Morris Minor Owners Club

Hello All,

Need your opinion..

I will be in the process of pulling the original 1951 918cc SV engine from the MM that I'm about to restore soon and was wondering if the engine would make decent power and reliability? The condition of the engine is unknown at this point, but if I have to rebuild it, what parts would be hard to find? Would I be better off putting a modern A-series into it or keep it original? Would it be better in keeping with originality?
As far as speed, I really don't care about the impatient drivers behind me, they can go around me!

Steve

If I were you I'd restore to original spec! SVs are rare, though not powerful! good luck

Miserably slow i'm afraid - but if possible you should try to keep the originality in the car. I really don't know about spares - but someone who does will be along in a minute!

The original engine in your car should be the side valve type USHM3, the final development of the Morris 8 engine. It should have an alloy thermostat housing and water jacket and be fitted with either a blanking plate on the front of the engine or a water pump, enabling the car to be fitted with a heater.
If carefully rebuilt and with a few small tuning mods the side valve engine can show a respectable turn of speed and be capable of hanging on to the gears on a hill climb. A steady cruising speed of 60mph is perfectly reasonable. They have a reputation for being slow because the timing is fairly critical. They will run smoothly within a range of distributor timing but need to be set up carefully to obtain the best results.
The attraction of the Series MM is its smooth running engine and gearbox, without that you might as well restore a Minor 1000.
Let me know what parts you need and I should be able to supply you with contact addresses.

If you're not bothered about speed, keep the engine. Parts are around - you'd be amazed what people have in their garages.

Keep the sidevalve. Having followed Mike on a number of occasions, even when he was pulling a loaded trailer, he certainly didn't seem to have a problem with keeping up to speed.

It took me 36 years to hear a side valve running. Yes, like a sewing machine. Impressive.

OK, all of you convinced me to keep it! I just wanted to make sure (my original thoughts were to keep it) I would be able to get parts if I needed them. Just wanted to make sure it was the right decision to keep it and rebuild.
I hope I can count on help with locating parts as I don't think the States has the resources.

Thanks again for all your combined expertise.

Cheers,
Steve

Hi, just post if you want something and we'll do our best to find it for you. Don't forget to send pictures of your progress.

Meantime - keep a weather eye on ebay and other other source in USA - and grab any spare engine/gearbox/rear axle/front suspension that comes along. A complete 'spares car' would be useful - but then there is the temptation to put it back on the road too! Many years ago I had 3 x Morris 8Es with that engine/box. they went well enough for 'old' cars - sadly threw away all the spares including engine/box/axle many moons ago now.

Read the Technical Info section on the Series MM website. There are some solutions to potential problems. Did you say whether you had a Series MM workshop manual?

Besides the spares are out there somewhere, you may be suprised what supliers have laying around or can source for you.