Morris Minor Owners Club

cunning_plan wrote:Already done that my good man.. However I unwound the screws to get to the connections.. Is there a feeler gauge setting for these?

Oops. The positions of the screws in the voltage regulator set the voltage at which it starts charging and the maximum charging voltage. They are quite tricky to get re-calibrated (I spent ages fiddling with mine when I thought it wasn't charging properly). The procedure is in the workshop manual.

cunning_plan wrote: Already done that my good man.. However I unwound the screws to get to the connections.. Is there a feeler gauge setting for these?

Yep - that will most likely explain your lack of sufficient charge then

cunning_plan wrote:

alex_holden wrote:Has the car been converted to negative earth?

It looks like a normal setup to me? Earth to the body?

If the negative (-) terminal of the battery is connected to the earth (the cable that bolts to the body), then it's negative earth. Minors were all positive earth when they left the factory but many have been converted in order to fit modern stereos etc.

Well you certainly proved the dynamo is working ok! So now - it's down to the connecting cables - or that regulator which you will now need to calibrate! Good luck.

Okay finally fixed it! It was the dam belt slipping!! Didnt realise until I rev'ed it hard and heard it squealing - too much play in it.. Tightened the belt up and we are getting a good 14/14.5/15v charge on rev

Just to point out though, the only reason I touched the regulator settings was because it *wasn't* charging, so the reason it didnt charge was not becuase I had touched the regulator - that was just one of the things I tried to get it working right.. I then just guessed at it to put it back together again

Thanks for all your help gents, just the breaks to do then tyres

You do need to re-calibrate the regulator now though, or it is likely to over or under charge the battery.

cunning_plan wrote:just the breaks to do then tyres

Do you think a slightly less cavalier approach might be called for with the "breaks"? Like reading and understanding the manual first?

Fair enough with electrics - get it wrong, and all you'll do is let some smoke out, or set fire to the car, or the garage, but with brakes there's always a chance that random stabs at re-assembly might lead to driving into something more valuable, like your neighbour's bike, or his kids.

Yes, everyone's got to start somewhere, but I would urge a little bit of caution occasionally.

alex_holden wrote:You do need to re-calibrate the regulator now though, or it is likely to over or under charge the battery.

Yup, on the 'final adjustment' list

autolycus wrote:

cunning_plan wrote:just the breaks to do then tyres

Do you think a slightly less cavalier approach might be called for with the "breaks"? Like reading and understanding the manual first?

Fair enough with electrics - get it wrong, and all you'll do is let some smoke out, or set fire to the car, or the garage, but with brakes there's always a chance that random stabs at re-assembly might lead to driving into something more valuable, like your neighbour's bike, or his kids.

Yes, everyone's got to start somewhere, but I would urge a little bit of caution occasionally.

Sorry, early morning typing - brakes!! There we go..
Well the Minor electrics are quite different from the classic Volkswagen stuff - for a start on VWs its a sealed regular, in the same situation I would fit a spare regulator, make sure the feed from the dynamo has a charge - job done. The minor was quite different with the regulator and one feed wire so I had to ask you experienced guys.

'RTFM' eh? Well I now have two sitting in the Minor but sometimes it is nice to get a different approach, thoughts and opinions from other experienced owners - you know bounce ideas off each other. The manual will only get you so far, the point of forums is that it is interactive., for example I see no where in ANY manual about the disc brake conversion we have on the Minor. With regards to my comment about 'guessing' at the settings of the regulator, when you are fault finding sometimes it is easier to adjust on the fly - much like tuning. I did not see anywhere in the manual BMC's suggestion of 'hot-wiring' the dynamo straight to the battery - great idea and it worked to show that the dynamo WAS putting out some kind of voltage. Yes the regulator is going to need finial setting up - but when you build an engine you don't tune the carbs straight away - you get it running first

Brakes are brakes, you will be happy to know I have done them many times before - but you never know I may just come across a 'special' adjuster that I spell wrong and need to ask you gents for advice - but then I thought that's what enthusiast forums were for