Morris Minor Owners Club

I have had enough of blue clouds behind the Moggy so tonight I have spent some time giving an old cylinder head some TLC. Our Moggy was built in 1957 and the cylinder head comes from a car manufactured in 1962. I haven't removed the old cylinder head yet so that's why I thought I'd ask the expertise here first. The manilfolds are still attached to the new head. Next to the carb there is an electric thing that I suppose is some kind of pre-heat device. Am I correct? Did the manifolds look the same in '57 and '62? I am trying to decide if I should remove the manifolds from the new head and use the old manifolds without removing the carb or if I should move the carb to the new head without removing the manifolds. What would you do? I bought a donor car to get the cylinder head and a decent gearbox. Sometimes killing a Morris Minor doesn't feel sad - see attached pictures.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Could we have a photo of the electric thing, please.

simmitc wrote:Could we have a photo of the electric thing, please.

Certainly [frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Are both engines 948 cc capacity? Changing the cylinder head is unlikely to make much difference to 'clouds of blue smoke'.....but worth a try I suppose. I would keep the manifold and carb that you have on your car - ONLY change the cylinder head. And fit the much better 'top hat' oil seals on the INLET valve guides only. Be sure to protect the engine you haver 'borrowed' the cylinder head from!!

bmcecosse wrote:Are both engines 948 cc capacity? Changing the cylinder head is unlikely to make much difference to 'clouds of blue smoke'.....but worth a try I suppose. I would keep the manifold and carb that you have on your car - ONLY change the cylinder head. And fit the much better 'top hat' oil seals on the INLET valve guides only. Be sure to protect the engine you haver 'borrowed' the cylinder head from!!

I believe both engines are 948cc. I didn't get any documents along with the sad looking donor car but I did some research on the chassie number and as I remember it it was an early 1962 Moggy. In early '62 I believe there were only 948's. OK, then I'll use the old manifold and carb. I bought a complete cylinder head overhaul kit and got o-rings for the valves. I installed them today and lapped the valves. The original engine was used from 1957 to 1970. Then the car wasn't used until 2008 so it is quite possible the engine has never been opened. If I am right the oil seals (if there still are any) should be as flexible as granite. I scrapped the donor engine since the bonnet probably had been missing for a long time. One of the pistons was completely stuck and the cylinder looked like a jar of tobacco

Shame to 'scrap' it! It could have been re-bored etc and made 'good as new' !!! Yes - that's an electric pre-heater for cold climate use. If you don't intend to use the car in winter - don't bother with it.

Thanks BMCECOSSE. An electric pre-heater is what I thought it was. Were those installed in cars sold in the U.K? Our Moggy will only be used in the summertime so I won't bother. Yes, the old engine could have been saved but I bought the donor car in the autumn. I tried to save all working parts and get rid of the rest before snow would cover the "corpse". I simply didn't have time or space to take care of the engine. So, even if I behaved like a naughty boy scrapping the engine, I did salvage lots of bits and pieces to help keeping our and other Moggies alive. I just had a look at the old cylinder head gasket and compared it to the new one. All holes match and the gasket set was bought for a 948cc so I think I have been working on the correct head.

That body looks like a 1098, rear lights, tandem wipers. Check the engine size below the tappet chest.

He's already scrapped the engine !!!!! Look at the 'new' head and see if there is a marking '12G202' on the head . If so - it's from a 1098 engine, which is good - IF you skim 60 thou (1.5mm) from the head surface . It will then give you a few extra horse power. If you don't skim, then don't use it - the Comp ratio will be far too low. The pre=heaters were only on 'cold climate' cars...not even sure they were standard equipment - maybe an after market thing?? Someone will know!

I just checked for the marking and couldn't find 12G202. In the middle of the top side of the head it says 2A629. Does that reveal any information?

Yep. 948 head.

As above - just a normal 948 head then. No power increase!

That's great news. Thank you. The 37 bhp are okay. I do own a more powerful car for those days when I am in ahurry I haven't had time to do any work on the head today. Instead I had to cut down some trees to make access to a meadow possible for a farmer. Because of this I actually had to drive an old British "dinosaur". I had to move a 62 year old Ferguson tractor while it was raining. Being a farmer in the 50's mustn't have been fun on rainy days.

Just a late update. Replacing the cylinder head took care of the blue clouds. Right now the Moggy seems to pollute just as much as a modern Toyota Prius does. A week ago it passed the Swedish MOT with flying colours.

Well done ! The old head must have had horribly worn valve guides. I recently stripped a spare modified 202 head - and the wear on the guides was fantastic!