Morris Minor Electric Motor Conversion Kit

Morris Minor conversion to electric motor power is a topic that I am contacted about via platforms such as LinkedIn.

It can be confusing when starting a Morris Minor conversion, to know what parts you need.

When starting a Morris Minor electric conversion, the first thing to decide is what sort of performance you want.

Performance is measured in terms of maximum speed, maximum mileage range on a single charge, and acceleration time.

Let’s first consider maximum speed.

An electric motor is capable of spinning much faster than the original Morris Minor engine.

The original Morris Minor petrol engine ranged in size from 803cc, up to 1098cc, depending on the year of production.

The gearboxes that the engines were attached to, were also uprated in the later version (known as the ribbed case gearboxes).

For argument’s sake, let’s assume the maximum original Morris Minor engine speed is 6000 RPM.

That means that the Crankshaft (spinning output shaft from the engine) is rotating 6000 times in a minute.

The Crankshaft is attached to the car’s gearbox (input side), via a clutch mechanism.

At the other end of the gearbox, is a rotating output shaft.

The engine and gearbox layout on a Morris Minor is known as longitudinal, which means that the gearbox sits at the back of the engine.

By contrast, most modern cars have the engine and gearbox mounted in a ‘transverse’ arrangement, where the gearbox is mounted on the side of the engine.

Transverse Engine/gearbox arrangements are normally used in front-wheel-drive cars, whereas Longitudinal layouts are used in rear-wheel drive vehicles. There are of course always a few vehicles that don’t follow this rule.

 

To be continued, when I get time, so come back regularly.

I am also working on a conversion kit for the Alfa Romeo 916 GTV