
If you have the head off you can tap the hose connectors and screw in blanking bolts. Of course, then you need to have the rear cylinder head supply to the heater and its return ALWAYS open so there's water circulation before the thermostat opens, but I've run with this set up for over a decade without difficulties - and without worrying weeps from a dying bypass hose.
Regards from MikeN.

The bypass hose is there to allow some flow of coolant around the head especially around No: 1 exhaust valve. Even more important with unleaded fuel. It has been known for No: 1 exhaust valve to stick open when there is no circulation around the front of the head. Search for Islip Minors comments and opinion on the matter. Later heads that did not have the bypass hose still had a means of coolant circulation by fitting a two way heater valve and having the return to the top of the engine by use of the adapter spacer/thermostat housing fitted between the head and thermostat housing cover. It is most important that there is sufficient coolant circulation around the head not only at the front but at the rear as well. My own engine with the later non bypass head has a constant and uninterrupted flow from the rear of the head to the bottom hose. I have reintroduced the mechanical thermostat into the coolant circuitry by using one of the later adapter spacers. The engine was previously fitted with a Davis Craig electronic thermostat and electric water pump.

Quick silly story.

Just now I was changing a headlight bulb in the garage and I was reminiscing about how my mother had helped me change a sealed beam on the very same car when I was 17. These days I use H4 bulbs but the principle is exactly the same. The outer bezel comes off and then the retaining ring which is secured with 3x screws. Car has to be taken as the heavy glass globe can fall out. Anyway, I put the screws on the (clean) garage floor. Fitted the new bulb, cleaned up the front of the headlight and the retaining ring and then whilst securing the retaining ring I realised 1 screw was missing. Calmly I looked around, assuming I had carelessly kicked it. No sign of the screw. Then as if inspired by my late mother I had an inspiration and lifted up my foot to find the screw in the tread of my shoe!

Stephen

Does your Minor not have the slots for the three retaining ring screws which allows for the retaining ring to be turned a few degrees so aligning the heads of the screws with the holes through which the heads of the screws pass to allow removal of the headlight unit?

philthehill wrote: ↑Sat Sep 20, 2025 9:41 pm Does your Minor not have the slots for the three retaining ring screws which allows for the retaining ring to be turned a few degrees so aligning the heads of the screws with the holes through which the heads of the screws pass to allow removal of the headlight unit?

Unfortunately, no it does not.

Stephen

Stephen, I've sent you a Private Message.
MikeN.

Stephen, thank you for your reply.
MikeN.

As somebody who is not fond of mods I am going to do a small mod!

I use GPS when I am on my own driving but I cannot charge my phone or see the screen. The phone sits in the glovebox and all I get is the spoken instructions. This has caused me to go wrong on numerous occasions so I decided it was time to get a mount for the phone. I now have a decent phone mount that attaches to the windscreen with a sucker. I can at least see the GPS map now. Much better but I still cannot charge the phone.

I am on positive earth which means that a USB charging socket must be fully insulated so it does not make electrical contact with the chassis. That is not difficult as many of them are made of plastic with terminals on the back clearly marked with the polarity. Then comes the question of how to mount and where to mount the USB socket so that it doesn't show. The area underneath the passenger glove box is a large metal plate with lots of room and quite a few existing holes. There are plastic "pods" available to enable a USB socket to be surface mounted rather than on a switch bracket, This would seem to be ideal. I read an article about fitting a USB socket in a positive earth MG TC which advises to fit a fuse in the earth side as well as the supply side in case the metal end of the USB charging cable touches the chassis. It is easy enough to fit a 5A fuse in an inline fuse holder. It just needs to be accessible.

This is the surface mount pod for the USB socket. I will mount it on the flat area under the passenger glovebox. https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/single-h ... ckets.html


Or here's a very discreet single USB socket that could be secured with cable ties or stuck on with an adhesive pad so no drilling required:

https://www.autoelectricsupplies.co.uk/ ... under-dash

Stephen

I fitted these in the Midget and the Pickup from Conrad Electronics:

https://www.conrad.com/en/p/procar-surf ... 78027.html

They have a USB A and a USB C socket and I fitted inline fuses both sides. They are hidden away underneath the dash and cant be seen unless you’re really looking for it. Annoyingly they all seem to have a blue LED indicator. I hid these with a piece of electrical tape and superglue so that they really are hidden, even when driving at night.

I put mine under the heater box on double side tape and picked on one of the original heater case screws for a bit of extra securing.
I dont care about it being visible and prefer to be able to reach it easily from drivers seat. The round socket I also use for my electric tyre pump and usb for phone.

Thank you gents. Yes, there is lots of room underneath the glovebox. If I use the socket mounting pod I don't even need to drill holes; I can just use strong adhesive pads.

If I just used the car for local trips I wouldn't need this charger but we do continental touring and it isn't fair on my passengers to expect them to do the navigation all the time.

It will be a mod that can be reversed with no permanent changes to the car (I can't bear to drill holes in the car anywhere).

Stephen

I found this rather neat, high quality, British made surface mount for a USB socket. It could be attached with adhesive pads to avoid drilling.

Stephen


https://www.alfatronix.com/charging-ins ... ccessories