Morris Minor Owners Club

which would be the best 2 litre Engine to fit on a '1000' Mog ? and what gearbox?

Also, for those who already fitted one, what other changes to the suspension would be required?

Honda V-Tec is used extensively in Minis - this is thought to be the 'best'. Vauxhall Twin Cam engines have more readily available gearboxes - and of course Ford units can be fitted. For many years the Fiat Twin cam engine conversion was the 'standard'.
Whatever you do will require extensive chassis strengthening, brake uprating, rear axle uprating - and suspension uprating !!
Hope you have deep pockets.

markattard,

Crikey, that’s a nice open question and I think the answer is much the same. Its probably a personal preference and how much effort are you prepared to go to. None of the options are easy and what do you want it for? Well lets have a quick run down:

? Fiat Twin Cam – the old classic, fantastic motor but getting old in the tooth these days and overtaken by others in the power. Pros are it’s been done by quite a lot of people, cons are age, getting parts and reckon on any engine needing a rebuild. Though you could pull an Integrale engine and give it a try, there are similar, just reverse porting.
? Rover K Series – another excellent engine, more modern than the Fiat and good power in the 1.8vvc spec (OK not a 2l but more than capable and in the same class). More difficult to fit. But Jonathan can tell you way way more about this than I can as he’s done it and JLH can fit one for you. Which probably makes this the simplest option, if you can afford it.
? Ford Zetec – a good option if you are good with Fords. Again good power, about 130 BHP with good torque, in standard spec (slightly less than the top end Rover) and tuneable to over 200BHP. But I think it’s quite heavy compared to some of the alternatives – someone will correct me if I’m wrong.
? Vauxhall XE – if I were doing it now this would be my preferred choice (I have a Fiat Twin Cam). Excellent engine, great power and tuning potential. Start at around 150 BHP and torque, super tuning potential. Small and compact and they’ve been put in a lot of cars so there’s quite a lot of info about.
? Of course there is always the mad toy and stick the Cosworth YB engine in, needs no info from me just a very strong chassis to hold on to it.

As for gearbox the Ford type 9 will fit most, so requires an adapted bellhousing. The FIAT engine should use it’s own gearbox.

Yes you ought to sort the suspension – anti roll bar, poly bushes and gas tele dampers should see you alight. But I think I’d get my brakes sorted out first. All the above are available in kits for easy fitting if not so easy on the wallet.

Terrible when your off sick and have too much time on your hands.

Regards,
Wal

An alternative gearbox option is RWD Celica - capable up to tuned V8 power and nice and compact. I had a brief look over one in a Minor Project on Saturday. Package wise it looks a very good option.

Jonathan,
apologies I got the name of your company wrong, should have been JLH.

rayofleamington,
Celica gearbox sounds good. Is it off the early model along with the rigid rear axle of the GT model with an LSD. Because the only problem is finding them, I looked for a long time and never got one.

Regards,
Wal

Oops - I corrected the name before I got this far

How about the 2 litre Pinto engine out of a Sierra or Capri? I've never heard of it being done but it could be a good choice given that they're readily available in the breakers and probably a good deal simpler than the K-Series or Zetec.

WAY too heavy and the power output is poor given it's size.

I feel SOOOOO stupid for selling my Celica (dent edition) now. I could have kept the box and axle. Box was reconditioned.. Grrr.

Other option, quite common down under, the 4AGE Toyota RWD setup. Parts would be harder to find though, and quite expensive too

I think that the options you have are covered in previous posts and Wal has made very valid points.
Do you really need a 2ltr, are you after bhp, or torque or both.
The down side of most 2ltr units is their lack of economy even when fitted to a lightweight Minor. The other is weight, which is why we opted for the K series as it weighs 16kg's less than the original A series, yet offers the potential of over 200bhp. The advantage of this weight saving is evident in the cars steering and handling, which remains light and responsive especially when allied to a decent suspension and braking package.
As mentioned previously the motor is the tip of the iceburg really as every aspect of you minor will need to be adapted ,modified or strengthened in some way, also you will need to change axle,prop brakes suspension ,fuel and cooling systems etc etc, the list is almost endless.
Your chassis needs to be in A1 condition and we seamweld every joint in this regard, we also fit our chassis strengthening kit which beefs up the steering rack area, an area common for splitting on modded cars.
We have put over 185bhp through one of our travellers and in 4 years hard road and track use it has never needed aditional welding nor worn the standard minor component left in the suspension. Issigoniss only tapped the smallest amount of potential from the minor, and they never cease to amaze us to the excellence of the original design, and how this inturn can be improved upon using more uptodate components antd technology.
Back to engines, the 1.4 K series in standard form allied to a free flow exhaust and good aftermarket ECU has offered between 126bhp on injection and 143bhp on twin 40 webbers, this in the latter case is 30bhp more than the 2ltr Fiat. However the torque is only around 127ftlbs no match for the Fiat but pretty good for a 16v 1.4.

How about a whacking great chevy V8? Surely it would be worth it for the noise!

Mmmmmmm V8 (dribbles)

I've always toyed with the idea (only cause I used to have one) of stickin' a pug 1.9 turbo diesel in a pick-up, now that'd be fun

but it's a diesel....

Didn't someone mention they put a perkins prima into a traveller?

The Pug XUD in a rear/mid engined config and running waste vegetable oil has crossed my mind - especially if it improves accessibility to the various bits. As per PMs with Welung666, it's not the nicest setup to work on.

On the plus side my 405 has done 150,000 miles and feels like it has just about run in.

At the risk of being <BIGGINGERED> for offtopicifying the thread, was your plan to convert to RWD or to use the PUG subframe complete with suspension?

Could you not use a 1600 ford crossflow bored out to 1700 as is done in quite a few kit cars? There are plenty of bits you can bolt on to tune it up and the engines are fairly plentiful. Although not as powerful as some more modern engines I'm sure you could wring plenty of power out of it and still stick with a simple OHV engine with carbs.

dp wrote:At the risk of being <BIGGINGERED> for offtopicifying the thread, was your plan to convert to RWD or to use the PUG subframe complete with suspension?

No RWD all the way ;)

Has been done but check to see if they really are still easy to get hold of and how much it will really cost to refresh and tune. It could end up more expensive than a newer F.I. lump which will have more power and possibly better economy from the outset.

We have a customer who fitted the Ford crossflow and a Type 9 five speed. It was tuned by Burton and produces 130bhp. Its not a cheap option by any means.
One conversion we were going to follow up before we opted for the K series, was the Fiat Uno/Punto 1.3 turbo, fitted to a Fiat T/C box, loads of potential power light weight and economical. The downside of the project was the Fiat box, or atleast the lack of them and cost of refurbishment.
The peogeot diesel is a great engine... in a Peugeot. but its far too heavy for the Minor and finding a rwd box conversion would be difficult. If anyone wants to try the Honda route I have a 1.5 16v motor you can use.

How should one convert a fwd engine to rwd? Most Honda's are fwd. Would it be possible to mate it to a ford type 9 or Celica box?