Morris Minor Owners Club

Kevin wrote:

My traveller always went well with the 1098 anyway. Especially with the twin carbs and earlier (950 type) diff...

That may be so but what happened to the top end, and I bet it was noisy above 50

Not too bad... but then again, I drive a 1962 diesel Land Rover every day with no soundproofing, so I'm probably a bit deaf now anyway...

Hmm, i really dont like the sound of using the 1800 Ford unit. Horrible, underpowered, smoky, clattery old lump!
The peugeot engines are a much better bet, especially the XUD9TE unit from the 306 and 405. But as bmc says, a lot of work considering they are front wheel drive units. What about using an early BMW diesel unit, they are all RWD arent they? You could probably pick up a scrapped one for very little, and the 2 litre was always a good engine.

But a 2 litre diesel is never going to give you 'great' fuel economy. What's needed is a small 1 / 1.4 litre diesel!

Why is that then BMC? my 2 litre turbo diesel gives about 60 mpg and thats around town aswell. Haven't got round to clocking it on a long distance cruise yet since I changed the diff ratio.
For me power is more than ample, noise level is no worse than a standard moggie, and I get a much bigger grin factor aswell. Can't wait till the new engine is built, current block has a crack

I can't match Robins MPG but my 2.2 Merc managed just over 47 mpg in the years I had it and that was dragging quite a big car around.
And it would run on a mix of diesel and vegetable oil very happily

Well - just a large swept capacity is never going to match a small engine - aparat from anything else - it's heavier and has more inertia to be accelerated. But these figures certainly sound quite impressive!
Veg oil - at the moment I can get that at Macro for just about £1/litre - as diesel cost falls it becomes less attractive, but I'm sure diesel and petrol will soon be right back up there what with Russian War and Winter coming!

1600cc should be Ok.
The Mk1 Golf I had did even better on MPG and it was mechanical unlike the Mercedes with its ECU.
Unfortunately front wheel drive but otherwise a super engine.
I think the weight issue would be nicely counteracted by the amount of torques available.
That car loved veg oil very noticeable how much quieter it ran with some in the tank.
Did VW ever use this lump in-line?
The engine definately out lasts the bodywork in a Mk1 Golf

Sounds like you're looking for an old Daihatsu Charade turbo diesel, BMC - 1l 3cyl! Probably not that many in the scrappies though, and FWD.

Swept volume isn't everything either - for example the VW Lupo (a car I'm quite fond of) came with both a 1.7SDi and a 1.4TDi, both giving the same economy figures but with the 1.4 being quite a bit more powerful.

I was also under the impression you use your traveller fairly sparingly - only a couple of thousand miles per annum? In which case most modifications to increase fuel economy won't make a lot of sense even in the medium term unless they're very cheap indeed.

Remember also that any diesel conversion would have to produce economy figures at least 10-12% better than an equivalent petrol engine conversion due to the price differential between petrol & diesel.

If you really want ultra-economy transport, look up the Royal Enfield diesel. 200mpg (on veg oil) can be yours! Just don't expect to get anywhere remotely fast.

Personally I'm going to go LPG when I can afford the kit (£440).

Oh - I don't have any real desire to fit a diesel - I was just joining in the discussion. Although if a 950D BMC diesel appaered tomorrow - and was a straight swop - I would give it a go! LPG is the way - but yes at 2000miles/year it's going to have to be inexpensive to pay it's way.

MarkyB wrote: Did VW ever use this lump in-line?

MKII Passat (basically same mechanically as Audi 80) had the 1600 diesel and also inline - but still FWD.
The engine is a popular unit for transplanting into Suzuki SJ jeeps in USA so scope for using a 5 speed gearbox off one (4 x4 transfer box is a seperate unit).


Paul Humphries

There is a German company producing bellhousings to fit any VAG four pot to a type 9 ford box. I'll try and find the link.

Oooooh - exciting... MK1 Minor GTI, anyone?

bigginger wrote:Oooooh - exciting... MK1 Minor GTI, anyone?

Or aircooled boxer

Paul Humphries

Good call

Well - the Minor was designed for a boxer engine !

That's right - hence "good call"...
a

Oh I didn't do it for econamy, I do even less miles than BMC, under 1000 miles per year. It's different, a lot of fun, and much more powerful than the old 1098 which did 20mpg (my 5 litre mustang does that!). Don't get me wrong, if you want real power fun you will need to speak to jonathan and stick with petrol, and sounds like he can nearly match my econamy figures aswell. But considering my age at the time my insurance only went up less than £50, for me I can do 3 times the mileage for the same amount of fuel, was fairly cheap to convert, and looks right under the bonnet aswell.
It all comes down to what you like really.

and looks right under the bonnet aswell.

Depends on what you mean by looks right I supppose.

there was a fella a few years ago who put an escort 1.8 diesel into a minor. It seemed to work, but the amount of effort was quite large! (and he made a bit of a meal of it in my opinion)

http://www.geocities.com/moggydieseluk/index.html


http://www.classic-wheels.co.uk/morrisminor.htm

Rupert

p.s. can I have a 1.9 TDi minor please?!? Then I could get rid of my rather dull Octavia

the pug xud engine will give you 50mpg any day.