Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, I'm going to be fitting a 12g940 head to a 1098 with a hif 38 on an alloy manifold. I'll hopefully be using the car to tour places (first stop germany) so I want the engine to run well but not be too loud. Whats the best route to go down? (planning ahead, will not do this for some time) I want usable power. I've heard switching to a tubular manifold rather than cast adds alot of noise? I've seen there is a metro cast manifold with twin exit but can you not get downpipes for this? can you mate say a twin box maniflow to the standard cast manifold without doing any fabrication? or would that just be pointless waste of money. Should I just stick with the standard (relatively new looking) stainless system? (would have to hack the manifold to add the hif38)

I would stick with the newish stainless system. When I changed away from that to a 3 branch (not LCB) manifold and straight through larger bore exhaust - I got a LOT more noise, and negligible (if any!) increase in performance. An LCB exhaust is definitely not advised unless going to quite a high state of modification on the engine - it can actually lose power on a low tune engine.

Cheers that'll save a bit of money, It's already quite tiring on the ears long distance. I guess the best thing is to change to 3.9 diff with the money saved from the exhaust ;-) or will that state of tune not cope with that diff?

Of course it will - I have a 3.7 final drive and it pulls that very well. But if you are going to be heavily laden - the 3.9 may be the better bet - and more affordable too.....

What is the most economical way of obtaining a 3.7 or 3.9 diff? are you running 3.7 on a 1098? My diff leaks quite alot at the moment from the front where the axle goes in. I'm not keen on 'touching' something twice, and think I'd leave a diff change to a garage so would make the change when the leak gets sorted if I decide to swap the diff

You just have to search around for a suitable final drive unit (note the 'diff' is just the bit inside which allows one wheel to run faster than the other) - and hope to get one at a good price. It's a VERY easy job to swap one for the other. Not at all a 'garage' job. Yes - my 1098 with 940 and 38HIF pulls the 3.7 very well - but I rarely have more than '2 up' (and a large box of spares) in the car...

sounds good to me

would this be an easy enough fix? or best looking out for a known good one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIDGET-SPRITE ... 0974782036

Up to you if willing to have a 'hum'.... Mine does whine a bit - but hardly noticeable above the general din!

I notice mine every now and again more a whirr whoosh, it's a slight humm or buying one untested at that price? or best to plonk for a known good one looking closer to 4 times that money

I would go with it........

Doesn't the sprite/midget axle fill from the rear? Morris fills from the front. If you put a sprite/midget unit in a Morris axle, will you have a fill port?
David

Easily sorted.......just fill through the breather or via an 'uphill' half shaft if no fill point in the axle. I ended up with TWO fill points........

Mine is a late model, I have a plug at the back which is accessed under car about half way up the diff, so I would understand that would be OK. the price is going up on that item, and I understand from reading around that there should be some washer/shims between the bearings or a collapsible washer which 'preloads' the bearings I would guess either the incorrect shims have been used or the washer has been collapsed too much. I don't think I'd be able to remedy the stiffness/humming myself, will keep an eye out for others perhaps a 3.7

There are no 'bargains' - too many eyes watching these days - and 3.7 seem to get > £150 these days....

Fast, Good and Cheap, pick any two.
Quiet and efficient is a bit like that.
If efficient = quiet, no problem though.

I know everything is a compromise. Unless you just go all out for one thing. I want it all ;-). but a better designed exhaust could potentially be quiet whilst providing a performance increase over the original, just appears the companies opt for all out sports exhausts. I guess it's supply and demand. At the moment my biggest performance increase will just be getting the engine running correctly.

Maximum profit and forget the punter seems to be modern business practice, that and not paying any tax