Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, My dad has a Morris Minor Traveller sitting in our drive and it has been there for a year!

I learnt to drive in the Morris so I feel like I should help it!

I was wondering what other engine will fit in the engine bay without any major modifications and that will be easy to get and will increase power!

(looking at 80bhp+ or near)

Also I was wondering if anyone knows if I will be able to get insured on it after I have done modifications (bigger engine), my dad said that he will insure it and I can go as 2nd driver (I am only 19 and have been driving for 1 and a half years with no claims).

Hope someone can help,

Tobi

hi, 1275 midget engines a ggod but hard to find and marinas 1300 are also good. i beleive i'm right in saying that both would cope with the standard mog gearbox if you take it easy. The engine bay could take a much larger unit although you'll need to upgrade brakes etc and anything over 70bhp will require a stronger rear axle, mk1/2 escort/marina/etc.

my insurance, am 32, will increase 25% with 1275 engine

see technical tips page for engine banter and try the search on this forum when the site is quiet.

cheers. sb

Most o fthe engine upgrades are explained in Owen Burtons book Marina to Minor available from the Bath Centre.

Thanks for the reply!

I will look into both situations!

Thanks,

Tobi

A spridget axle should cope with 70 bhp too.....

A standard Moggy one with hardened half-shafts should JUST be able to cope too.

the best axle to have is the one the beardsmore brothers have fitted a couple of times is the a60 or the toyota celica in my minor im just welind in an a60 axle thats been modified to 4 bar setup then one day i will put the bigger motor but not the 1850 it came with

a60 axle thats been modified to 4 bar setup

What does that mean 4 bar setup.

probably radius arms and a watts linkage....

What does that mean 4 bar setup.

one less than a 5 link setup (JLH's 5 link rear set up is rather cool.. )

dont tell the wife.... but i have already started planning coilovers and links for the rear end of mine..

The other option is to tune the 1098 to produce the power you want. Having done this quite a few times, I would recommend the following. Buy david vizard's a series tuning bible and read it. 80bhp is easy from a 1098 with stock fuel economy.

You should be able to get properly insured for a mildly tuned 1098. As it will have a single carb. The exhaust and inlet manifold/carb are the only external mods visable. If the insurance co suspect that you are the main driver on dads insurance by the way, they will refuse to pay out!

Here is my 80+ bhp (flywheel) spec, verified on a rolling road.

Mini cooper 12g295 head, easy to find on ebay. Flows more than any race spec 12g202 head stock. Needs to be skimmed to maintian CR. Set the CR to around 10.5:1.

The Swift Tune SW5 cam, a high torque cam. A modern high lift version of the exellent cooper 997 cam. buy the kit that includes the double row timing chain, lifters and quality oil pump.

3 branch extractor exhaust and system by janspeed/maniflow or similar, often on ebay but not very expensive anyway.

Minispares ally inlet manifold. The best.

Use a HIF 1 3/4" carb (the HIF 44 I think - been a long time!). This carb is way better than any of the old SU's and will return more MPG.

Don't what ever you do use those thin pancake filters, they cost 5hp and make the carb impossible to jet. The smartest move is to use the MG metro air filter casing from a scrapyard/ebay with a new K&N element, sold by minispares. This makes 3hp more than the cone K&N, and with much quieter induction along with the proper cold air preheat needed to stop your carb icing in the winter. It also looks stock and will load the premium less than a pancake filter.

Pertronix ignitor ignition module, the cheapest and best.
NGKBP6 v grooved spark plugs, quailty leads, don't waste money on boy racer inch thick tat. Makes not one bit of difference...

Rebuild the engine with quality OE bearings and pistons. If the budget will stand it, then overbore using Hilman imp pistons for 1215cc on recentred bores as vizard (p404 I think). These are easy to find and will make the engine rev out a lot better and produce around 10% power and torque increase over the stock overbore.

Facet electric fuel pump and a quality in line filter. This removes the nightmare of the SU pump...

The high comp requires the use of shell Optimax 97 RON fuel but you should run this stuff anyway as it transforms the running of an A series engine. I used shells lead additive, 1cc per litre as advised and suffered no valve seat problems even after 20,000 miles of thrashing, though converting the 12g295 to unleaded is around £120 and worth it if you are going to cover thousands of miles a year.

My insurance did not go up with the declared intake and ex mods. They are most concerned about twin carbs and which are a total waste of time on the a series engines unless you go for a quality inlet manifold or the 45DCOE webber, which they really don't like...and I was quoted more for a 1300cc A series than my current 2000cc alfa twin cam with double (155brake) the power...

If you like electronics though and you have a bit of money to spare, then worth going for a mapped ignition such as the home built megasquirt and spark, they do a few ignition only options and it should cost a lot less than £200 and removes the dizzy and coil altogether using a ford trigger wheel and sensor on the front pully and a modern ford EDIS coil pack and amps etc, (coil per cylinder). This will produce much improved MPG and drivability in the mid range. You need to be familiar with PC's though and be prepared to do a lot of (easy) work yourself. There is lots of support on the net for this, just put megasquirt and spark into google...

You MUST have the engine set up on the rolling road after any mods or you are wasting your money. My mini with same spec to above but basic porting to the head only 998cc made 50 bhp at the flywheel before the rolling road and 80bhp afterwards! It returns 45mpg urban and much more on a long run with the city E gearing, (very high).

Any questions and you are more than welcome to email me direct. This should be the most realistic option but get some quotes first. Try Adrian Flux or Herts insurance consultants. At least you will be able to insure it and build up your NCB!