Morris Minor Owners Club

Traced Jethro's erratic speedometer performance to the cable, the inner spinning part was catching on the outer cable, twisting up and then releasing causing the needle to jump from zero to eighty plus then back down again. Managed to find some spare instruments in a box that came with the car and as they were in better condition to those already fitted I have replaced the speedo, fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge. Had a devil of a job getting the old speedo cable released from the gearbox as it was screwed on really tightly and, being the original, the brass screw fitting was worn smooth. However after jacking the car up and fitting axle stands I managed to slide underneath (in the rain puddles!) and release it with a pair of mole grips. Then discovered that the new cable I had bought was for a Minor 1000 and too short for a Series two!
Have now ordered the correct cable and hopefully will have the car back on the ground at the weekend. It was nice to see the underside of the car though, it has been completely restored and everything (apart from the bloody speedo cable) is new and sparkling clean, even the grease is new! [frame][/frame]

If only a Series II would do zero to eighty. And puddles. Why are there inevitably puddles? By the way, the underside looks positively lovely!

Thanks, I'm hoping to get the rest of the car finished by Spring, just lots of little jobs left that take a lot of time, worth it though!

I was under ithe impression that all speedo cables were interchangeable, certainly a M1000 cable fits a Series MM.
Have you checked that the replacement speedo has the same TPM?

The original cable that I removed from the car is 9" longer than the cable for a car with centrally mounted speedo, however the cable was routed from the gearbox up through the right hand side of the engine bay (viewed from the front), through the bulkhead behind the passenger glovebox and across to the drivers side speedo position. It seems to me that a shorter cable routed via the left hand side of the engine bay and straight through the bulkhead to the speedo would be a much better design as a shorter cable reduces the possibility of snagging and jamming and allows for a gentler curve from the gearbox to the speedo. Although I have ordered a longer type cable I may try the other method to see which gives the better result. A minor 1000 cable would certainly do the job if it were fitted by the shortest route.