At last, well more or less.
Posted: Sat Dec 20, 2025 11:32 pm
I have finally got the mechanical aspects of the Minor Traveller as I have wanted to get them. Had it not been for sub standard work, done by so called professionals, I could have reached this stage sooner, the main issue being described at https://morrisminorowners.co.uk/workman ... 13983.html.
Besides rectifying the appalling workmanship of the now defunct Charles Wares Morris Minor Centre, I have changed from a single 1 3/4" SU carb (MG Metro) to twin HS2 (1 1/4") carbs, as this gives better low down power, something brought home to me when I finished my late father's MG Midget (Though he was still alive when I finished it). That has the same spec 1275cc engine as the Morris, which has a Peter Burgess Econotune head. Both had LCB exhaust manifolds and straight through systems. Interestingly both had shown similar top end power on the same rolling road, with the advantage possibly in favour of the single 1 3/4" set up (They showed the within 0.2bhp of the same power but the Morris had a mechanical fan and the Midget an electric one). The Morris will need to be set up on the rollers (Gearbox has to be bedded in) but since I have the Midget set up as a guide, I have set the Morris up the same.
If anyone wishes to fit twin SUs to a Minor, a Midget inlet manifold will not allow the carbs to clear the exhaust manifold. You need a Mini Cooper S inlet or in my case, a Maniflow version of that. Such a manifold wouldn't work on a Midget, as the bonnet is too low. I had to use the offset K&N (Mini type) air filters, in order to clear the servo and it gives a bit more space near the fuel pump. The whole exhaust system is now Maniflow, who put the front silencer further back, so I now have another heat shield further back (Made from stainless steel; the original one had started to rust through). The Spridget heatshield was altered to clear the servo and some bracing was added. I had to make new heatshield supports (One fits to the timing cover and the other to the engine back plate), as the heatshield is now at a different angle. I also had to alter the hole positions as the Maniflow ports were slightly closer together.
I've added an oil cooler but so far it's not come into play. The car hasn't been driven at all quickly, it is Winter time and the thermostat has clearly not opened. There is a nice touch here, as the thermostat has been in a box for years, being made redundant when I fitted a combined stat and sandwich plate to the Midget 1500 (The remote stat had not been on the very long when it was in use). My father had machined a very nice aluminium bracket for the stat and I found a way to use this on the Morris. That cooler is a ten row 115mm unit, of the same type as I used on a Mini years ago. I made some stainless steel brackets that pick up on the 2BA studs that hold the grille surround on and is pictured off the car. I made a perforated stainless steel guard for it.
I moved the coil from the dynamo to the inner wing, as I have heard that it gets an easier life there (Midget/Sprite coils were moved off the dynamo).
The extra gauges (Mini temp and oil gauges and Durite rev counter had been fitted on a plinth, in the open glove box ahead of the driver's seat. I always felt this was untidy but it worked. I modified a spare glove box surround and made a panel to fit in it, that took the three gauges (The Mini ones were checked and refurbished by Speedy Cables), plus the cigar lighter (Since my father's passing I have invested in a Satnav; we used to plan the route in advance and whoever was navigating, when we went somewhere we hadn't been to before, called it back as we went - now the satnav calls back the route I input into it), rear fog lamp switch and hazard warning light switch. The panel was made by hand and would have made a good marking out and bench fitting exercise for an apprentice. The holes, of more than 1/2" diameter, were all filed to shape and size and it took me back
.
The heater return pipe is normally held on by two of the head studs and you have to remove it to change the thermostat. I got a new one made in stainless but it now bolts to the old brackets, that are held on by the head studs, that I carefully cut and drilled. I don't have to remove the head nuts to remove the heater return pipe.
As the new inlet manifold isn't water heated, I had to make a new adapter for the heater valve. 1275 heater tap outlets are not square to the line of the engine and if fitted direct, the heater valve would foul the battery. I'm surprised such parts aren't commercially available. I suppose the tooling cost would be high, as commercially made parts would be cast. Mine was turned from solid and would waste too much material for it to be viable.
My car is a very late type, with a steering lock and the ignition key hole, in the dash, is blocked by a chrome insert on such cars. I have added an intermittent wiper control in it's place and turned a brass bezel (Which I got chromed) to hold the five position switch.
As the front bumper comes off to get the engine out, I blast cleaned the back of it, repaired some corrosion damage to the rear of it (There was no Waxoyl etc between it and the valance) and then got it re chromed. The valance was repaired and re painted. There was a slight dent in one of the rear bumper blades, which I knocked out and dressed (After getting the chrome stripped). The bumpers were then re chromed, using copper, nickel and chrome and the back, along with all the mountings, were powder coated by http://www.herefordcoatings.co.uk/, who I heartily recommend.
The car had a tow bar from way back and this meant the number plate sat below it. It could get a bit near to speed bumps or the ground, if coming off ramps, so I made a hinged mount, held shut by magnets, so if it catches a speed bump, it will hinge up. An aluminium roller (With pressed in stainless steel pins, running in bronze lined mounts), that uses a length if heater hose as a "Tyre", would make contact with the speed bump. When reversing off a ramp, the number plate can be held in the up position my a lever.
I still have to finish off some new (To me) front seats, to which I am fitting MG head rests and an anti tip device, similar to what Minis had from around 1980. The passenger seat is a folder, that can be folded into the footwell, allowing longer items to be fitted into the boot. The seats will need to be re upholstered once I have finished the frames but I have the existing seats to use for the time being. I have done the driver's seat, which just needs top coat and have yet to start on the passenger seat (Dates from 1958, judging the the shape of the seat and the upholstery style).
After forty years of projects (Or longer if I count some of my father's; I remember being in the engine bay of a Lotus Elan, when the engine was out, scraping all sorts of cack off the inner wings etc, back in the 1970s), not all of them mine, this is to be my last. I still have my first, the 1979 Midget. From now on, at least after I finish the seats, I plan to enjoy, use and maintain what I have. My mother has a bottle of champaign that we have never opened and unless my Premium Bonds net first prize, in the interim, it will be opened when the Morris is finally finished.
I am fine tuning the clutch at the moment, as the latest Frontline clutch is thicker than standard and needs more movement. It's the same as they use on Midgets and is good for 95bhp, so I have 15 - 20 in hand but I don't think they have got it all worked out for use in Minors (At least) and I have had to up the master cylinder size (Hydraulic conversion) to 7/8" and may reduce the slave from the 1" they supplied, to the 7/8" that Wares fitted. I will see how it goes (Frontline's failure to answer various queries suggests they are in the dark as much as I was) but I have fitted a return spring to the clutch fork, which can be put into different holes, to adjust tension. In conjunction with the adjustable push rod, on the master cylinder, I can just get the release bearing to clear the diaphragm and get the clutch to release when pressed (But it is close). Luckily the bell housing has a hole for LHD clutch forks, with a rubber bung in it, that I can remove to check the release bearing when in the fully back position.
Sorry the pictures are a bit jumbled up.
Besides rectifying the appalling workmanship of the now defunct Charles Wares Morris Minor Centre, I have changed from a single 1 3/4" SU carb (MG Metro) to twin HS2 (1 1/4") carbs, as this gives better low down power, something brought home to me when I finished my late father's MG Midget (Though he was still alive when I finished it). That has the same spec 1275cc engine as the Morris, which has a Peter Burgess Econotune head. Both had LCB exhaust manifolds and straight through systems. Interestingly both had shown similar top end power on the same rolling road, with the advantage possibly in favour of the single 1 3/4" set up (They showed the within 0.2bhp of the same power but the Morris had a mechanical fan and the Midget an electric one). The Morris will need to be set up on the rollers (Gearbox has to be bedded in) but since I have the Midget set up as a guide, I have set the Morris up the same.
If anyone wishes to fit twin SUs to a Minor, a Midget inlet manifold will not allow the carbs to clear the exhaust manifold. You need a Mini Cooper S inlet or in my case, a Maniflow version of that. Such a manifold wouldn't work on a Midget, as the bonnet is too low. I had to use the offset K&N (Mini type) air filters, in order to clear the servo and it gives a bit more space near the fuel pump. The whole exhaust system is now Maniflow, who put the front silencer further back, so I now have another heat shield further back (Made from stainless steel; the original one had started to rust through). The Spridget heatshield was altered to clear the servo and some bracing was added. I had to make new heatshield supports (One fits to the timing cover and the other to the engine back plate), as the heatshield is now at a different angle. I also had to alter the hole positions as the Maniflow ports were slightly closer together.
I've added an oil cooler but so far it's not come into play. The car hasn't been driven at all quickly, it is Winter time and the thermostat has clearly not opened. There is a nice touch here, as the thermostat has been in a box for years, being made redundant when I fitted a combined stat and sandwich plate to the Midget 1500 (The remote stat had not been on the very long when it was in use). My father had machined a very nice aluminium bracket for the stat and I found a way to use this on the Morris. That cooler is a ten row 115mm unit, of the same type as I used on a Mini years ago. I made some stainless steel brackets that pick up on the 2BA studs that hold the grille surround on and is pictured off the car. I made a perforated stainless steel guard for it.
I moved the coil from the dynamo to the inner wing, as I have heard that it gets an easier life there (Midget/Sprite coils were moved off the dynamo).
The extra gauges (Mini temp and oil gauges and Durite rev counter had been fitted on a plinth, in the open glove box ahead of the driver's seat. I always felt this was untidy but it worked. I modified a spare glove box surround and made a panel to fit in it, that took the three gauges (The Mini ones were checked and refurbished by Speedy Cables), plus the cigar lighter (Since my father's passing I have invested in a Satnav; we used to plan the route in advance and whoever was navigating, when we went somewhere we hadn't been to before, called it back as we went - now the satnav calls back the route I input into it), rear fog lamp switch and hazard warning light switch. The panel was made by hand and would have made a good marking out and bench fitting exercise for an apprentice. The holes, of more than 1/2" diameter, were all filed to shape and size and it took me back
.The heater return pipe is normally held on by two of the head studs and you have to remove it to change the thermostat. I got a new one made in stainless but it now bolts to the old brackets, that are held on by the head studs, that I carefully cut and drilled. I don't have to remove the head nuts to remove the heater return pipe.
As the new inlet manifold isn't water heated, I had to make a new adapter for the heater valve. 1275 heater tap outlets are not square to the line of the engine and if fitted direct, the heater valve would foul the battery. I'm surprised such parts aren't commercially available. I suppose the tooling cost would be high, as commercially made parts would be cast. Mine was turned from solid and would waste too much material for it to be viable.
My car is a very late type, with a steering lock and the ignition key hole, in the dash, is blocked by a chrome insert on such cars. I have added an intermittent wiper control in it's place and turned a brass bezel (Which I got chromed) to hold the five position switch.
As the front bumper comes off to get the engine out, I blast cleaned the back of it, repaired some corrosion damage to the rear of it (There was no Waxoyl etc between it and the valance) and then got it re chromed. The valance was repaired and re painted. There was a slight dent in one of the rear bumper blades, which I knocked out and dressed (After getting the chrome stripped). The bumpers were then re chromed, using copper, nickel and chrome and the back, along with all the mountings, were powder coated by http://www.herefordcoatings.co.uk/, who I heartily recommend.
The car had a tow bar from way back and this meant the number plate sat below it. It could get a bit near to speed bumps or the ground, if coming off ramps, so I made a hinged mount, held shut by magnets, so if it catches a speed bump, it will hinge up. An aluminium roller (With pressed in stainless steel pins, running in bronze lined mounts), that uses a length if heater hose as a "Tyre", would make contact with the speed bump. When reversing off a ramp, the number plate can be held in the up position my a lever.
I still have to finish off some new (To me) front seats, to which I am fitting MG head rests and an anti tip device, similar to what Minis had from around 1980. The passenger seat is a folder, that can be folded into the footwell, allowing longer items to be fitted into the boot. The seats will need to be re upholstered once I have finished the frames but I have the existing seats to use for the time being. I have done the driver's seat, which just needs top coat and have yet to start on the passenger seat (Dates from 1958, judging the the shape of the seat and the upholstery style).
After forty years of projects (Or longer if I count some of my father's; I remember being in the engine bay of a Lotus Elan, when the engine was out, scraping all sorts of cack off the inner wings etc, back in the 1970s), not all of them mine, this is to be my last. I still have my first, the 1979 Midget. From now on, at least after I finish the seats, I plan to enjoy, use and maintain what I have. My mother has a bottle of champaign that we have never opened and unless my Premium Bonds net first prize, in the interim, it will be opened when the Morris is finally finished.
I am fine tuning the clutch at the moment, as the latest Frontline clutch is thicker than standard and needs more movement. It's the same as they use on Midgets and is good for 95bhp, so I have 15 - 20 in hand but I don't think they have got it all worked out for use in Minors (At least) and I have had to up the master cylinder size (Hydraulic conversion) to 7/8" and may reduce the slave from the 1" they supplied, to the 7/8" that Wares fitted. I will see how it goes (Frontline's failure to answer various queries suggests they are in the dark as much as I was) but I have fitted a return spring to the clutch fork, which can be put into different holes, to adjust tension. In conjunction with the adjustable push rod, on the master cylinder, I can just get the release bearing to clear the diaphragm and get the clutch to release when pressed (But it is close). Luckily the bell housing has a hole for LHD clutch forks, with a rubber bung in it, that I can remove to check the release bearing when in the fully back position.
Sorry the pictures are a bit jumbled up.
