Morris Minor Owners Club

The Marina engine in my minor is rebuilt with an unleaded head, I have set the timing at 12 btdc and was wondering if anyone else has set there's up different, thanks

That;s far too much advance - why did you set it so far forward? Is there a vacuum advance on the dizzy? I'm surprised it starts with that much advance ! I would never set more than 3 or 4 degrees - but the real setting is 'not quite ' pinking when slogging in top gear, and a nice idle. To get the two together - you may need to modify the mechanical advance in the dizzy - do you know how much there is at the moment in the dizzy? What marking is there on the bob weight?

I set it at that as that's what is recommended in the Marina manual

Oh dear......

I always start at 10 degrees BTDC,Then move the dizzy around untill tick over peaks ,that is just about spot on,every thing else being equal

That's a crazy amount of static advance for a 1275 engine. I suspect the original dizzy for 'emissions' reasons perhaps had very low mechanical advance and thus the rather high static setting. But I'm amazed it would start in cold weather - I had no hope of starting my Mini engines with that level of advance - kicking like mad against the starter.......

We have an Aldon 'Yellow' distributor on our 1380 and also around 10° BTDC static advance to give the 'all in' of ~30°- never had any problems with starting.