Morris Minor Owners Club

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWAX:IT

I think this would go well in a Minor - has anyone done it ?

what gearbox will fit the engine

Its a different fitment to the K series engines.

Fundamentally, its a peugeot/citroen lump so I'm not sure if there are any suitable RWD boxes

If there was one near me at that sort of price -I would grab it and worry about the box later. I would hope to simply make an adapter/backplate to use the Minor box. It would run on veg oil (£3.13 for 3 litres in Morrisons) - would need the 3.7 final drive, and possibly would be limited by revs to ~ 70 mph. But since that's the speed limit anyway.......

Using waste veg oil is a much more ecological ideal - people using new stuff is the reason for the high prices and the price is pushing up food prices here as well as in parts of the 3rd world where food is already costing more than their income.

If you want tips on filtering & diluting waste veg oil, just ask ;-)

I'm waiting for a 948cc A-Series diesel to turn up! 16bhp @ 2,500rpm might limit it to town use only though...

Hard to get waste veg oil now Ray - I would need to make an awful lot of chips...... I believe the price in the shops is being driven up by the manufacturers - not by a supply shortage. I used to run the only Rapeseed processing plant in Scotland (400 tonnes a day - EVERY day) - but it was shamelessly bought over and shut down by the bigger boys in Liverpool - to limit the competition. Effect is that much less Rape is grown in Scotland now - it's just not economic to lug it down the M74 to Liverpool for processing.
The A series diesel is a seriously hopeless prospect - very inefficient and unlikely to give any decent economy.

tHAT AINT WHAT i GOT.

Look for a pre '2000 escort/mondeo turbo diesel intercooled 1.8 if you want to go down that route... will bolt up to a type 9 and with a 3.9 diff (185/60/14) tyres is meant to do 110.

I get 40mpg driving my (non intercooled) escort estate (about 1100kg) fairly hard and over 50 if I am being gentle. My old one with an intercooler was better

The Metro diesel on ebay didn't sell at £99. I actually think the best way forward is an LPG kit on a 948 - but a small diesel on veg oil would be quite competitive on fuel costs, I'm sure! The one you mention Matt sounds great - if you want performance. But for best economy - I think it's too large capacity.

Hi BMC

I have a 1.4 Peugeot diesel with the TUD engine. I can certainly vouch for their economy... Ive regularly had over 80 mpg on a long run.

These engines can however be very troublesome with head gaskets and also cracks forming in the cylinder liners

Other than that yes they are a good little engine and would have plenty of power for a minor.

Taupe

Like I say I get at least 40MPG on my current one and was getting 45 (with a similar driving style on the old one)

65mpg is definately possible in my escort - will be higher in a minor as there is less weight!

I used to run the only Rapeseed processing plant in Scotland

before or after being an H&S officer in a munitions plant?

bmcecosse wrote:The Metro diesel on ebay didn't sell at £99. I actually think the best way forward is an LPG kit on a 948 --snip-

That is a MUCH better idea! Why has no-one else thought of that? LPG kit for a 4-cylinder carb car is well under £1k last time I checked and a competent owner mechanic can fit it themselves provided it is checked. And LPG is cheap.

Diesel is more expensive than petrol and diesel cars are much more expensive to service as well- no putting £5 a gallon supermarket oil in a turbo diesel car! Plus the oil filters are more expensive than a Minor oil filter and trouble shooting a faulty modern diesel car can be a nightmare.

can you run a moggy engine for 10,000 miles without servicing?

You can run any engine for 10,000 miles without servicing, but it's not a good idea!

mercedes 416 sprinter-every 14000
renault master 2.5dci-every 18000
transit every 15000
vw passat every 20,000 some 40,000
vauxhalls (some)40000
the economy and service costs of diesels is superior to petrols.
DIESELS ROOL

chickenjohn wrote:

bmcecosse wrote:The Metro diesel on ebay didn't sell at £99. I actually think the best way forward is an LPG kit on a 948 --snip-

That is a MUCH better idea! Why has no-one else thought of that? LPG kit for a 4-cylinder carb car is well under £1k last time I checked and a competent owner mechanic can fit it themselves provided it is checked. And LPG is cheap.

Diesel is more expensive than petrol and diesel cars are much more expensive to service as well- no putting £5 a gallon supermarket oil in a turbo diesel car! Plus the oil filters are more expensive than a Minor oil filter and trouble shooting a faulty modern diesel car can be a nightmare.

what makes you think diesels are more expensive than petrols to service?

The LPG idea is a good one, although you need to use a certified (expensive) person to fit it for it to be legit.

The potential advantage of a diesel is having one that will cope OK with new or used, filtered, vegetable oil or even bio diesel at a push.
This means not the latest common rail diesels which are fussy about what you put in them.

There should be a sweet spot between heavy agricultural diesel engines that will run on just about anything oily, and highly computerised common rail ones that wont drink anything.
Preferably turboed and inter cooled as it's power for free on a diesel engine

The 1.4xud engines cannot run on single tank wvo, only a twin tank set up. The same goes for the pre- immobiliser 1.5xud's. The metro only ever came with a 1.4 xud engine with a lucas CAV pump, so best look for engines from a late saxo or facelift 106. If you have to have a diesel *shudders* in your minor.

Mind you a wvo thou is a good way to ruin the experience of motoring.

File the cost of petrol under 'fun' instead of 'expense' and keep the engine it has!