Morris Minor Owners Club

i have recently fitted a 1275 motor and found that when trying to fit the radiator ,the fan is touching the rad. could it be that i have put the front engine tower mounts on the wrong way round?

Sounds like it! What gearbox did you use?

1098 box, it was shot together quickly because of a house move, just starting to get round to putting it together all be it very slowly,would the wrong way round towers cause this problem? the engine seems to be an inch or so too far forward.

Looks like you may have. The vertical side of the towers should be to the rear, sloped side to the front.

Hi,
Are you using the original midget fan with its spacer, if so it is a very tight fit. On mine the fan would hit the top of the rad when I braked hard, sorted this by tightening the gearbox strap and slotting the rad fixing holes with a round file to allow the rad to be moved forward a few mm's, still a tight fit but no longer any contact.

just had a quick look and the verticle sides of the towers do face the rear ,its a plastic fan with 10/11 blades, it came with the motor.that actually touches the rad.obtained a morris 2 blade fan, but that interferes with the breather on the timing chain cover breather mount

I used two Minor fans with spacing washers between the fan and the water pump pulley to clear the timing chain canister. It still misses the rad

thanks i will try that

It is all a bit tight between the water pump pulley and the radiator. To use a mechanical fan, fit a standard Minor one with a spacer between the fan and the pulley to clear the breather can, as Mike suggested, or don't use any mechanical fan and fit an electric one instead. The standard Midget plastic one will not fit in the Minor space.

We have a Midget 1380 engine, with a Spal 9" electric fan fitted in front of the radiator, behind the standard grille, and even with a thicker cored radiator, there is still plenty of clearance with the water pump pulley. You can just see the fan label in the picture below!

got the job sorted lads, thanks for all the advice, put on a 2 blade minor fan, with spacer at the back, took a little bit of twist out of the blade, and elongated the holes in the rad bracket fixing and there is clearance all round , and havent even put the gearbox stiffener on yet so should go back another mil or 2 then, again thanks for all your help, cheers brendan. still looking for a 3 branch manifold also a pair of rear lights, the later ones

Glad you sorted it, I did manage to fit the original midget fan and spacer, needed to reduce the length of the blades as they were hitting the top tank. Looks rather messy and is extremely tight fit but the fan keeps the rad well cooled. not sure how much clearance you are left with between the blades and the rad core, is not much make sure you use the gear box stiffener as when braking hard the whole engine lunges forward, possible straight into your core.[frame][/frame]

Hi brenh2002,

I have a Maniflow 'large bore' LCB (Pt. No. LM053) to suit a 1275 in a MInor that I bought from this BBS. It was on the original owner's car for 6/9 months and I have never used it, as I repaired the one I have had for many years.

Please contact me via the PM is you are interested.

welshrat wrote: [frame][/frame]

Are you sure that you have not got vermin under the bonnet?

Surprising how handy a decent set of teeth can be!

Mini fan 'turned round' still blows - it doesn't make much difference which way round it is fitted - although obviously there is a right way - mainly for clearance . It's certainly NO USE on an inline engine !

les wrote:Surprising how handy a decent set of teeth can be!

I'll have you know that those metal dentures cost me a lot of money. The bites out of the inner of the blades was my fisrt attempt to miss the breather can while not using the spacer, no joy with that plan!!!!!!!!!!!![frame][/frame]

islipminor, very interested in the manifold, did you get my pm