Gday everyone! Im after some advice and opinions.

I have early 60's morris 850 in cherry red. All original other than a replacement repco engine my grandfather fitted.
My plan all along has been to do a ground up resto all original.
obviously not being a matching numbers engine kind of puts a spanner in the works in terms of collector value etc.

Whats your opinions on weather i should go ahead with a resto? Does anybody know anything about repco replacement enigines? My father said it was common back in the day to do repco engine replacements when it came to mechanical faults. i could not find any info about repco replacement engines.
Any feedback and opinions welcome.
Best regards Bryan

Definitely worth restoring! having the original engine in a car is nice, but they're 50+ years old, 100% all original parts is often a pipe dream. It's still worth more restored to standard than modified to be something it's not. Your car is extra special because it's been in the family so long (since new?). I bet your grandfather would be stoked if it looked just like it did when it was new. Cherry red is an awesome colour too.

Repco replacement engines were common - they still did them into the 80's with Holden motors (and more?)

Just for my curiosity, what is the engine number on the block?

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Thanks Simon, appreciate the kind words. i do know most of the history of this car. It was driven upto Andamooka (mining town, all dirt roads).
My grandfather never owned the car but my father told me he fitted the new engine. said it was a ning nong of job and swore alot.
The road conditions were far too harsh for the little 850 so it was parked and left on the side of the road for many years. Ive always loved minis from a young age and every time we used to go Andamooka i would go visit this car. we finally decided to track down the current owner. i think $200 later and the car was mine!
i havent looked at the engine number. where abouts is the number located? the engine is caked with red dirt.

That patina is sick. My personal opinion is that if its not worth big dollars why worry about the value? Do what you've always wanted in a mini. I like stinky, rusty, slow cars that dont stop real well. No point spending 15k on a car that could be worth 15k if its not what you want.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=93352

If I'm carrying on like a pork-chop, I'm having a great time.

If I go very quiet there's a very good chance I broke something.

I've been to Andamooka - great place, was 27 years ago but I doubt it's changed...

engine number is on the upper edge of the engine block, there is a little horizontal platform just below and to the right of the #1 spark plug - at the radiator end of the engine

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Terrific project...well done.

http://www.repco.com.au/CA2571B70016E7A ... s~&2=~&3=~

and this place still has the right name...

https://www.yellowpages.com.au/vic/foot ... sting.html

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"Show me the Mini!"

Having the correct engine is the icing on the cake, but if you have a really good cake the icing isn't as important.

Maybe that's a bit deep for a Friday. What I mean is, based on what can be seen from your pictures it looks like a fairly original car so well worth saving.

What does the interior look like? If the seats, headlining and trim are intact that makes it even more desirable.

Someone on here will be able to tell you an approximate production date based on the ID plate stamping.

Here's a Repco advert from back in the day (1970 actually). Your engine may be a 255B.

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if it's a 255B, then it's probably a 998?

if restoring back to 60's spec, it'd be a neat little touch to paint the engine in whatever colour Repco supplied it in - would have the purists scratching their heads

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Does it have a tag on the back of the engine similar to this one?

So I checked the engine number! It's matching numbers! Everyone that knew this car said the engine had been sent off to repco and replaced with a refurbished motor. So it actually turns out repco refurbished the original engine and sent it back! I feel like the luckiest man in the world!

To answer a previous question, the interior is in terrible condition. The car is complete and I'll restore it big stock original in cherry red.

BRILLIANT!!!

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