1967 Morris Minor

[madmog]

Woo hoo engine running. Haven't moved the car yet but just touching the throttle, it's so much smoother (with a lumpy cam) on bike carbs than the old DGF on a standard cam...

Hooked up the laptop to the Megajolt - all electrical systems working just fine.

One bike carb is leaking though. I'm off to check the float valve. It should be either that or too much fuel pressure. I doubt the latter because although I've no fuel pressure regulator, I'm using the standard R1 electric fuel pump. Plus only one leaks... But then I did clean and check everything thoroughly too...

[madmog]

Float valve had come undone inside - no more leaks:) Pics to follow

[madmog]

I'd managed to unhook the float valve while re-assembling


Double-checked the remainder but that was the only one. Hooked it in properly and no more leaks


Tight on No 4 but I can reposition wiper motor out of the way hopefully by rotating 90 degrees. It's okay for now.


Engine running at this point. Starts easily, revs freely. Tidied up the inside and had a short drive. 1" movement on the throttle cable is entertaining. Especially when the revs don't die down instantly. Hmmm. Checked that butterflys closing - they snap shut but the engine takes a while to slow down. I think I read something about this behaviour before. Will have to investigate later.

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Great looking conversion! I'm currently fixing up a Twin cam Minor also. Do you happen to know where to get a temperature gauge that works with the cylinder head temperature sender by any chance?

I notice you appear to have modified the Marina pedal box to take the clutch cable in a similar way that I had to, but what's the deal with all that Bacofoil covering the top of it - do you stash roast chicken drumsticks under there or something?

Loving the Mercedes seats - such luxury!

[madmog]

Hello 1275traveller Thanks for your comments:)

Temp guage. I used one from a Skoda and also the skoda sender pushed into a fiat sender that had it's innards pulled out. If you have an old Fiat sender handy that you can pull out the plastic you'll see what I mean. I think you'll have more luck changing the sender to suit a gauge than the other way round. I.e. find a gauge you like with matching sender then make the sender fit the cylinder head with an adaptor

The bacofoil covers the gap at the top - I've needed access to adjust the clutch and so on. I'll probably make a removeable panel now as I'm tidying up the engine bay after years of ad-hoc additions. Unfortunately my hand has been forced as well as the engine bay caught fire last Thursday on the way to the Morris Minor National. Lot of the previous carb effort on this thread has now gone up in flames and taken away my mojo.





Particularly curse word off with the carbs being burned as I had put so much effort into undoing someone else's mess and making my fibreglass bells.

[waveman1500]

Very sorry to see that mate. Make sure you get that dry extinguisher powder off of there quick-smart as well, it's corrosive and has a tendency to kill cars, particularly finding its way into electrical stuff and ruining it.

[dan]

Saw this on the MMOC messageboard and I'm gutted for you mate. Hope it's not as bad as it looks

[madmog]

Thanks Waveman1500 didn't realise that. v. useful to know.

Thanks Dan. Not sure how bad it is yet but it'll be a lot of work to put right. Plastic bits of carbs melted, perhaps cam belt. So it'll be a lot of work even if the parts themselves aren't too expensive. To top it all the bonnet cable was weakened so the bonnet is jammed shut. I'm staying away until I'm sure I won't take a hammer to it...

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

Tragic - very sorry to see this Any idea what caused it? I'd guess maybe the carbs backfired judging by the scorch mark on the bonnet above where they sit. I noticed the Weber twin choke carb on my Fiat engine occasionally spat out flames when I first got it, but it was running horrendously rich back then.

Fortunately, much of it looks salvageable/repairable, and there doesn't appear to be major damage/distortion of the bodywork.

Thanks for the tip on the temp gauge, and I hope your Mojo returns soon...

[madmog]

Started removing bits today - well started by throwing buckets and buckets of water all over to get rid of the fire extinguisher powder then removing bits. Interesting what you say about spitting out flames since there was no air filter at the time. Could be it. If not definitely something in the carb area. all the pipe ends are still attached even though many of the pipes are toasted. None of my epoxy repairs had failed or leaked.

I'll strip the engine bay of everything and then refit in a more logical order. That bay had been growing extra bits ad hoc for years. Time to make it more professional. Probably will paint strip the whole engine bay and paint it in some oddball inappropriate colour like metalflake...

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

That's the spirit dude; turn a negative into a positive, and look at it as an opportunity to improve the car as a whole.

Keep us posted; yours is definitely a car to watch!

[qwerty]

Very interesting threead. Really gutted about the engine fire but least your looking on it as an oppourtunity to improve.

I chatted to you at Retro Rides show 07 and you told me never to buy a minor haha. Loved the car then and love it now.

[moggyman]

Gutted about the fire mate...........
Any idea what caused it?

[madmog]

Jul 3, 2009 13:30:45 GMT Waxoyling Lyrical said:

That's the spirit dude; turn a negative into a positive, and look at it as an opportunity to improve the car as a whole.

Keep us posted; yours is definitely a car to watch!

Thanks 1275 Traveller. You've hit it my thinking on the nail. I was looking for the idea to turn lemons into lemonade (to quote the American self-help evangelists ) and couldn't move forward until I found the purpose or goal. I figured that if I sold it on and bought something else I'd be swapping a solid shell that I know inside out with some known problems for something else with a set of unknown problems. Not that there's anything wrong with that - a change is as good as a rest and all. But it's not a massive job that's beyond my capabalities to sort out - even out in the open where I work.

The idea of repeating work is a pain but replacing with something better is an incentive. Engine bay is the rattiest looking part of the car and not in a Rat look trendy way. Wires are everywhere. Fusebox (toasted, never much good) )and too many inline fuses can be fixed, wiring re-routed to be almost invisible. And I can partially rewire using the correct wiring colours for the Minor instead of whatever wire was nearest to hand. A new minor loom is over £100 but wire costs less than 30p a metre in whatever colour you like. 22p if you use modern thinwall lightweight stuff.

I was always worried about the Marina Servo as it was the only original part of the braking system. Since it's paint-blistered I can justify replacing it and the master cylinder with something new. I've been doing a lot of research on suitable alternatives.

Properties must be dual circuit. Must be easy to get hold of for a long time to come. Mini 89 onwards has something that might be suitable, similarly Land Rover defender. As you have the Marina conversion you'll be able to see that where the Servo bolts to the aluminium pedal casting. Well the mini bolts up with just two bolts so an aluminium adaptor plate might allow me to fit it and all sorts of Servos there. Just a 1/4" plate with 6 or 8 holes. Even I can do that:)

Clutch pedal to cable pin (yes I added the same sort of extension but can't remember doing it as it was so long ago) is difficult to access, I can cut the adaptor box and strengthen it a bit more so that area is more easy to access but hidden away. Hollows in the Marina plate can be plated with aluminium and lumiwelded. Might even polish and clearcoat it...

Oil cooler can go under front wing (saw this on JLH's racer at the National). never thought of making use of the under wing space to hide stuff. Might even put the already remote oil filter there too. Would make changing the filter much easier.

etc etc Must sort some pics.

[madmog]

Jul 3, 2009 21:36:10 GMT qwerty said:

Very interesting threead. Really gutted about the engine fire but least your looking on it as an oppourtunity to improve.

I chatted to you at Retro Rides show 07 and you told me never to buy a minor haha. Loved the car then and love it now.

Thanks

Funnily enought I got towed back from RR07 too ... overheated engine. I'll be at RR09 and RR Santa Pod but in the daily driver if you're around. What are you driving?

Actually, are you the guy with the orange Fastback by any chance? I remember saying something about the differences between the culture of Minors contrasting with Beetles. I wouldn't say 'never' but it depends what you want really. The main Morris Minor owners club is predominently stock Minors or improvements from within the BMC family - Marina disk brakes, Midget or Marina engines etc. Customs are a minority but still welcome. The age range bell curve is higher up the age range than the VW scene which is neither a good or bad thing just a difference. I think it's cheaper and easier to have a Beetle or Mini as a daily driver for less money than a Minor. But when was easy part of the RR philosophy...

[madmog]

Jul 4, 2009 14:08:31 GMT moggyman said:

Gutted about the fire mate...........
Any idea what caused it?

Best guess is carb blowback onto something electrical or hose leak. I was discussing at the MMOC National and someone who is a fuel technologist as part of their job said that the fuel would have had to contact something at 200+ deg c to ignite or contact the electrics somehow. I wondered if the aluminium cylinder head would reach this temp - he didn't think so.

The bike carbs were attached to the manifold stub by longish fuel proof hose and jubilee clips. The carbs were also braced to the cylinder head to stop vibration but maybe they worked loose enough to leak. One of these hoses was burned off. Might be the culprit. I'll redesign this to shorten down the rubber part of the manifold and brace more substantially

[93fxdl]

sorry about your dissaster but a possibility for the cause is "stand off" where shock wave pulses in the inlet side force fuel back out of the bellmouth, many years ago a friend had a mgb with a sidedraught webber on it and you could see marks on the inner wing where fuel had washed it!!!!
best of luck with the ressurection ttfn glenn

[madmog]

Jul 5, 2009 17:58:46 GMT 93fxdl said:

sorry about your dissaster but a possibility for the cause is "stand off" where shock wave pulses in the inlet side force fuel back out of the bellmouth, many years ago a friend had a mgb with a sidedraught webber on it and you could see marks on the inner wing where fuel had washed it!!!!
best of luck with the ressurection ttfn glenn

What's the cause and solution to this please?

[Waxoyling Lyrical]

I also noticed this problem when I fitted a Weber 45DCOE to my 1972 MGB GT. I don't know the cause but the solution was presented to me when the No.4 piston of a supposedly big bore 1860cc 'fast road' engine blew a hole in it shortly after fitting the Weber so I reconverted back to a standard engine purchased for £35 on E-bay and SU carbs (which ironically ran better than the big bore engine ever did) then sold the car to a Frenchman and put the Weber back on E-bay for someone else to reap the dubious benefits of it!

Essentially, with carbs, I feel you really need some sort of airbox or airfilter to prevent this sort of blowback, and also to stop grit and debris getting sucked into the engine causing premature wear.

The standard Fiat twin cam airbox has a pair of tubes, one going to the crankcase, the other to the inlet manifold; presumably this crankcase breathing helps curtail any blowbacks...

[madmog]

Hmm I know about the crank case breather tube but not the one going from the airbox to the inlet manifold. I'm sure my Lancia engine didn't have that. Airbox and filter was on the to do list. I wouldn't run unfiltered for too long.