Morris Minor Owners Club

Well folks, I went to see Mo today, she has been treated to two coats of BMC Dove Grey paint, she has the rear seat in place red leather and the front seats were going in as I left to go and do the school run.
A check with Heritage Museum at Gaydon revealed that the low compression 1098 engine was not the original, and looking a the chassis number plate on the bulkhead, she has had the original engine number stamped out, does anyone know what is best to do, is there any way you can get an authentic vin plate with the new engine number on, or is this not done?
There's so much to learn, the V5C shows a date of manufacture of 1957, but a date of first registration as 01/03/1980, a conversation with DVLA finally got them to agree to issue an historic tax disc provided I send the MOT ( please God she gets through tomorrow!), Insurance docs, covering letter and V5, it was a farce though, the girl on the phone thought it wasn't eligible as the 1st reg date was 1980!!! Frightening or what?

Anyway, she has a 1098cc engine and it hasn't been converted to run on unleaded so what do I do, there is a wire mesh cage thing in the neck of the fuel cap, holding what looks like lead balls, this can't work can it? I wasn't aware petrol dribbling over lead would cause any of the lead to dissolve..or maybe I am wrong, if you can advice what is best I'll take the advice, I must say the MMOC seem like a friendly bunch, just a pity there's no regular meetings in North Devon, thanks for all your help, she may not be concourse but at least I've saved another Moggy from a life at the end of a scrappage scheme, and if she gets the pass on the MOT tomorrow I'll post some piccies.
Cheers Neil

is there any way you can get an authentic vin plate with the new engine number on, or is this not done?

Most of the Morris Minor spares traders sell 'blank' chassis identification plates so you could always buy one of those and get it stamped if you wanted one with the correct details on.

As for unleaded, I've not heard of a wire mesh cage with balls in the filler cap before There are various views posted here about whether to use an additive or not but I've got an unleaded head so can't really comment. I'm sure someone will be along in a minute though In the meantime this post might be useful:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=31265

I must say the MMOC seem like a friendly bunch

Yes - you've come to the right place for loads of friendly help and advice. Any problems just ask! Good luck with the MOT and I'm looking forward to seeing pics of your car

Don't worry about 'unleaded', just throw the balls away. You have decided correctly that they are doing absolutely nothing. You don't need to do anything, just keep an eye on the valve gaps so they don't ever close up. A low compression engine would originally have been in a 'Commercial' vehicle. Your date of first registration is odd - does it have a 3 letter + 3 number (or possibly vice versa) reg number? If truly first reg in 1980 it should have a registration with 3 letters + 3 numbers + W (or possibly X). Likely explanation is that it has been re-patriated from abroad or 'rejected' by the Forces in 1980.

Mine V5 says first registered 1979... I believe it was when it was put back on the road (after a short spell off) and the new style V5 at the time was issued. Mine was never imported neither was it a forces car and it has a '53 plate on it.

I'm concerned now I'll get problems from DVLA, although my new V5c does say, year of manufacture 1953.

Hi,
Dont worry about the 1979/80 reg date, it'll just be the date it was put on to the DVLAs computer system. I've had one or two vehicles with that anomaly. Caused a little confusion trying to change the taxation class from disabled (prev owner) to historic on an old Land Rover when it was registered in 1980. I pointed out that it also said on the doc 'previously declared used/manufactured in 1954' and that no 86" wheelbase Land Rovers were made in 1980. Seemed to work ok!
Same point applies to Minors and if its a real problem a Heritage certificate would sort things out.

Aye, those lead balls are purely ornamental - may as well be binned. As for unleaded, YMMV depending on your driving style, mileage, and luck.

Options are:
- Don't use anything (drive using unleaded petrol) - and look out for any signs of valve recession. If you do low mileage / not a lot of motorway you'll *probably* be fine.
- Use a FBVHC approved additive. There's lots of additives that are as useful as those lead balls, but Valvemaster's pretty highly recommended. Tetraboost is actual tetra-ethyl lead, which you can get too
- Fit an unleaded head / get hardened seats fitted to your existing head...

It's D-day for her...well MOT day anyway, midday fingers crossed, spent the last couple of hours looking at all manner of goodies that I probably don't really need! One thing I do need is a set of seatbelts though, I'm just wondering how front 3 point inertia belts can be fitted when I have trafficators / semaphores? Does it mean this is not an option?

I'll let you know how "Mo" get's on later.

good luck with the mot

Well Saturday came and went, a problem with a misfire, a replacement coil, and distributor cap still didn't perfect her, my mechanic friend drove her quite lumpily to the garage for the MOT...they had decided not to wait, she was presented in a better fashion today at 8am....guess what no room at the Inn.

The latest news, is she will be presented again at 11am on Wednesday, my letter and other documents are waiting for the MOT certificate to send off to DVLA for a change to historic vehicle tax class.

I am positive, and hopefull that she will pass....come on Mo...fingers crossed, thanks to all for the kind words.

Mo arrived Wednesday, and we are loving her, I'm having trouble trying to get the mmoc site to accept the jpg piccies that I've taken, but will try again, have a great weekend.

Does anyone know why I can't manage to get photo's onto this site, I have tried repeatedly over the past few days, I go to the part where it says choose file, and click on the corresponding photo, then upload, it shows a counting in %'s as the file is uploaded, then it just shows the jpg number in the top left of the screen and does nothing....for ages, until you exit.

I'm just trying to show you what she looks like.....we've had a few good days with her, she had all the carpets taken out and the floor cleaned, the holes in the floor temporarily filled with silicone / no nails to prevent water ingress from the road spray, until we can start a proper restoration. The good lady of the household took all the seats out and systematically cleaned 53 years of grime from them.

We went to our local church for a christening yesterday and Mo looked great, the crowd of onlookers all smiling as we passed by with a gentle rude "parping".....then the trouble started after the church, she took ages to start, then we managed to drive about three miles and a horrendous dry loud squeaking seems to be coming from either the fan or dynamo area, I checked the engine oil, that's fine, I reckon it could be something wearing out...which is it likely to be Dynamo, fan housing?

Anyway, if we can get this sorted I intend to take her to Messrs Ware at Bristol for an appraisal and estimate for restoration....a long trip from North Devon, but we want to know what shape she is in, and fingers crossed for the estimate, have a nice Bank Holiday all.

there is a good place in eastbourne sussex

Does anyone know why I can't manage to get photo's onto this site, I have tried repeatedly over the past few days, I go to the part where it says choose file, and click on the corresponding photo, then upload, it shows a counting in %'s as the file is uploaded, then it just shows the jpg number in the top left of the screen and does nothing....for ages, until you exit.

Hi Neil,

As explained via pm, this problem occurs when the photos are too big to post - they take so long to upload that you end up getting timed out. Have you tried resizing them on your pc as suggested? If this is still a problem send me a pm and I'll try to resize them myself.

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You posted a picture!! Well done - Mo looks very nice

I've been a busy bee today, gave DVLA hell first thing, they still haven't found my paperwork, but did manage to annoy them so much they let me fax a V62 and letter from the previous owner to say Mo was mine, apparently they are in the process of at least registering her in my name, then the farce will continue to try and get her an historic tax disc.....

On a more positive note, I have fitted new rear bumper ferrule rubbers, 4 x door handle grommets, 2 x new sidelights, and a new nearside sealed unit headlamp...why don't they fit as easily as the old ones? Offside headlamp has one stubborn screw that can't be removed easily so it's going to have to spend a day covered in WD40!!
New speedo grommet, new bulkhead rubber, two front door draught excluders, but the front doors still bow out on the top half a bit, how do I get them to fit flush?

I've even managed to strip down the fuel sender unit completely, and get the seized unit freely moving and made my own gasket out of gasket paper, and refitted it, and oh yes she worked, a major triumph for me, I feel tired and pleased, all I need now is an engine recondition, and a new respray, oh and some new red vinyl seat covers, then I'll be happy

Nice minor. Good to see another dove grey minor saved, (maybe i'm biased).
The engine in my blue minor was replaced with a low compression unit also.
A small bit of advice, I would keep an eye on the gauge sender unit gasket. I
also made a paper gasket of mine and after a week the petrol ate through the
paper. The cork type gasket was required.

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