Morris Minor Owners Club

ESM. I think it must just be a duff batch. The inner face looks un-machined as well.[frame][/frame]

Are they ALL like that - or just 3 of the 6 ? If only 3 - then they are intended for the caps.....picking up on the idea I mentioned earlier - to give more strength to the cap bearings. I assume the surface is covered with a preservative....

Yes, only three of the them are like it. The surface is blistered though, literally having raised 'lumpy' areas. that can't be right, surely.

Yes the blistering shows in the picture, I wouldn't be happy. Is there a film over the shells or the actual material?

there is a thin film

Hard to tell from the photo but the surface finish just doesn't look right. Do you know what brand they are? You're still best going to a good machine shop to get it measured up and to get them to supply good quality bearings (Vandervell etc)

Vandervell are in Scotland,(Kilmarnock) I think they come under the Marle banner now. I had a bit of a headache trying to locate someone who knew details about bearing shells. The main distributor did and was very helpful and sent me a set, rather expensive but VP2C material. It's only when you look into the ins and outs of something that you realize things are not as straight forward as they might at first seem, this applies to almost everything!

The 3 plain ones are for the caps!! There must be no blistering....I would hope it's just a protective waxy film. Les - I was Engineering Manager in the Materials Unit at Glacier in Kilmarnock - many many moons ago.... Rumour had it that it was not unknown for a machine to be set up on the night shift to churn out a few sets of bearings as 'homers' for the employees cars..... Sadly I never benefitted from this service.....

Doubt it was Rumours Roy, I worked in a company with similar 'advantages'

As a 'Manager' I could not know of such things....

I don't think the 'managers' I knew of, had such scruples!

Earlier in the post, It was asked to check whether I had the spring and plate under the oil filter. Well, I have the spring, but no plate. That's no problem I can get one from ESM. However the question is, should there be anything between the plate and the spring? I've had a look in several manuals but it's never quite as clear as I would like - I have a feeling there's a rubber washer. It's a purolator filter.
Thanks again for everyone's help.
Russ

Always go with the MOSS diagrams..... if the plate is missing then there has been NO oil filtering going on.....
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/Shop/ViewP ... exID=20548

Magic, thank you.

Another question, if I may? The workshop manual and Moss show a double set of springs per valve. As I'm getting the top hats for the inlet do I need to now get the inner set of springs as well? I've never previously heard of an inner set of springs - what are they for?

Usually used on higher performance engines, my Cooper has them.

You do not need to fit double valve springs just fit new good quality ones. The Moss parts list features inner (Pt No: AEA401)and outer springs (Pt No: AEA311). You only need the outer ones Part No: AEA311, qty 8.
If you decide to fit the inner and outer springs (double springs) you will need to fit new valve caps Part No: 88G617, qty 8 and lower location collar Part No: AEA403, qty 8.
For normal use single springs are more than adequate.

And the top hats simply replace the existing caps?

You are getting your top caps and top hats mixed up. Two many tops.
They are two different things
The top hat (seal) is the seal on the valve guide/stem and the top cap is what fits on top of the valve spring and is held in place by the split collets which fit into the groove at the top of the valve stem.

Hang on - we don't know what head you have there - do we??? Don't buy ANY new springs at the moment...and in fact unless you intend to revs the nuts off the engine - just stick with the springs you have... It's worthwhile lining the springs up on a flat surface and check if they are all the same length. Don't worry unless there are some obviously short ones...... Meantime - you are just looking for 4 oil seals...nothing else...