Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,
Mods, please remove if not appropriate, but i'm not benefiting from this personally, just thought i'd give a heads up to people who might be interested.
I work for Practical Classics magazine and we've been producing some skills videos recently, which are now live.
There are more generic ones, such as welding repairs etc, which beginners might benefit form but the 'engine decoke' course features cylinder head removal, cleaning and replacement on an a series engine. I know I would have found it very useful the first time I did a head gasket change.
It's available here: http://www.skillshack.co.uk/course/how- ... an-engine/

Fails at the first fence - no-one 'decokes' an engine these days. And are we expected to pay £29 to watch how it's done ??? There are many YouTube FREE videos showing how to do pretty much everything......

bmcecosse wrote:Fails at the first fence - no-one 'decokes' an engine these days. And are we expected to pay £29 to watch how it's done ??? There are many YouTube FREE videos showing how to do pretty much everything......

Positive reply!

Indeed it is - no need to pay £29 to learn how to do this job!

I'm tempted by the welding course, just need to make weekends longer somehow...

bmcecosse wrote:Fails at the first fence - no-one 'decokes' an engine these days. And are we expected to pay £29 to watch how it's done ??? There are many YouTube FREE videos showing how to do pretty much everything......

'noone' may do this job nowerdays, but even if this is the case many people on this forum remove and replace cylinder heads. A friend was charged ove £200 for a head gasket change so actually £29 is a bargain if it gives someone the confidence from a trusted source to undertake a task for themselves. Clearly,BMC, as an experienced fettler, this isnt a course aimed at you. it could be of use to others though

A Haynes manual or a quick trip to the library should more than suffice. Plenty of advice from the forum if a person gets stuck.

I will say that I probably started by watching someone decoking one of the tractors about 60 years ago. But nowadays there are so many utoob vids available - from sorting stationary engines to modern multi cylinder motorcycle engines to racing engines - that removing and replacing a Minor head is very basic - and a flat head even simpler than an OHV.

People were decarbonising engines long before expensive videos were on the market. Nothing has changed, apart from some making out that really special skills and special videos are needed before even trying. In the old days one just got on and got the job done. What exactly is difficult to do? Drain cooling system, a few connections, possibly remove manifolds, remove rock shaft bolts, head bolts (or nuts) and then lift off head?

Next you will be telling us there is one for the timing, one for adjusting the carb, one for changing the oil? ?... Nope, Haynes manuals seem fairly cheap at less than a tenner, delivered, for a second hand copy off epay - or even less at a club meet or a car boot sale.

Sorry about your friend. Could you not have helped? I always try to use the KISS principle. Haynes makes it simple sir.

oliver90owner wrote:A Haynes manual or a quick trip to the library should more than suffice. Plenty of advice from the forum if a person gets stuck.

absolutely, i;m not trying to say this replaces haynes, simply saying that some people might find it helpful.

Sorry about your friend. Could you not have helped?

having changed the gasket once in a car park for them, it went again a month later while they were the other end of the country. the garage didnt bother to check head flatness despite the £200 fee so, when it went again, i got them to recover it to me and i had it skimmed and sorted.
The friend remarked that watching it step by step as i did it, it took away the guess work often associated with haynes. and the 'many ways to skin a cat' attitude on forums can often cause confusion.

I'm not dismissing either of the above, but this is just another option. see also the welding classes, boywork tutorials etc etc. The premise on these videos is that you're paying for high quality production from a trusted source

For what it's worth, I think it's a good idea. I guess the ultimate proof will be to see how many sell

I agree that these are worthwhile and I think there might be a bit of a problem of perspective here.

To use my experience as anecdote - I came into Morris ownership knowing absolutely nothing. The Haynes and workshop manuals are written in language that a lay-person will not understand without going through a really quite steep learning curve. Dizzy? Big-end? Mains? Torsion bar? Camshaft? Tie-rod? You what now?

Don't underestimate how little us young-uns and newbies know about these things. We can barely be trusted to use a mouse and keyboard these days - we have to point and a touch things on screens like an infant would!

I agree with above. I have a few "friends" who couldn't even tell you what the battery looks like let alone where it is situated in their cars. As for a dip stick they've never heard of one! So for some people a Dvd is a gentle introduction into the maintenance of their car as it shows them where everything is for a start!

There is already an abundance of sarcasm and patronisation on this forum without any need to add to it further. Is this the equivalent to 'trolling' on the Morris Minor forum?

Agreed. I have deleted the post that liammonty was referring to, and members are reminded that negatively criticising / commenting on other forum members isn't acceptable here. Thank you.

Just to add, for those who learn by seeing things done rather than reading how to do it, there are some DVD's available via club regalia covering how to service a Minor & a beginner's guide to panel beating

Frankly, I think anything which encourages the inexperienced to carry out repair work on their cars can only be a positive thing. In many ways, showing owners how to do the work using a dvd or video is simply the modern equivalent of a workshop manual isn't it. It is all too easy for those of us who have been carrying out these jobs for half a century to believe it is second nature but youngsters generally can't learn nowadays from watching their Dad, a metalwork teacher at school or a mechanic in the local garage doing these once common jobs because there isn't the access and, such work simply isn't being carried out regularly.

I must say that when I started work in a garage, the older men were similarly dismissive of workshop manuals

These would make good Christmas or Birthday presents for some classic car owners. To put it into perspective £29.00 is only about the price of a decent meal out now isn't it.

This is a very instructive thread. All must enjoy old cars,but perhaps in different ways. For some it's the massive restoration, for others it's the driving and mild tinkering.
We have great experts who give free advice, some gently and others with a hint of frustration about those of us who can't rebuild an engine alone...and within a week or so.
It's a broad church. I think it's better kept that way. I rather like the videos,just the way I learn. The problem with manuals is that they use words that I'm not familiar with. Even worse,they instruct me how to adjust 'tappets' and half way through the process the site experts tell me that our engines don't have such things!
It's such fun.