948 Gearbox mated to 1098 Engine

[864 BYX]

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Cant be bothered with all this bickering between so called MM Owners!

[864 BYX]

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[bmcecosse]

It looks great! the 1098 engine will be fine on the 948 gearbox - as you have discovered - with the 948 backplate and flywheel complete. The 948 cars had a 4.55 final drive, the 1098 have 4.22.... You may want to change that - but it's not a huge difference. Many fit a 3.9 final drive - from a Spridget - with the 1098 engine. Biggest problem may be the small 7" front drums on the 948 engine cars. Later cars had much better 8" front drums with the 1098 engine....

[brucek]

If you do decide to change the diff for a later one, be aware that the later diff for a 1098 has the oil filler in the axle case wheras the earlier diff - the one that is probably in your car - will have the oil filler in the diff unit itself. If, when you look under the car from the rear, you cannot see a filler plug about half way up the centre of the rearward facing side of the axle case, you have the earlier axle arrangement. If you can see the filler, you can go ahead and just swap the diffs over. If you simply swap a later diff into the earlier axle, you will end up not being able to fill the axle with oil!!! Better to look for a later axle complete and, when the urge takes you, swap the complete axle over as a unit, then you won't have any problems

[bmcecosse]

You can still fill the axle with oil - it's just a little bit more difficult!

[864 BYX]

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[bmcecosse]

The top gear ratio is 1:1 on both boxes so the speedo etc will all be fine. Yes a 1098 gearbox is 'stronger' in the sense that it has better syncro - but the 948 box won't blow up just because it has a few more bhp going through. You must have an engine rebuild place near you - somewhere 'old school' will be best - it will need rebore and the block surface skimmed. Get the crank reground too, and new oil pump and timing gears/chain. The sump etc from the 1098 engine will fit directly. Plenty of heads around - the later Mini CAM 4180 head is 'unleaded' to a degree - but the head from the 1098 engine will give some extra power, although it will need skimmed 60 thou before fitting. Don't worry too much about a 'Morris Specialist' - many of the parts you may need will be available at your local Autoparts place - dirty hands/overalls and ask for a discount! Yes - you need an MOT - no idea if it's going to 'roll'. I rather doubt it.

[864 BYX]

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[864 BYX]

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[bmcecosse]

Yes - same exhaust. Lucky with that box - good 1098 box is worth £100+ !! Don't worry about the final drive - just get it going....

[864 BYX]

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[brucek]

Great to see your enthusiasm and well done on the free 1098 box. That certainly sounds like a great piece of luck and it looks in excellent condition too. As to value, a fully rebuilt 1098 engine by a professional company is going to cost between £600-£700 or more and a new box, from a specialist probably in the region of £450. You have 3 apparently very low mileage units there so I would probably keep them all until you figure out what you want to do. they are all worth in excess of £150 each as they are IMHO so keep hold for now.

948 engines are around if you keep looking on e bay etc. and I would certainly investigate what can be done to the original engine so that you keep the car with its matching numbers. Clearly it will need a re-bore but most of the parts are readily available and aside from the engineering aspects, you can rebuild the engine yourself if you are minded to do so. A little winter project maybe ;-)

Perhaps the best thing to do, and with the least initial costs would be to put the 1098 in now that you have modified it for the 948 gearbox and run the car for a while to determine what works and what doesn't. It won't damage the car and you can then either search for another 948 to fit later or wait until your original unit is rebuilt and can be refitted. Obviously your MOT test will also highlight any other urgent work to be done. Also, try and get to a few events this year and see what others have done and talk to as many owners as you can. Your details don't include where you are located but your earlier post suggests Fenlands and south so check the MMOC website for detals of your nearest branch. Pop along to their meetings and join in and you'll discover another bunch of folks willing to help with any problems you may have.

The exhaust you have will fit both 948 and 1098 engines - they use the same manifold so there will be no problems there. A standard car was usually sold with no bumper overriders, vinyl (as opposed to leather) faced seats and had a heater. From the pics I have seen you appear to have a de-luxe model. You can obtain a Heritage certificate for £44 from the Heritage Centre at Gaydon (http://www.heritage-motor-centre.co.uk/ ... umber.html) which will tell you which spec you have as well as when the car was built , original colour, engine/gearbox and back axle numbers etc and which dealer/distributor it was despatched to before sale.

Keep the pictures and questions coming and good luck with your project ;-)

[864 BYX]

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[brucek]

Trafficators were discontinued in August '61 (car no 925448 - 4 dr, 925555 - 2 dr, 925679 - Trav, 926579 - conv), 948 engine discontinued September '62 ( 990288 - 2dr, 990283 - 4dr, 990289 - Trav, 989679 - conv) If you are interested in restoring back to original spec, a copy of Original Morris Minor via the MMOC would be a useful purchase - http://www.mmoc.org.uk/index.php?key=Regalia&id=80 can also get on e-bay etc. Will tell you pretty much what changed when and has lots of pics to use as reference.

Car no 881386 was taken off the production line in November 1960 and used as the prototype Minor Million. The Minor Million itself - and 349 replicas sporting consecutive chassis numbers - came off the production line in December 1960. I would think yours will be later than that if it is a June 61 car. You can get some idea via the chassis numbers of course - yours is probably starts with an 89 or 90 - 91 perhaps?

You might also find this link useful too http://www.minormillion.co.uk/Welcome.html

Sorry - forgot to add that BYX is a London Registration mark

[864 BYX]

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[brucek]

One owner cars are getting rarer and rarer so it's really good that you are saving this one If you also have any of the original literature - such as the passport to service record, drivers handbook, lubrication charts etc. and possibly the original tool kit, wrapped in a plastic or canvas bag along with or near the spare wheel - these too will add to the original car status. Don't expect lots of tools though - probably just a red A frame jack, starting handle/wheel brace, grease gun and maybe a spanner or two and a screwdriver/hubcap puller.

On the 1000's there was no paint code ID - unlike the Series 2 and MM models. M = Morris, A= A series engine, 2S = 2 dr saloon, 3 = Series 3 (948 modles) then chassis number. On the engine number 9= 950cc, M= Morris, U= Centre gearchange or in-line engine (as opposed to transverse like the Mini), H = High compression (LCV's - vans & pick-ups - used a low compression engine so they could run on 2 star petrol)

Old English White was the only white colour available in June '61 so it is almost certainly correct.

[864 BYX]

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[864 BYX]

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