Morris Minor Owners Club

P)leased to hear the core plugs worked out OK. What did we ever do before "the bay" came along? After you have run the engine for just a short time you will find that you will get up to half a turn on the stud nuts, so re-torque after say a hundred miles, and then again at the recommended ...

Hotchkiss were a French company and opened a subsidiary in Coventry in the First World War, ref google! Morris bought the Hotchkiss factory in Coventry in 1923. Hotchkiss - French, hence metric threads. The cylinder head threads are 'metric coarse' but there are also a lot of 'metric fine' threads o...

The studs sold by ESM are EN24T. Both threads are M10x1.5 as already said. Threads are cut, not rolled.
Colin

The village I live in has a Motor Club which owns a vintage Ford AA Recovery lorry. Many years ago now this needed licensing and the chap looking after it cut the number off an AA badge and rivetted it onto the bulkhead. That's been its number ever since!! As long as officialdom has a number its hap...

Hi You should NEVER deliberately discharge a lead/acid battery. It likes to be kept within the top 95% of charge. Every time you discharge the battery you shorten battery life significantly. Preferably buy one of the new type trickle chargers which keeps the battery topped up, but does not over char...

I think you should make sure that the liquid electrolyte (acid) level is above the top of the plates before starting the charge. Thus any water added will be thoroughly mixed in during the charge by the gas evolved during charging. When fully charged you should then top-up as necessary.
cheers
Colin

Sorry to hear about your problems with the cylinder head and gasket. I had two heads that had cracks in them, in both cases across the narrow section on one end i.e. outside nos 1 and 4 cylinders. If possible you should get yours crack tested to double check it is ok. Crack test kits are actually av...

Mayur For pictures and descriptions of the MM and Traveller you need to buy the book "Original Morris Minor" by Ray Newall, ISBN 978-1-906133-03-0, this covers all models and includes internal and external photos of MMs. A new one cost me £25 just a few years ago. You should find one on e-...

Nic Copper washers are readily available via the Net, just google etc. I bought some for the sump and gear box plugs recently for my MM. Alternatively the existing one can be softened by heating to red and allowing to cool naturally, ie don't chuck it in water. It will need to be in reasonable condi...

Simon
Yes, can measure mine and let you know. Can you e-mail your home address to c.addison@kgsdiamond.com and I will send by post.
Colin

Went to the Faversham Classic last weekend, the town centre is filled with classic cars, a lovely day out. Several of Kent's Morris Minor Clubs were there. I went with Geoff in his black Tourer as my car is temporarily ill. We went the country route via the A20 and Charing. The road from Charing is ...

Simon Don Hoods have quoted me and I am on the point of ordering from them. They only make now in the best material, double duck. They have recently made a couple of hoods for other MMs. Side screens, they also quoted but I have the frames which will need recovering. Ask them, if you don't have the ...

Took the MM out for a "Breakfast meeting" this morning and it started making a rattling noise. Made me very nervous. Anyway it was a loose fanbelt!!

brian Some years ago I rewired a TR2 with a loom from Autosparks of Nottingham. Everything was just right, when offered into the car all the 'bits' were in the right places and fitted well. You can have any mods incorporated in ie flashers, as already indicated. You should think about this, you can ...

Pete I bought from HCL Fasteners Ltd and their ref is DWS-053. The only small problem is their minimum order. Look all the details up on their website www.hcl-clamping.co.uk. I got x13 for the MOQ The next size up is not quite small enough (don't ask!) Not only are they correct but I think they also...

I had this happen on my recently rebuilt engine. This also was not firing on 3 and 4 (?). (not sure if the picture is added, but it shows the gasket split between cylinders and the loose bit trapped under a valve). So. you might check the compressions, or just whip the head off. I think when fitting...

Bob in Oz, thanks for the photos, will now visit an ex-colleague running a water jet cutting company and see if he has a small piece of stainless, he might even cut the shield for me? Maybe they didn't rust as quickly in Oz as in UK, hence still having one.
Colin

No sign of one on my car, probably disappeared many years ago.
So, how about a picture please from someone who does have one???
anticipating your help, as ever
Colin

Having recently had the engine rebuilt I put it all back together after replacing the oil in the gear box. These boxes are like all British gear boxes of the era, strong. I did the same with a Triumph TR2 rebuild in the early 90s and that had lasted very well 'till I sold the care recently. So, chan...

Pradeep I certainly would not use mild steel on the big-end studs. Recently I organised making some sets of cylinder head studs (x13) for the side-valve engine and we used EN24T which is considerably tougher than mild steel. I would apply this thinking to all the studs/bolts taking compression strai...