In December 1998 Minor Monthly published the following road test...

Talk of fitting a K Series engine into the Morris Minor has been around for a while. We had heard rumours in the office that a number of specialists were looking at it but most seemed to be dismissing it as impossible. It wasn’t until Jonathon Heap at JLH Minor Restoration contacted us earlier this year that we started to sit up and take notice. That was around 8 months ago now, which may seem like a long time, but for a project of this size it is relatively short. In fact, it was only 6 months between Jonathon making his first tentative sketches, to a K Series actually sitting in a Minor and running!

The question has to be asked: “Why fit the K Series?”. After all, the A Series can be tuned and we also have the tried and tested Fiat twin cam engine, for which there are a number of kits available on the market to fit it into the Minor. Both engines, however, have their short comings.

The A Series, for example, will require an awful lot of work to reach the sort of outputs you can get with the K Series and its doubtful whether an engine producing that sort of power would be any use on the road anyway. Similarly, the Fiat, whilst being a very good engine, has started to become a little thin on the ground (especially low mileage examples) and they can be quite expensive to rebuild and tune.

There is also the emissions side to consider because with more restrictive legislation looming on the horizon tuning an engine may become a thing of the past. If this seems a little too far fetched you only have to look at some of the other European countries who already prohibit engine modifications.
The K Series, on the other hand, is a new engine still in production and will meet the strictest of emissions tests and, assuming we do get tighter legislation regarding engine modifications, the stock output from any of the K Series range should be more than enough for most drivers. It’s also worth remembering that it is a Rover engine and so has some slim connection with the Minor!

The actual installation of the K Series into the Minor requires many unique parts all of which are available from JLH.

A basic kit can be purchased from them for £1399.55. This will get the engine and box into the car, leaving you to sort out the other bits and pieces such as exhaust system, etc.
Although you should remember that absolutely everything you need is available at JLH should you wish to have them fit it for you or you can purchase everything necessary and simply bolt it altogether at home.

Besides the obvious suspension and braking modifications that must be made before you install a K Series, the only other work needed to fit the engine is to remove the battery tray and notch the front cross member (as with the Fiat conversion). If you stick with the standard fuel injection you will need to modify the tank, this provided as part of the standard kit.
The secret behind the ease of fitting the engine lies with some deft machining of the engine itself, which must be carried out by JLH. You will therefore need to get your engine over to Leamington Spa, even if you decide to fit the engine yourself.
Okay, so now we know it fits but what’s it like to drive? In a word, 'excellent'.

JLH invited us down to road test the first car to roll out of the workshop with a K Series fitted. This isn’t Jonathon’s car but belongs to one of his customers, Brian Saunders. The Traveller has undergone extensive restoration work and has already been kitted out with Series IV suspension, disc brakes, anti roll bar and a rather pleasant Newton Commercial interior. The engine fitted to the car is one of the smallest in the range, being a 1.4 litre. It is completely standard with the exception of the air filter and exhaust system and was recently dyno tested and recorded a power out put of 127 bhp at the wheels, which is actually more than Rover quote themselves.The first thing you notice about the car is the sound. Not an unpleasant sound by any means just very throaty, and probably not to everyone’s liking. There is a wonderful induction roar from the air filter and the exhaust hints of the cars capabilities. This can quite easily be changed for those wanting a more conservative sounding car by altering the exhaust system and fitting a different air box (available from JLH), but why bother?!

The clutch operation is extremely smooth and as good, if not better, than any modern production car I have driven. The gearbox, a Sierra five speed, was precise and accurate, although a quick shift kit wouldn’t go amiss; again, this is down to personal taste.
The acceleration can only be described as ‘quick’ and this was on a wet day when traction was a little thin on the ground. First, second and third saw the speedo reading increase all too quickly, that was until you hit fourth gear and then fifth when things don’t happen quite as quickly. This is due to the gearing and is something that Jonathon will be looking to change with different ratios available both in the gearbox and the back axle depending on the type of driving you do. This particular set up is ideal for cruising and motorway work would be effortless. Unfortunately, when you do need to overtake, you need to start stirring the box.
Bearing in mind this is the smallest engine available, the speed is more than adequate for most uses. The engines are easily tuned but if you do want more power go for a bigger engine. They are all
externally the same, so you have the choice of the 1.1, 1.4, 1.6 or the 1.8 as found in the MGF. Jonathan already has a 1.8 sat in the workshop ready to be installed in another customer’s car and I personally can’t wait till it’s finished. I just hope it stops raining!

Overall it looks like the K Series is definitely the way forward and could be the best way of ensuring the Minors survival into the next century. At present the K Series kit is more expensive than that of the Fiat twin cam, it’s only rival, but what you are getting is a modern engine that is still in production, meets all emissions requirements and has excellent performance and mpg (120bhp+ and 40-55mpg).

As with any performance upgrades you must ensure that the rest of your car is up to the job. Remember you will be fitting an engine that actually weighs less than the A Series yet is much more powerful. There is no way the stock brakes and suspension will be able to handle it. With this in mind, JLH have also developed their own range of disc brake kits (front and rear) and handling kits including coil over units and, next year, a fully independent rear end based on Ford and MGF components will be available.