Morris Minor Owners Club

hello everybody. good news...just got the mog mot'd yesterday(passed second time!) problem is...i cant stand the 803! i know, its such a pretty car, i much prefer it to the later series II onwards, but...it just offers nothing in the way of anything when it is being driven...ITS SO SLOW! i knew it would slower than the 1100(my dad has one) but i really didnt think it would be THAT slow. so...my question...are there any ways of making the car quicker, WITHOUT changing the engine. i want to keep it as original as possible, because it has done so well up until now at being exactly that, original. the only other option i see, is to sell it any wait until a moggy with a 1300 comes up for sale, because this car needs to be kept standard! please help me my moggy friends!

Any A series swap is easily reversable - likewise suspension and braking mods. If you like the car you have, then just do it.

Pete

haha! easy for you to say, look at your lowlight!!!!

the 803 cant really cope with any tuning, the crank is just too weak. you might want to check that the timing and carb etc are all setup correctly, to make sure you are getting the best from the standard engine.

I'm all for keeping it original on the outside but keeping the 803??
You'd be beating a dead donkey with a bat.


Pull it out and put something sensible in there. Might as well yank it out with the box attached too, that'll be as tough as a paper straw in a gale.

Get yourself a 1098 and ribbed box. They're dead cheap (occasionally free even) and you can easily tune em up to 1275 standards if tinkering's your thing and you can thrash the (|) off them all day long.

And yes, the earlier Minors are much, much nicer looking than the later ones - so dont rub it in.

...ITS SO SLOW

You want to know what slow is ??? just follow me in my 1098 when I'm on a country lane run mind I do often pull over to let other motorists pass, unless they are trying to drive into my boot then I slow even further
BTW, it will cruise all day at 70... but I would leave your Moggy original and buy another for a bit of speed if that's what you need

Mal

Good, I am not the only one who slows down to a crawl when people are trying to push me along

BTW, it will cruise all day at 70...

the standard series 2 would need a very steep hill to cruise at 70...

mal wrote:.....mind I do often pull over to let other motorists pass,

.....and to let the man with the red flag get his breath

Onne wrote:Good, I am not the only one who slows down to a crawl when people are trying to push me along

Me too, the closer they get the slower I go until they either overtake or back off to a sensible distance.

I enjoy it too Certainly if you pull up next to them at the lights

It's quite normal up here for folk to drive their modern boxes at speeds that would shame any series 2 - especially in Fife where nose to tail at 40 is the norm. This makes it difficult to overtake - even on a powerful motorcycle, far less a car.
Just do what was suggested earlier and swap in a later engine and box complete. If you gather everything together you could easily swap it in a day - and it shouldn't cost much.
BTW there is no way my V8 minor can go back to standard unless i replace everything forward of the bulkhead
However I could probably replace the jag rear axle with a minor one in a few hours as the original spring hangers etc are still there and in original condition (surprisingly).
I can't really remember the last time someone tried to drive into my boot - usually the other way round.

Pete

hey! stop going "off topic"!! only joking! yeah, i like the idea of original, but as it is my dad is converting his to a 1275 in a couple of weeks(he killed an ital to do so...hoorah!) so i will be able to have his whole running gear, but i just thought maybe if it was possible, i would just tweak the 803. but...as that doesn't seem all that possible, i may aswell fit dads 1100! will it make the car worth less though? ...

It wouldn't make it worth less to me as long as the body was the same.
At least it would be able to hold its own in modern traffic with the 1098
engine. i wouldn't dream of buying a Minor with the 803cc engine full stop.

callyspoy wrote:i may aswell fit dads 1100! will it make the car worth less though? ...

Keep hold of the original engine and box, then if you decide to sell the car it's up to the buyer whether they change it back or not.

Strikes me that a 1098 would be a sensible upgrade as opposed to a modification.
Take a bit of time to make it look like it should be there and i cant see any reason why it would spoil a nice car.

callyspoy wrote:hey! stop going "off topic"!! only joking! yeah, i like the idea of original, but as it is my dad is converting his to a 1275 in a couple of weeks(he killed an ital to do so...hoorah!)

Yes, because Minors are just so thin on the ground, and the Ital so common...

so i will be able to have his whole running gear, but i just thought maybe if it was possible, i would just tweak the 803. but...as that doesn't seem all that possible, i may aswell fit dads 1100! will it make the car worth less though? ...

You've got the option of a decent, free 1098 engine and box? Fit it. Getting any real power from your engine is going to be somewhat more expensive than free, and as has been said, if you keep your old engine and box you can always revert to original spec easily enough. Either way the car will be modified so the insurance might go up (because, you will of course be notifying them...), but it's a couple of hours to swap the engines around and have the instant power increase, or many more hours trying to smooth the carb and ports for better flow, upgrading the cam, having everything balanced, and praying nothing lets go with the extra power through it. No contest so far as I can see

Its a funny thing insurance.
I have to list every mod to my car,and i tell the insurance company everything.
Yet i still get a classic policy fully comp for £115 a year. My standard mini was £200 fire and theft.

Always use a specialist!