Morris Minor Owners Club

My project has been on hold for a while as i've moved house and have been building a new shed. with the shed nearly finished i've been pondering engine solutions, which gets difficult in australia as we never got anything in an inline motor bigger than 948.

I've disovered a short 1275 goldseal marina engine for the equivalent of 750 pounds, in australia but I'll still nead head etc. I've seen a 1098 goldseal gearbox on ebay. I dont have the clutch or backing plate (though I comming to england in May).

So...
What are the likely problems with the Marina engine?
What backing plate/ flywheel cluthc combinations can i use?
If i run out of money and use a 948, can i use the 948 clutch, flywheel, backing plate with the 1098 box?

Got any cheaper options?

Unbelievably i've had less trouble finding a 1275 over a 1098!

Sorry for the all the questions, but we just dont get most of these parts in aus.

Cheers,

The 1275 is at a fantastic cost ! There is nothing wrong with the 948 engine - if you bore it out +65 thou it can take the standard 998 Mini pistons and connecting rods - with a decent head and camshaft and carb(s)/exhaust to suit you can get a reasonable 70 bhp from it. Yes a 1275 is easy power - but only when paying £50/100 for it in the UK. The 948 will fit the 1098 box just fine - it's a much stronger box.

I'm thinking about changing my 948 for a 1098 or 1275 as It's a bit tired. Will I be able to fit it onto my 948 gearbox, or am I better off finding the stronger 1098 ribbed gearbox?

What are the likely problems with the Marina engine?

Well, they're similar to the A series, just a bit of refinement, so really the problems are much the same. If you mean what problems might you encounter? Well, you need a modified frontplate from a 1098 to mount the engine (just needs a hole drilled in it, or possibly two). The breather fouls the fan, so you'll need to trim that, and you'll need to sort out some air-filter/carb combination that suits you and actually fits under the bonnet.

What backing plate

You can buy a modified backplate for the 1275 from various suppliers, be warned though, on mine the apparture was too small for the starter - so check it fits before you put everything in otherwise (like me) you'll be under the car with a grinding doojit cursing. It fits the 1098 gearbox, I'd not consider a 948 / smoothcase gearbox with the 1275. Given the number of metal shards in my oil in the diff I'd also suggest that you probably do want to make sure that the rest of your transmission is in really good condition - it may only be 10 extra horses, but the engine is quite suprisingly more torquey and I can feel the extra wear it's put into my car's 100,000 mile old transmission.

Thanks,
Just to clarify that;

Ok I am assming that I need to aquire the following parts:
- 1098 front plate (which may take some modifying)
- modified 1275 backplate
- 1098 flywheel
- 1098 clutch
Is it possible to subsitute any 948 into the above as I dont need to import them? Anything else?

Thanks

Matt