Vintage Minor Register

Whilst I am appealing for your expertise, can anyone tell me what colour SV engines were painted when they left the works? The weird grey bothers me! I have seen several painted black (I am an admirer or Stuart Clarke's tidy satin black engines), and also a few in dark green (my Road Minor included)...

Woe! Setbacks! It turns out the engine is incontinent, as I found out when I filled the radiator with water, and it all seeped out from round the water inlet. No problem, I thought – simply tighten up the retaining bolts. The left-hand bolt promptly shot out, closely followed by several pints of wat...

IT STARTS! We couldn’t believe it. It didn’t run for long, though it was several degrees below freezing at the time. The timing is clearly way out, and the mixture needs a little tweaking, but at least the engine appears vaguely functional, with no nasty noises. Also, it sounds awesome unsilenced! A...

So – progress. As previously mentioned, the engine that came with the car was seized. The water jacket was full of mud and coppery swarf, so not sure what happened there! I did toy with the idea of trying to unseize it, but then I also want to get the car running this side of the next millenium, so ...

Ian - I agree with your comments about the Vintage paddock at Prescott. Amongst the really tasty sports cars (real ones) and racing cars (real ones) are the Specials. Leaving aside the ones with genuine provenance, the new-builds seem to fall into two camps: the really authentic looking cars, and th...

So, what are the plans? The dream has always been to go hillclimbing. My SV 2-seater is far too original to molest in the name of motorsport, so here is the blank canvas that will (one day, I hope) get me on the start line. Let’s see how much speed we can get out of a sidevalve! Plans are still evol...

Time for an overdue update on the special, now that I have made it through both the argh-what-have-I-done phase and the sitting-looking-at-it phase. I have been working on it on-and-off over the past 12 months, with lengthy pauses to enjoy rallies and driving tests in the SV 2 seater and also to moo...

Thanks for the plug, Ian! First time out for us as "traders", but it should be an enjoyable weekend, if nothing else. We won't have room to bring everything, so if you are looking for something in particular, let me know. We may have it tucked away. If it is ready in time, we will also be ...

Also in the diary!
This could be a good target date to debut the Special. Oo-err, I'd better get cracking...

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 ...

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...

Ah yes, but then I would have to contend with an SU fuel pump.
Not sure which is worse...

What a cracking car - looks like it means business!

Look forward to further updates. Good to see a black grill shell, as well.

Cheers Ian, fingers crossed!

Good evening Minor-Land, Does anybody have an oil filler neck (the one that bolts into the block) for a Cammy Minor or M-Type engine, please? I think the two are interchangeable, but am open to correction. The "Special" is in need of one, as the engine I am building for it is missing the f...