Morris Minor Owners Club

Follow-up report: yesterday we needed to use a car for the first time since lockdown. As anticipated the Morris fired up instantly and the Toyota failed to start - tried until the starter would no longer turn. Connected my 25 year-old charger (having disconnected battery earth lead from car) and kep...

Local optician commutes in this (only in dry weather, methinks):

Just bought a new battery. My Minor has the old lead "helmet" or "cup" type negative clamp. Clamp has a hole in the top for a self-tapping screw to insert into the post, as on the old battery. But the new battery post doesn't have the necessary hole. Am I OK to drill a suitable hole in the post (not...

Our Diesel Toyota Avensis has been idle during Coronavus lockdown. Never a great starter, I anticipate difficulty when the time comes to use it (unlike the Morris which bursts into life after weeks lying dormant) so I'd like to charge the battery. Internet is full of dire warnings and contradictory ...

Assuming he means he wants lower revs at a given cruising speed he should be looking for a numerically lower diff ratio, eg a standard 1098 car uses a 4.22, so a 3.9 or 3.73 will provide lower revs at a given road speed. A 4.8 diff could be useful for a laden van used in hilly areas, but the engine ...

I use Millers VSPe additive . In addition to providing a lead substitute it claims to protect classic car fuel systems from the adverse effects of up to 10% Ethanol. It also claims to enhance the octane rating of fuel by up to two points. I've been using it for quite a while and I do feel that the c...

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 19, 2020 6:06 pm

Were there ever any cars with a cable operated trafficator? That sounds even more eccentric than the trafficators we know and love on the earlier Minors!

Don't know. But some prewar cars had single filament headlamps dipped by being tilted mechanically by levers or cables.

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 19, 2020 2:05 pm

Whilst we wait for the OP to come back (if he does), I have a question - would the mechanism which operates the trafficators be described as a solenoid?

Yes And if the semaphore was operated by a mechanical cable, "no". Same difference as early v late starter switch method.

Thanks for this post.
Nice to see the clap-hands wipers doing their best!

This has always been an issue when driving anything perceived as low-powered. You can drive a big Jag at a gentle 45 - 50mph along a B road without harassment from following drivers. Do the same speed in old car and many motorists get this irresistible urge to risk a pass. When I'm cycling I can tel...

Assuming your gauge is working correctly, I’d imagine it is a dud thermostat. All the Minors I’ve owned have managed to warm up fine - my current car (which has a gauge that I’ve fitted) has an 88 degree thermostat in it and runs at the same temperature all year round. I’ve never needed a radiator ...

Just on the clutch - what does everyone recommend? ESM are selling the Borg & Beck kit, but I'm reading as many horror stories as I am good reviews, people saying it's cheap chinese rubbish etc etc others saying it's absolutely fine. There's a checkered history of B&B becoming AP Driveline but B&B ...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-minor ... SwvxBd7li8

Also, a novel battery clamp ?

(Edit: It's the last picture in the ad )

What about the connection of the winding wire to the "power in" terminal ("slow fan" in your picture). It looks like a fairly basic metal plate held against the wire by the compressed metal grommet which is your power-in terminal. There is potential here for looseness to have developed over 60 or so...

First thoughts are: is there good spring pressure from the moving contact blade onto the windings; are the contact areas (blade onto winding) clean & shiny? There could be decades of deposit which just need cutting through with an electrical contact cleaning fluid.

kevin s wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 20, 2019 1:25 pm

......and with the top of the bowl removed the fuel is aprox 20mm down from the top.

Doesn't sound as though the float needle is being overwhelmed by too much pump pressure if the petrol level is below the top.

ManyMinors wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 20, 2019 4:14 pm

I still don't understand how the cracked axle has caused the diff to fail though??

Maybe run dry after total oil loss through crack?

Any updates? Was the ebay filter OK? Is it a simple matter of measuring the bore of the central feed tube?

A little late to the party with this one. My Nov 1950 Lowlight has vents but no water pump. However, they did have heaters. They picked up hot air from the radiator which was circulated with a fan in the car. So instead of plumbing to carry water through the firewall from the engine coolant, does y...

Personally I try to Gan Canny all the time, not just the next 1/3rd of a mile