Morris Minor Convertible Mid Engined 16V

[JWB]

Here are some pictures of my current Morris Minor road car.




Under the bonnet.





This is what is under the carbon fibre panels.



The bare chassis.



The interior aluminium panels. All made by hand over the edge of the bench.



The dyno apparently reads 10% low. So it is 187bhp and 178lbft from a normally aspirated Fiat 131 block with Lancia Integrle 16V cylinder head, plus a carefull build



Where it was built with a small lathe, bench drill and Tig welder.



Sprinting at Curborough


Detailed Specification of Morris Minor Race Car.

Vehicle............................... Split screen Morris Minor convertible with low light front wings

Rollcage/spaceframe........ TIG welded tubular steel CDS 38.1mm x 2.642mm wall with reinforcements in smaller diameters

Engine.............. ................. Fiat 2 litre twin cam
cylinder head..................... 16 valve
cams................................... 280 degrees duration 10.5 mm lift
head bolts ..........................12.9 grade aftermarket
pistons ...............................Flat top with my design of valve cut out, crowns ceramic coated by AEA Technology
cambelt.............................. 25.4 mm wide
crank.................................. Steel with 7/16" UNF grub screws in cross drillings
block ..................................Bored and honed with deck plate, oil way plugs replaced with stainless steel items
conrods ..............................Balanced on home made device
rod bolts............................ Aftermarket high strength
sump.................................. John built dry sump with scraper and gauze
oil pump .............................3 stage belt driven
flywheel .............................steel to accept Fiat 130 TC ring gear and Ford clutch cover and plate
induction ............................43mm dia. throttle bodies, front mounted air filter.
ignition ..............................distributor less
control ...............................electronically mapped
exhaust ..............................tubular, 4 branch, 2 1/2" stainless system with expansion chamber and 3" bore silencer.

Gearbox ............................. 5 speed with slave cylinder and clutch release bearing concentric to the input shaft

Propshaft ...........................1300 series uj's, 63.5mm x 1.6mm wall DOM tube, lightened yokes and flanges. Aluminium adapter in place of Fiat guibo.

Differential ........................Ford Sierra/Scorpio 7" or 7 1/2"

Drive shafts ......................Ford Sierra/Scorpio equal length

Hubs and bearings ............Ford Sierra/Scorpio

Uprights ............................Aluminium kit car to accept Sierra/Scorpio bearings and hubs

Brakes front ...................... 280mm x 25.4mm vented discs and radial mount 4 x 38.1mm 'pot' calipers aluminium alloy mounting bells (2014A T6)
rear.................................... Cosworth Sierra calipers and Sierra solid discs

general ..............................Cockpit adjustable balance bar and rear proportioning valve, copper nickel hard lines.

Master cylinders ............... Front brakes 3/4" dia. rear brakes 0.7" dia. , clutch 13/16" dia, rear mounted reservoirs

Suspension ........................double wishbone, lower are 28.575mm dia. CDS tube, upper are 25.4mm dia. CDS tube, spherical bearings used at pivots
front ...................................roll centre 38.1mm, -1 degree camber, 4.5 degree caster
rear.................................... roll centre 63.5mm, -0.5 degree camber, 0 degree castor
Anti dive & Squat..............None
Fasteners............................AN series in all critical locations, with a few NAS and MS series.
Dampers ............................ Aluminium bodied, 130mm stroke, double adjustable, mono tube with 1:1 wheel to damper motion ratio.

Springs ..............................TBA (First guess will be 250 lb/inch front and 175 lb/inch rear.) These will also be purchased to have the same installed height regardless of rate.

Wheels............................7x15 3dr Cossy
Tyres.............................195 45 15 Michelin

Steering rack ....................Front mounted, aluminium housing, right hand drive, 550mm between pivots, 49.02mm rack movement for one rev. of pinion (2 turns lock to lock, 12:1 ratio)

Steering column ...............7/8" x 16 swg CDS, lower uj Grp 4 rally unit, upper uj mil. spec. sealed unit. Column bearings needle roller. quick release boss.

Steering wheel .................. 305mm dia. leather.

Instrumentation .................Analogue tach. with integral LCD display

Stalks ................................Switches behind the wheel.

Fuel system .......................Plastic 36 litre tank with internal collector, 2 low pressure pumps and 108 litres per hour @ 3.5 bar high pressure fuel pump.

Head lights ........................ 178mm dia. with 110/85w H4 bulbs

Body ..................................Morris Minor convertible, widened 178mm with flush fitting bonded in windscreen in home made surround, composite doors, wings, front panel, boot and bonnet. Body work by Robin.

Harewood Hillclimb............68.65 secs in road going spec.

Edited by JWB on Saturday 23 September 12:06

[dc53]

Now that's something very special!. Lovely car mate!
Dan

Edited by dc53 on Saturday 23 September 15:13

[stone]

Excellent

[L100NYY]

That is abso-bloody-lutely

I love it!

[Xaero]

Very cool car.

[JonRB]

It's not really a Morris Minor though, is it? It's a silouette racer whose silouette is closer to the car it is meant to look like than most are.

That's not to detract from the efforts of the builders - far from it - but I think it's stretching credibility a bit to call it a Morris Minor, that's all.

Edit: Having said that, it is very cool.

Edited by JonRB on Saturday 23 September 17:22

[trackcar]

You are indeed an incredibly talented man. well done

[beedub]

ive seen this car at curborough and had the chance to have a good look over it and the standard of work is AMAZiNG the photos do this car no justice!!! its awesome and seriously quick!!!!

[iain_cam]

That is one nice car.

[klassiekerrally]

[qwertyford]

Mad - I love it!!!!!!!!!!!

[t0ny99]

Fabulous car, I followed the build log on your website...nice to see an update to that at last, too(!)...I was also an avid Street Machine reader and remember the stir that the pink pick up caused at the time!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

That's mad mate!

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

I reckon the doors look original!

[mackie1]

Ooo. Might I have seen this car a Donington kit car show a while back? Good job! Keep it up!