Help buying a minor

Post by **GarfordJB** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:01 pm

Hello all,

A friend of mine wishes to buy either a Morris Minor or a Morris Traveller for her daughter.

My friend and I have both owned MGBs and are aware that there are a number of basic modifications that can be made to such a beast to make it more of an everyday car (I'm thinking about electronic ignition, a Webber carb etc).

I wonder if anyone could suggest a few things for us to look out for when buying a Morris Minor that would make the car as safe and as usable as possible for a 17-year old new driver.

Any help or direction at all would be of huge assistance.

Thank you very much!

JB

Post by **PSL184** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:41 pm

Absolutely nothing wrong with a toatally standard Minor in good working order. Any mods will just add to the insurance for a 17 yr old. Make suer brakes are fully operational and they are fine. Nothing wrong with standard carb and electronic ignition is just something to go wrong. Buy the best you can afford and you will have many safe and happy years of cheap motoring

Post by **LouiseM** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:46 pm

I got my first Minor aged 18 and drove it daily for 10 years. It was completely standard (aprt from radial tyres) and was fine in inner city traffic or when driving long distances.

Post by **rob.hardy1** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:57 pm

There is an article on the home screen headed buying a morris minor that you may find usefull and using the search feature may help you find answers to when this question has been asked before.
Where are you in the world? you may find somebody local to you that may offer advice.
Good luck

Post by **bpr81a** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 9:21 pm

This is the article:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?key=Bu ... is%20Minor

Post by **GarfordJB** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:00 am

Thank you all very much! Such prompt and helpful replies!

Rob, I'm in Oxfordshire. Are there any good dealers around here that anyone knows of?

PSL184, I'm very interested to hear that, in your experience, electronic ignition is just something to go wrong. I've always found that it made old cars more reliable. Perhaps I've just been lucky! I will indeed pass on your advice about buying the best she can afford!

Thank you all again!

JB

Post by **PSL184** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:26 pm

I've never broken down due to old fashioned points failing on me, but, if I did, I have a £2 spare part in my boot which I can fit inside 5 mins and be on my way home again. If I had an electronic ignition system fail on me I would have to be carrying around a £65 spare part with me

Post by **alex_holden** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:56 pm

PSL184 wrote:I've never broken down due to old fashioned points failing on me, but, if I did, I have a £2 spare part in my boot which I can fit inside 5 mins and be on my way home again. If I had an electronic ignition system fail on me I would have to be carrying around a £65 spare part with me

Not so. The Pertronix module is a straight swap for the points and condenser, so you could change back to the original setup at the roadside if you had to. I prefer electronic because it saves time on maintenance particularly on a high-mileage daily driver.

Post by **PSL184** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:43 pm

...so, just out of interest - How much for the Pertronix module?

Post by **alex_holden** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:37 am

About £66 including postage.
http://www.vintageperformance.com/retro ... morris.htm

Post by **PSL184** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:39 am

Cheers

Post by dp » Tue Mar 17, 2009 6:42 pm

If you can knock up electronics things there's an electronic ignition available from Maplins for £5-£10. You can set it so that if it fails, the points are still in place ready to switch to.

That said there's a lot to be said for using points, knowing how to set them and having a spare set in the toolkit.

Which makes me think, something that might be really helpful would be investing a couple of hours with the new driver showing how to do regular maintenance and fault finding. That will help keep the Minor reliable and keep little faults from turning into an AA/RAC call out.

Might want to think about rear seatbelts and inertia reel front ones.

Post by **alex_holden** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:55 am

dp wrote:If you can knock up electronics things there's an electronic ignition available from Maplins for £5-£10. You can set it so that if it fails, the points are still in place ready to switch to.

I think that's just a booster though. The points are still used and will still eventually wear out; the only difference is instead of switching the current themselves they trigger a transistor. The Pertronix/Lumenition type of electronic ignition replaces the points with a ring of four magnets and a contactless sensor so it will never wear out.

Post by **Kevin** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:41 am

With you on your preffered choice Alex especailly with the 30 month guarantee, but can't comment on the others long term reliability.