Morris Minor Owners Club

Update:

I took the owner of a classic mini garage out in the car today. He could clearly hear the noise under load and said his first instinct would be that it’s the timing chain...

...but without taking the engine out and checking the cam, bearings, casing etc he couldn’t say for sure.

The engine is a reconditioned unit from Charles Ware with only around 4,000 miles on it. It’s been well looked after by the previous owner, it’s never been deprived of oil and has been serviced properly.

I have ordered a duplex timing chain kit, but given the costs involved in fitting it and no guarantee it’ll fix the problem I’m holding off doing anything for the time being.

Well, I think in the end it was probably the head gasket all along.

I’ve summarised what’s happened with the car over the course of the last year in a blog post. If anyone’s interested it’s https://www.morrisman.com

Just another update: new head gasket, new pistons, new piston rings, new engine bearings, correctly timed…and it still makes the noise.

I’m just about at the end of my tether.

Did you have a look at the rocker shaft?

It looks excellent, it’s hardly done any miles at all.