General advice

[lornab]

Hi there, I am a new Morris Minor owner having just got my Morris Minor 4 door saloon in March this year.
Just wanted to get advice on what oil to use for topping up and/or changing & also the oil to use for the carburettor. I read from the literature supplied by the person who sold me my MM & saw that the oil is of the 20/50 variety. Just want to ensure that this is indeed the right oil to use as there are so many different types of oil out there.
I also want to get advice on how to go about getting a car radio/CD player fitted cos I love listening to music when I drive & to have a radio CD player in my Morris Minor would be really good. I tried going to Halfords but they were unable to help.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Lorna B .

[Monty-4]

20/50 mineral oil is exactly right and will also be fine in the Carburettor in a pinch, although specialist oils for this are available for that.

There are many ways to get tunes playing in your Minor and as such you may get many different answers. Budget and ones inclination to do some simple wiring vs. paying an auto electrician will be determining factors though.

[Sleeper]

If you've got your music on your phone,a small bluetooth box and speaker is compact and discreet..
john

[simmitc]

Welcome, Lorna, I hope that you have many years of happy Minor ownership and really enjoy the car.

If fitting a music system, first check whether the car is positive earth as originally made or has been converted to negative earth - most modern music boxes will work only with -ve earth and it would be an expensive mistake to fit one the wrong way round If you need to convert the car, then it's a simple and quick process.

Dependiong on the speakers used, they can go on the rear parcel shelf (saloons) or the panels in the footwell, or jujst about anywhere you can find space. Head units typically go under the dash or in a glovebox. No right or wrong, just personal choice.

20/50 oil is perfect for engine and gearbox - do not use gear oil in the gearbox! For quality oil in a good engine then Duckhams Q is available along with Morris Oils 20/50. For a worn engine, cheapo 20/50 is fine. For the carb you can use 20/50, 3-in-1 or a special SU oil. There could be a slight variation in how the engine responds to the throttle, but not likely to be a problem.

Any oither questions, just ask. Also useful to join the MMOC and your local branch to get a great magazine, tailored insurance and loads of other offers.

[Blaketon]

Welcome to the world of Morris Minors.

I use Penrite HPR30 in my Minor https://www.classic-oils.net/Penrite-Cl ... erly-HPR30 and in my MG Midget. Engine oil is fine for the carburetor dashpot. Sometimes a light oil is suggested but this can result in the piton rising too quickly when you open the throttle quickly and weakening the mixture, which reduces power. I know the standard gearbox requires 20/50 but I don't have a standard gearbox.

For audio, I have a 30 year old radio cassette in the Midget (It was one of the first where you could remove part of it to make it useless to a thief) and an earlier version of one of these, in the MG V8, which I fitted in 2013 - https://www.moss-europe.co.uk/retrosoun ... 0-355.html . The workings are very compact and I just leave a memory stick in it. There is a wire, so you can mount the stick elsewhere but mine just rests on the top of the transmission tunnel, behind the radio. The stick has a 4GB capacity and that, it seems, represents a lot of music. Not being one, who follows current trends, I hardly ever remove the stick (Just now and then to add something I have acquired). I will add some thing to the Minor but for that I have an old radio cassette, that came out of another car and was working well (I have only ever actually bought the two systems detailed - all the others came in cars).

Mention of the anti theft device on the radio/cassette has reminded be of a very simple trick for the car. These are very good and a good safety feature when you leave the car (If there is a wiring short circuit, on a permanently live circuit, it will simply blow the fuse that runs in parallel with it) - https://www.frost.co.uk/battery-cut-out-switch.html . However, it's visible to a thief and easy to overcome. I know of a much better system but I won't detail it here, as it's not only forum members, who can see this. I can let you know directly if you are interested.

[Blaketon]

I have just been looking at an Autocar road test of a 1960 Morris Minor Deluxe saloon and noted that the radio was £27 + £11, 5' purchase tax. The car was only £618 (So many shillings and pence), which shows relatively how expensive radios were then (Of course I don't know what some pay for the boom boom, sub woofer systems these days.....perhaps more than for the car/shed). TVs were the same. My grandparents paid about £500 for a TV at about that time and it still spent a lot of time in the repair shop (My parents had their latest TV about the same time as I got mine and whilst mine was replaced under warranty, within a year, since 1992, neither has needed any repairs).