Morris Minor Owners Club

I've just fitted a Suzuki Jeep (SJ 410) aluminium engine and complete gearbox in my 1967 Morris. Lighter than the original, works like a charm, no major changes (except for the shaft). Threw the 4-wheel gearbox out - no place left.

Cool.

What axle and brakes are you using?
Isn't the SJ a 1600?

4 wheel drive Minor would be fun - and you wouldn't even have to pay all that extra road tax Brown has slapped on 4x4 vehicles. Extra £40 or so I think - that will really put them off !

Hi would you please post further info on your conversion ...how does it do on the old mpg and 0-60 etc ...also why didn't you use the whole 4wd set up ...which is what i fancy doing albeit with sierra 4x4 gear ...however the smaller engine capacity of the suzuki does interest me please forward as much info as possible ...many thanks
e-minor

Hi,
I agree sounds interesting, give us some more details please.

Regards,
Wal

Are there any photos? There's been some 4*4 minors before (including a few Landy based ones and one based on a Fiat Panda 4*4 and also on a Cosworth too...) but it'd be great to see how this one works

How did you make up a suitable prop shaft ? Is it two shafts welded together, or did you have a custom shaft made for the job ?

Sorry to dig this up but whatever happened to this guy? Was it a wind-up?

The idea could be feasable. I seem to remember a gearbox on ebay a while back that was supposedly adapted to go into a Minor. THe Sj 410 engine would be interesting, it would probably fit but at similar power and torque specs to a 1098 Minor motor, would it be a worthwhile option. The Sj 413, a 1300, might be more worth it as might the Suzuki Swift range. There is a kit to adapt those to a Sj 413.
Another option came to me as I was working on a friends Suzuki. Lying underneath looking at the separate body and chassis - what about using the complete rolling chassis and re-bodying it with a Minor body? It may not be too hard. But- would it still be a Morri?

Sorry to dig this up but whatever happened to this guy? Was it a wind-up?

I am inclinded to think so as no mounting spec or anything was given although thats not to say its not possible.

Funny looking at Roni's reply as I've been doing exactly the same type of research.
As far as I can see the 413 engine is equally as tiny as the 410 - 'A series' size - and the 413 has a 5 speed box which, in pictures at least, actually looks SMALLER than a standard morrie item.

However, in an SJ I believe this standard box then feeds into a transfer box which sends the power to all four wheels? Is that right?
If so, how would this box cope when coupled direct to a Minor prop shaft? Would the ratios be all over the place?

Seems a really easy, feasable conversion... especially as mentioned the Swift (and Super Carrys) had the same engine.

A 410 probably no worth the effort with its comparable power to a standard 1098 and 4 speed box but a 413... now thats more like it.

Found a couple of appropriate links that could be of interest:
http://www.minormania.com/feature.php?i ... pg=2&ord=1
http://www.morrisminoroc.co.uk/index.ph ... ght=suzuki
Lots of background info here:
http://www.suzukiclubuk.com/
Lots of ideas to muse on!

I did look in to this myself. After some time with a tape measure the suzuki jeeps are a perfect width to put a morris body on the sj chassis, but the chassis would need lengthening 6 inches. They do a long wheel base model but never found one to measure.They are brilliant off road but a bit slow on road due to the low gearing. The little jeep engines are tough, I know a few people that give them some real stick, high revs for long periods of time and submerse them under water yet they just keep going. I decided if i was to do the conversion though I would use a diesel engine from something to get more torque and better economy. In the end I just decided on a turbo diesel conversion for road only, which has turned out brilliant by the way, 5 speed box, and about 60mpg plus the ability to accelerate up even steep hills effortlessly.

Only just found this post, can't believe somebody else did this. I had the rarer 5 speed box, su carb, sj413 ignition. Bomb proof little engine but in my mind not thaaaat much was gained. Unleaded fuel blah blah blah but compression was too low, ( perhaps good for turbo install as su set up boots straight on it).

But the guy isn't a wind up merchant, it's an easy fit. The su has a seperate transfer box, if you read his post he ditches it to run it on 2 wd with a modified prop like you do for any engine install.[frame][/frame]

Unfortunately the only pic I can quickly find is me taking mine out!

James Foreman from the vehicle upgrades wing of Woodies has built a Minor with a Suzi engine and has done some work on a DYI kit. It hasn't come to fruition yet, but I will be first in line when it does.

Please don't bother him unless you are serious about using his services to do this upgrade or I will be in deep poo for mentioning it here.

To my way of thinking, this has to be just about the best prospect for a modern engine/gearbox for the Minor. My tupeneth worth.

Don

It's biggest problem is the custom exhaust. As you can see I had a mate knock up a stainless manifold. The other issue is the sump clearance, the sump is quite easily damaged as it sticks down low (due to the steering rack) and I peeled the bottom of one sump clean off after driving over a protruding man hole cover A couple of years back - a kit car speedo that measures magnets off the prop is needed as the speedo comes off the transfer box .You do need a slight alteration of the bulkhead. As I mentioned before, I had this set up for about 5 years whilst I was at uni. It does work, relatively easy to do, but I'm building a blow through super charged a series set up now because I got fed up of being moaned at that it wasn't a 'real' Morris minor by strangers. Can't wait for that conversation now mwaaaa ha haaaaaaa!

although it's over head cam, all Ali block, 8 port head, it ain't really a power house of an engine and stock is pretty close to the power out put of the Morris engine, plus it's a 30 year old engine so I think if a conversion was being designed, make it from something readily available......like a zetec ;)

Thanks for your further info Suzukimorris

I am in Oz.

Down here, the most common conversion is the Datsun 1200, 1400 and 1500. They go in fairly easily and are bullet-proof but are a much more ancient design than the Suzuki. Some use the '70s Corolla, but it is ancient too.

make it from something readily available......like a zetec

The Zetec isn't common here.

The Suzuki engine is available in various capacities here, between 1300 and 2000.

A lot of the appeal for me is the nice 5-speed gearbox that goes with that engine.

Don

Oh nice, totally on board with that. The SJ's out here are 1 litre (f series engine) or 1.3litre (g series engine). The vitara is a 1.6 but not sure how easily that would fit. The 1.3 g series suzuki engine would be interesting from the suzuki swift gti. Standard they put out 105 bhp but I know the distributor sticks out the back of the engine and you'd have to either try to convert it to run at 90 degrees (think I've seen an extortionaate gadget that does it) or seriously cut into the bulkhead. But i know converting that to red is easy as it bolts straight onto the sj1.3 gearbox!

Sorry I'm rambling, ill get some pics of the blow through supercharger set up soon, its verryyy nearly finished. Might be of interest to people.


Cheers