Morris Minor Owners Club

I thought I'd take advatage of the fine weather and do some preventative maintenance on a Minor 1000 I've recently bought.
The top hose was split so I bought a full set of hoses including heater and a thermostat, radiator cap and some Rad flush - thinking if I changed this lot that's the cooling system sorted for a good while.
Everything went swimmingly until I tightened the thermostat housing and one of the studs snapped. To make it worse the warning signs were there - the nut was very tight from the word go, but I was too lazy to take it off and clean the thread. Of course I tightened the three nuts down, all Ok, then one tweak for luck and bingo, one broken stud.
Anyaway, questions:
1. Are these studs available anywhere or are they special order.
2. Do you think I'll be able to drill the broken stud out easily - it's snapped below the lip of the housing.

I hope everyone who went to the show had a great time

Idris.

Readily available from any of the Mini or Minor suppliers - or just drill and tap it 10 mm metric.

Dont forget to use a good anti-freeze all year round when you are done as this will stop the thermosat and heater valve from corroding.

http://shop.morrisminorspares.co.uk/adv ... 7e&x=6&y=4

That's the offending stud iddy, pic. stolen from ESM. I've just checked a spare and the top thread, through the thermostat housing, is 5/16" UNF but the part that screws into the head is a coarser thread. A guess would be 5/16" UNC. So if you succeed in the drilling operation a tap of the correct size will probably be needed unless by very careful drilling and "picking" you can extract the remains of the stud.
When refitting the housing I usually smear grease liberally on and around the studs to hopefully make it easier to remove the housing next time.

I have a feeling that the stud bolts may be screwed into the cylinder head with Whitworth threads.

If you know someone who's handy with a MIG welder, then you don't need to drill and tap:

1) disconnect alternator if you have one - (the alternators electronics are too fussy to cope with nearby mig welding)
2) Weld onto the end of the stud some extra metal (being careful not to weld it top the head but you're no worse off if you do as the drill/tap option is still there)
3) sit a nut over the new lump of metal and weld through the hole in the nut to join it to the end of the stud.
4) unscrew with a socket set

I've done this a few times including much smaller studs than the thermostat housing and it hasn't failed yet. My guess is that the heat shock also frees up the thread as they all came out easily)

Whitworth and UNC are virtually the same at that size - same TPI - only the thread angle differs - one is 55 and the other 60. They are in effect interchangeable.
BTW - I was recently in Canada and was able to pick up Imperial taps and dies very reasonably in Canadian Tire (like a huge Helfrauds only much better !). So if you know anyone there, or going over on hols, it's worth checking it out !

Thanks for the tips/info guys. I'm going to have a crack at it today. If I fail I can take the head off and take it to work where we have a tool room, the lads in there have offered to help. In fact they supplied me with the drills and Easyouts.
I'm hoping not to have to take the head off - I've never done that before

Idris.

I've found it best to use a centre punch as near as possible to the middle of the broken bit then start with a small diameter drill, say 2mm or 1/8" depending on your persuasion! Then work up to a larger size to accept the largest possible "Easyout" without expanding the stud. Personally I've never had much success with "Easyouts" but if the stud is not rusted into the hole or "bottomed" you never know.
Good luck any way.
If you do need to resort to removing the cylinder cover then there's lots of advice available on here.

And dont forget a few squirts of penetrating oil down the old stud well before you start to help things along.

Well, I've made a start and managed to drill a hole through the stud. The easyout is struggling a bit because I haven't got much room to manouvre the handle/tbar.
It also strikes me that tapping the eayout into the hole is making the stud expand and therefore is a tighter fit. I'm tempted to just drill bigger and bigger holes in the stud.
Anyway, I'm off to work now, so it will have to wait a while.

Also, someone pranged the rear end of my sons escort so we have been pushing out the dents and changing the broken lens. We went to a local small garage tucked away near a quarry for a lens off a scrap car and found three scrap moggies under the undergrowth!! Their mostly rusted away,but he has another two under cover and one he drives. The owners a real old timer and keeps going for the love of it.
It just goes to show you never know what you'll find in old garages.

Idris.

Idris.

Many yaers ago when I was young, foolish, impetuous, and penniless, (OK, so now I'm older, f,i, & p) I had exactly the same problem, but no proper tools. I drilled the old stud out and managed to persuade a normal hex head bolt (1/4 inch) up through the hole from underneath the thermostat - there's quite a bit of room with the stat out. Anyway, wedged in place with some wadding in the hole plus some mastic stuff. Refitted the cover and tightened the bolt. A real bodge, but it survived for 8 years & 100,000 miles with no problems, and even allowed a change of stat. It does of course depend on which stud has broken as to whether you can make this idea work. Not really recommended, but it's another option.

<P>:evil: Ok, we go from bad to worse. I have drilled a hole through the stud and tried to use an easeout but the head has now cracked through the hole and to three sides of the head/thermo housing (it's the stud nearest the radiator). <BR>Questions:<BR>1. Can it be welded or repaired?<BR>2. What gaskets will I need to replace when replacing the head (or anything else)?<BR>3. Is there anything awkward I should beware of when removing the head?<BR>4. Do I need to seperate carb from manifold?<BR>5. Do I need to split the ex/intake manifolds.<BR>6. Where's the best place to order parts from - I have replaced some bits'n'bobs lately, and they don't seem to be as good a quality as the parts taken off (I know you won't be able to name names o&shy;n the mesage board so an email would be welcome).<BR>7. And anything else I've missed!<BR><BR>Thanks in advance from a thoroughly miserable and dejected Welshman.</P><P>Idris.</P>

Idris,

That sounds nasty - but don't despair. even if the head has gone you can get a replacement

I wouldn't go to great lengths to weld it as A series heads are two a penny anyway, well, not that cheap but you get my drift!

If your car wasn't unleaded it may be an ideal time to switch. I don't know if you could exchange your current head for an unleaded one :/

Gaskets normally come in sets for the head - I'd say if you've got the car off the road while you do it then you could possibly do other things while you're at it. - so get a set - besides - any you don't use now will make good spares!

ESM are, as far as I'm concerned, the best place for spares. They'll be happy to talk to you about parts and send them next-day delivery. They even can order parts based on description alone (handy for me as I often don't learn the name of the broken/dodgy item I need to replace until I've refitted it!)

Nikki

Iddy - For cylinder cover removal, with reference to the carburettor and manifold. After removing the air filter assembly, disconnecting the the vacuum advance pipe, choke cable and accelerator cable I have always found it possible and easier to move the whole lot out of the way and tie it off without having to split the exhaust pipe/manifold clamp. After all it's only the cover you need to take off if you're fitting a replacement.

Nikki,

Where do I find ESM?

Anyone know the price of unleaded heads please?

Thanks for your help, I'm going back into my shell now

Idris

Idris, they're here - http://www.morrisminorspares.co.uk/

Before you try to remove the head, invest in a workshop manual. Although everyone here will be glad to offer advice, there's no sibstitute for having the words beside you the first time you do the job. Apart from anything else, the sequence of tightening studs is CRITICAL, and the picture in the books is jolly useful. For the sake of a few more pounds, you should also buy a complete set of exhaust manifold studs plus nuts, the two studs for the heater tap, and of course the thermostat studs where it all started. A bypass hose might be a good idea as well. Lastly, some clean paper on which to layout the bits as you take them off. Good luck.

And all this started with some totally unecessary preventive maintenance ! Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere. It wasn't broken - and you 'fixed' it !! Anyway - as said pull the complete manifold off to one side without disconnecting anything except the manifold to head nuts. Pull the head off - stick on another - I have done it at the side of the road in just over an hour. Head gasket is only about £4 from your local motor factor - ask for one for a 998 Mini (not the 1275 one). It's all you need ! Well, maybe also get a spare rocker cover gasket - just in case. And heads are only £5 or maybe £10 at a scrappy - or maybe even on here. The easy-out advice was bad - very bad !!

Nescio quid dicas. Vah! Denuone Latine loquebar? Me ineptum. Interdum modo elabitur.
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