Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,
Just trying to see if I can get insurance on the modified minor that I'm hopefully picking up next week, but my current insurance company is being awkward. They want to know how much horsepower the car has..

The car is Carlo's one; 2-door, 1275(1293)cc engine, 5-speed sierra gearbox, original minor axle.
Does anyone know roughly how much horsepower this would have?

Thanks
Andy

best anyone could do is make a guess.

bore size does not really tell you much about BHP you need to know about the cam, timing, porting etc... in fact the only way to know is to get it on a rolling road

at a guess 65-70'ish if its no more than a bore (standard 1275 is around 57-60bhp depending on blocks). The A series can be teased all the way to around 100 BHP but that needs a lot in the way of turbos etc.

surprised they dont accept its a 1275 with single over bore?

try asking on a mini site, they are far more into modifying the 1275 block.

not even sure the insurance company will accept a guess if they are already being that picky!

but my current insurance company is being awkward. They want to know how much horsepower the car has..

What doesnt help is do they mean at the flywheel or at the road wheels. To be honest I would go with Rob`s estimate of 65 bhp as without a rolling road readout you can't be completely accurate, I would just say thats what the previous owner was told by the seller he brought it from.

Just tell them its a standard 1275cc motor, which is, as mentioned about 65bhp, or you could say it has about 45bhp at the wheels.
Rolling road sessions are only as good as the rolling roads accuracy. The one we use is checked regularly and probably disappoints a fair few wanna bee's who have been given much higher ratings at other centers.

AON will insure up to 1300cc without much problem.

AON currently insure my 1380cc car on limited mileage + Gill's Minor Van (standard) for just over £100 a year on a collector's policy...

The standard 1275 in 'inline' form was nearer 55 bhp than 60. Reboring it to 1293 makes not a jot of difference. Just tell them that!

I'd tell them it was a 1300, probably from a "Marina 1300". (Unless of course you know it isn't)

When I insured my previous land Rover I had to find BHP details for the (non land rover) 3 litre diesel engine - fortunately it came out similar to the 6 cylinder petrol (6cyl petrol was available as an option).
They were happy not to class it am a boy racer upgrade based on that info.

I know other people have had hassle because the insurance wanted to know the year of the upgrade engine - which is pretty irrelevant - but mainly so they were happy it was of a similar vintage therefore not 'boy racer'. Sometimes you just need to tell them what they want to hear (without any lies, of course, but without digging a hole)

to save further probs just give them a figure.

guess on the high side, 70bhp, than you can't be caught out.

It won't make any difference anyway.

rayofleamington wrote:I'd tell them it was a 1300, probably from a "Marina 1300". (Unless of course you know it isn't)

Its a 1275 Midget lump that has had one re-bore.

Well it's all ok now, I think we just had a picky person on the other end. Phoned up the next day and spoke to a different person, they didn't ask for hp..