Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

British heritage cars · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts: 202

Hallo Folks,

There's a MM side valve for sale not very far from me.
Do you still find spare parts for the engine, and is the engine dificult to work on?
Can I use body parts like flore panels from any MM?

Kind regards, Jonathan

Rick · Site Admin Joined: 27 Apr 2005 Posts: 22778 Location: UK

Hi,

Are you referring to the pre-war sidevalve Minor, or the post-war (1948-on) version?

rgds, Rick.
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British heritage cars · Joined: 10 Nov 2010 Posts: 202

Sorry,
Its an after war model, its first registration was in 1953..

Kind regards,
Jonathan

peter scott · Joined: 18 Dec 2007 Posts: 7211 Location: Edinburgh

Hi Jonathan,

I think the MM uses essentially the same 918 cc engine as the Morris 8.
There a few Morris 8 owners on this forum who I'm sure will answer your questions better than I could.

Regards,

Peter
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ukdave2002 · Joined: 23 Nov 2007 Posts: 4231 Location: South Cheshire

Hi

This particular engine is French based (Hotchkiss) and was first used in the 1935 Morris 8, at this time it had white metal bearings, in 1938 shell bearings were introduced for the series E, with a slightly modified head, compression was also increased.

The same lump basically went into the post war MM Minor, the major change being the addition of an oil filter. After a couple of years a water pump was also added.

The engine was used right up to the 1970's as a donkey or generator engine in Centurion, Conqueror and Chieftain Tanks. Spares were still produced by Leyland in the 70's.

Just about all spares are available, new engine liners can be bought over the shelf, worn cranks can be a problem , undersize bearings are available down to 50 thou but after this the crank is u/s. Cracks can occur in the block between cylinder 2 and 3 valves, however there are plenty of 2nd hand engines around (I have at least 4!!).

I'd go for the car!

Final point, all the threads in the engine are metric, but with BSW spanner sizes! can be confusing !!!

Keep us posted
Dave