Morris Minor Owners Club

No, not that sort of dating, I mean how old is it? My engine is ex-Marina (not A+), number 12V 640 EH 411997. Any idea how to date it, and what sort of car it came from?

Cheers N

Can’t tell you much. 12 1275cc; V vertical, inline; E closed circuit breathing. No idea how many of that absolutely awful car they made!

Stephen

The H possibly refers to high compression.

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 5:07 pm Can’t tell you much. 12 1275cc; V vertical, inline; E closed circuit breathing. No idea how many of that absolutely awful car they made!

Stephen

Why do you think they were awful Stephen? Have you had a bad experience, I had one in the 70s and had no problems with it reliability wise but I did only own it 6 months. Mind you most of my cars back then were purchased cheap and broken, repaired used for a while and sold on

That description is normally used when the Allegro is the subject. It became fashionable to criticise the model, consequently folk were reluctant to give it its due, for fear of ridicule————- but I’m not one of them ! I’ve had a couple and fine vehicles they were.
The Marina engine seems to be accepted !

From some enquiries, the Marina was introduced in 1971, the A + engine in 1979, doesn’t give you a date, just somewhere between those dates.

I had the 1.8 Marina estate and it was absolutely reliable. The body had been Zibarted from new so was rust free when I bought it but it did eventually rust out quite a few years later. I then went on to buy a late Ital estate with the 1.7 'O' Series engine. The vehicle was alright but sometimes the engine would not pull the skin off a rice pudding. Later I put it in part exchange for a Citroen BX estate as there were no BL dealers local to where I lived in Cumbria. My 1380cc 'A' Plus engine is Marina/Ital derived and the front suspension/brakes is mostly Marina/Ital. The Marina/Ital were cars of their time and did the job required of it but body wise the it did not have the longevity of some other vehicles.
I always hankered after a 1800 TC coupe but it never happened. sigh.

There's a joke in here somewhere about dating Marinas but best not go there!

Reason I ask is it has been suggested to me that I may need a spare spigot bearing inside the flywheel/crankshaft, in case the one in there falls out or is damaged when I replace the clutch.
Now I don't remember putting a bearing in there, I only remember putting a bush in there. My Haynes Marina 1971-78 manual only refers to a bush not a bearing, yet ESM sell a spigot bearing for 1300 A series, not a bush.
I definitely do not have an A+ 1275, and I'm suspecting that the spigot bearing is only for the A+ 1275, hence I want to try to determine the date of my engine.

I’ve just had a look at picture of the bronze bush and the needle bearing, the latter looks bigger in diameter, if so and you’ve put a bush in the crank before, then the hole in the crank end will not, presumably, be large enough to take the bearing.

The 1275cc Marina engine whether Pre 'A' Plus or 'A' Plus can be fitted with a plain spigot bush or needle roller bearing spigot shaft support.
The needle roller bearing may be fitted as a service replacement instead of the plain bush.
Information from BL Marina workshop manual Pt No: AKM 4580. Section 12.21.45 Crankshaft Spigot Bush.
If that is the case then you will not be able to exactly date your engine as the plain bush may have been replaced with the needle roller bearing.
Below is a 1275cc Marina engine/crankshaft fitted with needle roller spigot bearing.

les wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 6:08 pm That description is normally used when the Allegro is the subject. It became fashionable to criticise the model, consequently folk were reluctant to give it its due, for fear of ridicule————- but I’m not one of them ! I’ve had a couple and fine vehicles they were.
The Marina engine seems to be accepted !

Yes I have also owned an mk1 Mini, an Austin 1100, Allegro and a Maestro. They were cars of their time and got a bad reputation often from non owners or journalists. As real world working mans cars they were a cheap secondhand buy and easy to maintain.
I had the Maestro for two years, towed a caravan on holiday and commuted 65 miles every day. Other than brake pads and oil changes it required nothing.

philthehill wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 10:19 pm The 1275cc Marina engine whether Pre 'A' Plus or 'A' Plus can be fitted with a plain spigot bush or needle roller bearing spigot shaft support.
The needle roller bearing may be fitted as a service replacement instead of the plain bush.
Information from BL Marina workshop manual Pt No: AKM 4580. Section 12.21.45 Crankshaft Spigot Bush.
If that is the case then you will not be able to exactly date your engine as the plain bush may have been replaced with the needle roller bearing.
Below is a 1275cc Marina engine/crankshaft fitted with needle roller spigot bearing.
Marina crankshaft tail 1.jpg

Thanks Phil. I think I'll wait and see what I've got in there before ordering.

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 11:06 pm

les wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 6:08 pm That description is normally used when the Allegro is the subject. It became fashionable to criticise the model, consequently folk were reluctant to give it its due, for fear of ridicule————- but I’m not one of them ! I’ve had a couple and fine vehicles they were.
The Marina engine seems to be accepted !

Yes I have also owned an mk1 Mini, an Austin 1100, Allegro and a Maestro. They were cars of their time and got a bad reputation often from non owners or journalists. As real world working mans cars they were a cheap secondhand buy and easy to maintain.
I had the Maestro for two years, towed a caravan on holiday and commuted 65 miles every day. Other than brake pads and oil changes it required nothing.

Dad had two Maxis and a Princess. The first Maxi was a lovely maroon 1975 model, I can still remember it sitting in the garage with that brand new car smell. Unfortunately it had gearbox or clutch problems requiring major work within months.
The Princess was a much bigger car, metallic blue. The paint was shoddy, it had to be resprayed within a year. Nice car though, we lived in Scotland for a while and it took us all the way from the Ayrshire coast to Butlins Minehead for a holiday.
The second Maxi was a beige 1980 model, this ran well, he kept it for 5 years, did many miles in it including towing a caravan about the country, and it served us well. The one time I remember it letting us down was coming back from a wedding in Cheshire. We lived in Leighton Buzzard, Beds, and had come up the M1 from Crewe. We got off the M1 and had just gone through Woburn (around 10 miles from home) at around 1am, when it just died. This was on a country road with no lighting. Dad poked around under the bonnet but could not find any problems. He walked some distance to find a phone box, the AA turned up an hour or so later, spent 30 secs under the bonnet and said "try your engine Mr Evans ". It started. One of the LT leads to the coil had come off and without a torch Dad had not spotted this in the dark! For this reason I always have a torch with me. It was a good car, and got passed on to my sister for another 5 years hard work commuting between Bristol and Nailsea.

People snigger at those cars, but I have many happy memories of childhood journeys in them.

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 5:17 pm

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Aug 29, 2025 5:07 pm Can’t tell you much. 12 1275cc; V vertical, inline; E closed circuit breathing. No idea how many of that absolutely awful car they made!

Stephen

Why do you think they were awful Stephen? Have you had a bad experience, I had one in the 70s and had no problems with it reliability wise but I did only own it 6 months. Mind you most of my cars back then were purchased cheap and broken, repaired used for a while and sold on

Our next door neighbour had one in the 1970's. I was only a child at the time but I didn't like how it looked (I still don't) and the neighbour's car always seemed to have something wrong with it. It left a calling card of black oil wherever it went and the driver was nearly killed when a wheel came off and he was left teetering over the crash barrier of Croydon Flyover (like the ending of the "Italian Job"). Sometimes I would get a lift in the Marina. It stank of petrol and I always felt travel sick!

Stephen

"There's a joke in here somewhere about dating Marinas but best not go there!"

My initial thought too, but decided not to go there!

In the 1980's I had a bump in a company car, a ford cortina mk IV I think.
The pool Marina was supplied while mine was fixed, I thought to help me, but now I am pretty sure it was punishment.
The difference between my Cortina and the Marina was marked.
The Ford won hands down for power comfort and stopping, I am afraid the Marina was a very poor car compared to the opposition of the time.
It was built at just the time the "free market" was being espoused by the government, unfortunately nobody told the Japanese who were dumping mercilessly, this meant due to cash restrictions cars from Leyland being made from existing parts from older motors, the Minor was one donor of many.
It was and still is a bitzas car, bits of this and bits of that.
Apologies to Marina owners, as they already know, with some mods, disc brakes for instance a better vehicle can be achieved
If only Leyland were given the money at the time, things may have been very different.

The biggest reason I don't like the Marina ADO28 is that its production ended the production of the Morris Minor at Cowley. As far as I'm concerned it is fair and enduring revenge that so many Marinas were stripped for parts and scrapped to keep Morris Minors going! Such sweet irony.

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Tue Sep 02, 2025 10:16 am The biggest reason I don't like the Marina ADO28 is that its production ended the production of the Morris Minor at Cowley. As far as I'm concerned it is fair and enduring revenge that so many Marinas were stripped for parts and scrapped to keep Morris Minors going! Such sweet irony.

Stephen

I can't remember the last time I saw a Marina. Any fans here of the Allegro?

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Tue Sep 02, 2025 10:48 am

svenedin wrote: ↑Tue Sep 02, 2025 10:16 am The biggest reason I don't like the Marina ADO28 is that its production ended the production of the Morris Minor at Cowley. As far as I'm concerned it is fair and enduring revenge that so many Marinas were stripped for parts and scrapped to keep Morris Minors going! Such sweet irony.

Stephen

I can't remember the last time I saw a Marina. Any fans here of the Allegro?

There's a good reason you haven't seen a Marina. According to: https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/morris_marina there are only 31 of them taxed and on the road!

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Tue Sep 02, 2025 11:08 am
There's a good reason you haven't seen a Marina. According to: https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/morris_marina there are only 31 of them taxed and on the road!

Stephen

Remember the saying..."Lies, damned lies, and statistics"....
'Morris Marina' doesn't cover everything. It isn't the total of all Marinas and it depends how the 'description' data was loaded onto DVLA....
. .
If you explore the Morris Minor data options, things can get interesting.... I'd bet there are Travellers that are in the Minor category and not the Traveller list.
. .