Morris Minor Owners Club

A friend of mine Ray is having a minor pickup rebuilt on a new chassis, with mainly NOS or new components. The engine and gearbox were not with the vehicle when he brought it, so is now looking for ideas on this...

He does have a meastro with a recon 1300 A -Series engine in, would this be a suitable item?

If so what would need to be done to convert from transverse and which gearbox would be best? 5 speed or 4??

Is he better finding an origonal engine? the vehicle is going to be used on a daily basis for early morning deliveries (5am till 9am) 364 days. so it has to be reliable, practical, and usable. (not particularly heavy payload will be carried - newspapers.)

many thanks in advance, and any advise gratefully recieved.

allen (on behalf of Ray!!)

I'm not an expert on that engine conversion, but I do know that it IS possible - involves changing the crank and modifying the rear oil seal, AFAIK. Jonathon from JLH, who's a regular on here is the man who knows - hang on for him I'd go for a 5 speed box, if only on the grounds that it will easily handle the extra power.

Allen, drop me a PM and I'll give you some advice

Forgot to say that you'll probably want a new rear axle as well with a 1275

Why so secretive about the Maestro engine conversion Jonathon ? I have enquired about this in the past - and was told it fitted ok. Is this not the case ?

Noone said it doesn't nae fit, but this engine needs some major work, to get it to drive the rear wheels. And it might not have so much advantages over any old RWD A-series block, to make the conversion worthwhile.
If it was, there were bound to be more people doing it.

But Allen and Ray, you really should ask mr Jonathon ( www.jlhmorrisminors.co.uk ) and ask him about the K-sereis conversions. Those are splendid jobs!

Jonathon a) probably doesn't want to give away all the details of the work his company does and b) isn't allowed to say anything that could be considered to be self advertising/publicity.

Which is where the other members come in!
So I could give his URL again, and that wouldn't count as advertising!

thanks for your fast replies, all gratefully recieved...... so what is the most popular conversion?????

I'd say/guess a 1275 from a RWD car, often Ital, but a Marina's good too, a Ford Type 9 5 speed box and an (old style, Mk 1/2) Escort axle (about the right width). Well, that's what mine's going to be and what Cam's is , although he's had the engine poshed up to 1380.

I agree with Onne, you can probably have an easier time with a RWD sourced A series engine or, for a similar effort as the Maestro, you could have something more useful fitted. I can vouch for the quality of Jonathon's stuff.

Just for my 2-pennys, I wouldn't bother with thinking about a new axle if its just a 1275 you are after. Cam has the Ford one because his engine puts out 120bhp. A standard 1275 A+ wont get over 60 with standard carb and exhaust.

You can go with standard and toughened halfshafts up to about 90bhp and more if you dont drive with a lead foot (so i'm told).

Look at the brakes, suspension and engine (preferably in that order) and work from there - if you modify to the point of needing a new axel then that is the time to think about it.

Really? I was under the impression (probably quite wrongly ) that the standard axle was not adequate for anything other than the standard engine. Having said that, I've run a 1275 with a standard axle and box for years with no problems...

Isn't it the halfshafts that are the weak link? And they can be uprated for cheaper than a new axel. Birmingham do 2 uprated halfshafts - one made from high tensile steel for higher power engines. *Apparently*

Anyway, I haven't had any probs with mine. Yet

Happy new year by the way.

Andrew...The same rear axle and half shafts worked quite satisfactorily in the
Riley 1.5 cars!! They were not over thirty years old then though!

Perhaps mine already had them - or perhaps, with the standard exhaust on it just didn't produce much extra power

I have a 1380 in our MInor (100+ bhp) and had 'toughened' half shafts and a 3,9 diff. No problem until I fitted a limited slip diff - half shaft broke at the first corner, 200m from home. Now has EN24 shafts from Peter May - 8/9000 miles and OK.

The higher ratios diffs 3.9, 3.7 put less strain on the half shafts, which is one reason why the Riley and Wolesley 1.5's appeared to get away with it (they both had the 3.7).

A Maestro engine will be worthwhile if you can get one at a reasoanable price - and can't find a RWD 1275 engine for love nor money - well, not locally anyways! So - does anyone know if the Maestro engine will fit without too much hassle ?

Ah well see, JLH do/have done the conversions but I am afraid I don't know much about them.

A 1.4K series would give you the longer service intervals of a modern car - good for delivery work but they tend to be something you can't fix so easily when they go wrong (which is rare).

What sort of range is the LCV expected to do? If it's all local town stuff then a 1098 would provide slow but powerful motoring. Andrew (bigginger) has a 1275 in one of his I think

BMC - Rear Wheel Drive versions of the 1275 A series are so much easier to find than Wolsey drums! PyoorKate picked up one last year for fifty quid!

Multiphonikks wrote: Andrew (bigginger) has a 1275 in one of his I think

BMC - Rear Wheel Drive versions of the 1275 A series are so much easier to find than Wolsey drums! PyoorKate picked up one last year for fifty quid!

Hee hee - I did have, but not just now I will have two with 1275s in soon though
Mr Ecosse, you may actually have to travel a little for a 1275. One of mine was 200 miles away, the other about 150. They are out there, just not necessarily within walking distance.