Morris Minor Owners Club

I bought a morris minor 1098cc silver seal engine off a man a couple of weeks ago but it had lots its engine number i have put a engine number off one of my old 1098cc engines i had lying about i have replaced the piston rings,gaskets,head has been skimmed, i have rebuilt the carburettor,new water pump,full engine gasket set,new thermostat and housing,new distributor and ht leads,oil filter,fanbelt,it has the dynamo and starter motor

also i painted it up to a close match to the original silver so all in all i wondered how much it is worth

What was the crank condition ? Were the bearing shells renewed and/or crank reground? New oil pump fitted? New timing chain ? Is it a 948 or a 1098 or even a 1275 ?? So many questions I know - but all important. The actual 'silverseal' designation is worth nothing - it's engine type and condition that is all important........

its a 1098cc engine ooops forgot to mention its had new shells and timing chain also new oil pump

Just put it on ebay with a link from here and see what it fetches.......

(i have put a engine number off one of my old 1098cc engines i had lying about) so you have created a ringer

I have a silver seal engine bought new in 87 and it has a differant serial number to production engines.

I too have a Silver Seal engine, though a 1275. The serial number is completely different to the normal engines - presumably just a serial number of the reconditioning process.
Incidentally, whats the difference between Silver Seal and Gold seal?
I understood that Gold seal was 'everything replaced - as new' and Silver seal was less so - just the worn bits replaced so a cheaper recon engine. But I expect I'm wrong.....

Gold seal engines were factory replacement engines built by Unipart. The had liners in the bores which made them harder wearing.

Gold seal engines were complete units, ready to fit. Silver seal engines were exchange units with just the 'short' block provided to fit the old head, sump and ancilliaries onto.

Unless it's still in the crate it was delivered in, any colour of engine is just another engine.
Just because it was reconditioned 30 years ago doesn't mean it's still good.

As Josh has replaced the piston rings,gaskets,and skimmed the head it might as well be called a Joshseal engine, for my money anyway.

Obviously the same goes for Gold seal gearboxes, take everything on it's own merits, Gold paint is cheap, and recon parts were dear.

i like that lol joshseal engine dont forget there was a blue seal engine as well

Gold seal engines were complete units, ready to fit. Silver seal engines were exchange units with just the 'short' block provided to fit the old head, sump and ancilliaries onto.

My silver seal engine was a complete unit, with a little plastic plate on the rocker cover, 'where you would expect the Morris badge to be saying SILVER SEAL. I didn't have it from 'new' it was liberated from a dead Marina many years ago. Had it in three Minors now and its still going well, though now uses some oil.

There's a certain shade and texture of both the gold and silver paint used on these recon units which is difficult to redo convincingly. It s a bit thin, and not shiny. Bit like trying to fake an antique really, anyone who knows what they are like will spot one thats been redone!
And yes, they're all 30odd years old now so a gold or silver seal engine may well be just as worn out as any old Minor engine.

Iwould hazard a guess at its worth at £50

Im not aware of a blue seal engine.

Are you sure your not referring to a BMC vedette engine. Which was/is a Morris minor engine that was marinised for marine use in boats. Ive seen these engines painted a metallic sky blue?

Regards

Steve B

Re: blue seal engine. Already been discussed - see http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=33296

Did a quick search on Gold and silver seal engines and got the following - what 'the engine numbers mean' links.
Obviously you need to have the engine number intact to find out...
couldnt find any mantion of Blue seal, I'd expect it to be a non BMC BL engineering companies own recon unit, branded as such to fit in with the commonly known Silver and Gold brands. Still not found a a definate answer to the difference between a Gold and Silver seal though. I'm sticking with my guess that a Gold seal was a full as new engine, and the Silver ones presumably were engines that came in for recon that weren't too bad ie: a set of rings and a hone, or a crank polish and shells brought it back up to spec. Makes sense fromt he manufacturing point of view too. why rebore an engine if it dosn't need it? Just sell it on as a Silver seal...
I think both Gold and Silver were available as short blocks rather than a full engine, but again I may be wrong....

http://www.calverst.com/articles/Eng-en ... n_data.htm

http://www.minimania.com/MM/Engine___Id ... PDATED.htm

Here's a real live Silver seal rocker cover with original label! I saved it from my engine when I fitted it in the Minor van. It was looking tatty and had no real continous history so I painted it engine green. (Well Land Rover green actually which i snear enough.... )
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As to the original question of this thread about Josh's engine, an ok s/h runner seems to sell for around £50 -£100, maybe a little more perhaps. whereas a recon engine from a minor specialist is in the £600-£700 range, so Josh's old silver seal, fettled up with some new bits could be £200 -£250?