Morris Minor Owners Club

....OH MY WORD HOW SLOW.

I took her down the road, the best I could get out of her was about 30mph!!!

Could someone give me a list of different things I could check??!?!?!?!?!

Its really driving me mad because i've got her working just not to her full potential. Shes not up to true morris minor standards yet!!!

HELP!!!?!??!?!?!

We need a bit more to go on. Which engine are you using?
Are you attempting to revive a car which has stood for ages,
or have you just re-conn'ed the engine. Do you have any
manuals with timing details etc? Does it start easily,with choke,
or does not need choke? Does it tick-over evenly when hot?

OK Its a 1098 Traveller! It has been stood for a year, just put a new fuel pump on! Ive got white smoke coming out the back, dont need the choke to start it! Always ticks over evenly!

Also want to say that the gf is going mad bout my obbsession with morris minors so quickly help me, otherwise the car is gonna be SCRAPPED, oh yes she wears the trousers!

white smoke- is tha water dissap[earing mysteriously?? In which case you have a blown head gasket.

Are the brakes stuck on ?

No to the water thing, and the brakes work fine!!!! Well need new shoes but they are there!

Well 'white smoke' is steam !!

white smoke from the exhaust!!!#

Steam from the 'zorst is just what you get when the gasket goes. Water from the cooling system travelling across the gap in the gasket, entering the cylinder and boiling (I think!) Oil makes the same journey too, but that's blue smoke. If the gasket blows like the one that just went on the Polo, there'll be a lot of steam, and not just from the exhaust.

I think the best thing to do is check things methodically, TIMING, MIXTURE, valve clearances, check the carb is not leaking from the float chamber, contact points gap, check or change the plugs, and try some trousers for size!! You can't go around scrapping minors just like that! Get a grip man.

Just a thought, but can you rev it quite high (0/10 Grammar) without the road speed increasing? If so it would suggest a clutch/drive train fault. That's complete guesswork, BTW, but stranger things have happened. Perhaps...

ok so, new gasket costs? and would this be why its so slow?

its white smoke not steam!

£5.95 - http://shop.morrisminorspares.co.uk/pro ... d7f42afa94 . I reckon it would be causing an awful lot more problems than slowness, but always happy to be wrong. I'd be trying Les' advice for the minute - all could be the problem, and it's free to check.
Does 'er indoors know what else you could be spending your time and money on instead?

OK IT IS LEAKING AT THE FLOAT CHAMBER WHAT CAN THIS MEAN?

take it apart ,and clean up seal, or new gasket,float might be sticking, find leak and stop it bruv

If it is excess petrol that will be black smoke. Oil gives blue smoke - and water gives white 'smoke'. Only other thing could be brake fluid - if you have a servo - it coulkd be drawing in brake fluid which gives white smoke. I suggest a compression test on the engine to find out what state it is in !

SR wrote:take it apart ,and clean up seal, or new gasket,float might be sticking,

While you have got it open, you might want to check that the needle in the top of the chamber isn't worn. To do that, slide the pin that is hold the float out and the needle can then be dropped out. Have a look at the tip of the needle. If there is a ridge worn round the top, you will need to replace it and the seat, otherise no matter how well you seal it back up, it will do it again.

The good news is that it not a costly part (you will have change from a tenner.)

its white smoke not steam!

blue smoke is oil, black/dark grey smoke is fuel and white smoke is steam.

White smoke at this time of year is also fairly normal on any car until it has done about 5 miles

NEW BOY...if you really mean that it does not need choke to start
when COLD then it would suggest that the mixture is far too rich
but you say it ticks over nicely when hot! If it was too rich then
hot tickover would be awful. I have had trouble with white smoke
from the exhaust before on a neglected car and it eventually cleared
itself out after several long hot runs. REDEX also gives a lot of 'white'
smoke so I suppose that you have not been injecting it with gay
abandon?? As advised, if you have petrol leaking from the top
of the float chamber then you need a new 'needle and seating',
change as a pair. If the car ticks over well then the timing is
obviously somewhere near correct but if you are proficient enough
we can talk you through the final settings which could improve
performance dramatically??

Well my smoking engine at the moment to the untrained eye looks white and could not be thought of as anything else due to its thickness, is it there from startup or does it develop after a short time.