Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi,

Having recovered the car to our home, I now have another query.

I wasn't present when the car was purchased from the previous owner, but my wife and son recall the seller saying that the car was fitted with a 1275cc engine from a Morris Marina. However, the V5 document shows that the engine is a 1098cc unit.

My son has located what appears to be a serial number stamped onto the block: BHM12675 150837. Can this number help to identify which engine this is, please? (Are the first five digits a clue?) Clearly this has implications for both the registration with DVLA and the insurance, so it would be good to get this sorted out.

Thank you.

I don't know the serial numbers, but the Marina/Ital block has the oil filter mounted upside down towards the rear of the engine, by the distributor. The 'Spridget' 1275 has the oil filter in the same place as the 948/1098 engines.

Can you post a picture, that way we can see immediately if it is a Marina 1275. All 1275's have no tappet covers on the LH side of the engine, again a picture here as well please.

1275cc

Cannot remember whether BMC, S/S or G/S?

Suspect factory(?).

Thanks for the info. I'll try and post some pictures tomorrow.

Hopefully this will work.

I have tried unsuccessfully to post photos here, so have instead placed them on Flickr. All being well, if you follow this link you should see the images:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/128088708@N05/

For information, the air filter housing, which can be seen where the battery should be, does not fit on the carburettor - the stud is too short to reach through the top of the housing. The distributor cap is also missing.

I hope this is of some help in identifying the engine.

From the photos posted it can be determined that it is a Marina 1275cc 'A' Plus engine. A 'Gold Seal' BL reconditioned one at that.
The 'A' Plus had the extra ribbing on the block and was the strongest 'A' series block made. I use one of these 'A' Plus bocks bored out to 1380cc.
To get the best out of it you really need to increase the size of the carb from 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" with suitable inlet manifold. The 1275cc Marina engine had a 1 1/2" HS4 SU fitted as standard AUD670 1975/76 - AUD354 1971/72. Automatics and commercials had a different carb There is plenty of info/posts on this web site on how to do it by using the search facility.

the air filter housing, which can be seen where the battery should be, does not fit on the carburettor - the stud is too short to reach through the top of the housing.

The stud shouldn't stick through the top of the housing, there is a special, long, wing nut that goes on there.

The wing nut is Pt No: 27H6983. Item No: 96 in the attached MOSS parts list.
http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/Shop/ViewP ... exID=18936

Well, that all makes perfect sense now! Thank you. I'm going to go and play 'Hunt the Wing Nut' in the general chaos that is my Traveller.

Is it a Gold Seal engine or just the rocker box? Can't see any breather pipe so suspect that it is a 1275 rocker box. You need to make sure that the crank case ventilation is correct or it will chuck oil everywhere.

If you look at the selection of pictures on flicker you can see that the engine is gold all over and not just the rocker box.
There is a breather canister on the timing cover with a pipe heading up over the top of the engine towards the carb but appears to stop short of the carb to air filter adapter/mounting plate.
I suspect that when the air filter assy is fitted it is with the air filter inlet pipe to the rear and over the exhaust pipe. The breather pipe exit is then close to that inlet pipe and any fumes consequently sucked into the air filter. Not perfect but better than nothing.
Now if it had the right carb and manifold

I wouldn,t assume ista Gold Seal engine unless it has an invoice to show its genuine. Over the years a lot of scrapyard engines have received a coat of gold paint.

All that glistens...

True enough, the engine number will tell though.

The engine number is quoted above and it can be found on the engine number plate under No: 1 plug and if you look very carefully at the flicker pictures the number on the engine plate matches the number quoted above in the original post.
I do not know if the number quoted above indicates that it is a Gold Seal unit or not. Someone on here may be able to tell.
Whether it is a gold seal unit or not that is the engine fitted and so long as it runs well and does not use too much oil I personally would not worry too much as to whether it is a Gold seal unit or not.
A variation on the saying "an 'A' plus engine in the engine bay is better than an old 1098 in the bush".
The 'A' plus Marina 1275cc engine is in demand these days and not many come up for sale - so even if it was not a good engine there is still a good residual value in the engine

I'm coming to this thread late, but always thought that the first two digits of late A series serial numbers are the same as the first two digits of its capacity? Thefore it's a 1275cc unit.

Here is a link to an ehttp://mgaguru.com/mgtech/engine/be100.htmngine code detail web site.

The first two letters usually give the engine capacity i.e.
2A.......................803cc
9A.......................948cc
10CG...................1098cc
12CC...................1275cc

The engine as can be seen from the flicker pictures is a Marina 1275cc unit.