Morris Minor Owners Club

First question: can I swap the ordinary black speedo from the '69 saloon for a nice gold faced one from an older car?

Second question: the interior light unit in the car has virtually fallen apart. Are they easily available or is there a modification that would enable me to fit another from some other car? If so, what is the modification?

Ok, I suppose that could be 3 questions. Sorry

Cheers

Ken

Yes you can swap a black faced speedo for a gold one but it must be a 1098 speedo. Interior light units are available new from morris suppliers. Never fitted one from another car so can't help you with that question.

The 1098cc engine came in around 1962, so you'd need to find a speedo from a car built between 1962-4.

There was a question on here a loooooong time ago about the model numbers of the speedometers - the upshot was that the 1098 had a different final letter, I think. A search might give you the answer.

interior lights are readily available new - I last bought one about 5 years ago which was ok - so hopefully the current stock is still ok (a lot of parts these days are not worth buying)

You need to compare the 'tpm' figure on the old speedo - with the new. It's the 4 digit number usually near the mileometer read-out. For a 4.22 diff (standard on 1098 engine) you need a speedo with 1408 tpm. I suspect that may be difficult in 'gold' !

Early 1098's had gold speedo's and 4.22 diff's - I have one somewhere in the garage. I'll check the tpm's and report back.

Checked it and it is 1504 tpm....

you may need the earlier fuel tank sender too ;)

Matt wrote:you may need the earlier fuel tank sender too ;)

Yep, I guess you would as the gauge is not ballasted on the gold face speedo's

Probably better off just sticking with what I have then. Just thought it would look quite cool though.

Thanks for the info about both things

Cheers

Ken

You could, of course, use the black fuel gauge you already have and swap the voltage reg over to the gold faced speedo.....

Easy job to do that? I presume the side fixings are the same, access via two screws through the cubby holes, speedo drive the same?

Yes Ken - straight swap for the speedo then just swap fuel gauge and fit voltage reg. I've not tried it myself but it "might" be possible to strip the fuel gauge and use the gold backing on the original black one?

Hmm. Cheers for that. I'll give it a go.

Thanks

Ive done the mod with the speedo but the other way round. there is a slight difference in the mounting points between the early & late ones due to the positions of the warning lights changing which moves the late mounts a bit further apart , shouldn't be too difficult to modify it though other than that it fitted ok

Checked it and it is 1504 tpm....

1504 is a 4.55 (948) speedo. Max speed 80mph
I posted a chart of different speedos somewhere on the messageboard.

Well with 155/80 14's and a 4.22 diff it reads bang on to my sat nav - I guess the discrepancy is removed by fitting the wrong speedo then

Meethinks that Morris Minor speedos have a slightly excessive error built in. My 4.22 speedo is spot on with a 3.9 diff.
Whatever speedo is fitted it seems to be worth checking it against a sat nav.