Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi guys. While preparing to take out Bettys engine, I noticed the temp sensor besides the thermostat house was a strange / loose fit. Someone must have had problems threading the sensor into the head, and therefore just pushed the sensor assy as far into the fitting as it would go and left it there. This is how it looks after removing the sensor.

http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/temp.jpg

To me, it looks like a siezed and broken brass fitting. Can this be fixed without ripping off the cylinder head? How? The brass needs to come out, and I need a thread to fit the sensor into.

Please enlighten me, I am mechanically challenged

Cheers /Richard

Please enlighten me, I am mechanically challenged

No your just Mad & Swedish

Not sure what goes on there - will look at mine later and compare. Whatever though you should start getting some penetrating oil on there now in case whats left needs to come out.

Oh i cant - just realised dont have one !!! well it is monday morning

Hmm, never seen a hole there before. The temperature sender on A-series engines goes into the side of the head, not the top, sort of of under the thermostat housing -does yours have a large bolt head there? It looks like someone's drilled and tapped the head in a different place. Bear in mind that Minors don't have a temperature gauge as standard, but all Minis, Metros and Midgets I've seen all have the sensor (or blanking bolt) fitted on the side of the head.

Unless anyone else knows any better you might be on your own with this one, sorry!

Looks like the head from a Mini Cooper, those heads have an extra stud that is located there. Someone has just tried to use it as a temp heat source, although it wont have water passing through it. So basicaly it's a hole that goes nowhere and nothing to worry about.

Hmm...a Mini engine/head? I have a few pics that could help determine the final facts - check these:

http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/engine.jpg

http://homeweb.mah.se/~lurija/engine_nr.jpg

(Engine serial number plate, just below cylinder nr 1)

Is this a Mini engine, or just a Mini head transplanted onto a Morris engine? How do these work together?

Cheers /Richard

It will be a standard Morris Block with Mini Cooper Cylnder head, quite a common modification.

The Mini cooper 11 stud head normally has an extra stud at both ends of the head that just cut slightly into the rocker cover lip at either end that one seems to be rather too far forward, if you look at this ebay link
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... :IT&ih=018
you can see the correct stud positions at either end and you can also see the temperature sender in its correct position at the top of the photo just in front of number 1 plug, does yours have the extra stud or hole at the back end of the rocker cover, this should confirm if its a cooper head or not.

Nope, no extra stud/hole at the back end - no Mini head, it seems. Problem remains - I need to get (whatzleft of) the old fitting out of there and refit the temp sender into the hole - or somewhere else where it works. Funny thing is that it did actually work. What it indicated? Beats me

Ah yes - the engine has "950" cast on the left side of the engine block. Is it the right engine in a 1960 export model 2D?

Cheers /R

Sounds like the right engine to me and it should still have the sender in the same position as the other heads though it might have a blank in it.

You could try tapping a new thread into the brass insert and then blocking off the hole with a short bolt (OK, set screw to be pedantic). You haven't said if there's a blanking plug/screw in the usual place on the side of the head.

Stig - there is no other possible plug/hole in the cylinder head, just this one. So..back to square one - I need to remove the broken brass fitting. Tips welcome, of course.

Cheers /Richard