Morris Minor Owners Club

Check the rotor arm is a) present and b) in good order. And is the little carbon brush there ? To set the timing -advance until it 'kicks' against the starter then back off slightly. Then fine tune on the road by listening for pinking - if it pinks - back it off some more. If no pinking - advance sl...

That's the hole where the oil gallery is 'plugged' - but it may not have been drilled absolutely parallel to the head face - it could be running slightly down to the face - so it's really essential to check down the vertical oil hole.

Perfectly ok to use 20w50 in the dampers - have done so for years with no problems. Obviously - make sure the fixing bolts are nice and tight and the damper is not leaking. Considerably better damping - in fact - I have also used EP90 in the past for my 'rally' Minor- but I thought that may be a bit...

If it is excess petrol that will be black smoke. Oil gives blue smoke - and water gives white 'smoke'. Only other thing could be brake fluid - if you have a servo - it coulkd be drawing in brake fluid which gives white smoke. I suggest a compression test on the engine to find out what state it is in !

I answered you directly Ian - but for others to see - I have a head at 120 thou, but it is very thin at the water ways and the oil gallery has been brazed up. It does work though ! I would say 80 thou is the safe limit - but check by measuring down the vertical oil passage with a probe and compare t...

I agree - the new shoes should fit straight out the box. But have the drums maybe been skimmed at some time - and the 'original' shoes modified to suit ?

Well 'white smoke' is steam !!

If the car is 'flat' when you sit in it - then that's perfect ! Leave it alone. Fill the dampers with 20w50 oil for good damping - after pumping out all the evil smelling old oil inside - over the years the oil gets torn apart by being forced through the tiny restrictor holes. New 20w50 will make a ...

Are the brakes stuck on ?

They are not 'shocks' - they are DAMPERS !! The 'shock' of hitting a lump in the road is taken by the spring - it absorbs the 'shock' - the dampers simply damp out unwanted oscillations. Without them the car would hop about like a kangaroo. If it's squeeking then rebush the link arm. If it's not dam...

You can make little spacer strips of metal to fit over the back of each cylinder - and so take up the slack. If you don't do this then the shoes are not really concentric with the drum - and only the edge of the shoe - at the moving end of the cylinder - will be contacting the drum. Poor design real...

Have answered on the other thread - but will say again - cars usually sag down on the driver's side. You could swap the springs over which will probably work provided of course there are no broken leaves. Or fit one new spring, or just make and fit longer shackles on the low side. 1" longer sha...

The car usually settles on the side where the driver sits - I am guessing this is a lhd car ? You can either fit a new spring - usual advice is to fit them in pairs - or just swap them over (which could well solve the problem) - or just fit longer shackles on the lower side spring. Just make them fr...

Really best at about 2am !!

Doesn't really matter - they are all 7" - Mini ones fit just fine, and are plentiful and cheap ! Oops - sorry, not meant to suggest economical motoring on here !! Or so it seems.

True back firing is when unburned petrol ignites in the exhaust - so it could be burned exhaust valves, or maybe just the tappets needing re-set ? Get a compression check done on the engine. If it's farting - just lay off the beans !! Seriously - maybe just increase the idle setting slightly to allo...

I would not mind paying that money for a good 'like new' engine - but my dear wife works in the Bank and holds the cheque books !! So there is no chance. I must say £20 is about my limit for Minor and Mini engines (I have both you see) - for that I can get (and have gotten) an excellent 1098 Minor e...

I think Morspeed have much lower overheads - certainly get excellent write up on Minifinity board. Personally I have no experience of them. But for THAT price I would just be running the engine 'as is' - it's supposed to be new !! Stick a decent cam and head on the thing - it should go very well !

More likely just to have been worn dizzy bushes rather than bent shaft - but similar effect. Doubt there would be much effect on a standard engine though.

Pretty sure it's just rusty rims on the drums,new shoes etc. BUT - make sure the cylinders are free moving - and check they can slide up and down in the backplate - and slacken off the handbrake cables at the lever in the car to let the shoes settle right down on the cylinder stops. Then adjust up t...