Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi there all

New to the forum,,,got a twin cam ,,that's driving me mad,,can't seem to plum it up without overheating

Can anyone shine some light on this please ?

Thank's Take Care
Darren

Hi Darren,
which rad are you using?
Has this problem suddenly come on? - Would indicate a blockage in the system, faulty water pump/thermostat, head gasket gone.... Leak!
Maybe it's just this warm weather!!!

Darren,
really need a bit more information.

How long is it taking to overheat and in what conditions - stationary or driving.

Whats the water / antifreeze mix colour like - is it a muddy brown in which case the system may be full of sludge and need a thorough flushing out.

What type of rad are you using - is it big enough? is it any good or partly blocked - take it out flush it through, descale it and measure capacity to see if any cooling vents are blocked?

Sure there are no coolant leaks? One potential way to find this is run the engine at fast idle and look for bubbles in the rad or oil in the coolant system.

Are you using an internal (head) thermostat or the external housing type (this is a pig and should be adjusted with a club hammer till its flat, housing and all, and then thrown away)? What rating thermostat are you using - is it working?

Do you have any cooling fan?

Are you sure the water pump is working and circulating the water?

Also are you using a top T piece as it comes off the head or just the single outlet? If using the top T piece most (but not all) tend to block one of the outlets as its easier to connect up to a standard single inlet / outlet rad.

After that are you sure it's not the engine? If the timing / carb are not tuned properly they may well be running hot which is not helping your cooling system

Also the twin cam head is very vunerable to overheating. So if the engine has overheated badly you may well have warped the head.

I'd check the water pump is working, the rad is not blocked and the thermostat is working.

Regards,
Wal

Another Darren with a T/C I think all the important questions have already been asked.

Hi All & thank's for you'r replies
I've been doing this pick up up for about 17 years !!!! or should I say ,,other peole have !! If I pick up a spanner i'd probably hurt myself !!
I used to love moggys but after loosing all my freinds,,wife leaving me,spending god knows how many thousands of pounds on moggys the novelty has began to wear off

Beleive it or not I used to do them up for a living,,,i had good mechanics,good painter and I was the glue that held things together,,at one time I had 26 moggys at one time,,mostly vans and pick ups

I used to go to shows and won a few trophys for my hard work,,I dealt with customers,bought and sold the cars/vans and went all over the country looking for them,,,done this for years and years and all the time leaving this pick up to do customers cars

Getting somewhere to do it and finding people who wanted to do it bacame harder and harder and when it came to selling fully restored vans/pick ups that i'd spent hours & hours on + thousands of pounds receipts for like £8000 and tyre kickers coming along to veiw,,telling you what a lovelly job you've done and offering you £1500 I just had a gutfull and sold up

Even selling up took years and in the meantime still having to pay rent for somewhere to store them and getting more and more depressed just done my head in

Eventually I sold it all (gave most away more like) just leaving myself with this pick up,,the pick up has cost me god knows how much and at one time it was my dream car,,,now I just want to see it finished,,infact sometimes I just wanna set fire to it !!!

A few months ago I had to move it from a garage I had it in and I found someone who said they would finish it off,,he emigrated but told me that it could now be driven to an mot to see what else was needed

It started out as a chassis build up so this was the first time in 17 years it had driven on it's own steam,,,on the way to mot the fan belt broke,,got towed home,,I got a fan belt on it but it still overheats
This truck has almost beat me,,i'm almost ready to try suicide !!!

It has no rot ,no real bad jobs,,not for someone who know's what they are doing,,,it's totally solid,,,I don't wanna sell just wanna see it finished,,,,can anyone help me PLEASE before I blow it up ?

Problem is i'm on the iow,,,I know a nice geezer here called Andy but I think he's also had the stuffing beat out of him by moggys

SOS,,,is there anyone out there as keen as I was and fairly local to me ????

Thank's Darren

Well the I.O.W has its own branch so you are not in Moggie isolation by a long chalk.

Yes, there are lots of MOG's on the isle of man, so join your local club!

There are probably a few members at your local branch who will work on your car (not for free necessarily).

I think you could also learn to do the work yourself, Morris Minors are not that complicated. You just need a little knowledge and some tools. You've told a nice story about your business ventures but no further information on your car and its troubles. I'm not familliar with Fiat Twin cams so can only suggest you drop a 1098 in there and get a reliable car ;) Especially if the Twin cam has been damaged by overheating.

Hi Again
I'm on the isle of wight,,not isle of man and there probably more moggys here per square mile than anywhere in UK and that gotta be mainly due to myself !!

I was a member of our local club for many years but most ot them into standard machines,,There was a good guy into twin cams but he bought his allready done,,now sold it and had enough of em,,recently bought a new mini.

My pick up has the following.....2 litre twin cam,5 speed box,servo assisted brakes,with sierra pedal box & peddals,toyota celica GT rear axle wit LSD,JLH coil over suspension,JLH radiator made for moggy/twin cam,new seats,new pannels,new carpet,all painted and looking good
Everthing has been refurbished or replaced with new but some of this is now years old,,it's been inside all this time appart from the last 4/5 months it's been outside my house

I'm concerned this will be it's finall resting place !!!

My problem in life is i love things i know nothing about cars,bikes & women,,,,the latter of the three I feel I will never understand !!

You guys are a good bunch,,obviously passionate about you'r cars but I reckon I need to find a local young nutter who aint yet been worn down by weld burns,grazed knuckles and piles of rust

Take Care
Darren

I have put over 10 Twin Cams in Minors and over heating was a common problem when first starting up.

First ensure the system is really well bled. My favorite method was to put a house hold radiator bleed screw into the T piece at the front of the engine. Then open this and blow water into the system from the expansion tank. When water came out of the bleeder, shut everything off and run the engine for 10 secs. Repeat this 4 or 5 times. Then let the engine cool and repeat until water comes out as soon as you open the bleed.

If this does not work, change or head gasket. I lost count of engines that needed a new head gasket afetr being stood a while.

John

Hi John
That sounds like a great idea,,,i'll definately pass that info on,,,i've now found a guy that's gona take a look for me so i've got my fingers crossed and i'll let you all know how he gets on

Take Care
Darren