Morris Minor Owners Club

Sadly I have to agree that the best days are probably behind us, for the car (and bike) enthusiast in general, and in particular the DIY classic car enthusiast. Our beloved cars are becoming older, rarer and a less visible presence on the road. Regulations are continuing to pile up. As commodity pri...

I tend to order different things from different suppliers depending on how they calculate their postage costs. For small, light, relatively low value things, I tend to order from ESM as they calculate their postage based on weight. If I'm ordering something heavier, somewhere like Bull Motif who cha...

Surely a smaller combustion chamber volume would raise the compression ratio?

You definitely haven't bought a doorstop :). IIRC the Mini Sprite is an early 90s special edition, so this is probably an unleaded A+ head. This would tally with the lack of heater outlet, and probably means there is no bypass hose outlet either. None of which is a problem. The heater outlet can be ...

Problem with that figure is that I wonder how many Minors are actually listed as such on the logbook? Both of mine just say "Morris" for make and "Saloon" for body type, with the model section being left blank. A search for Morris missing shows 7800 taxed cars (with another 2000 ...

Rover P4

Bentley T1

Jaguar E-Type

Lotus 7

Mini

Austin Seven

The engine will be a 1098, as has been said. Don't worry about it being listed as a 998, the records are often wrong. My 1970 saloon is also down as a 998cc. I presume it's a DVLA cockup from when the records were computerised - probably based on the car being called the 'Minor 1000'.

Lovely to hear that she's still driving the car after all these years! Hopefully I'll still have Sarah when I'm 67

Both Bull Motif and ESM do +40 piston sets for the 948 engine, so if you can get away with that amount of reboring, then the pistons are available.

ESM (and probably others) do a larger bore exhaust system, and also twin downpipes to meet up to the Ital/Metro exhaust manifold.

Shame it's in a scrapyard, it doesn't look too bad at all. Possibly even 'part restored', judging by the areas of red oxide and very shiny front chromework (unless that's just the photo).

Seems to be the same product being sold for 9 quid here. Just a word of caution - it says that it's suitable for speakers with an impedance of 8-16Ω, so you cannot use ordinary car speakers (most of which are 4Ω).

Any rot adjacent to the areas on the rear wing will probably be more than 12" from any mounting points, etc., so not an MOT fail.

Arc welding isn't really suitable for this type of work - the metal is a bit too thin. You could do it, no doubt, but it'll be very much easier with a good MIG welder.

What do you find deficient about the car at the moment? Your answer to that question will determine what modifications (if any) you should look at making. There are various options for seats, but perhaps your first port of call should be to check the condition of your current ones. If the foam is br...

Agreed, would be good to have some sort of 'reference library' of images of how things should look, for the benefit of people carrying out repairs.

if you want a a £500 Morris Minor, pay upto £500, if you want a reasonable one pay upto £6000-8000 and if you want one that you can be proud of and you cant do the work yourself, go and see one of the skilled restoration firms and get one built :) Plus, inflated classic prices if a great thing... i...

There does seem to be a surge in young owners compared to a few years ago. Not sure if this is primarily driven by insurance costs but I suspect it has a hand. Unfortunately, 'classic car = cheap insurance' is becoming much more widely known, hence many insurance companies now refusing to cover youn...

Prices for excellent condition classics (of all makes and models) do seem to be heading upwards. Not sure if this is because there are fewer around these days, or other factors. Certainly a lot of cars were shipped abroad when the pound first fell against the €/$ a couple of years ago, although I'm ...

In answer to your first question, the head doesn't tend to put up too much of a fight. If it does, then (with plug leads removed and ignition off) crank the engine over on the handle or press the starter button on the solenoid. The compression of the engine should be sufficient to break the seal of ...

I doubt a standard crossflow 1100 would be worth the hassle, as the A-Series with the kind of simple modifications you describe will provide more power. Personally I wouldn't bother with the 1300 either, as you may as well use a 1275 A-Series (getting fairly expensive these days, but still out there...