Anyone know their Rootes engines?

[Bob the Fish]

My new daily is a '66 Minx. Thought to be a 1725 but I'm not sure, according to various internets 66s had 1592cc and the 1725s came in for 67. Wondering if anyone knows how to tell one from t'other ...

Here's an oily motor piccy-



Cheers all.

[Brian Damaged]

If it's a Series VI Minx (1965-67), there's 1725cc's in there.

[jaminben]

Hi mate, thought i was the only person to use a minx as an everyday driver!!!!!
My Minx is a '64' so has the 1592 in her. Its very thirsty so was thinking about either gas conversion or a more modern engine. You had any thoughts like this?? Also do you know anywhere to get new panels?
Cheers, B

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2010 19:26:52 GMT Bob the Fish said:

My new daily is a '66 Minx. Thought to be a 1725 but I'm not sure, according to various internets 66s had 1592cc and the 1725s came in for 67. Wondering if anyone knows how to tell one from t'other ...

Here's an oily motor piccy-



Cheers all.

not by any means an expert on these but it looks exactly the same as evilgeds 1725 in his humber septic bar the valve cover his one is alloy

[Deleted]

I consider myself as "getting knowledgable" on this group of cars now and that is indeed a 1725 motor, the smaller cc motors were 3 bearing motors and the dipstick went into the sump not the side of the block..
I run a scepter 1725 as a daily and would love to make it more economical but end of day I driev it cause its got chrome an fins not cause of how good it is on fuel

[Deleted]

jamin sadly new panels are pretty much limited to cills.. but sunbeam alpine in teh westmidlands offer a fair selection of handmade repair sections for wings and rear arches etc.. so might be worth giving them a bell?

[Bob the Fish]

Fabulous, cheers guys.

jaminben, nice one Only had mine a week. The heater motor shorted internally, but had a spare Landy one i'd already stripped & cleaned out so that went in. Still not warm though... how's your heater?? I've been pondering fitting a Mini heater or something.
Got any pics of yours? I'll pop some pics of mine in a while, just doing some dents and paint stuff at the mo though.

Haven't thought about engine swaps, but did wonder about twin carbs, maybe bike carbs, poss a pair. Won't touch it for now though, it's got to work through winter.
Dead chuffed with it, but wouldn't mind a bit more 'go'. Mine's auto too which probs doesn't help.

No idea about panels, s'all new to me.

Mine seems to be doing early 20s mpg, poss a bit more, but not worked it out yet (maybe best not to )

[jaminben]

I also own a 71 clubman and the minx heater is alot better but still leaves alot to be desired!! I found my heater pipes were all split so ive replaced them and its not to bad.
Only pic ive got at the mo is here s750.photobucket.com/albums/xx146/puchmaxi50/64%20Minx/
As for the MPG's i worked mine out as around 22-24 mpg's....................bad but then its driving something different so worth it. An old boy at work said they used to convert them to run SU's from mini's. Ive also been talking to some LPG places and they reckon it'll convert fine with 40% savings on fuel. I wouldn't be so bothered but i commute 40 miles a day so its getting expensive.
I'm thinking the same as you, leave it for the winter then play in the summer.
I'll get some more pic's soon.
B

[kapri]

I've run quite a few Rootes cars in the past , couple of series 2 Alpines, a series 3 GT, Minx 1500 auto saloon, '65 Series Minx , Mk 2 Humber Sceptre , and the last one was a fastback Rapier about 9 years or so back.

I learnt the hard way how to tell a 1600 from a 1725 with my Series 3 GT ( back in '73 )

[PhilA]

20mpg? wow. Mine only got that bad if I was trying to get it to do 80+ on the motorway.

Round town it'd easily bring back 35mpg. Fresh oil in the engine, gearbox and rear end helped a lot, setting the tappets on these is fairly simple affair- they tend to run smooth, I just set the idle down low and tweaked them with a screwdriver and nipped up the locknut with the engine running and hot, back them down until they silent, then wind them off until they just tic tic tic slightly. I had a Zenith downdraught on mine, needed a jolly good clean out internally, the emulsion tube was all blocked up with years of muck as standard they have a filter that'll catch things like gravel and possibly sharp sand. Again tune that by ear, set the idle so that a blip of the throttle and settle down with the voltage regulator set right keeps the dynamo warning light off with the headlights on and you should be set.

they're not the revviest of engines, nor the most potent but the gearboxes are beautiful and they do go on and on if you keep the oil changed regularly. I used Asda's five-quid-a-gallon oil and changed the oil and filter once the oil began to change colour.

Adjusting the timing doesn't make a whole lot of noticeable difference, it'll still run 20 degrees off the mark... timing light is your friend. Get it set to what the manual says then retard it a few degrees for whatever fuel you're using. Keep a spare set of points and a flatbladed screwdriver in the glovebox too. That can be changed at the roadside in a few minutes flat and it'd been the saving grace for mine once or twice

Enjoy it, they're fun to drive and always get good comments.

--Phil

[composimmonite]

I used to have a Sunbeam Rapier MKIV with 1600 that had a twin choke Weber and overdrive. I cann't remember exact figures but certainly wasn't thirsty enough for me to worry about as similar to other cars of the time -say mid 20's for everyday commuting. It was replaced with a 1750 Maxi that wasn't any more economical.

Paul H

[jaminben]

I have cleaned and set everything up on mine, i have the original sales leaflet and that says average fuel consumption is 25mpg's so mine dropping just 1mpg over 46 years is not bad.
Brilliant fun to drive and love the looks!!
Gonna do some searching and find out if there's any easy transplants
B

[composimmonite]

If you haven't aready got it then an overdrive is worthwhile conversion.

Paul H

[Deleted]

OD does make a major difference but with his being an Automatic its going to be a major working to get it in there. pedal box, slave cylinders, flywheel, clutch etc..
if your getting 25mpg then be happy.. I cant get that out the humber round town.. on a run I can beat that a bit but not by much... will sit at 75 on the m-way all day long though..

[jaminben]

Is overdrive just a case of bolting the box in the wiring a switch?? Could be worth it as mine has no syncro in first so was gonna change it for a later box.

[joloke08]

Id leave it as an automatic,i do tend to be biased towards autos but a 66 minx auto has to be a bit of a rare old beast thesedays

i spotted it was auto before you mentioned it a bit of a giveaway really that extra dipstick

have you got any more pics of the car on here? if not lets see the rest of it ;D

Huggz
Jodie

[Seth]

I reckon an SU carb on there would probably manage a few more mpg. Its the Auto that is killing it though.

Rottie, the dipstick of my (admittedly later version of 1500) goes into the block. Its basically a de-stroked 5 bearing 1725 lump so looks much the same as that one. /\

[jaminben]

Don't supose anyone has an overdrive box???

[Bob the Fish]

Good info. Interesting about the charge setting, haven't looked at it yet but the red light is always on at idle, disappears with the merest whiff of throttle.

Like jaminben I looked at factory figures which said 25mpg, pretty sure mine's at that give or take. I'll take a look at SU's, wouldn't mind trying that. My carb's pretty crusty, a clean out is on the cards anyway in case the inside is similar...

[composimmonite]

Nov 28, 2010 11:19:23 GMT @rottie007 said:

OD does make a major difference but with his being an Automatic its going to be a major working to get it in there. pedal box, slave cylinders, flywheel, clutch etc..
if your getting 25mpg then be happy.. I cant get that out the humber round town.. on a run I can beat that a bit but not by much... will sit at 75 on the m-way all day long though..

Didn't realise it was an auto
MPG from an older auto seem very good.
Practical Classics had an article a few years ago about converting an overdrive into a "stand alone" unit so in theory that could be the way to add one to an auto.

Paul H