Morris Minor Owners Club

So, it looks like I will be getting my car over the weekend. As you may have seen from my other posts, it is in good condition, but needs to be better. I have the plan of making this car a very usable in modern traffic, and also subtlety making it quite smart....

By training, trade and vocation, I am an engineer, just not a motor engineer, but I think I have a plan. I would like to do the disk brake conversion, I want a 5 speed box, electronic ignition, and possibly look at the gear ratios. I want Aircon, I want cruise control, I want parking sensors, power steering, ABS, stereo, Bluetooth , WiFi, custom fitted dog cage, and, and etc.

So my current plan is to leave the bodywork possibly until next winter. During this upcoming year, my plan is to get the upgrade work done, and my toys fitted, hopefully in such a way, it is virtually unnoticeable. I will have access to my mill, my lathe and my 3d printer among other bits of kit. So I am really hoping I can hide everything out of sight. Once I am happy I have everything where it needs to be, over next winter, the plan is to then do a full strip down and a bare metal respray, and then rebuild everything.....

I guess the difficult bits are going to be how to hide everything in a a close to period correct manner.....

Reminds me of the Chuck Berry song 'No money down'!
"Well Mister I want a yellow convertible
Four - door de Ville
With a Continental spare
And a wide chrome wheel
I want power steering
And power brakes
I want a powerful motor
With a jet off - take
I want air condition
I want automatic heat
And I want a full Murphy bed
In my back seat
I want short - wave radio
I want TV and a phone
You know I gotta talk to my baby
When I'm ridin' alone.

Yes I'm gonna get that car
And I'm gonna head on down the road
Yeah, then I won't have to worry
About that broken - down, raggedy Ford"

Good luck with the shopping list! 75% looks doable, the rest might be very difficult on a Morris van!

I thought/think he was having a laugh. Simple way to achieve all that stuff ————- buy a new car !

I am serious... Well, kind of.

I would like to make the car as modern as possible, but I know there will be limit. But I would like to see just how far I can go... Especially while keeping it all hidden.

My working life was that of a design engineer, and so I want to have a play around in my retirement

It will be interesting to see what can be practically done.
The running gear is one thing, even some of the modern electronics can be hidden, but maybe the Aircon will be a bit difficult......

Rather you than me haha but sounds like a fun project… and with your skillset you will be more than capable! Look forward to following progress

Well reflecting on this, I suppose it would be interesting to see how many of those modifications could be incorporated in the humble Minor, so I wish you well with it.

Talking of modifications, a car finally pops up for sale, up the road from me, well within my budget… but my god it’s been so heavily modified it doesn’t even look like a mog anymore… why people why
Not knocking mods by the way, just… yeah that was a bit extreme

And with the Governments looming DVLA Heritage Classification ???

John ;-)

It looks to me like a very good vehicle to start with, though as a matter of personal taste, yes, I agree a respray would enhance it in another colour, I wonder what its original Morris colour was?
I have a liking for the pastel shades that they came in, smoke grey blue, old English white etc. Limeflower I am still trying to like.
I have advised one or two young uns here on the subject of mods, because of course by modifying we narrow the future customer base, so I understand your comment on hiding/disguising additions.
Also of course as previously mentioned, wandering too far can result in the car losing its classic tax free status.
I am one of those determined dinosaurs doing my utmost to keep the car as original as possible, even down to the positive ground and points, because I am surrounded by country lanes and can generally avoid motorways, the 1098 engine is more than capable.
Customising is limited to a picnic box and sun visor, also internally an oil pressure gauge, but that's it.
Good luck with the project and you will find not only are parts readily available but there is lots of support here.

There's a fairly heavily modified pickup not far away from me. I expect it was done in the UK because it's still RHD. If it'd had all this work done in Germany you'd expect the steering conversion would have been too. Not my taste but i can imagine it would appeal to some.

https://www.kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/ ... 5-216-6582

I hope Prof. Phil will keep us updated on his progress, it would be very interesting to follow how he gets on with the air con and cruise control stuff.

mrs.smith2012 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 9:15 pm Talking of modifications, a car finally pops up for sale, up the road from me, well within my budget… but my god it’s been so heavily modified it doesn’t even look like a mog anymore… why people why
Not knocking mods by the way, just… yeah that was a bit extreme

Ah, like something created by mad Dr. Frankenstein......very scary! I wonder what the (hopefully not mad) professor will come up with?

I think the biggest challenge in all that would be the air con. Minors are not exactly renowned for their ability to stay sealed....

As Les pointed out repairing the roof gutters on a van is quite complicated depending on how much root there is, which is normally quite a lot. As pointed out in another post Iain Mckenzie will become your best friend .
I removed the roof from my 61 van and replaced all the gutters, the corners, repaired the roof and replaced the 2 cross members, not sure I have another in me!.
All the best with the new van.

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Fri Oct 31, 2025 9:21 am

mrs.smith2012 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 9:15 pm Talking of modifications, a car finally pops up for sale, up the road from me, well within my budget… but my god it’s been so heavily modified it doesn’t even look like a mog anymore… why people why
Not knocking mods by the way, just… yeah that was a bit extreme

Ah, like something created by mad Dr. Frankenstein......very scary! I wonder what the (hopefully not mad) professor will come up with?

Whatever it is I’m sure it won’t look like the monstrosity I saw online I don’t even know what that was

Great end result Keith, no more roof work for me either !

Prof.Phil wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 7:58 pm I am serious... Well, kind of.

I would like to make the car as modern as possible, but I know there will be limit. But I would like to see just how far I can go... Especially while keeping it all hidden.

My working life was that of a design engineer, and so I want to have a play around in my retirement

It will be interesting to see what can be practically done.
The running gear is one thing, even some of the modern electronics can be hidden, but maybe the Aircon will be a bit difficult......

Well, a van does have that handy under floor space once you lift the wooden panels up, could aircon be hidden there? The biggest problem I see is making the car tight enough air-wise to make it work properly. A pick-up cab back used as a bulkhead would help......

Tony.Baxter wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 5:39 pm

Prof.Phil wrote: ↑Thu Oct 30, 2025 7:58 pm I am serious... Well, kind of.

I would like to make the car as modern as possible, but I know there will be limit. But I would like to see just how far I can go... Especially while keeping it all hidden.

My working life was that of a design engineer, and so I want to have a play around in my retirement

It will be interesting to see what can be practically done.
The running gear is one thing, even some of the modern electronics can be hidden, but maybe the Aircon will be a bit difficult......

Well, a van does have that handy under floor space once you lift the wooden panels up, could aircon be hidden there? The biggest problem I see is making the car tight enough air-wise to make it work properly. A pick-up cab back used as a bulkhead would help......

I think if the plan is to transport dogs in the back of the van that they would appreciate the comfort of aircon too!

I have seen aircon being fitted as an aftermarket add-on on various classic car programmes. The basic installation requires a compressor driven by a pulley. This freewheels until the aircon is switched on which then engages an electromagnetic clutch. It would require a custom built bracket to mount the compressor and careful thought of the belt(s) and pulleys. The rest is refrigerant pipework, an aircon radiator and the pipework for the cold air. I don't see why I can't be done when you consider that Minors have been fitted with superchargers in the past. The only problem is that the compressor uses power from the engine and there is not much power to spare, if any at all, in a Minor.

Or perhaps a different approach and some kind of electrically driven, roof mounted cooling unit. This would be very obvious though......

Stephen

Plenty of choice for retro fit 12v airco not engine driven.
Look on ebay, amazon or carbuilder solutions etc.
You can get compact combined heater/ airco.

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 7:57 pm Screenshot_20251108-195814_eBay.jpgPlenty of choice for retro fit 12v airco not engine driven.
Look on ebay, amazon or carbuilder solutions etc.
You can get compact combined heater/ airco.

I had a look at this on the Carbuilder.com website. The installation instructions are in the catalogue and it requires an engine driven compressor (as well as a filter/drier, separate evaporator radiator etc.)

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 9:17 pm

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 7:57 pm Screenshot_20251108-195814_eBay.jpgPlenty of choice for retro fit 12v airco not engine driven.
Look on ebay, amazon or carbuilder solutions etc.
You can get compact combined heater/ airco.

I had a look at this on the Carbuilder.com website. The installation instructions are in the catalogue and it requires an engine driven compressor (as well as a filter/drier, separate evaporator radiator etc.)

Stephen

Maybe, but I believe you can get electrically driven units.
https://ebay.us/m/clS3BH
Seems a lot of hassle, just open quarter lights and roof vent would give plenty of air flow. Maybe the op is prepping for global warming