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Hot Rods Anyone ever build a Morris Minor?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by HOTRODPRIMER, Oct 1, 2015.

  1. Rex_A_Lott
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 1,148

    Rex_A_Lott
    Member

    You'd be surprised what the dirt guys are getting out of the "2.3" Pinto motors.You wont find an Iron Duke winning anywhere around here.
    Remember when Busch Grand Nationals were running V-6's? Your buddies @ Masons have probably got connections for a lot of that leftover stuff that could really make that thing honk.
    It wont ever sound like a SBC, but they will make pretty good power if you can stand the racket, especially in that little body. Good Luck
     
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  2. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    Well, the Lotus twin cam is part of the sixties era Ford "Total Performance" deal, that's the engine that was in the infamous Ford Lotus Cortinas. None other than Dan Gurney at Sebring below.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    Of course any rolled cuff rod-abilly will tell you Dan Gurney weren't no REAL hot rodder, hell he raced those gay "sporty cars", right? I mean, no real "traditional" hot rodder would be caught DEAD racing anything as "gay" as a Lotus Cortina, right?, Right?:p
    [​IMG]
     
    Ned Ludd likes this.
  3. I remember this car vividly, blown 427 FE, full chassis, wheelie bars, metallic british racing green, stock Morris hubcaps on like 15X12's and pizza cutters on the front.
    (I have a 2 door Morris 1000 too!)
     
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  4. Ned Ludd
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 5,017

    Ned Ludd
    Member

    The Alfasud is slightly longer than the Subaru, due to an 85mm ancillary housing between the block proper and the bellhousing, which contains the distributor drive etc. Both are very slightly narrower than the space available, though I understand some of the later Subaru heads make for a wider engine. In any event only the early SOHC Subaru heads put the plugs in a convenient position (i.e. changeable without pulling the engine). Those heads - or at least the right-hand one - enable a cool trick the aviation guys use for redundancy, namely running a Ford CVH distributor off the end of the cam. That is half-way to decomputerizing your EJ.

    The big problem with both of these swaps is that the exhaust ports of both these engines end up sitting directly on top of the chassis "legs". The above 'Sud swap got around that by incorporating slots through the "legs", but that means a lot of spaghetti hanging out underneath. I've been investigating the practicality of summarily amputating the "legs" just ahead of the lower control arm eye bolts, because in many applications the Subaru has engine mountings only below/beside the clutch area, but the "legs" do more than carry the engine. I'd have to pick up the front ends of the radius arms somehow, but I think this is easier to solve than it might seem.

    If I remember correctly the 'Sud Minor uses a Ford T9 'box via a fabricated adaptor. I'm leaning to the Toyota W55/etc. on the Subaru. Someone has developed a bellhousing to do this but I've no idea how available it is, if at all.

    A lot of Minor swaps rely on a more modern radiator with a thinner core, pushed further forward than the stock position. This would be the case with the Subaru, too. It would place the entire bellhousing ahead of the firewall, and the back of the shortest-available Subaru starter motor mere millimetres ahead of the Minor rack-and-pinion.
     
    James D likes this.
  5. 69supercj
    Joined: Apr 5, 2010
    Posts: 356

    69supercj
    Member

    Buddy of mine built one a few years ago. If you google Minor Insanity you'll see it. He sold it last year I think and its now in Oklahoma I believe.
     
  6. I am sure learning a lot about these cars,anyone have a clue as to the year of the one I posted? HRP
     
  7. jalopy45
    Joined: Nov 5, 2005
    Posts: 529

    jalopy45
    Member

  8. volvobrynk likes this.
  9. volvobrynk
    Joined: Jan 30, 2011
    Posts: 3,587

    volvobrynk
    Member
    from Denmark

    Being European, only small changes from start production, so very fee people can set two consecutive years apart. But it ain't an early low ligth. That muck I can see ;):cool:
     
  10. Around here a few years back the iron Duke and the later S-10 version of the original were the mainstay of Pony Stock (probably a local short track class) lots of hard core hop up pieces for them. Roller rockers, cams, intakes, I have even seen multiple mikuni setups and hilborn injection. I am guessing that the multi setups and the hilborn were more sportsman class sprinter stuff. If more the 4 is your bag then those S-10 5 speeds are still plentiful and cheap at the U pull it around here as well.

    I would have to see the grill or the body tag but I am going to fathom a guess that it is around a '59 or '60. They used that same body style for several years and just changed the bolt ons and trim.
     
    volvobrynk likes this.
  11. This one?
    [​IMG]
     
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  12. chessterd5
    Joined: May 26, 2013
    Posts: 902

    chessterd5
    Member
    from u.s.a.

    If it was me, I'd run a 2.3 Ford 4 cylinder with a Volvo head, a T5, & a cut down 9 in.
    There is all kinds of parts for the motor & the head conversion can be done without serious machining. Put the stock hood & front end on it & make a sleeper. ( SHhhh! If its still not enough... get a turbo. But I didn't say that.).:D
     
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  13. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    The hilborns on Daves Ztec were originally intended for a 2300 Ford.
     
  14. volvobrynk likes this.
  15. not sure if I can dig up a pic of my stocker......looked like the one you are looking at.....kinda a common color....was smittened by a English coupe at church in the early 60's that drove a traveler....
     
  16. chessterd5
    Joined: May 26, 2013
    Posts: 902

    chessterd5
    Member
    from u.s.a.

    HRP, here are some stock numbers to work with.
    the big motor 1,098 cc was 48 hp. @ 5,100 rpm.
    60 lbs. ft. @ 2,500 rpm.
    77 mph top speed
    29 second 0-60 time
    Estimated 1700 lbs.
     
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  17. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    The Morris you're looking at is probably early 60's (judging by the signal lights and the 1 piece windshield) , and is a deluxe, judging by the stainless window trim (standards had painted trim) - I'd bet it even has 2 sun visors (not all minors did). In standard trim, it should have a 1098cc engine, a single carb, and drum brakes all around.
     
  18. Now that you bring it up the car does have semaphores,they almost go un-noticed in the photos. HRP
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2015
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  19. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    Being a U.S. model, the semaphores on the sides are just dummies (I smoothed them on my brother's car). I was actually talking about the front signal lights, which are larger (and plastic) on later models. Good eye finding the semaphores though ...
     
  20. Ned Ludd
    Joined: May 15, 2009
    Posts: 5,017

    Ned Ludd
    Member

    One-piece windscreen came out in 1956. The sidelights/indicators look like the early 1000 type: the Series 2 ('52-'56) had the sidelights in the grille surround panel, and the later ones had larger lights. That points to this one having had a 948cc engine. However, the transitions weren't clear-cut, and it isn't unusual to find late Series 2s with the later grille arrangement, for instance, especially on export cars.

    Do the semaphores work? i.e. can you pull them out? Those which don't have semaphores have blanking plates instead, like those on my 4-door's B-pillars.
     
    Martin Harris likes this.
  21. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    My brother's Morrie is a 61 (pictured earlier) , which has a 1 piece windscreen, small beehive front signals and came 1098 equipped from the factory. It now sports a 1275 . No US market minors of the era came with working semaphores . They needed "normal" lamps up front for import.
     
    Last edited: Oct 8, 2015
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  22. falcongeorge
    Joined: Aug 26, 2010
    Posts: 18,341

    falcongeorge
    Member
    from BC

    I am pretty sure the early Canadian ones had semaphores. It was pretty common to see cars with semaphores around here when I was a kid.
     
  23. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    I've been doing British car restoration for 25 years now, and as I understand it, the Brits were not happy with the stuff they had to do to their cars to get them here , especially on later models (triple wipers, rubber bumpers, padded dashboards, etc.) , but the export market made at least 80% of production, so they did it . The minor made a really good run of it, and lasted virtually unchanged into the 70's.
     
  24. typo41
    Joined: Jul 8, 2011
    Posts: 2,571

    typo41
    Member Emeritus

    Guys, I have a Traveller stashed in the back for a future project. What to run for a motor has cause a bunch of thought. First, the stock motor was designed, if I remember right, as a pump motor that could be carried into battle by two persons. So take a real good look at the size, they look big in the little, little engine compartment. The 2.3 Pinto, that 2.3 liters compared to 1 liter, it is longer and taller. Now when it come time to stuff in a motor and trans, the steering rack sits above the bell housing, to even get the 1200 Datsun in calls for a notch of the bell housing.
    Z techs look good but stock they are put in with a slant so when you straighten them up, the oil pan is wrong.
    So the choice seems to me; 1. power up the stock motor or 2. blow it all apart build a new frame suspension rear end and slam in your choice of V-8's
    Again with a large enough hammer, anything is possible.
     
  25. Blue One
    Joined: Feb 6, 2010
    Posts: 11,458

    Blue One
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from Alberta

    All this talk of tiny little furrin and domestic engines has me thinking along the lines of actor Paul Gross in the movie Gunless. "What's wrong with these people" :D


    I prefer a good old American V8 to make the little Morris perform like a hot rod. Like the build I posted early on in the thread. :cool:
    Morris Minor Sep-Nov 2010 006.jpg
     
    chessterd5 likes this.
  26. chessterd5
    Joined: May 26, 2013
    Posts: 902

    chessterd5
    Member
    from u.s.a.

    I love that movie!
     
  27. jalopy45
    Joined: Nov 5, 2005
    Posts: 529

    jalopy45
    Member

    There were also different import rules depending if it was to be a US or Canadian import,, in Canada as George was saying a lot of the British cars kept their semaphore signals and later in the 60's you could get engines in Canada that the American EPA never approved for import.
     
  28. Thank yew...
     
  29. Buddy Palumbo
    Joined: Mar 30, 2008
    Posts: 3,871

    Buddy Palumbo
    Member

    No doubt. The Canadians were getting cool stuff we couldn't ! That's where "gray market" cars come in ... :)

    I've seen that - very cool stuff !
     

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