Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,
Since buying my convertible, Mavis, one thing which has bugged me is the engine bay., it's greasy, flakey and has had poorly applied sound-deadening and bitchumin on the bulkhead.

last week, the clutch was nearing the end of it's working travel. that friday, i got home from uni about 4, by 5.30, the engine was out.

I decided to give the engine bay a spruce up[frame][/frame]

After scraping all the crud off, i stripped everything bar the loom out (including a wiedly plumbed in brake servo, which will be for sale on here soon (#shamelessplug)

I then took a rotary wire brush to it, then cleaned it thoroughly with petrol and thinners

A good coat of zinc primer, then a drop of 2k smoke grey left over from Misty's respray brushed on.[frame][/frame]

followed by a little detailing[frame][/frame]

gave the engine a powerwash, good rub down, clean and lick of mowog green, and fitted a non-servo manifold.[frame][/frame]

everything which had been stripped out has now been cleaned and painted, and i'm about to go and put the engine back in -- more pics to follow

The first thing that occurred to me Mat was the verbal abuse I would receive from the lady of the house, if I conducted this operation without first lining the drive with a suitable protective sheet, perhaps that says more about my house training than I care to admit
For the sake of good relations, I hope you put down something protective on the floor first.

:-p the drive's a mess enough already, but i'll be sure to hve a good sweep up later on

just dropped the engine in,with help of my brother and a neighbor (too tight to buy a hoist :-p ) [frame][/frame]

just needs finally positioning on the mounts, connecting up, front back on, and go for a start

going to leave that 'til tomorrow, though -- it's cold wet and miserable outside and my back hurts

before i dropped it in, i couldnt resist a little madness parody...
[frame][/frame]

as an aside, does anyone have a spare heater tap (early) - the thred in mine's totally done,m so i've had to make up a blanking plate and block on the end on the heater pipe -- far from ideal in this weather![frame][/frame]

Good work Matt, goes to show what you can get done in a short time when your really motivated!

Great job and fast too!
Given the weather forecast I'd take a bolt that a hose will fit over nicely, drill a hole in the middle and put it through the blanking plate with a nut on the other side flat washers and some sealant to keep it water tight.
Soft southern jessie that I am

Well done Matt - a good job there! A single fan blade is more than enough to cool a Minor.. And I'm guessing you know that a small car like a Minor just doesn't NEED a brake servo!

jagnut66 wrote:Hi Matt,
Just out of interest, why have you got rid of the brake servo? (I'm assuming it works of course............)
Best wishes,
Mike.

it was terribly plumbed in, with huge unnecessary lengths of pipe. also, i think they look terrible in an engine bay -- and besides, i can lock the wheels up on misty without a servo, so it's not really necessary imho

bmcecosse wrote:Well done Matt - a good job there! A single fan blade is more than enough to cool a Minor.. And I'm guessing you know that a small car like a Minor just doesn't NEED a brake servo!

the lack of heater and the fact that she will be coming back to oxford with me mean that i've put the two blades on -- she did get rather hot in oxford traffic before :-/

When I ran my Minor as a daily drive to Uni etc -it had NO fan fitted. One blade is more than enough - even in summer.

it was terribly plumbed in, with huge unnecessary lengths of pipe. also, i think they look terrible in an engine bay -- and besides, i can lock the wheels up on misty without a servo, so it's not really necessary imho

Fair enough. Good to see more grey cars being saved, as I've said before all the spare panels I've used on mine / come across seem to be grey, I shall have to save one myself!
Although I also fancy Maroon, Black, Green......................
Best wishes,
Mike.