Here's one for the strange category

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=47&m...

When I was a boy in the 1950s I was told that the reason why the engine bay of a Morris Minor is so wide is that it was designed to fit the VW engine. Morris was expecting to get the VW company as spoils of war and it was proposed to power the new Morris with the VW engine.

I have been told on more than one occasion that that is not the case. The engine that was proposed to be put in the Morris Minor was the Jowatt Jevelin boxer engine which is about the same size as a VW engine.

Either way the engine bay of a Morris Minor will fit a VW or a Jowatt engine and although it got the upright 4 the engine bay was left as we now find it.

It also makes it possible to fit V8s in there.

I have wanted to put a Beetle engine into a Morris for a long time, just for the fun of it. To do it the way that one has been done is exceptionally complex.

wow, morrie owners will do anything top get rid of their original engines, first they put datsun(?) engines in them all, then VW! how unreliable must the originals have been

Issigonnis always wanted to use boxer motor but Morris would not pay for new tooling and used the side valve Morris 8 instead.
The Mini which was already in his mind at that stage was also designed for boxer motor.

Look how well the VW went in speedcars both here and in the USA.

I applied to CAMS in late 60s /early 70s to run a 1300 beetle motor in Clubman sports but they refused saying it had to be liquid cooled. We argued that they were partly oil cooled and that air was also a liquid but no go.

[ Edited on 12-4-2006 by Brookie ]

Baybus. Morris engines in stock form are reliable, they are just gutless. Putting a Datsun engine into a Morris is like putting a Subaru engine into a VW. Twice the power without the "hotted up" problems that come from gettting the same power from an original engine. That's why it's so popular.

The Morris wasn't that gutless, with dual solex's it powered the little Austin Healey Sprite. The main stumbling block on Minors was the front suspension collapsing! If you changed that to Vauxhall Viva it was great, myself and a couple of mates done it back in the UK and put in a 3.5 Rover V8 and it looked like it should have gone really good except it was a girlfriends car and we split up before it was ever finished!!!

mmm, pauter plus morry = choice burnouts.

some of you are right, some wrong & some right & wrong

indeed the original design called for a 4 cylinder flat 4 motor, but nothing to do with VW or the JowetT Javelin motor, it was water cooled though & Lord Nuffield baulked at the development costs

the Morris 8 side valve motor WAS gutless, but of course people confuse this with the engine that was fitted to the Minor for most of it's production life, the legendary A series motor, this was originally fitted to Austin's A30, and an OHV design & although only 803cc, much more lively than the ancient 918cc SV with the Merger of Austin & Morris to form BMC it became logical to fit the Austin engine to the Morris
this was accomplished in 1953, & thankfully the capacity was enlarged to 948cc in 1956 & finally 1098cc in 1962, the later cars were not gutless, & like the beetle a joy to drive, the handiling & steering being excellent, also in common with the beetle was torsion bar front suspension, although longitudinal, & yes, being only a single rather thin bar for each side. occasionaly they used to break & the suspension collapse

also in common with the VW was the fact the motor was infinately modifiable, & the outstanding competition record for the Minis & Austin-Sprite/MG Midget are records of this

Austin-Healey never had Solex carbs only SUs

Many Japanese cars had their beginnings in buildding licensed copies of British & European designs The Isuzu originating from Hillman (the Bellet motor having a strong resemblance to the Minx/Hunter motor)
& Datsun/Nissan began it's road to success building it's own version of the Austin 7, it was only logical that the engine from the Datsun Sunny (1000 & 1200) should bear a very close resemblence to th A Series motor, & of course it was better as regards oil leaks etc, coming as it di so many years after the origiinal & it is great for the future of Morris Minors as everyday cars, that it so easily fits in them, but the A series motor should not be belittled, no more than the VW flat 4

Your on the button there , my mistake SU's not Solex's (been playing with VW's too long)