1982 Morris Ital Estate 1.3L to BLOWN 6.0L (Yellow Peril)

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

I thought this may be of interest, since it includes mention of a BT yellow estate:

www.aronline.co.uk/opinion/ebay-find-of-the-week/ebay-find-of-the-week-morris-ital-1-7-slx/

[philsford]

Looking forward to the progress on this.
When I was young in the 80s a fella who lived close to my parents was a bit of a marina nut. He had a saloon he used every day that had slot mags and 2 tone dark and light green respray. He also had a customised coupe in like a burgundy with big rear wheels (polished slot mags) cool lurve etc. It was quite smart as I remember. He kept it in the garage until some point in the 90s when his kids started driving and it vanished. I would like to think it was saved but I have no idea what the reg was. A 71 K if I was guessing

[Ralph.Wrecked.It]

There's a Scimitar sat in my workshop with a Rover V8 in the hole that hasn't moved in 10+ years...

Might be able to work something out if you go that way. It also already has slot mags on it haha

I'll try and get a picture next time I walk past it.

[braithwaite]

The Scimitar stuff is interesting! I'd still have to IVA it because the chassis would be the only Scimitar bit as the engine, gearbox and axle will all be changed and that'll not give me enough points to retain the reg.

[glenanderson]

Jan 14, 2022 13:50:40 GMT braithwaite said:

The Scimitar stuff is interesting! I'd still have to IVA it because the chassis would be the only Scimitar bit as the engine, gearbox and axle will all be changed and that'll not give me enough points to retain the reg.

Chassis - 5 points 

Steering - 2 points

Suspension - 2 points

You need eight points, so you’re in as long as you retain everything else. 

Given the way a Scimitar chassis is constructed, if you need to alter the wheelbase I would think that you could do so discreetly enough for it to go unremarked. 

[kevins]

Why would you change the scimitar axle?, it has a massive 5 linked one as standard. If you want a lsd one jag diffs can be used.

As glen says moving the wheelbase by a couple of inches could be done in the 4 links and a spacer on the watts.

[braithwaite]

Jan 14, 2022 14:07:41 GMT glenanderson said:

Jan 14, 2022 13:50:40 GMT braithwaite said:

The Scimitar stuff is interesting! I'd still have to IVA it because the chassis would be the only Scimitar bit as the engine, gearbox and axle will all be changed and that'll not give me enough points to retain the reg.

Chassis - 5 points 

Steering - 2 points

Suspension - 2 points

You need eight points, so you’re in as long as you retain everything else. 

Given the way a Scimitar chassis is constructed, if you need to alter the wheelbase I would think that you could do so discreetly enough for it to go unremarked. 

I stand corrected! I'll keep an eye out then! 

[braithwaite]

Jan 14, 2022 14:39:36 GMT kevins said:

Why would you change the scimitar axle?, it has a massive 5 linked one as standard. If you want a lsd one jag diffs can be used.

As glen says moving the wheelbase by a couple of inches could be done in the 4 links and a spacer on the watts.

I'd change the axle so it's easy to replace parts in and can take a serious amount of HP and abuse, as there's 5 link already making an axle that bolts in wouldn't be an issue and I also need it narrowed to allow the 10J to fit. 

[braithwaite]

Engine and gearbox details for the those who may be interested: 

350 Chevy small block, parts are cheap and power is easy to make, yeah I could have gone LS but LS tax and for simplicity sake I want old school fuel delivery and ignition. I'm not ruling out a EFI conversion in the future mind! It's a 4 bolt mains 1984/5 engine out of a truck of that era, has lots of smog rubbish that will be removed.



Plan is to strip and rebuild as a 383 with longer stroke forged crank to give me some more torque, dished pistons and 70cc ish chamber heads to help get the compression down nice and low. The reason for that is.... gotta be blown to be known as they say down under! 



Just the manifold for now but as and when I'll be fitting a 6-71 large bore blower to the engine for added grunt, some Mad Max attitude and because I want this thing to look like a life size Hot Wheels car when cruising around. 

Gearbox wise she's getting a 2 Speed Powerglide Automatic that'll be built up to take the abuse. The reason being these are easy to get parts for and can be built up to take thousands of HP. 

Ford 9inch out back to turn the tyres, easy to source, easy to get narrowed to the size I want and tried and tested.

All the running gear will be built up to take twice the HP it will ever see so it can remain somewhat reliable... I hope! I'm using a tried and tested combo because that makes sense, I love quirky engine swaps etc. but as I plan on doing some racing I want to be able to borrow parts at the track if need be lol. 

Braithwaite. 

[stivis]

Custom Car did a Marina pick-up with a Rover V8, built by BL motorsport, , not quite sure if they built a V8, but they went into the woods with a 1.3 Rally car

Confession time I had the following
a 1800 TC coupe with VW Derrington alloy head and twin 40s, yes it was a B series engine, 7x13 steel wheels and 205 and 225 tyres, Spax shocks on a conversion kit, keeping oil in the lever shocks and the most important thing Anti Tramp bars.

A pick-up same suspension mods , 1800 engine twin SUs Osselli Head and cam and out to 2 litre ,plus 8 and 10 x 14 tyres G5o on the from and N50s on the rear Google for the real width ,Black Side pipes, Disc brake front end as the PU had large drums and a seriously HD rear axle which accepted an MGB type diff ( Weller wheels did the wheels and did 4 front double drilled PCD 3.75 and 4.5 )
The wheel size meant a exchange rack every 21 days a gearbox lasted a bit longer

The final one was an Estate It was the best (that is a relative term) , engine out the PU, side pipes sold wheels this time were 8x13 Revolutions and 225/55 x 13 Goodyear Ultragrips Again the A/T bars and Spax conversion

Incidentally the Marina grill( the basic one) converts easily to a 4 seven inch quad setup

All in all the 350 is the wisest move

[legend]

Moving the front wheelarches 3" forwards to take a scimitar chassis just makes it look more badass anyway

[braithwaite]

Jan 21, 2022 16:47:15 GMT stivis said:

Custom Car did a Marina pick-up with a Rover V8, built by BL motorsport, , not quite sure if they built a V8, but they went into the woods with a 1.3 Rally car

Confession time I had the following
a 1800 TC coupe with VW Derrington alloy head and twin 40s, yes it was a B series engine, 7x13 steel wheels and 205 and 225 tyres, Spax shocks on a conversion kit, keeping oil in the lever shocks and the most important thing Anti Tramp bars.

A pick-up same suspension mods , 1800 engine twin SUs Osselli Head and cam and out to 2 litre ,plus 8 and 10 x 14 tyres G5o on the from and N50s on the rear Google for the real width ,Black Side pipes, Disc brake front end as the PU had large drums and a seriously HD rear axle which accepted an MGB type diff ( Weller wheels did the wheels and did 4 front double drilled PCD 3.75 and 4.5 )
The wheel size meant a exchange rack every 21 days a gearbox lasted a bit longer

The final one was an Estate It was the best (that is a relative term) , engine out the PU, side pipes sold wheels this time were 8x13 Revolutions and 225/55 x 13 Goodyear Ultragrips Again the A/T bars and Spax conversion

Incidentally the Marina grill( the basic one) converts easily to a 4 seven inch quad setup

All in all the 350 is the wisest move

Sounds like quite the variety! I think this is part of the reason I went for one of these, people either have no idea what it is or had loads when they were younger! Everyone has a story to tell!

[braithwaite]

Jan 21, 2022 17:19:13 GMT legend said:

Moving the front wheelarches 3" forwards to take a scimitar chassis just makes it look more badass anyway

It just doesn't sit right in my mind haha! Doesn't look as bad as I thought though! 

[locostbryan]

Dec 24, 2021 7:01:22 GMT igor said:

"Morris Ital Estate, 1.3 A+ Series"

I have never understood was these were ever a thing. Were there tax advantages to having ridiculously underpowered vehicles that probably hogged the juice more than the bigger engined ones that weren't having to work so hard?

They had the "new" A+ 1300 and were surprisingly economical, which mattered a lot to the retired folk at the time of the 2nd oil shock and in the early Thatcher years, and the extended service intervals appealed to fleet managers.

Motor 1980 road test

[locostbryan]

The Australians got their Marina in a yellow very similar to the BT shade, the official name was "Bold as Brass"

[braithwaite]

Jan 28, 2022 10:00:56 GMT locostbryan said:

The Australians got their Marina in a yellow very similar to the BT shade, the official name was "Bold as Brass"

Well that's the paint colour sorted! I had no idea this was a thing and what name for a colour! Haha!

[stealthstylz]

Try and use a crank with a big block sized snout and use some sort of internal or external snout support. The stock small block snout aren't great with a blower drive on even when double keywayed. It's definitely worth investing the money is a "proper" crank too. The Chinese made brands are fine for n/a or turbo engines but the extra load of a blower drive on them can cause issues.

If you're wanting to do proper Aussie style burnouts look into using methanol too. It's a lot softer on the engine.

[braithwaite]

Jan 29, 2022 12:13:33 GMT stealthstylz said:

Try and use a crank with a big block sized snout and use some sort of internal or external snout support. The stock small block snout aren't great with a blower drive on even when double keywayed. It's definitely worth investing the money is a "proper" crank too. The Chinese made brands are fine for n/a or turbo engines but the extra load of a blower drive on them can cause issues.

If you're wanting to do proper Aussie style burnouts look into using methanol too. It's a lot softer on the engine.

Already thinking of methanol for fuelling but that snout support stuff is something I'd not heard of and will start investigating!

[braithwaite]

Just a little thread to keep this ticking along, I've been looking into a few bits and finding out a bit about the car. Was sent this photo from around the early 2000's looks a lot more solid here! 


Engine plan is evolving, the lump I have may just be for registering and getting the IVA as fitting a crate lump means it gets tested to modern standards. 

Anyway, over and out, Braithwaite. 

[crockpot]

Great project in a "mad as a box of frogs" way.
As you are going the (correct) route with BIVA I would check out the glass supply situation. I doubt that the existing glass is correctly marked.