I recently bought a mini van and have a few questions about it. Here is the car I bought, with photos:

http://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23698

From the id plate and this site: http://www.hotbricks.org.au/techtips/articles/engine.txt I have identified it as an 850 Morris Mini Van.

Things I have noticed about it are:

- it is probably a '67 model because wiper motor says 67
- it has single leading shoe front drum brakes
- it has a ribbed roof
- it has an 850 pudding stick and there is no hole in the floor for remote gear changer
- it has wind-up windows

Does this seem right for this car? Are any of the things i have mentioned unusual or is it pretty standard? I would have thought that by 67 they would have changed to 998s and twin leading shoe front brakes.

Also, should this car have a starter button on the floor or in the dash?

And is this the right grille for this car?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/MORRIS-MINI-GRILL-COOPER-S-DELUXE-MINI-K_W0QQitemZ150051359171QQihZ005QQcategoryZ32072QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks,

Richard

Not too sure on the identifying stuff as I don't know much about the vans. As for the grille though, that grill will fit but the originals had the little pocket grills attached to them. Really it doesn't matter, if you're happy with the slat style go for that. I prefer the little pocket version, makes the car look older.

Oh and with the no remote hole, yeah you'll need to cut one yourself if you want to put in a remote box. I'm guessing it only ever had the original engine in it.

Shard

I had a 68 van it had a pudding stirrer gear stick 850 grill plain door liners fluted roof and a 998 engine sounds like someone has changed the brakes to me.

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I checked the id numbers on the car and engine last night and the engine is the original one that came with the car . I also took the head off and drained the water from the cylinders but the rust isn't too bad.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the original engine even though it is a poxy 850 or put in an 1100 (which will have some work done to it). Does anyone have any opinions on what i should do? If I keep the original engine then the car may be more valuable, but if i put the 1100 in it will be more fun.

Seems like someone has changed the doors and wiper motor.

Not sure when they changed to ribbed roof...

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From what I can work out from my BMC books the Morris Mini Van would have had the single leading shoe brakes with an 850 motor, the early type grille and wind up windows. The 850 motor would have had the long gearstick.
I have a feeling that the 998 motor was an option.

The Morris 850 Van had sliding windows.
The Morris Mini Van had wind up windows. (and both 850 and 998 motors)

Also vans had magic wand's right through into Clubman's.

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That sounds about right, because:

- The doors are the same colour as the body shell and there doesn't seem to be any colours underneath the grey they are now. The compliance plate says the car was originally grey, so it probably hasn't been repainted and doors are probably original.

- I would hope that no-one would downgrade the brakes to single leading shoe brakes from twin leading shoe, so brakes are probably original

- engine number matches compliance plate, so engine is original

Also, I think that it is a 1967 car, as marked on the wiper motor, because I read in another thread that the changeover to ribbed roof occured around '67.

is this the right grille for the car then:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Classic-Mini-Grille-for-Mark-1-Austin_W0QQitemZ150051922864QQihZ005QQcategoryZ100916QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

or am i wrong again

Morris 1100, does your book/books contain photos of "Morris Mini Vans"? If so, what is the name of the book/books? I think I will do a complete restoration to original spec and colour and will need as much info as I can get for the restoration I may have to replace the front brakes with twin leading shoe brakes though to allow me to stop, particularly as I will probably end up carrying loads in it.

The grill you are looking at is an Austin mini grill 850 you have a morris.

As vans were comercial vehicles they had plain not ribbed door cards and used the 850 morris grill, mine is a K (different bonnet badge) but also used the 850 grill as standard with wiggly wand





Steve

Steve,
I am going to restore the 64 850 van back to original one day and was just wondering if you can point me in the right direction of where to find out interior layouts. I'm after evrything from colours available and what exactly would have been in them. I take it they would have been pretty basic but when I do it I want it spot on. Thanks.
Ziff

keep the original engine.... make it breathe a bit better and an 1.5" SU and it'll go a lot better than standard, but they weren't that bad anyway - they reckon they make 90bhp in England

sounds like a nice van in the making.... I think you're right about the year, '66/'67 was when the ribbed roof came in - which side of the winscreen do the wipers park on? pre '68 would be on the drivers side

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I would guess that the car is a 67 but if you look at a few other things with dates on them you may get more of an Idea, the ignition switch, the headlight switch, the high beam dip switch, the generator, the starter, etc.

According to the book they had the 850 style grille.

I don't know when they started building the Morris Mini Van but the book gives a parts changeover date for the Mini 850 Van as Sept/Oct 66 so they were still building them in Oct 66.

The book I am going off is a BMC body repair book, it lists part numbers and some changeover dates for all BMC cars. It has no photos, just a lot of diagrams. It tells me things like if you car has a lower body number than YJBAV2/6051 it will have the early pattern and if is is after that number it will have the late pattern.

[quote="Morris 1100"]
I don't know when they started building the Morris Mini Van but the book gives a parts changeover date for the Mini 850 Van as Sept/Oct 66 so they were still building them in Oct 66.
quote]

my '66 smooth roof van has MINI VAN on the ID plate - no idea what month

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