Morris Minor Owners Club

is this commonly done? is there a donor auto box that fits from anything ? thinking marina etc?
Just got to pondering this yesterday, thinking well at some stage i'll need to replace the box - even though its a recon its not behaving, so if going to that trouble why not an auto and do away with the 2nd gear changedown crunch

i'm in the throws of sorcing one
mine has the marina 1275 engine in already so i've managed to get a marina auto box off a very well known restorer on here

jsut got to figure out when to collect and then how on earth to fit it

i know there's lot of extra bits to do like carbs electrics etc

Hello Orkney,

can you accept the loss in performance?

Second gear crunch? double declutch gets rid of it.

Alec

can you accept the loss in performance?

not a problem with that, just tweak the engine accordingly if i could just graft a box on.

Ive actually got dibs on a marina with a perfectly good engine & box but never bothered looking to see if it was an auto or not will have to go for a spin later and see.

Was reluctant to change the engine as its a recon with unleaded thats done only 4k miles, but the sensible thing might be to put the marina one in and keep the almost new for a spare or next project.

Second gear crunch? double declutch gets rid of it.

alas not on scabby the trav it doesnt

will have to get to the bottom of it, for one thing i think it might be the wrong box, or the engine is possibly a 1275, plenty of grunt but its really too high on the revs after 55, will look out the thread from the other day about testing to see which what diff is on there - could be as simple as that explaining why its such high revs for comparatively low speed.
It feels like it needs 5th, already pondered the 5 speed box conversion but thats way out on spending principle.

Hello Orkney,

"alas not on scabby the trav it doesnt"

I beg to differ, and you can also, if you wish, change into first on the move.

Alec

its deffo shot Alec - DDclutching never been a problem for me, the slack on the box and the jumping out of 1st is an indicator that alls not well. Then theres the noise too
meant to get one of the lads to give it a run for a proper opinion when they were up on the LEO but time never permitted. Remember chatting to Ray about it, he was going through the symptoms regarding the 2nd gear thing.
Its even a prob 1st to 2nd & 3rd to 2nd
Actually tend not to even use first on the daily trip to the post office & shop, as it pulls off sweetly in 2nd.

Sounds more like your clutch needs adjusting if it's crunching that much. proper double d clutch will allow clean change even if NO syncro ie 1st gear. Auto conversion by using the relatively rare 1275 marina parts would be best way to go. Easy to tell if 1275 engine - does it have removeable tappet chest covers in behind the exhaust manifold - if not - it's a 1275! Engine number beginning with 12 is also a clue - as is the massive amount of power compared to normal Minor engine.

Have you figured out yet whether the scrap Marina has an A series or B series engine, Kevin?

And a good manual box shouldn't crunch on second. If I were you I'd be looking for a better condition manual box rather than changing to automatic.

I agree with that - auto will rob the power terribly. And while an auto car is an absolute blessing in traffic (always specify auto rental if going to France and the terrible Periferique!!) - but i somehow doubt traffic congestion is a huge problem in Orkney?

Well BM i did post about clutch last week - theres a LOT of play on the pedal and its on the 'rountuit' list. Trouble is been on a splurge buying bits n bobs which are stacking up faster than i can fit them but it will be sorted.
I'll grab a snap of the lump later and see if you wise lot can identify what it is.

not sure on the Marina engine - again will grab a snap of it but need to muster a tractor and loader because there was a van on top of it when i saw it last week but if i'm doing that might as well get a trailer for the tractor and just take the thing away save messing about.