Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi All,
Apart from the inlet and exhaust parts, what easy mods are available for the tuning of the 1100?
Ignition (dizzzy)
Head selection?

Cheers,
Spence

Camshaft
Carburetor
Exhaust

supercharger!

Ignition is a big one.
The mini lads rave about Megasquirt and the like, apparently it completely transforms the engine.

A common upgrade is to fit the 1275 head, with some small pocketing done to the block so the valves don't bash into it.
Best get your dremel out!

Ok, I have bought a 3 branch from Ebay from a Mini, I will modify that to work with the Minor, I have also bought a pair of Mini Cooper SU's from the aforementioned Ebay and they will be arriving shortly.
So, Fitting those and now I will look for a decent ignition unit, I thought the Metro one would be good, it has to be better eh!

I dont really want to change the head yet but I thought about the Metro 1100 head but these are very rare now I notice!

Supercharging, I have thought about this seriously as you see the blowers from the Mercedes 2litre come up every now and then but I am unsure about fitting and setting this kind of thing up, I tend to stick bigger engines in when I can but this traveller is my wifes so it has to be very reliable and torquey as we cart 3 kids around in her Fiesta daily and the traveller is replacing the Fester.....

The Mini '3 branch' will be difficult to modify to your Minor. The twin carbs will have little effect - a big single SU on MG Metro inlet manifold is the way to go. Best performance improvement is to fit the 12G940 head - from a 1275 engine. You can 'pocket the block' as mentioned above, or much simpler to just sink the exhaust valves into the head by 40 thou. This head will give an instant 5 bhp (at least) boost and paves the way for further improvements such as better exhaust and carburation. Note that the 1098 is not a 'revver' and so power mods should be aimed at mid-range torque rather than top end power.

will look for a decent ignition unit, I thought the Metro one would be good, it has to be better eh!

Not if its from an A+ engine as they are different with a different clamping arrangement, and as Roy has said forget the twins and get a single HIF38.

As Kevin points(!) out - the later dizzy has a different mounting, but in any case improved ignition doesn't do much until the engine has been made a little more challenging. Your twins will work - they are just more hassle (and Insurance Co's don't like "twin carbs") and basically there is twice as much to go wrong with them!

HIF38 on an alloy inlet
Metro/ Maestro electronic ignition (built into an older Lucas 45d for ease of fitting if so desired).
12G295 head (Cooper/ Midget/ MG 1100)
Exhaust

I'm still not convinced the electronic ignition is a priority, but it is fairly cheap. The carb is a big improvement, and one decent sized carb has to be better than two undersized ones (on what is frankly a cak manifold). And though not all that cheap, the 12G295 head has to be the biggest improvement over the standard 12G202.

I would say inlet and exhaust first for the biggest immediate gains (and also for later mods that won't perform fully with the standard Minor items still in place), but there doesn't seem to be a surplus of Minor exhaust bits around. Best I've seen is an 80 odd quid downpipe for the twin piped Ital/ Metro exhaust manifolds, and then you still need to get the rest of the exhaust system. You can get a HIF38, inlet, Metro dizzy and half a 12G295 head for that kind of money!

dunketh wrote:Ignition is a big one.
The mini lads rave about Megasquirt and the like, apparently it completely transforms the engine.

That's Megajolt. Megasquirt is the EFi system.

Both are probably worth having, if you've got the pennies.

Great feedback guys, I may see if I can swap the twins for a single then, the Exhaust manifold wont be that bad to convert, I am a dab hand with a welder!
;)

As for the ignition, I may just look at transfering the innerds from the later dizzy into an early housing, sounds like a plan.
I dont want mega performance, just plenty of umph for the hills around here when we have all the family in the car.
I will leave the performance to the other projects!
;)

thanks...

53buick wrote:As for the ignition, I may just look at transfering the innerds from the later dizzy into an early housing, sounds like a plan.

A guide to it (from a Triumph site, but obviously the technique is the same)) http://website.lineone.net/~angela-iwne ... lecign.htm

You'll need to find a 45d dizzy, but there's plenty of pre A+ Mini ones floating around. Or alternately, just adapt your engine to take the complete unit - It's not impossible by any means. You will need to sort the mech advance to suit your engine though, so maybe find a 45 set up for a 1098 Mini And stick the electronic bits in it as described in that link

There's not much to go wrong on the electronic unit, though I have had a flakey black box and a burnt out pick up plasticy bit. Both are easily changed though, the black box being easily swapped by undoing 2 5.5mm bolts that hold it on, and the pick up being a simple matter of splitting the dizzy in two (2 5.5mm bolts around the outer edge) and popping it out IIRC. On the Metro not having points to worry about is pretty handy because to really get at them the radiator needs to come out! Less of an issue on a Minor, but probably worth fitting anyway IMO.

My Midget is still running the old 25d (I haven't got round to trying an electronic unit, besides I think a top entry cap will fould the steering column!) but I put a Lucas gold coil on. That and a wider plug gap (35 thou) has made a small but noticeable difference to the engine, so might be worth considering if you decide not to play with the dizzy

Sounds a bit of a hassle especially if you don't already have all the parts to hand. I bought a new Pertronix Ignitor kit for about £45 and fitted it in place of the points and condenser. I didn't notice a big performance improvement; the main benefits are smoother tickover, no problems with misfiring on cold damp mornings, and reduced maintenance.

I find a standard 1098 performance not too shabby, my driving has certainly improved, from "point and squirt" to "conservation of momentum"! It's certainly no racing machine though!

fit a better cylinder head, 12g295 or a 12g940. They'll provide a good basis for future mods.

As others suggest, junk the twins and get a decent single carb.

Make sure the carb, ignition etc are in good shape and properly tuned for the head.

I'm not sure the distributer mods will give large power gains, but a pertonix would be cool (I've found them very good on other cars in terms of reliability and smoothness, but there again have had few problems with the Morris setup).

remember though, the faster you go, the harder it is to stop especially fully loaded, downhill through the forest of dean

Andrew

Hi,
Thanks for the comments, the twin carbs have just arrived, I will look out for a single instead so if anyone wants a original twin carb setup from a cooper, let me know!

I have just ordered the over-hall kit for the ital disk conversion I have here so that will be done prior to getting the traveller back on the road.

So.....
stage 1 for me will be 3 branch & better carb and dizzy mod.

Stage 2 will happen later, I want to get some miles under its belt before doing anything else major.

;)

Would be interested to see pics of how you modify that 3 branch manifold - it's something I have been planning (ie avoiding) for some time now.

bmcecosse wrote:Would be interested to see pics of how you modify that 3 branch manifold - it's something I have been planning (ie avoiding) for some time now.

Aye, you need to do the TR7 hood first

It's going undercover on Thursday for 5 months - so attention turns to the Minor which will be more accessible - modified 1275 engine almost ready for fitting. But before any of that - i've got a railway line to lay from Birkhill to Manuel!

Fed up with the poor choice and even worse supply of tyres for his beloved Mog, BMC believed there was no choice but to use bare rims and was last seen leaving his front door muttering ....

i've got a railway line to lay from Birkhill to Manuel

Peetee wrote:Fed up with the poor choice and even worse supply of tyres for his beloved Mog, BMC believed there was no choice but to use bare rims and was last seen leaving his front door muttering ....

i've got a railway line to lay from Birkhill to Manuel

Spilt my coffee I did

bmcecosse wrote:It's going undercover on Thursday for 5 months - so attention turns to the Minor which will be more accessible - modified 1275 engine almost ready for fitting. But before any of that - i've got a railway line to lay from Birkhill to Manuel!

1275 Nice. Those Wolesley drums are going to be working overtime