Morris Minor Owners Club

As I have already said the diff on a 1955 is 5.375-1. They changed it from 4.55-1 in order to increase the acceleration!

2nd and 3rd gears are on the same shaft, if a locking ring has broken on that shaft they are free to move around. That would be your worst case scenario, but it could be as simple as the selector mechanism.

I see your point but some people have been driven to distraction by really obstinate pulley nuts! When I have a really stubborn one I locked the starter ring teeth with a stout screwdriver which didn't strain the gearbox etc.

You will have to be careful. The early diff casings had the oil filler hole on the DIFF casing itself rearwards of the pinion flange. The later diffs do not have this filler hole as it is actually on the Back axle half way up the diff housing facing the rear of the car. If you fit the wrong diff uni...

That is the problem, it isn't just the amount of backlash but how the Crown wheel and pinion actually mesh together which affects the noise. The fact that your only sings under load is not exactly rare! I worked my way through about seven diffs before I found one which was quiet and even that one ha...

The setting up of a diff unit appears to be a lost art these days. Assuming that you have at least 5 thou" backlash between the crown wheel and pinion the 'drag' is likely to be due to incorrect preload on the bearings. If it whines on either pulling OR overrun that is pretty usual. If it whine...

I have three M/AS5D numbers for 1963/5/and 6 what is your number?

How much free play is there at the clutch pedal?

Yes, I did my rebuild with only room for one side at a time and it is a pain having to replace most things just to move the car over. the half shafts will both have to be withdrawn a fair way to allow the diff removal anyway so I would remove the whole unit as one. You can then put it on the lounge ...

The car will grind to a halt if the charging light does not extinguish because the battery will go flat pretty quickly. Keep your starting handle close by! If you did nothing except fit a new battery are you sure you fitted it the same way around as the original? In theory the battery connections wi...

I tried the 'back to black' treatments which are sold for bumper and tyre application. Reasonable result. Regarding the use of oil, this will tend to rot the rubber but I have seen Glycerine recommended for the job. I have no idea of the results.

ESM and BM claim the more expensive stainless system is quieter than the cheap one (in fact ESM say theirs is quieter than their mild steel system).


I hope so, the last time I fitted a mild steel system it was embarrassing to drive with the hood down!
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Overriders were always optional as were the heaters!

The coil winding is shorted to chassis every time the points close, therefore any coil should run quite hot. If you switch the ignition on without the engine running the points are closed all the time and the coil will quickly burn out. The only reliable way of checking a suspect coil is by substitu...

The usual problem with the stainless systems is that they are rather noisy. I have had a two piece system fitted for the last eight years with no problems except that I fitted a second straight through silencer at the rear becauseof the excessive noise (to my ears anyway).

There were a lot of changes during 1959! The horn push moved to the centre of the steering wheel instead of being on the end of the trafficator switch. Does the steering wheel pass THROUGH the parcel shelf or not? This applied from chassis number 695864 (March 1959). In other words what is your chas...

I have never had any problem as long as I used a sharp thin wedge (the chisel again) and only hit once on each diametricaly opposed side. if you move it a couple of thou" and then hit the same side again you can lock it solid. You should have the flat side of the chisel against the stub axle bo...

The inner bearing almost always falls apart. you can start the inner ring
by tapping around its circumference with a thin wedge(an old wood chisel is ideal) until there is enough space to insert a puller,or, if you cannot borrow one then just gradually lever the ring off.

If it has only cut out once then it is too early to diagnose a fault, if it has cut out several times at roughly the same time then it could be heat related breakdown of a component ( the coil is favourite) or, perhaps, an airlock in the tank(release the filler cap and listen for a hiss as you do so...