Morris Minor Owners Club

It's the engine steady.
How do you upload pictures.
I have lots of pictures to show.

Any bolt with the correct thread can be used. The front damper mounting bolts are often quoted as a suitable tool.

To load photos, scroll down below where you type a response. click on the attachments tab, click the Add files button and browse for the photo you want to upload. Use small files sizes.

Size should be 5/16 unf.

Normally a tappet chest cover bolt is useable

I think that might not quite reach.

les wrote: ↑Fri Mar 19, 2021 7:19 pm I think that might not quite reach.

They do reach, but you need a steady hand as they are in the short side. It’s actually the tappet chest cover bolts that are suggested for this use in the workshop manual!

I stand corrected then, I thought a longer option was required.

Wedge the bolt in a socket 13mm with a small piece of tissue.

Just use the engine steady. Its nice and long.


The tappet cover bolt is just a little to short. You can only hold the bolt head and you run the risk of dropping the whole thing into the sump, if you are very unlucky.

I always thought that one end of a rocker stud fitted?

You are correct in that as one end of the rocker stud is 5/16" UNF it will fit and do the job of removing the distributer drive.
The removal stud needs to be a reasonable length.

I’m feeling terrible that I’ve done it successfully umpteen times over the years clearly using the wrong tool. How foolish I have been. I will worry about it more in the future

And so you should.

Takes a brave man to admit he’s wrong !

Many years ago when I was a teenager, I used small round file on many occasions to pull the distributor drive out of my Mini engine.
It was really easy you just shove it an and give it a twist and it locks into the threads perfectly.

Then one day I was doing it, and half way out the shaft slipped off the end of the file, there were a couple of clunking noises.
I then realised that those noises were the shaft falling into the bottom of the gearbox

So after another whole day pulling the engine out and stripping it down to retrieve the shaft, I went and bought myself a long 5/16" UNF bolt and have done the job properly ever since.

At least on a minor you could get it back by dropping the sump, but get a bolt for the job and do it properly.

Phil P