Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,

Im a 19 year old Morris Minor fanatic,as well as being into classic bikes and anything old! I own a 1968 4 door in Almond Green that ive just put an unleaded head on.Ive been brought up around classics and both me and my dad have very soft spots for Minors.The one i have was bought by my dad in 2001,having been totally restored at stupid expense by the 2 nephews of the original owner about 18 yrs ago.My dad used it for about a year till the brakes needed attending to,because of his laziness it then stood until April this year,my dad having left my mum in January.I passed my test this Feburary,and following a string of awful Reliants and a rotten 2cv,i looked at the Minor,sat on the lawn and thought,i need to save it!why look at other Minors on eBay when this one was here!(bearing in mind that the entire underbelly is new and rustfree)So i swapped my 1957 BSA for it with my dad and then spent every waking hour working on it,replacing the entire braking system except the master cylinder,new headlamp bowl,and various other piddly bits,and it passed its MOT 2nd time!

I used it for about a month till i decided it was time to replace the water pump etc(it always ran hot)On dismantling the tinling noise i had turned out to be the alternator,but i carried on to replace the pump.Well the pump came off ok but the thermostat housing was totally siezed and snapped one of the studs.On closer examination the thermostat seemed to be almost welded to the head!no wonder it got hot!As you can imagine this took me till this week to build up the enthusiasm again to replace the head,which is now done and it runs lovely again!
So i am now well on my way to being a dedicated Minorist and will be trying to go to as many rallies as i can(Im in Worcester btw)I also have a few useful tips that ive picked up that i shall post.

cheers,
Dan

Here it is!

Welcome to the fold The thermostat cover generally does weld itself to the head - coat the studs with copper grease and use a 'next size up' drill bit to enlarge the holes in the cover a little on the next one,

welcome dan

hello there

Hi Dan,

am a newbie myself, unlike you i havent a minor yet but am working on it. Where do you all learn about cars? I am female and have absolutely no idea what bit does what under the bonnet is there a book (as in engines / cars for dummies that would explain the general gist for me of what happens), when i do get my car am hoping to be able to do some simple maintenance tasks myself (under strict supervision, though - by hubby and father in law!)

I did pick myself up a Minor workshop manual from an autojumble recently.

Maggie* wrote:am a newbie myself, unlike you i havent a minor yet but am working on it. Where do you all learn about cars? I am female and have absolutely no idea what bit does what under the bonnet is there a book (as in engines / cars for dummies that would explain the general gist for me of what happens)

I tend to learn by getting stuck in and figuring things out as I go along. Take a look at this thread for book recommendations.

thanks, will see if i can get hold of some of these. Hubby suggested maybe getting an old engine to tinker with over the winter.

How did I learn? Ive been brought up with British cars and bikes,so its all second nature to me,of course,there are many things that ive done that i wouldnt have been able to had i not read on this forum first,but the beauty of the Morris is that it is so simple that its easy to pick things up.
You also gain experience through working on them,so next time its all much easier,for instance i could probably remove(not that i want to any time soon!)a cylinder head quicker than this time.

Maggie, If you really need to learn the basics I cannot reccomend the AA book of the car highly enough.

Heres a cheap one on ebay http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0150128006

Hi Dan and welcome, the other reason for the thermostat housing welding itself in place is the lack of antifreeze over the years to play safe just run with a 50% mixture all year round along with Andrews advice.

Hi Maggie you have one big advantage in that the local Lincolnshire branch is a very active one and you should be able to get loads of useful advice from them.

Dan Harris,

was the winning bid on the ebay link you put on for me - AA Book of the Car, arrived yesterday am reading through it. V good recommendation, many thanks.

Dang...posted into the wrong plcae....please ignore...

Good work, fella