Morris Minor Owners Club

Morning Folks,

James from Australia, my 52 side-valve wont go after being out of action for the winter (work got in the way). I will admit from the outset that I have fiddled with almost everything in trying to get it to go, including and perhaps not limited to:

1) tried a pertronix ignitor, and have rotated the distributor 180 degrees, and rotated the plug leads appropriately. Wouldn't go, went back to points, replaced condenser, coil, re timed off 1 with timing light to TDC. Have good spark at 2,3,4' however 1 is intermittent at the plug but not the HT lead.

2) after all that, found out exhaust on 1 was stuck and inlet on 2 was stuck, both now free with good compression. Still wont go.

3) removed carb (H1) cleaned, and I get fuel to the jet, piston rising and falling, but very sloppy spindle at butterfly. Thought perhaps air leak? Have suction at the carb end of the inlet manifold, but no suction on my hand at the air filter end of the carb. I spoke to the Su supplier and they thought this should not stop it running.

So, when I throw it over it fires (eventually) wants to run and stops.....any hints? I am going with a large air leak that I am yet to uncover.

Cheers James

Don't worry about spindle wear. Advance the ignition timing till it runs. If it kicks against the starter - you've gone too far. And check the firing order !

You have a spark at each plug
Is the firing order correct 1342 anti clockwise?.
Check the fuel pump is ticking and delivering fuel to the carb
Check the carb mixture nut is turned down two complete turns from the top.
Remove the air filter and lift the carb piston up and check that it falls smoothly onto the bridge
Give the engine a couple of clicks of choke knob and a bit of accelerator
Try starting
If no go then slacken the distributor clamp bolt just enough to turn the dizzy - too much and the dizzy will rise out of the head
Turn the dizzy each way until it fires or kicks back, if not swap the plug leads 180 degrees and try again.
When you get close fine adjust the dizzy until the engine runs. When it has warmed up then you can fine tune the timing and carb until you get a smooth tickover.
Road test it on your favourite hill and adjust the timing a little at a time until you get the best performance


Please move this topic to the Series MM Register

Thanks gents, I will give those suggestions a go and get back to you.

Also, how do I move the post to the mm section?

Request Moderators to move it

If all else fails, try a NEW set of spark plugs, properly gapped.
I've had engines that wouldn't run after sitting for months, sometimes years. Put a new set of plugs in, get it running, run for a while till engine is good and warm, shut off, replace 1/2 of the plugs w/the old ones, start up, runs terrible for a coupla minutes till the old plugs start working properly again, then shut off, replace the rest of the plugs w/the old ones and restart, again runs terrible untill the replaced plugs start firing properly again. Then you're back in business and have a spare set of plugs.
Have done this numerous times on balky engines.