Vintage Minor Register

I'm currently interested in the posibility of using a side valve engine in a special, for some "gentle" competition work, trial/hilclimb and maybe some sprints, using a light weight body this should be possible. Is there any information, notes articles etc, out there on cam timing, or general period engine mod's that were done/offered on the SV units?

Any information greatly recieved, also contact names of engine modifiers that maybe able to help?

Regards

Glenn,

I think the short answer, as far as I know, is - no.

I would be interested to know whether the SV cam also has the 'underlap' of the OHC cam which was famously improved by Kimber for the 12/12.

As I have just bought a McEvoy Special Morris Minor for rebuild, I'd be interested in obtaining an uprated cam for this car - maybe with 12/12 timing? This car has a 1 1/4" downdraught carb., skimmed head and polished ports and is good for a genuine 70 mph with standard cam.

I'll talk to David Brown who has done a lot of competiton work with SV Minors over the years and see if he has any pertinent tuning data.

hi david brown had some cams reground for his car to give the some over lap he doesnt have any left but he had it done by newman cams who still have the profile on record as i would like a couple of cams doing myself so if ur interested in in getting some done let me no then we could get a batch done together !
cheers steve

Hi Steve,

This sounds interesting - and presumably cheaper to reprofile an existing cam than make new ones. The SV cam is much beefier than the OHC cams so preumably more scope for reprrofiling. I'd be up for having mine done, but I won't have it in my hands until July. Any idea as to cost?

Do you know whether the standard SV cam has similar 'underlap' as the OHC cam, whree both valves are closed togehter for two or three degrees?

Hi Ian i i rang up newman cams up last year about doing some cams and the price then for doing a small number of cams was about £70 each
that includes grinding down the rear bearing so u can run 2 ee2 bearings in place if the standard bearing which works a lot better with less noise
cheers steve

Steve,

Sounds good to me. I remember that the original L908 rear bearings are as rare as SV Minors at a VSCC trial!

I have run with a solid bronze bush in the back before - a bit agricultural, but it works.

When I bought my first SV Minor, off the road, reputedly a good runner, I found the L908 rollers - in the sump! I also found that the rear prop shaft spider was bolted directly to the diff. spider - with NO fabric coupling!

I'll put something in the next mag and see if we can't get a batch together.

By the way, would you like to join the Register?!

Hi ian i will ring and get a price again so we have a rough figure of costs!
i have 3 sidevalve cars myself that i would like to put the cams into myself
!
cheers steve

Hi Steve,

Many thanks - much appreciated.

And if you have THREE Minors, you should definitely be a member!

HI Ian i spoke to newman cams today any they said that they could do the cams for around £80for a 1off or if we could get a batch of 8 or 10 cams to do then it would be around £50-£60 depending on numbers of cams done
cheers steve

Steve,

Many thanks - that sounds excellent. Much cheaper than new cams for OHC Minors. I will definitely have mine done for the McEvoy but won't be collecting the car until the end of July. I have given these cams a plug in the VMR Newsletter and I will also do so in the Summer Magazine. Let's see what interest there is out there. But in any case, I'd be glad to pay GBP 80 for mine.

Is there any merit in asking for a run of ohc cams, as you say the price is much less.

Cheers
Jeremy

These are reprofiled cams rather than new ones. There isn't much meat on an OHC cam to reprofile and I'm not sure what effect this would have on the rocker finger adjustment range. Has anyone reprofiled an OHC cam?