Morris Minor Owners Club

getting a bit anoyed about picking an engine, the mx5 engine is about 4 inch to long it hits the steering rack and cause im keeping it there looks like in guna have to twin cam it and cause of time this looks easiest

what i need to know is what is involved in fitting a 2lt twin cam also what do i do about clutch pedel


cheers tom

Is it just the bellhousing which hits the steering rack? Because with most conversions the bellhousing has to be nothced to fit, inc fiat i believe? Is the gearbox too long to sensibly fit in a minor, or is it ok? Most modern engines will require slight mods to the crossmember and bulkhead, eg zetec.

I seem to recall in a previous post you are running a marina pedal box, you can either modify the clutch pedal to take a cable do a quick search, one of the members posted some photos of a very neat job he did, or you can as i am (trying) fit a clutch slave to the fiat box.

as well as notching the bell housing you will need to chop out the front cross member and weld a narrower one in. The gearbox tunnel will need modifying as well..

nono im running standard minor pedels and no the atchual engine is to long it will stick out past the front panel

cheers

i thought the MX5 engine was basically a Zetec in disguise? I believe 'Innovator' on here is making an MX5 minor, or at least helping his brother make one! Could be worth sending him a PM.

no got hold on a 1.8 engine and it is to long to fit with the standard steerin rack was a bit anoyed

tom

ah, bummer!

well there's plenty of guys on here with fiat TC's, and Minor Matters has run articles in the current, and the Nov/Dec issue in the technical tips section, about how to do it yourself!

tom before throwing the motor and going for for an old twin cam, ask jonathon on the other forum about the engine, if it is the same he will tell you that, and how to fit it.

have you thought about the toyota 4age engine as fitted to the mr2? there are a number of bolt on ford gearbox kits available?

they arnt the same, i wasnt bothered about cutting the crossmember out but ive measuresured how long the engine is and it hits the steering rack and sticks out past the front panel 4 inch, and no how availvable are the 4 age engine ?

cheers tom

down by me there is an MR2 breaker so readily available..nationaly though.. probably slightly more common than the fiat twin cam engine.. slightly more work though due to the gearbox. i.e. if you can not find a RWD toyota gearbox you will need to go down the ford gearbox route and change the bellhousing, the mod is / was common on kit cars so I would imagine the bellhousing is a small as possible to keep the sales oportunities up ( if that makes sense )

when i was going to be putting a 4age in my minor i found that the 4age engine became a bitch to find, and prices were going up.
why dont you go for a zetec??? there are loads of them on fleabay, not that expensive either and parts are easy to get hold of unlike fiat twink and 4age

I'm swapping my fiat twin cam for a ford focus st170 mated to a type 9 box, don't get me wrong the fiat engine was brilliant but I want my car to be quicker as for fitting the st engine, it's about 1" longer than the fiat but alot taller. You've still got to cut the bellhousing for steering rack clearance and also the bulkhead crossmember for clearance I've also found that the parts are more expencive but much more easy to get hold of. It depends on how deep your pockets are on whitch engine to go for, fiat engines are great fun and one of the easiest conversions for the Morris ( if you can get a good one).
Stevie

hello all

looks like I need to strip my fiat 1.8 T/C as its down on compression on number four cylinder only 70psi all the others on 120psi which is still low and causing the engine to misfire. Where's the best to source parts from that are not going to have your pants down and grease you up. only need to rebuild bottom end as previous owner had the top done two years ago and i suspect that's what put extra pressure on the rings and caused the problem.

FD Ricambi are a useful supplier for older Fiat parts:
https://www.fdricambi.com/en/?srsltid=A ... Sla7Z0hI2J

Ricambio also:
https://www.ricambio.co.uk/fiat

You may even find that Lada piston rings, for instance, may fit...