Morris Minor Owners Club

You need to use the later gasket for the spin-off filter head and it will be fine. The hole in the block is at the bottom - it never needed the elongated slot upwards.

"and the standard studs are too long but can be packed with washers or replaced. "

If you get the adapter off a Mini in a scrap yard- take the studs as well- same thread as the Minor and are just the right length.

I must say I find it interesting that no one picked up on my post about the Flexolite unit, particularly with all this talk of adaptors, putting it back to standard etc. Human nature I suppose

However if anyone is interested, here is the previous thread.

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?name=P ... sc&start=0

How much are they for a Minor one?

Off the top of my head, I think they were about £27. Why not e-mail them on,

derek@flexolite.co.uk < derek@flexolite.co.uk>

£27!!! Just stick with £3 replacement paper filter. Or - grab a complete unit from a Mini - they DO fit - and I bought Unipart cartridges last year for 50p each. Everything Mini fits Minor engines - with exception of the rear sealing arrangement at the main bearing of course - and obviously different crankshaft arrangement.
Austin blocks (LCV or otherwise) are also no different - except they will have a location for the mechanical fuel pump - which is nice. And towards the end there was an 848cc version - using Mini bore/stroke - for economy - dunno why they didn't just revert to 803 !!

You can get the Mini housing from a scrap car for around £5.

Yes, the decision is yours Darren. Just trying to help.

I will say no more.

Standard Mini or A-Series Metro spin-on filter head from the breakers yard and the two fixing bolts are about £5. New gasket and filter about £3, no adaptors, job done!

BMC, CJ , Islip good advice given. I've also got the Mini option.

I made my own gasket from some gasket paper- easy! and many years later- no leaks!

It is a worryingly thin lip - and a leak developing there will quickly empty the sump!

Crikey what a can of worms ive opened up, i couldn't get a chance to have a proper look this evening and its getting dark again but saturday won't come around soon enough ! Ive done a bit of head scratching mostly at 1.00am this morn pacing up and down with the little fella and just had a good look at the filter and think it will be quite easy to make a steel plate with all the holes as per the old filter housing mating face and a new gasket made up to fit , piece of cake !! Still reckon some of your kind suggestions would have been the best bet though,the only reason i wanted the conversion was to save time but making up a steel plate shouldn't take too long and once its done hopefully that will be that then i can sit back with a bottle of wine and have a kip!!!

Really - a gasket should do it!

Really - a gasket should do it!

as the hole in the block overlaps the housing by about 5mm, then that's a bit overly optimistic!!

making up a steel plate shouldn't take too long and once its done hopefully that will be that

That's probably what I'd do too, when faced with parts that are incompatible (although I'd not have bought a spin on filter conversion as I think the original design is simple enough).
You've been very unlucky to get a block where the hole overlaps the housing, however I bet you're not the only one who's had that problem - like I said before, the A-series block includes a whole heap of variations between different applications and probably between different years etc... These blocks might not even have been like that intentionally - if the foundry had been a bit over aggressive when fettling the castings this could explain various 'defects'. Most likely a defect that didn't stop the (original) components from fitting and working ok would have been signed off.

I've dealt with one recently that had an elongated hole in the face, but I was lucky enough that the housing had just enough room to seat on the block. The previous owner had (badly) made a steel adaptor plate and that was leaking, so I just removed it (he had made it from angle plate which he'd tried to flatten out - never a good idea for a sealing face!!)

Oh dear that sounds a bit too ropey for me, fortunately i have lots of new sheet steel that i can use and will just make a cardboard template first and do it that way. There is always a lot of new sheet metal lurking about the garage when you are restoring a van !

Ah at last it may have cost me a bad back leaning into that murky engine bay but the metal plate/gasket improvisation tip has worked i am pleased to say. A bit too early for a glass of wine but a nice up of tea on the cards and a big thanks again to all you Morris owners who have bothered to reply-job well done ! Cheers oil-leak free Darren

Well done - I hope though you used something a big more robust than 'sheet steel' - around 3/16" would be the minimum I suggest!

2 mm sheet steel, it only required a small overlap in the end and new gasket and plenty of gasket sealant to finish off the job. As it turned out it was the screw fitting between the oil pipe and oil filter housing that was more cause for concern ,still weeping a little bit, but after 3 trial runs up and down the road there was not a drop in sight so i am very pleased but will keep an eye on things just in case. Still not convinced that the old filter was not best left alone after all the hassle but i can always revert back to the old faithful unit if i get any trouble!

nice one! well done, speedbox