Morris Minor Owners Club

I can fully understand you might have been told that, but that was wrong - as far as I am concerned Cast iron heads - re-torqued hot, but aluminium heads must be allowed to completely cool before re-tightening. Presumably you loosened each fixing and re-torqued in the prescribed sequence for fitting...

Unless your engine has a special aluminium one , it should be torqued hot after first running up to temperature without loading the engine.

Not following the manufacture’s specs can be the start of a failed gasket, sometime in the future.

Legal requirement for a speedo reading is +10% of road speed but not less than the true road speed. I suppose sat navs have highlighted the errors. I always took note of the rev counter when I used to ‘stretch’ the rules a tad. Most boy racers over-estimated how fast their cars went. Back then it wa...

I’ve never ever fitted a new thermostat rated below 88 degrees in anything, as far as I know, ever. Pre-ignition can damage head gaskets (includes ‘pinking’). You might find the rear of the block water passages blocked, causing local overheating? Improper torquing down the head is another. Cheap gas...

Did you check that it moved when in gear? I had two real crank problems many years ago. First one was I found my flywheel hanging on by one loose bolt. Some kind thoughtless person had fitted the flywheel with low tensile bolts (and not particularly tight?). That was a 1500 Cortina engine. Noticed b...

I would likely lay odds on the prop shaft being modified in some way...

Bowie69 wrote: ↑Wed Jun 12, 2019 11:06 pm Could also be poor connections/deteriorated cable crimps.

Agreed, but that would be simple to diagnose - just by checking voltages at relevant points at relevant times.

We are guessing.

Presuming you mean that of the wheels? Not the crank or other parts? I expect it will be 3 3/4” or 4”. Doubtless it is imperial, not metric. Not too difficult to drop a tape measure across the wheel studs, or spare wheel? Even from measuring the distance between two adjacent studs, the PCD can easil...

Your pre-engaged starter motor will not have a bendix. There should be an adjustment to ensure the starter dog is fully engaged with the flywheel starter ring gear before energising the starter motor. Normally that adjustment is never needed to be set after a rebuild, but they can be set wrong.... I...

There is no point in starting with a compression test if the valve clearances are all too tight. Standard tune up service first, THEN start diagnosing if the fault remains. By all means include a compression test, if felt necessary, at some point but do think about whether it is better to check the ...

It may just have needed that service several months ago. A tune-up will show if further diagnosis is required as one cannot always reliably diagnose an engine fault unless the normal clearances are first adjusted to the correct specs.

Spark plugs are a likely culprit - well, one of them.

Just a random thought but don't (all?) automatic boxes require the lever to be in P to enable the engine to be started? No. I’ve driven quite a few (the middle ‘70s was probably the first time) and none of those, as I recall, have specifically required the selector to be in the park position. Park,...

First thing to check is whether there is an ignition spark. Video is unclear. It seems as though the starter was cranking the engine? At the same time, it sounded as though the battery was badly discharged.

... I have 2 questions 1 is there any reason why I shouldn't put the head on and bolt it but not fully torque it, so that I can lift the engine and gearbox back into the car? I have an old head gasket that I can use temporarily, so I won't need to use the new one. Then when the engine is in, remove...

Never got the point connection wrong ONCE in my life................................................................... be about ten times over the last 50 years :D I’ve worked on contact point systems literally hundreds of times (perhaps over a thousand? I could not claim to have got the fiddly co...

I think the clamp is a cheap knock off, so I'm going to order one like Phil posted above. Err, why? The job should be done now. You may never need it again. Most of my tools have been accumulated over the years as mostly second hand items bought cheaply (well, probably higher quality tools at a pri...

Bowie69 wrote: ↑Mon May 20, 2019 10:19 am Well, I'm not aware of what size they were, nor the reasons why they were changed, I think I came to the party a little late

I think the main clue is in the thread title

Bowie69 wrote: ↑Sun May 19, 2019 10:35 pm The bore/piston next to that one looks ovalled, or is a figment of the camera?

Is it possible the pistons aren't round, giving clearance issues?

Do you have old, suitably sized pistons to attempt refitting ?

His old pistons would ‘fall’ into a rebored block!

Have you checked the ring groove depth cf the ring measurement? Doubtless there will be a specification for that, too. I doubt it is wrong, but one never knows, particularly if the components have been sourced from foreign parts... Like Phil, I have never had trouble with refitting pistons in bores....

ndevans wrote: ↑Fri May 17, 2019 9:14 am
No, I haven't. Do I need to check the oil ring gap as well?

Yes. It will expand with increase in temperature, just like any other ring.