Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi, could do with some advice. 3 years ago i had my 1098 engine rebuilt, to a fast road spec. The head has recently blown between 1 and 2 cylinders. The thing is i originally got the engine back in 1984 as a silverseal recon unit. It was rebuilt to 1098 minget spec in 1990. Looking at my records, it looks like i have done aprox 260000 miles with it. I guess that its now past skimming so i need at least a new head and poss a block as well.
Is it worth getting it repaired or is it past that.

I'd let the machinist make that determination before giving up on them. Gasket failure doesn't automatically mean catastrophic damage.

I agree, don’t assume it’s past it.

A head gasket can blow for lots of reasons. The gasket might not have been very good quality to start with or perhaps the cylinder head nuts were not at the correct torque. Maybe the engine overheated. I would take the head off and check the head and the block for flatness. Providing the engine did not blow the head gasket due to serious overheating or was run for too long with the blown gasket there is really no reason to suspect that there would be any distortion when the engine was rebuilt only 3 years ago. The block and head are cast iron and they are not known for warping. It seems to be routine practice to skim everything these days whether it needs it or not.

Probably all you need is a new head gasket. The Minispares copper one is particularly good quality and well made. https://www.minispares.com/gug702506hg- ... minispares


I have heard from a mechanic who sees a lot of 1098 engines that the fast road engines built by a certain company are very prone to pinking (preignition) due to the increased compression ratio. They need the ignition timing set up carefully so that they will not pink under load and require retarding of the ignition from the workshop figures. By exactly how much they require retarding is done by trial and error.

Stephen

Change the engine for a £20 gasket? If you’ve done 260k miles on it it is likely due for some more TLC, at least, but not necessarily discarding.

Presumably 260,000 miles over a long period of time and not since the engine was rebuilt 3 years ago!

Stephen

Could it be 26000 miles ?

In all my years I have never seen or heard of a warped head or block on a 1098cc engine. I may be wrong, but has anyone actually suffered this on their motors?

King Kenny wrote: ↑Tue Oct 07, 2025 11:47 am In all my years I have never seen or heard of a warped head or block on a 1098cc engine. I may be wrong, but has anyone actually suffered this on their motors?

Not if one is careful - but there are a lot out there that don’t know one end of a spanner from the other end!

Skimming may be necessary, even if not warped.

les wrote: ↑Mon Oct 06, 2025 10:19 pm Could it be 26000 miles ?

I read it as 260,000. Dunno how you read it.

svenedin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 06, 2025 9:58 pm Presumably 260,000 miles over a long period of time and not since the engine was rebuilt 3 years ago!

Stephen

C’mon, he said he bought it in 1984. I didn't suggest any time scale.

Perhaps it's because it's minget spec

I simply wondered if the mileage was a misprint. ——— and yes I read it as 260,000. Like you, I can also read, thank you.

Thanks for the advice, yes i have had the car and the engine for a while. Up until around 20 years ago i was needing to do a 6000 mile service twice a year. So was putting a load of mileage on the car. Since then i also have a modern car to use so around 1500 to 3000 miles a year. Still doing a service and oil change twice a year. Mostly to change to a thiner oil for winter and a thicker one for summer. It make it easier to start a cold car in the winter with thinner oil.
The car is at a work shop now and they will strip the engine down and check for damage ect. The head looks ok, apart from a stripped stud. Not sure about the block, it has been resleved and may only need a skim / polish. It does run hot so there maybe internal corrosion, or maybe its had too many skims in the past and the distance from the piston to the top of the engine block is too small now.
Time will tell, probably worth getting a recon / new distributor and overhauling the carb. At least get rid of the wax stat set up. Which never really worked any way.