Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi all,

What speeds do you tend to change to 2nd, 3rd and 4th assuming you are building speed to join a motorway/ dual carriageway and have a standard 1098 engine and gearbox? Without a rev counter I don't know where the revs are sitting and from what others say I think I may be changing fairly early in comparison. I usually change to 2nd at about 10mph, 3rd at 23mph, 4th at 40mph and then sit at around 60mph - 67mph. The engine quietens down at 65mph which seems to be its 'sweet spot'.

Any thoughts?

i remember asking my dad a similar question years back, ' when do you know when to change gear dad?' He said he hadnt thought about it before, he just did it! So all I can say to you is do it at a reasonable engine speed, you can hear when the engine is under strain, either by too low revs or too high.

The speeds you state at gear change sounds about right to me and as Les says the engine will tell you how it feels about it. I must admit I have never given it any thought, I just go by how the engine sounds.

I have a standard 1098 engine. On a flat road, I change into 2nd pretty much as soon as I'm moving, 3rd at around 20mph and 4th at about 28mph. Then that's all I've got up to 70!

Crikey - you're making me feel like a boy racer! That's fine for normal driving, but the OP asked about if joining a motorway from a slip road etc. - if that was the case, I certainly wouldn't be in top at 28 mph!!! I'd want to get a bit of a wiggle on - 50 in 3rd is absolutely fine (if loud) if you need the acceleration. So is changing up much earlier if you don't! IIRC, the maximum speed in third according to the literature is around 60, though that is pretty painful, and power tails off towards the red line with a standard 1098, so it's not really worth revving it that hard.