Morris Minor Owners Club

one of the lugs on my new alternator snapped leading to no fan or water pump and a serious overheating! I lost power and had to be towed home. What am i going to need? i recon new alternator, maybe radiator, maybe head gasket. any other things that could now need replacing?
i have a 12G295 head to go in but it is a bit old i need to get it cleaned up and skimmed, what is the best treatment for it? how much do i need to skim it?
Do the morris temperature guages work well, is it a sound investment to stop future overheating?

Hi Robin,

Try just an alternator to start with.... and a temp guage......
Refill everything, check for drips & dribbles and give her a run. You may be pleasantly surprised ! These old cast iron engines are stronger than some give 'em credit.

SHY's old engine actually ejected all its water... and kept going down the motorway at 70+ with no problems for another 30 miles ! Only finally heat siezing at the slip road when I stopped for traffic The scary thing is, an hour later, having been refilled, she started first time and ran like a dream... still thowing water out of the rad though All that's needed is a head gasket.

The only reason I pulled the engine out was because it's a prized 1300cc, which I'm going to rebuild, due to its worn rings, big end & god knows what else - and I had a spare 1098 one anyway

So, armed with a 2nd hand metro alternator (£10 / £20 ?) and a temp guage off a mini..... or a new one for about £25, see what the car's like !

Don't condem it 'til its proved to be dead

Hope it all goes well, good luck

Hi Robin I f you are looking for a quick return to the road ,don't mess with the head swap yet . I f you have to the h/gasket then CONSIDER the head .Jim is right .

Assuming the head hasn't been done already, take about 60thou off.

I fully agree not to fix anything until you've tried it.
On my first run out 2 years ago, My blue saloon lost all its water and eventually got so hot that it stopped running at >70mph on the M1....
The engine was very tired already, but all it needed was some more water and it made the rest of the journey (slowly).
It needed a new thermostat and a bit of servicing, and has been running fine ever since (including a few trips to Brighton etc... )

Ray, Sounds a bit like my missus after a night on the tiles ! Abit tired ,give her some water ,and she'll make it home slowly!!!

i just tried filling the radiator up with water and it was leaking from behind the fan, any ideas? has my fuel pump had it?
how about the thermostat?
I have a 1/2 SU to fit, am i right in thinking that i can use an inlet manifold from an old metro or mini?
also can i fit this exhaust manifold strait on?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1
and will it match up to my original steel exhaust? if not can i fit it with a new box and what type should i go for?

i just tried filling the radiator up with water and it was leaking from behind the fan, any ideas?

behind the fan - from the radiator or the engine??
If it is on the engine side then either the water pump or the little bypass hose.

I have a 1/2 SU to fit, am i right in thinking that i can use an inlet manifold from an old metro or mini?
also can i fit this exhaust manifold strait on?

Yes a Mini alloy inlet manifold will work fine. That manifold will fit straight on BUT:

will it match up to my original steel exhaust? if not can i fit it with a new box and what type should i go for?

No it won't match your existing system. The birmingham minor centre do the rest of the exhaust system (2 piece). It's all actually made by Falcon systems.

You might be OK, but I have had nothing but trouble with mine.

Word of warning..... from someone who's been there (tooo often) don't do everything at once !

Just find the leak (maybe just the little hose, pump to head as Ray says) then get her going and have a drive about. Lets be honest, a water pump is only about £12... I even have a spare (now ) as mine didn't need changing.... shame you're not closer, you could have had it !


As for the manifold.... you can just cut the inlet off the exhuats portion on your existing manifold... I did on several mini's with no obvious problems (in the days when metro's were too new to be scrap !)