Morris Minor Owners Club

I think I'm right in saying that a modified backplate has to be made if you want to install an Ital or Marina 1275+ engine in a Minor.

Can anyone tell me 1) how you go about getting one made, 2) what is it likely to cost, 3) does each backplate have to be custom made for each engine, or is there a standard one you can buy off the shelf - ie, would the maker have to have the car or engine in front of him while he make the plate and 4) are there any other things that have to be done to fit an Ital engine successfully into a Minor?

Hi,
I think the Morris Minor Centre in Bath can supply ready made backplates.I don't know how much they cost.
I have just bought a Morris Ital 1275 + engine/clutch/gearbox on e-bay, and intend to do the same conversion later this year, so I would be interested to know how you progress.

if you take the backplate off your minor engine and hold it over the marina backplate, you will see that the large hole in the middle where the tail of the crankshaft goes though, is larger on the marina plate. if you have the ability yourself, or know a local machine shop, you can use the marina backplate as a template for opening out the minor backplate.

but as monty said, you can buy them from most minor parts suppliers if you prefer. some sell them as 'exchange' items, so will want your old minor backplate aswell in return.

there's nothing else major on the fitting front. you may have a problem with angles of heater taps. but that's fairly simple to remedy if/when you find it.

i cant recall if the marina engine has the same front plate as the minor (the bit with the 'ears' where the engine mounts bolt to). you may need to fit the minor front plate to the marina engine. don't take my word for it though. just look at both of your engines and see if there is a difference!

As above - just open up the hole in the 1098 backplate to clear the slightly larger rear main bearing on the 1275 engine - it took me 5 minutes with a small angle grinder. It doesn't need to be super neat - no-one can see it! You also need to enlarge very slightly the centre hole at the top which engages with the dowel in the engine block. No need to spend a fortune on a new backplate!

i do have a modified one bought from thr minor center if interested

When I did mine I had to slightly offset the oil pump hole as well as altering the crank hole, unfortunately that meant re doing the recess in places for the pump cover flange to sit in.

Depends which oilpump is fitted - I found I had plenty of clearance for the 1098 cover - but some pumps may need a bit filed off.

Yes that could be the case, from memory though I used a marina backplate as a template, and according to the owen burton manual the pump hole is bigger and 'radially displaced by about 5mm', they don't recommend altering the minor backplate, instead buy one of theirs!!!!

monty712 wrote:Hi,
I think the Morris Minor Centre in Bath can supply ready made backplates.I don't know how much they cost.
I have just bought a Morris Ital 1275 + engine/clutch/gearbox on e-bay, and intend to do the same conversion later this year, so I would be interested to know how you progress.

That wasn't the £325 one from Scotland, was it?

That's the reason I was asking the question!

Ah well, another one slips through the net....!

Yes the Marina backplate has a larger diameter 'cup' to cover the oil pump - but the 1098 one was fine with the steel-backed oil pump (THE recommended pump) I used.

I fitted a new oil pump top a 1098 and it fouled the original backplate so my best guess is that the oil pump issue relates to the oil pump size as well as the differences in backplate clearances.

Indeed it does - the steel back pump is fine.