I am looking for info to ID a moke I have
Type YJBAB 1 R
Ser No. 3463
Eng No. 9YB/J/H 3966 S
Colour 1/3 Empire green
It has small round glass rear lights and round dual front indicator lights
The engine in it now is a 9y ta and the gear box is rod change with pot joints. These are obviously replacements. The spare engine and g/box with it is 998 [no number on block] and box with 850 type gear stick and rubber drive joints. The gear stick hole in floor pan is at base of fire wall like a 850

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

I would do a search on the Moke forum, there is a list of years, models and body numbers.
It's how I sussed out my `79, which is missing its compliance plate.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

From the Moke Register it's a 1967 model

Be good if you could add those details to the register - helps fill the gaps

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David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

From the BMC standards book:

YJBAB1R

Y = Australia
J = Commercial
B = ? (confusing bit here. JA is commercial Austin. JM is commercial Morris. JB is not listed. Could it be commercial BMC?)
A = 1/4 ton
B = Buckboard (Moke)
1 = series of model (used to record major change) It is interesting that there is no model 2,3,4, 5 or 7. 6 is for 1968 big-wheel Moke (seems strange that there is a 6 listed on the Moke register as 1967 and with high chassis number - I would suggest either the date is wrong or it is not a 6) 8 is for 1098cc Moke (1969). 12 or 13 are for Export (early Californian)

R = right-hand-drive

In terms of date - little wheeler has to be pre-April 1968.

In terms of identifying a really early one, look under the rear wheel arch. If there is a strengthening plate bolted to the inside of the guard, around the shocker support pressing, then it is late 1966. If the strengthening plate is spot welded to the body then it is at least January 1967. If there is no plate, then it is within the first six months or so of production.

Given the chassis number, I would suggest mid to late 1967.

Cheers,
Watto.

Hi Watto
I have double checked the I.D plate and the letters and No's I listed are correct.
I checked inside the rear wheel arch and ther is no plate to strengthen the shocker mount. The shocker is bolted to a pressed bracket that is spot welded inside the tub. The only plate inside the wheel arch is a plate that has ribs pressed length ways that covers the whole side of the arch to the body tub. Is this the plate you are refering to.

The car has 10" wheels.

The engine No. is 9yb so does the b refer to commercial engine
I found this moke sitting in a shed piled up with engine/suspension/gearbox bits and pieces. Unfortuneately they had been sitting there for years and most are rusty. Still sorting out the U/S from salvageable. The body has only 1 small area of rust, where the double panel bracket is on the rear of front r/h guard.

Some-one repainted it in a lovely purple house paint which most has peeled off back to original paint.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Yes, that is probably the plate. A pic would be good.

That ties in with the chassis number making it likely to be around mid-1967.

Engine number prefix for 1966-1969 Moke should be 9YB/U/H

Again, from the BMC standards:

9 = 998cc
Y = Australia
B = Buckboard (Moke) or BMC Industrials (conflicting listing in the two sheets I have - both being official BMC paperwork.)
U = Centre change gearbox
H = high compression.

Here's some pictures of the plate on the inside of the wheelarch and also the shocker mount inside the tub.
There's also a pic of the gearbox hole and the gearstick assembly that obviously came with the original engine.
The original engine block does not have any numbers stamped on the block, only the 1000cc aluminium plate. Gearbox has rubber drives.
I removed the clutch cover and it had this type of flywheel.
This engine may have been mixed and matched at some stage.
The engine and potjoint rod change gearbox that is in the car now, the installation was never complete.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

Yep, that's the strengthening plate.

So, what I said before still applies.

Cheers,
Watto.

Thanks for the info Watto
The next question, would this moke be worth while restoring back to original. I had ideas of modifying it with one of my twin cam engs,discs and big wheels.
It's like the 850 I have, if they have some historical value then restore them.
The other question I have is with the eng block. I am quite sure that it is the original,but I am wondering why it does not have any No's stamped on it. I have pulled it down and the eng is still all original. The top of the block still has the bore sizing marks stamped on it. It obviously has not been decked to remove eng No's.

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

could have had the engine number rivited on a plate?

_________________
-jamie-
1963morris 850
1965 solid side van
1994 rover racecar

From a personal point of view, I would try to restore it to original as there are few little-wheel Mokes around in original condition.

Does it still have the mirror bracket welded near to the top of the windscreen frame? For that matter, does it still have a windscreen?

Other original parts that may be hard to find are the flat bonnet, taillight lenses (same as early Land Rover) and front indicators (MG-A).

I really have no idea why the engine would not have a number. All imported engines should have had an aluminium plate with the engine number stamped into it pop-riveted to the block. These plates were removed and the engine number stamped directly into the block. Perhaps for some reason this didn't happen, but it should have.

Cheers,
Watto.

I'd say the engine was replaced with a new one at some stage.

I bought a brand new 1275 (1100S) short motor for my Mini from Lancaster Motors in 1968.
It had no numbers or plate on it, I had to go to the Fuzz shop with my receipt and they gave me a Police number, and instructions where to get it stamped, then I returned and they wrote up the paperwork.

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

it's still got all the indicator lights complete and the headlights have a mesh guard on a hinge rivited to the light surround.

The windscreen is complete with the little round mirror attached. where the windscreen is attached by 3 bolts either side there are 2 that had some sort of arm instead of hex. These have been broken off . I presume that the idea was to undo them and lay the windscreen down flat. I think that the early landrovers had a similar thing. There are some rusty litte brackets that were attached to the bonnet[ still there and perfect] to hold the screen when flat.

It also has a galv bumper bar attatched to both rear and front. The rear has provision for spare wheel. The front one has had the ends cut off. The hoops for the roof cover are still complete.

Even the rubber mudflaps[very perrished] have a BMC logo [ i think] and reflectors on them.

Inside the car there are two little lights for interior lighting.

I have not finished sorting out all the junk that was piled up in it but found all sorts of spares, wipermotors, lights etc.

The only thing that seems to be missing are the seats, they were taken out for the shearers to use in the shearing shed, and were thrown away later. If someone has some pics of original seats I would appreciate them so that I can either get some or make some.

It has spacer drums on it, is this correct for this model?

_________________
Research is the difference between speculation and investment. Anyone who copys some one else will always be second
www.minisprintgt.com

From what I have the JB is commercial vehicle, I assume it is BMC Australia.
The A in the body number should refer to the engine size (A = 800 to 999cc)

With the engine number the B would refer to the second variant of that engine. The first variant would have been the Mini Deluxe motor.

Except that the first variant of the Aussie-assembled 998cc engine was the Cooper. Then the De Luxe, then the Moke.

Unless the Moke engine and the De Luxe engine are the same variant, bearing in mind they have the same gear selection type and the same final drive ratio (for 10" wheels). In which case it should be a B, if the Cooper is considered the first variant, or an A if the Cooper variant is considered a different motor, as the De Luxe motor is 9YA.

Not withstanding that if the Cooper engine is a different engine, and the Moke a variant of the De Luxe engine, although they are technically the same (the whole point of giving the Moke the 998 in the first place was because it was the same as the De Luxe engine).

Confused???

I know I am.

Just shows that having the official paperwork doesn't make it any less confusing.

The paperwork I have is from BMC in the UK, but apparently Australia used the same standards book - which was for all BMC global plants in order to avoid confusion (?!). Australia is listed in the Standards as Y, so it is not likely that we had our own book of Standards.

Cheers,
Watto.