Morris Minor Owners Club

I have recently brought a 1098 cc engine to replace my 803 cc. Before I fit the engine in the car I decided to do a few jobs to the engine. One of the jobs is to regrind the valves. When I removed the valves I noticed that they only had a small round oil seal fitted below the two collets on them. In the new gasket set they have provided both the round oil seal and also a cup oil seal with a small band round it. I have looked in the owners manual but it as no reference to the cup seal, do I need to fit both the round oil seal and the cup seal ? I presume the cup seal is used to prevent oil going down the valve guides
Also the manual shows a shroud for the guide and oil seal retainer, but the engine I have is not fitted with a shroud it only as the retainer at the top of the spring do I need to get these shrouds or as the design been changed ?

The 'shrouds' were thrown away years ago - don't worry about them. The later bucket oil seals are really only used where the guides have a little groove in them which the seal can lock into. The rubber ring is just there to supposedly prevent too much oil escaping from the collet grooves and running down the stems. You should certainly refit them - up to you if you also fit the buckets - I suggest on inlet valves only - and don't be surprised if they jump off the guides in use if there is no groove to hold them. You're in for a big jump in performance - from 803 to 1098!

Thanks for the information. Why should I only fit the bucket seals to the inlet valves ? I see that you can now buy a front plate with a oil seal for the front of the gearbox is it worth fitting ? Well I hope to see some sort of speed increase jumping from 803 to 1098 not enough for drag racing thou lol. Its a shame about the 803 she,s a cracking engine did try to sell it along with the gearbox and axle on here but no interest.

Best to let some oil get down the exhaust valve stems - and - the inlets are under 'suction' and so tend to suck in oil. The gearbox front plate has a seal anyway - it shouldn't give any problems. If you are also swapping rear axle - remember the speedo will also need a swap.

I have already fitted the speedo which was donated by billoban cheers I owe you one.
What is the best way to keep the o ring seals under the collets, when I use the valve spring compresser to put the collets back in, the valve spring cup pushes onto the seal and sends it down the stem. But looking at the manual it looks as if it is sitting directly below the collets in the groove on the valve stem. If I use the compresser so the valve spring cup is just touching the seal it will not give me enough room to put the collets back in place.

I don't understand your description of the problem you're having, but these photos show the assembly sequence:

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It looks as if I have been doing the job by the manual. I have been putting the oil seal on first so it is sitting on the bottom of the groove and then putting the valve spring and the valve cap on and then using the spring compresser, thats why I am pushing the seal down the stem. The spring cap pushes the seal down the guide when compressed. I can see by your pictures where I am going wrong.

And the little hairpin clips can be thrown away!

bmcecosse wrote:And the little hairpin clips can be thrown away!

I'm so glad you said that. I don't have any on mine and was slightly worried that I should even though the collets appear to be held in very tight by the spring and spring cup.