Morris Minor Owners Club

So it looks like I'll be aquiring an Ital 1275, well most of one. Its a block with 1098 front and back plates, as well as the flywheel. It is complete with head, crank, rods and pistons, however the pistons are low comression. I was wondering on people's opinions on a few things:

Distributor: It does not have one, are there many options available? Or should I stick with an Ital distributor, and would an midget 1275 distributor work OK?

Cam: Is it worth using a different cam? Say an MG metro item?

Pistons/CR: Should I try and get standard pistons or would it be just as easy to skim the head to bring up the CR?

Exhaust: What have other people done with exhausts when fitting 1275's? I will be doing this on a tight budget, so a complete LCB and new larger bore exhaust would be my last option.

Ah-ha - sounds familiar - ex ebay I suspect!! If the bores and pistons are good it's a shame to change them. So either run it as is - or get a 940 head and have it skimmed by 60 thou. MG Metro cam is better if you can find one at fair cost. Depends what dizzy mount is in there - but I suspect it will be the single bolt A+ type. Does it at least come with the dizzy drive shaft ?

I don't think it has a dizzy shaft. the engine is not ex-ebay suprisingly but was used in conjunction with a sprite gearbox in an off road trials car. The engine is an A+ block. The engine has stood for a while but apparently with a petrol/diesel mix in the bores.

I'm also going to have to hunt down a manifold and carb. But I know to get an MG metro manifold and HIF 44!!

The dizzy drive shaft is different for the A+ engine - so you need to get that too - and probably the little forked clamp that holds the dizzy in the block.

Dunno if this helps but I couldn't afford an MG inlet and carb so ended up fitting a mini one. The '80s' mini manifold takes the HS4 carb which I also managed to find cheap.
Fitted with a new 1275GT needle (again, v cheap) I find this works wonders and allows you to keep your morris exhaust.
All in I spent around £30 for everything... but then I'm always broke so had to do it on the cheap.

But it still keeps the combined inlet and exhaust manifold - with the massive heat transfer that robs the engine of an instant 5 bhp!! MG Metro inlet should only be £5 - and HIF 38 (or 44) carb can also be for that amount. That's all I pay. It doesn't need to cost a fortune !

The last thing i want to do is run through a standard mog exhaust!

BMC, If I have the dizzy drive can I run any distributor of it? Would a 1275GT dizzy be ok? I know the ital A+ doesn't have a vacuum advance, could I fit a distributor with one or is there a good reason for no vacuun advance?

PS. Thanks for your help on this mate, you always seem to come up trumps with answers!

You need both the A+ dizzy drive shaft AND an A+ dizzy. Be sure to get one WITH a vacuum advance - the lack of vac advance on the Ital was a complete 'bodge' to try to minimise some crankshaft 'rumble' - although how this was supposed to help is quite beyond me. You could of course go the Megajolt (Google for it) route - which eliminates the dizzy completely - but you need a 1st class degree in electronics to understand how it all works!!

Ok, I don't think I'll go the megajolt route, besides my budgets fairly tight and it'll probably take a while to coble this engine together. However I did notice a 'red top' aldon distributor in the demon tweeks mag for a and a+ engines, If I saw a second hand one I'd be tempted.

the lack of vac advance on the Ital was a complete 'bodge' to try to minimise some crankshaft 'rum

OK fair point but slightly off topic why was it left of the Cooper S dizzy ?

MG Metro inlet should only be £5 - and HIF 38 (or 44) carb can also be for that amount. That's all I pay. It doesn't need to cost a fortune !

They always go for silly money on ebay (30-40 for a manky carb) and nowhere/no-one local ever sells stuff like this.

The last thing i want to do is run through a standard mog exhaust!

lol.. You use what your budget allows. I can actually 'feel' the engine wanting to breath more at revs but its tough. Until someone starts making mild steel large bore stuff for sensible money thats the way it goes.
£200 for a stainless pipe is the stuff of dreams on my budget.

Mine too - but I was able to buy a complete new exhaust for my Fiat Punto - delivered to the door - for £50, and excellent quality from onlineautomotive.co.uk - and it wouldn't be impossible to use most of that system on a Minor!! Just need an lcb style manifold and then it would be relatively straightforward. You can (I have) buy the MG inlet and HIF carbs for £5 - just buy for stock when you see them going cheap! I got an almost new HIF 44 last september at a classic car show autojumble - for £5 cash!

The Cooper S dizzy had no vacuum advance in an attempt to stop 'over advancing' - but that was in the days of cheap petrol and we now know better. You DO want the vacuum advance. It allows retarded static timing to be used - which makes for easy starting. then at idle the manifold vacuum pulls the timing up to where it should be for best idling with minimum emissions. When running on light throttle the vacuum pulls up the timing even more - for best economy. And when you put your foot down - it 'hangs on' for just that half second to brighten the throttle response - you will sometimes hear just a wee tinkle noise of 'pinking' (if your timing is set just right) - and then the vacuum collapses and the timing falls back to prevent detonation under open throttle running.