Morris Minor Owners Club

So, I've got a 55 split screen morris minor.

Planned modifications were

- 1600 Crossflow
- Ford Type 9 Gearbox
- Coilovers on the front
- 3.7/3.9 Diff (unless ford rear axle become an option)
- Disc brakes conversion on the front

Which would leave me with the 2 points for Steering Assembly, 2 Points for front and rear axle, 5 points for the Chassis / Monocoque

Problems I'm having are how to convert my front hubs and rear hubs to 108mm PCD for better selection of wheels and easier and cheaper to fit the front disc kit. Would dismantling the rear axle and filling it with Ford Escort mk2 or Capri mk1 axle internals and diff be an option?

I thought of changing to 100mm. Taking the standard hub drilling out the 6/16" stud 4" PCD to 1/2" stud 100mm PCD. This would then give me more options and would be drilled through the thick part of the hub without encroaching the edge of the hub.

However I see a lot of cars on forums with Escort Mk2 rear axles, Fiat twincam, Crossflow, Zetec engines, etc, ford type 9 box, fully uprated suspension all round. How are these cars keeping the historic plate and managing these modifications?

Any advice welcomed! Soon as I think I have it figured out something else is snagging me because of the 8 point rule!

Contact Jonathan at JLH, he will offer the best advice.

I have fitted a Mk 2 Escort rear axle and JLH discs, running Ford PCD wheels and have been very pleased with the modification.

Pop over to http://www.morrisminorowners.co.uk and the modifiers on that forum will also help

Depends when the modifictaions were done, and who's to know when yours were done anyway!

Personally, I'd keep the torsion bars, and use the 2 points to swap the rear axle. A Minor axle won't last long behind a 1600 crossflow. I'd go for a Marina/Dolomite axle, that would be up to the job and a damn sight cheaper than an Escort one.
Incidently, if you've got the original speedo, it has a 1000 tpm figure, which is what most Fords use. This means that you can calibrate the speedo yourself using speedo drive gears available from Burton Power.
See here for what gears you need:-
http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=179402

Personally, if your going engine change, Id go zetec. Its probably a little more hassle, but just seems to make sense to me. You could go spend a load of cash on the 1600 crossflow fitting it, no matter how cost effective you are and still be running something 30yrs old around 100bhp and not that fuel efficient. You may as well spend the money on the a series, there a million things you can do to it thanks to all the mini guys and get that sort of power. I picked up the mpi set up off a mini 1275 for £25. It was s daft purchase at the time cos I havent ended up using it, but you get the point. You could spend some money on the a series getting 100bhp out of it relatviely easily - You'll also retain a more standard morris which goes alongway also.

P.s Your talking to no purist. I changed my a series for a suzuki 1000cc SJ engine to pootle around with 8 years ago, that was fun and fuel efficient but non the less Im now going back to a heavily modified a series becuase the suzuki wasnt the super solution I thought it would be. So I am talking from experience to a degree.

The Zetec is a great engine, but it won't fit without cutting, which rules out the whole '8 point' plan. A modified shell means an automatic BIVA test.
A crossflow can be fitted without cutting, if you use a remote oil filter and measure carefully.

touché