Morris Minor Owners Club

Some of you will be aware that I have just put a 1275 Midget engine in my mog. I hope that it will soon be on the road.

Something that is bothering me, is how well the old half shafts will take to this new influx of power. Having broken two half shafts on a traveller with a 1098 engine back in the 1980's I'm wondering whether these two will suffer the same fate.

Jim

Difficult to answer with anything but 'you might'. I've never had go with a 1275 (yet ;) ), but like you, have with a 1098. I gather that uprated ones are available, but I don't know where, sorry.

jameswallace wrote:Some of you will be aware that I have just put a 1275 Midget engine in my mog. I hope that it will soon be on the road.

Something that is bothering me, is how well the old half shafts will take to this new influx of power. Having broken two half shafts on a traveller with a 1098 engine back in the 1980's I'm wondering whether these two will suffer the same fate.

Jim

Bull Motif are doing two different types of hardened half shafts. The more expensive of them (nearly £300 I think) are made from a special steel. Have you fitted wider tyres to go with the 1275 lump? The more rubber you put on the road, the greater the torque loading on the half shafts will be when accelerating. Personaly I dont think you will have a problem, as long as you don't go mad with the loud pedal and clutch.

If you do racing starts with wheelspin then yes you will break a shaft - especially if the axle 'tramps'. But the Spridgets have very similar shafts - just a bit shorter - however it is a lighter car and therefore more easily 'launched'. Consider changing to a Dolomite rear axle.

Unless you know the history of your car anything is possible with old halfshafts. A mildly tuned 948 can break them. But then again I've done some pretty silly stuff in my 1275 on standard shafts
If they have been swapped from one side to the other that can dramatically shorten thier life.
The Uprated shafts do occasionally crop up on ebay so keep an eye out. In the mean time using the in-gear power of you car shouldn't cause any problems even with a 1275. Just avoid dropping the clutch at the lights.

bmcecosse wrote:If you do racing starts with wheelspin then yes you will break a shaft - especially if the axle 'tramps'. But the Spridgets have very similar shafts - just a bit shorter - however it is a lighter car and therefore more easily 'launched'.

I killed a 1098 Midget halfshaft, with a very tired 1098 and not *that* much booting it. I've now got a spare pair of later Midget ones that are meant to be stronger, but that's not an option for a Minor.

Halfshafts are cheap enough as are spare diffs, so it might be an idea just to carry a spare of each for roadside repairs! ;)

Consider changing to a Dolomite rear axle.

Indeed. In fact, consider changing to a 1500 automatic back axle, and buying it off me. I really need to start reducing my spares piles!

How easy is it to mount a Dolomite axle on a Minor though? I assume you'd cut the original mounts off and weld on points for the leaf springs? I can see it being tricky to fit the Dolomite arms, which is a shame as the 4 link desing has to be better than 2 flappy leaf springs.

Id be inclined to fit hardened Halfs if your running with a 1275...however a friend of mine is running a marina engine etc in his mog and i dont think thats got hardened halfshafts!

When they were new the same half shafts were perfectly adequate for
even the Riley 1.5 s. The problem is that these shafts are now rather old so it is very much a lottery.

i had a van with a 1275 and the original half shafts, and did not have any problems, like willie says luck of the draw