Morris Minor Owners Club

mal wrote:
petrol was a lot cheaper than that when you had to have a chap with a red light walking in front

Mal

Surely getting your petrol from the chemists was far more expensive???

Judge wrote..

My grandmother tells me that actually it was a red flag

Up North among all the grime you had a light

Mal

Up North among all the grime you had a light

Mal

Yes but it was a candle and it struggled to burn the smog was that thick "EE" times were tuff up North

Lunch time today at Waitrose, Salisbury its 97.9p for petrol and 101.9p for deisel. And not much queue! MikeN.

might as well post this on this thread as well as the other thats going.

Here we go men try this WWW.petrolprices.com don't know if any one has tried this site before but you register and they e-mail you the 5 cheapest patrol/diesel prices within 5 mile of your postcode.

As an alternative fuel question - has anyone tried E85. Apparently Morrisons are now selling it at 19 of their stores (unfortunately, the nearest to me is nearly half-a-tank of fuel away); I've been wanting to use E85 for a while....

...they're currently flogging it for 2p less/litre than ordinary unleaded, but that price should drop

The only issue that concerns me is whether there's any rubber-bits that'll be eaten by the ethanol; but I would'v'e thought the mog'd be fairly safe from that...

Might need to keep an eye on the fuel pipe, but I guess a silcone one could be found. Other than that I'm going to go for it. Might be able to find an extra horse power with some careful tuning.

Most likely E-85 will eat the fuel pump diaphram in short order, so be careful.

's okay, mine's got the mechanical pump....

*wonders if it'll eat that...*

Mechanical fuel pumps still have a diaphragm.

Seriously, come on people. A four page rant on the price of fuel. There's not a morris in the land that pays road tax, so a saving of £115 per year there. Insurance is far cheaper than a modern car, so a big saving a year there. If you bought a brand new car, or fairly new car, the depreciation on it is an astronomic loss with in a few years. With a morris, if you put money in the right places the price actually rises. Maintenance on modern is expensive compared to morris. And most people on here swear blind they get about 40mpg. So why are you all moaning about a few extra pence per litre? I say you get it easy.
Unless of course, you own a modern car aswell, which gives you the higher running cost. But that makes your morris a 'toy' now, and if your rich enough to have a toy you shouldn't be complaining. No matter how much we all dislike it, the government will take the money from us somehow, so no point in getting worked up over it, you could always walk the kids to school.

Robins, well said!

And most people on here swear blind they get about 40mpg. So why are you all moaning about a few extra pence per litre? I say you get it easy.

I'm sure a lot of it cancels itself out if not more.
40mpg is cloud cuckoo land. Low 30s is about right in my experience. If you assume a 'modern' wil do 45-50mpg thats enough of a saving over a years mileage to probably discount the savings we make through driving a 'classic'.
Insurance is no cheaper on my Minor than on my old Fiesta 1.25 so theres no savings to be had there and on a really new car road tax can be less than £40 a year on the new 'emissions based' scheme.
This leaves depreciation and maintenance, these are the only areas we as Minor owners benefit in - and yes, I do always look smugly at the 'service costs' in my local garage so I guess I should be happy.

you could always walk the kids to school.

No kids but I do cycle to work in summer.
Its only about 6-7 miles each way but its the hills that kill me!

There's not a morris in the land that pays road tax

I think you better check your facts before you make comments like that

Mal

yes too true mal i know of at lest 3 morris travellers that have to pay road tax

Morris 1100 as well!

40MPG IS certainly not cloud cuckoo land! I checked a few weeks of typical motoring and I got an average of 39mpg (including some stop- start commuting). On a run I get 45mpg.

A fairly gentle right foot and a bit of restraint can make a big difference in the MPG figures.

chickenjohn wrote:40MPG IS certainly not cloud cuckoo land! I checked a few weeks of typical motoring and I got an average of 39mpg (including some stop- start commuting). On a run I get 45mpg.

A fairly gentle right foot and a bit of restraint can make a big difference in the MPG figures.

Yup, I get 39 mpg average on a mixture of town and B road driving. Plus my right foot isn't exactly light during acceleration.

The people who really suffer due to petrol prices are those on low incomes who genuinely can't afford to move closer to where they work, and can't get to work on public transport (either due to cost or availability)
For everyone else... The amount of affluence in this country astonishes me!

has anyone tried E85. Apparently Morrisons are now selling it at 19 of their stores (unfortunately, the nearest to me is nearly half-a-tank of fuel away); I've been wanting to use E85 for a while....

Don't bother. I've tried it. I hoped I'd be able to fill up and drive home making necassary adjustments at home. Big mistake. The car was undriveable after 100yards. I added 2 gallons of unleaded to the 3 of E85 already in there but it would only get home on choke. To get the mixture right I had to turn the adjustment nut down 16 flats. At that point I figured there probably wasn't enough adjustment to accomadate for pure E85 so left the timing alone. Also E85 can give economy 25% worse, does this make up for 2 or 4 p difference? I'm not sure but there can't be much in it.

Also further research has highlighted (courtesy of http://www.carbibles.com that E85 is electro magnetic and can be dangerous in an electric fuel pump. It is also acidic and can corrode rubber and some metals.