Morris Minor Owners Club

I had already taken out the wooden floor in the boot to get more storage space, but when I got a large capacity petrol tank, the spare wheel wouldn't house too well. After much research trying to find an adapter to take the wheel under the bonnet, I noticed a 155 X 14 wheel would just slide in nicely above the horizontal bonnet stiffener. Was a bit worried initially about the spot welds on the stiffener holding, but its been OK for two years now. Measured temperature of the tyre after a run in summer, and it doesn't appear to get any hotter than a tyre in service.

Thanks very much for the temperature info, do you notice any "top-heavy" feel to the handling? I have toyed with doing this on my traveller to free up some more boot space, only trouble is my bonnet spotwelds have already gone, and I have wodged the support on with copious amounts of glassfibre/resin as I didn't want to burn the paint off by re-welding them, so it won't take the weight at the moment! Curious- it looks almost "meant" that the wheel should fit under the bonnet!!

Been discussed before - if the bonnet supports are strong enough the only snag is the transfer of weight from back to front. But if planning on loading the back up with luggage anyway - that's not too important! Other possibilites are boot mount (á la Rover 2000) although would wonder about boot hinge strength - or rear door mount on a Traveller although again the door hinges will be carrying quite a bit more than they are designed for! If only for very occasional use when the boot will be full - a roof rack will take a wheel, but of course - increased fuel consumption results. You could of course just carry a can of puncture repair fluid and Rescue Club memebership - and/or a set of tyre levers and an inner tube !

How does the under bonnet spare clear the battery? The crossmember is directly in front of the battery. Is the spare mounted above the crossmember enough so that the tire is over the battery? That is a tight fit.
You can always switch to run flat tires. You mean they don't make them yet for Minors?

My wifes MINI Cooper has the runflat tyres, she came home with a puncture (light comes on) and I had to go round with a tyre gauge to find out which one had the puncture! The walls are so supportive they look the same flat or pumped!

jaekl wrote:How does the under bonnet spare clear the battery? The crossmember is directly in front of the battery. Is the spare mounted above the crossmember enough so that the tire is over the battery? That is a tight fit.
You can always switch to run flat tires. You mean they don't make them yet for Minors?

Slide the spare wheel in above the crossmember, but not all the way back, otherwise it does foul the battery. Works a treat. Can't really tell any difference in the handling.

On the subject of securing the bonnet cross member, I pop riveted mine in place, twenty years ago.

And it's carried the wheel ever since ? Do you fix it in there with a leather strap ?

I tried the spare there for a short while, the main reason being that my tow hitch was set too high, stopping me getting the spare out of the boot without removing the tow hitch, but it made opening the bonnet a bit of a struggle and it could come down too heavily if it was not held securely. I put the towhitch on a drop plate and put the spare back in the boot with a spare set of gaskets on top.

What I'm thinking of doing on my saloon is only putting the spare under the bonnet when I'm doing a trip that requires me to carry lots of luggage. That would give me more room in the boot when I need it and should also help to even out the weight distribution a little.

I have though of this in the past and seen it done a couple of times but the issue of the bonnet cross member has always concerned me as you often see detached ones at Rallys that some owners havent spotted and although Mikes pop rivets are one solution I am sure some owners wont like to see them showing.

One has to wonder if it weren't originally intended for the spare to be under the bonnet, much like some models of Subaru. After all, the engine bay is designed for a flat four engine which never went ahead. The locatioin of the spare wheel in the boot has always looked like a last minute botch up to me.

The early prototypes did not have an opening boot. Was the spare under the bonnet?