Morris Minor Owners Club

hi what 1275 engine is the best to get which is easy to fit al i know is you have to change the backplate and flywheel

This question was asked last week. See here: http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f= ... hilit=1275

Hi Josh

Being a 'young one' I would consider how much this mod would load your insurance, that is, if it’s for your new project.
Certainly worth a quick tel phone to your insurance company.- If you already have the engine give it to me!

made my insurace go down 20 quid when i put mine in with disks and servo

So, Jumbo brakes, insurance = £ 0.00

probably midget, not definatly sure, i just know thats what alot of people use

when i was modifying my car suspension and brake upgrades had no affect on my insurance.. however fitting metro seats did cause my insurance to increase as it "advertised" the fact that my car was modified!

According to the quoted figures the HP output of the 1275cc Midget engine is "equivilent" to that of the 1275cc A+ engine fitted to the Ital. Don't get "sucked" into the "it's a Midget motor so it must be worth £xxxx" that is unless you already have the engine.

Regards

John

charlie_morris_minor wrote:when i was modifying my car suspension and brake upgrades had no affect on my insurance.. however fitting metro seats did cause my insurance to increase as it "advertised" the fact that my car was modified!

The metro seats increased it! What insurance company are you with? That might change my plans for my new car...

Midget engine is easiest, all this talk of changing flywheels has never made much sense to me, as they use the same gearbox input shaft (in fact, aside from some beefed up internals, same gearbox!), and just slot into place. The clutch is a diaphragm rather than coil sprung thing, which some mifght find a bit heavy with the Minor mechanical linkage.. But, the flywheel/ clutch on the 1275 Midget is lighter, I think, than the 1098, so there's a slight performance gain, as well as less chance of clutch slip.

Basically, dropping a Midget 1275 in a Minor is as easy as dropping a Minor engine in a Minor

And I'venot seen many cheap 1275 Ital lumps recently, seems *all* 1275s are expensive

The Midget engine drops straight in, all you need is a new conversion thermostat housing and a V notch out of the engine steady bar bracket to clear the heater tap. The clutch just needs my patent modification to the linkage to make it feel like the 1098 clutch. Read the topic on changing from hydraulic to manual clutch.

Trouble is - not too many 1275 Spridget engines about - they do tend to fetch rather more than the other 1275 engines.

I looked under the bonnet of a late Marina 1300 at a show on the weekend and was surprised to see the oil filter up where the oil pipe comes out on other A Series and an engine mounting where the oil filter normally sits.

I also saw the first Morgan I had ever seen with an A Series . It was a 1938 Series 1 4/4 and as I peered through the louvres in the bonnet, to see if was Coventry Climax or Standard, I saw "Mowog" on a manifold . I made enquiries and the bonnet was lifted to reveal an A Series engine (Single carb) and box. Apparently the IOE Coventry Climax is too gutless and has been replaced by the A Series, though the owner still has the Climax engine and old Moss box.

In the 1930s. the 4/4 was reckoned to be a fair performer; just shows how times have changed. How I'd like a car like that (With the Coventry Climax or the Standard engine they also used)!!!!! I could enter VSCC events . Anyone know the numbers for the Lottery this week?????

I'm amazed a single carb A series (was it a huge HIF 44??) is better than a Coventry Climax engine - unless it was a very simple early agricultural unit - not OHC !

It looked like a small carb. The Coventry Climax, used in the Series 1 Morgan, was an IOE unit of 1122cc.

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Ahhh - very nice. The CC engines became famous because of their early use of OHC technology in high revving guise - to drive water pumps of course!

The thing is fire pumps have to be portable and therefore lightweight, so there's common ground with a racing car. I'm sure a friend of mine, who has been into auto jumbling, had some firepump engines. If I remember the crank was not the same spec as the car engine but the block was useful. Of course the Hillman Imp engine is a copy of the SOHC Climax and that engine had a successful competition career. Before bike engines took over, the 1100 racing car class in hillclimbs was dominated by Imp engined cars.

Interestingly when my father hillclimbed a Lotus 7, in the very early 1960s, the man to beat was Daniel Richmond, who had a very special A Series engine. He used to beat the Climax engined 7s and that was before the 1275 engine or even the 1098, 1071, 998, 997, 970 etc engines had come along; Daniel Richmond's engine started off as a 948!! Daniel Richmond was no mean driver, which no doubt had some bearing on things. However, I like pushrods and rockers .

I had a plan once to put an Imp engine in the front of a Mini...... got the engine and box..... and then got married, which soon put an end to all those thoughts.......
There were (are?) special 'red' cranks - I think EN40B nitrided steel - for 948 engines which allowed v high revs ! Richmond was of course the founder of Downton - famed A series tuners of the era!