Vintage Minor Register

Welcome to new member George Rodford of Pershore, Worcestershire who owns this very tidy ex-John Ainsworth Hundred Pound Minor. George acquired the car in 2019 from dealer James Holland and is currently getting it road sorted. The engine was suffering from stuck valves and after sorting that, George describes the performance as sluggish. I'll let him take up the story.

Thank you Ian. Good to be involved, after many years lurking in the sidelines and wishing I was part of the fun.
The car is an absolute joy, and I can well understand the cult following they have.
Having got the car in 2019, I spent that summer smoking around in it, without a care in the world, and it performed faultlessly. I then made the mistake of interfering (read: rebuilding fuel and ignition systems), and she has been sulking on and off since then.
Last winter, the wiring was sorted by Messrs Aston and Teague at Vehicle Wiring (top notch, highly recommended, shameless plug, etc.), and I have been reversing many interesting and eccentric engineering solutions...
Pre-War Prescott was a non-starter, due to stuck exhaust valves in 2 cylinders, but I very much enjoyed meeting many of you on the day. Special shout-out to the hero who gave me a passenger ride - you know who you are!
Hoping to get out and about later this summer. And of course, if you are a previous owner of this car, I would love to hear from you.

If anybody has any tips regarding ignition timing on a SV Minor, I'm all ears.
Mine is currently set to TDC, and no amount of faffing in either direction will calm it down.
Any hints gratefully received...

Hi George, I'm just up the road in Worcester with a two-seater. Can't help with your mechanical woes, sadly.

Right, time for a long overdue update.

As I had the pleasure of meeting many of you out and about last summer, you will know that TP9995 is back in circulation, and that I am delighted with it. So, what happened?

After the car failed miserably to get me to PWP ’22, brother Frank and I decided that a valve had stuck (we’re not mechanics) and whipped the head off. When I say “whipped”, I mean spent 3 weeks’ worth of evenings pulling, pushing, grunting and swearing before it finally relented and came free.

The innards were well clogged with carbon, the valves felt lethargic in their operation, and the water jacket was full of brown gunge. We spent yet more evenings cleaning, polishing and prodding various parts of the top end, and taught ourselves (using a combination of the original handbook and the Internet) to lap in the valves and set the ignition timing. Once we had decided it looked presentable, we threw it back together with a new head gasket. We filled the rad, and watched as the water poured out from around our new head gasket!

An anguished call to Ian Harris established that we simply hadn’t done everything up tightly enough, and the following weekend, we were able to try a start-up. It started, but barely ran, and did so like a bag of nails.

By this time, the 2022 driving season was well and truly over, and the car would fester until the following Spring…

By Spring ’23, I was ready to call in expert help.

Frank had returned to his job in Beijing, and I had been half-heartedly prodding at the car over the winter without getting very far. I just couldn’t work out why the car ran so badly. I had overhauled the carb, changed all the fluids, replaced the head gasket, rebuilt the distributor, re-timed the ignition, unstuck a stuck exhaust valve, and got down on my knees and pleaded with it.

After the summer’s cylinder head job, the car at least started, although barely limped round the block under its own steam, and popped and fizzed and banged in the process. After the winter hibernation, it wouldn’t start at all. It would cranked, slowly, but wouldn’t start. The motor was also noticeably tighter, and hard work to turn over on the handle.

At this point, I must thank both Roger Davies (of this parish) and Peter Cross (Morris 8 guru) for their very invaluable help. It turns out that the piston rings had seized! Whilst it must have been brewing for a while, the recent lack of use had finally caused them to stick.

I had visions of expensively gutted engines, and of yet another year without driving the thing. Peter C. is not easily fazed by these things, though, and set to work. It took a lengthy diesel bath to unstick the piston rings, followed by several doses of oil in various kinds. With fresh juice and a new set of plugs, the car started easily – the initial test drive up the lane told me that the car had probably been ailing since before I took ownership, as it felt more eager than previously.

So, in May, TP was finally up and running. That meant I could send off my entry for PWP, run it in, and sort out the disastrous brakes.

Great updates, George - thanks, and glad your perseverance paid off!