Morris Minor Owners Club

ello, my new baby has the wheels held on with bolts, not nuts, am i right in thinking they are not 4" pcd, im sure i read somewhere ages ago ,its a pcd which allows a lot of wheel choice,thanks

4" I think, Steve. Someone incorrectly fitted 1000 wheels to the rear of my MM. Did not do the wheel centres much good (different angle shank) but they did fit.

cheers mate ,thought i read it on the old style minormania site,steve

I thought that the really early cars had 100mm pcd....

I thought that the really early cars had 100mm pcd....

I'm not sure they had ever hear of 100mm PCD in the 40's!

I did read that somewhere. Steve get some vernier callipers and measure it!

the minor oracle "willie" might know

Well, the engines (sidevalve) used metric bolts but with Whitworth heads! But that was because there was a French link.

There is no metric on the Minor wheels!

French? On my MM? Oh boy they do make life difficult with all these sizes of bolts.

Was the MM the only one with bolts i e nuts?

The VERY early series II was fitted with wheel bolts. They changed over when the axle changed from the split-casing type to the A-type in December 1953.

the earlycar, head on in the pic has studs and nuts,had to fit 1000 wheels to move it,steve

Should have bolts and holes. Looks like they have been changed for 1000 hubs then!

bolt hole PCD is 4 & half inch, what else shares that pattern? steve

Steve, how odd! I just measured my MM wheels and they are 4 1/2" PCD! I measured a 1000 wheel too and that was 4". So, the wheels that I thought were 1000 that were fitted to the back of my MM can't possibly be. They must be off some other BMC car as the wheels LOOK like 1000 wheels but they must have 4 1/2" PCD to fit!

I assumed that the MM PCD was 4" as I thought that mine had 1000 wheels on the back!

Anyway, MGB 14" wheels will fit the PCD, BUT they will probably NOT fit properly as the angle of the bolt head where it meets the wheel will more than likely be different (MG > Minor) and this is crucial if the wheel bolts are to tighten correctly and not damage the wheel or undo.

It's not a good idea to fit oversize wheels to the MM anyway with the bolts as they are (apparently) weaker than the studs/nuts of the 1000.

Anyway with the lowlights you are not going to modify them are you?

Actually if you need to use 4" PCD wheels then you can always convert to 1000 stub axles/hubs and change the axle for a 1098 one.

What are your plans? (being nosey! )

well had a good look today underneath older one,its sloid,couple of little patchs,hope the new link works, i know i said the 55 looked really good under, but this 49 has only had 2 bits of welding,take a look at the pics cam,the later car will probably need a full floor

"what r my plans" well cam,may need to pinch,front bumper,valance,grill/chrome, ect.. from one, ill get the early one on the road, if my missus dont want the 55 it may be sold, other lowlight will stay in storage till i decide what to do, not sure if i can face a complete floor rebuild again

'70s Datsun wheels are a popular replacement here in Oz. Just need to make sure the wheel has a large enough centre hole to clear the hub.

Datsun 200B is the usual replacement but I'm not sure what name they had in the UK.
One of these things:


Onne, the wheels off your Celica would be the same PCD as the Lowlight, but I'm not too sure about the offset .

I've sold it. I could have sold the gearbox/diff to a Minor owner.
So the MMs pcd is 4x114,3mm as well?

Onne wrote:So the MMs pcd is 4x114,3mm as well?

Yep, the same as 4 1/2" .

The original wheels are pretty weak, mainly around the bolt holes. I've had to weld up a couple of cracks in mine & I also use washers under the bolt heads just to be sure (they start off flat washers but become dished when tightening up the wheel bolts).

Here is what Ray Newell write about Road Wheels:

The design of the road wheels on the Series MM differs from that of the later Morris Minor 1000s - they are not interchangeable. The early type wheels in comparison are much more fragile and the bolt typ fittings can be troublesome. The wheels can become loose on the retaining bolts even when they are fully tight. This is caused by excessive wear on the countersink in the wheel into which the bolts fits. An easy solution is to fit a 7/16in mild steel washer 1/16in thick under the bolt head. Tightening the bolt will form the washer into the countersink, so taking up the wear.

Hope this can help you.