Morris Minor Owners Club

hi, name's luke, thought i'd sign up as i have recently been helping out restoring/modonising a morris(and other classics) and have found a liking towards morris' .


i normaly dont like older cars and am used to higher power cars, but recently i have been using my landlord's morris 1000 with a fiat 2ltr engine in it, and i gotta say, i was impressed, and am looking to now build my own

i have just broken my old car for parts as it had a nastey engine fault and am freeing up funds to buy a morris, so feel free to point some out to me looking to a tax exempt one though, not bothered on colour as i'll be spraying it anyway, not too bothered about engine either as that will be coming out aswell......unless i find one with the right engine of course


any info/input would be good,

cheers

luke

welcome to the board..

just to let you know all moggies are tax exempt..

2ltr twincam'ed minors do turn up, if you are after a bit more / lot more power zetec engines can be got in to the moggy engine bay.

regards

charlie

Welcome It might be useful to add your location to your profile and don't forget to look at the 'New member?' sticky at the top of this forum.

There is one Minor (possibly two) that are NOT tax exempt!
Built from parts after the shut-off date for tax exemption!
Can't do better than study the 'for sale' adds on the Forum.

what is the shut off year for tax exempt? was informed it was 54?

Cars BUILT after 1 Jan 1973

ok, maye have been 74 i was told, lol, nevermind,



EDIT: also could a few people point out engines that could be used without needing to put a loom and ecu in? been looking for a list but not having much luck

Tax exemption was 25 years rolling until 1998 but since then it has been fixed at 31 12 1972. It is not at all clear whether a change of government would result in the system reverting back to the rolling system seen under John Major.

However, if you fit a more modern engine, the car may not then be considered "Historic" and could even end up on a Q plate, in which case it is subject to road tax. In the past the authorities have been quite lax when dealing with this sort of thing. I know of a Morris Minor and a Ford Anglia, both of which have Ford Zetec or Cosworth engines, yet both are on period plates and tax exempt.

If I were going to look at making a seriously quick Minor, I would think of retaining the A Series engine and fitting a supercharger (Or turbo - the factory Metro turbo system was well sorted) or possibly the KAD 16 valve head (http://www.kad-uk.com/). I remember a Minor using this set up and it was quick. When the same engine was put into a Lotus 7, it became a Cosworth killer in the up to 1400cc hillclimb class (Though the Talbot brothers were both accomplished drivers). As the cyclinder block would still be A Series, you could still have a period engine number - the 1275 Midget engine in my Traveller is older than the car.

I don't know how a 1980 Ital 1.3 engine would be viewed. If we were still on rolling 25 year tax exemption, a 1980 Ital would itself be historic. According to FIVA, said 1980 Ital would be historic next year but the present government appear not to recognise this definition. So far I don't think its been an issue but it raises an interesting question.

This should wet your appetite for a quick Minor http://www.jlhmorrisminors.co.uk/

Blaketon wrote: If I were going to look at making a seriously quick Minor, I would think of retaining the A Series engine and fitting a supercharger (Or turbo - the factory Metro turbo system was well sorted) or possibly the KAD 16 valve head (http://www.kad-uk.com/). I remember a Minor using this set up and it was quick. When the same engine was put into a Lotus 7, it became a Cosworth killer in the up to 1400cc hillclimb class (Though the Talbot brothers were both accomplished drivers). As the cyclinder block would still be A Series, you could still have a period engine number - the 1275 Midget engine in my Traveller is older than the car.

There's also the BMW K series motorbike head. I think someone on here was fitting one a while back.

Welcome!

I am conservative in only one respect.....a Morris Minor without the original engine is not quite a Morris Minor. Heck of a good car, still, but.......

There's something reassuring and soothing about the ploddy click-clack of an A-series engine going about its business.

Why not simply pack a picnic basket in the boot, and set off for somewhere nice whenever you can, not really caring about the weather or how long it will take to get there?

Life's too fast, generally, these days. I drive a Minor as an antidote. I have even noticed myself gaping gormlessly through the windows, in the style of Mr Bean in his Mini, as I tootle along the byways singing the "The Tootle Along" song.

Words by Mick Anik......music? Anything which fits. Here we go:

Tootle along-a, tootle along-a, tootle-along-a-long, tootle-along-a-long...........ad infinitum :D .

i have my "sensible car" and now want to build an animal or sorts lol

:D .....I was just keen to get "The Tootle Along" song out in the public domain.

Good luck with your project. Make sure you match any increase in engine power with the appropriate improvement in the braking system.

oh yeh, i know that lol, used to having good breaks anyway so couldn't live with bad ones

Don't worry about losing the 'tax exempt' status - if it's a Minor - and stays a Minor - it doesn't matter WHAT engine you fit to it! You simply advise DVLA of changed capacity and/or changed engine number. But - you can make up your own engine number - it can be anything you want. I built a Mini an 1973 from a new bodyshell - it's chassis number was RCA123 - and engine number 123RCA. And it was given a brand new Registration number - no problem at all. Things have changed since of course - but still the engine has NO effect on free tax satus.