Morris Minor Owners Club

My car passed its MOT after loads of work and welding was carried out on it. After 2 months of owning it i finally got to drive it for the first time. I was the happeist man in the world, for about 30 minutes.
I didnt even make it home from the test centre. The car was so slow i knew something wasent right, 0-50 took just over a minute. I filled the tank up and noticed id used half a tank in 5 miles of driving as well.
Without any warning she went BANG and then died. Oil was dripping all over the road so knew it wasent going to be good.
Checked the boot and it was full of fuel, although the 2 are not related.
The garage have advised me that she is firing on 3 cylinders and will at the very least need a full rebuild and a new tank as mine has a few leaks in it.
Im bidding on a new tank on ebay and i have found a engine which i think is fairly priced(£180)Plus £60 postage.
I am thinking of just getting that and a friend of mine can fit it for me, Whats the normal price for a full engine rebuild?
Also the garage my car is out dont want to do any of the work so i need to get the car moved tomorrow.
Already had loads of advise on the FB group so if you are reading this again on here you advise had not been missed

Hopefully be back on the road sometime this year.........

What a dreadful shame that your Minor did not make it home and now looks like it will need some surgery.

Sorry can't help with any decent information re engine rebuilds etc. Hope you find one that can accommodate your pocket and you can soon experience the thrill of driving your car again.

Yeah im thinking ill just get the new engine to put in it. At least it has a MOT now tho.

A question, How did your car obtain an MoT with a leaking petrol tank. Doesn't matter if it's MoT exempt or not a fuel leak no matter where it's from is a FAIL.

I think the full tank was post MOT
I'm pretty sure I've never had an MOT person look in the boot, just check that the petrol cap has a breather.
If petrol dripped from the tank I'd expect a fail.

Yeah the car had about quarter of a tank of fuel in it, when i left the test centre i filled the tank right up to the brim. 23 litres worth to be exact so a full tank. The tank has leaks at the level of the boot im guessing because this was the first time i ever filled it up.
My car isent MOT exempt - 1969

Thinking about getting this engine today,

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... _144wt_883

Post is about 60 quid. Seems like a bargin to me? or am i missing something?

No way of knowing about an engine until you run it, they all look about the same on the outside.
It does look like a previous owner has put another fan blade on which suggests to me that it may have overheating issues.

Most engines / rads seem to run a bit hot , sometimes the extra cooling of twin fans ( could have been an african export repatriated of course ) can help.

Last time I looked a full engine re-build was about £950 ( £650 for block/ pistons / crank and camshaft/ timing chain ) Might be some savings to strip the engine down yourself and find out what has failed . If the old head is OK you might get a bit back selling off the good parts from it.

As the engine seems to be coming from a buisness see if they offer a gurantee (many offer a 30 day gurantee), it may even be worth seeing if they will do a supply and fit deal.

I have bought many secondhand engines in the past and in all cases the descriptions have been spot on, check out their ebay feedback and if it looks OK I would go for it.

A good recon engine is around a grand, if you farmed out the machining and built it yourself you could probably do it for around £600 depending on how much work is required.

As for recovering it, if you belong to the RAC or AA etc ask them to recover it to your home, otherwise it is a rope / bar or pay someone to triler it back.

The car has already been recoverd once. The garage its at now dont want to do the work but are more than happy to charge me a load of money to drop it off at my house but not happy to take it to when i actually want it to go to be looked at, 10 miles aways to a place that are happy to see it.
Im really still in 2 minds then if i should just get my engine looked at or go ahead and but this one.

You are taking a chance with that engine - to rebuild an engine costs a good £500 in parts and machining these days - assuming all labour free by yourself. Why did the original engine go BANG? Was there excessive fuel pouring in and diluting the oil to the point where it ignited explosively? Or -has it broken mechanically - ie is there a hole in the side of the block? The ebay engine is not expensive - although £60 carriage sounds a LOT. Can you arrange to collect it?? And yes - ask them for some sort of warranty - but don't hold your breath for it........ To move the car - do you not have a mate with a car and a tow rope??

Gutted for you...reading you original post, terrible.

where are you in wilts and where does car need to go to ?

BTW - that engine is no 'bargain' - it's only a 'good runner' which could mean absolutely ANYTHING. Such an engine would normally be worth ~£100 max.

Oil dripping all over the road would suggest either a con-rod through the side of the block, or something has somehow punctured the sump.

If you or the garage have a compression gauge, you could use that to take readings and find out which cylinder is down.

Quick update- the Car is now in Wooton Bassett waiting for the new engine to be fitted, I got it towed in the end. As for the old one which went bang, that one was was low on compession on cylinder 3 and they didnt want to look any further than that. So still no reason as to why the big bang.
Next thing im on the look out for and stupidy missed out on ebay by a copule of quid because i forgot the auction was ending is a fuel tank.
The old one i have is not holding fuel above half a tank so if anyone has one if they could let me know plese.

cheers