9 replies to this topic

[Keith Staley]

Hi. I have a basic MK3 1973 saloon Morris mini which I am halfway through to doing a part restoration job on it with a friend. As far as I can tell the car has had no modifications on it and the engine matches the one numbered in the log book. Hopefully, by this Spring/Summer this car will be back on the road, after a 21 years break where it was stored in my garage.

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what year saw the last production of the 850 mini?? I can't seem to find this info anyway. I do notice that 850s do seem to be getting rarier, particularly, MK3's. 

Thanks for taking an interest in my question, and I look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes, Keith.

[Spider]

No doubt someone else will know for sure, but I still have them listed in a Parts Fiche for models produced up to 82. I know they also fitted them to Metro for a while, I think at least to 86.

[mab01uk]

The Mini 850 (City & SDL) was discontinued in 1980 on introduction of the Metro although the 850 engine was available in the Minivan for a further two years (1982).

The A+ engine in the Metro was only the 998 & 1275cc.

 

August 1980: Production of Mini City 850 ended (final chassis number XK2S1000743113) and Mini 850 SDL (final chassis number XK2S1N00743003).

September 1980: Models oficially withdrawn from sale as the 998cc engined City replaced 848cc City.

 

It is on record (from ex-BL workers) that an 850cc A-series engine cost more to produce in the later years than a 998cc because of the lower volumes in production.....even though the 850 Mini had to be sold for less it cost more to build! I suspect the same thing happened later with the 998cc in the 1990's.....when the Metro stopped using the 998cc A-series (when it swapped to K-Series) and the 1990's Rover Coopers sold greater numbers of the 1275cc, so the 998cc volumes for Mini's only, became uneconomic to produce along with meeting stricter emissions testing. Large production volumes are key to lower costs in the car industry, even more so today as manufacturers strive to share common platforms and engines.

Edited by mab01uk, 15 January 2016 - 08:39 AM.

[Spider]

Not surprising that the 850 engines were expensive to produce.

 

I do know they fitted the 850 engines to the Metros, from 82 on until at least 86, so, not from initial production, though it appears these may not have been available on the UK Market or at least not widely available.

 

This is a page from the 1984 Factory Metro Workshop Manuals, which outlines the usual data coving the 850 engines fitted to them;-

 

 

It was also in the 1986 manual, but notably absent from the 1989 manual.

 

Working off the Tuning Data from the same manual, it appears these were pre-A+ blocks as they were only fitted with the 45D4 Distributors and HS4 Carb. I think a lot of them ended up in the Metro Vans.

[Ethel]

I certainly never saw any sign of an 850 Metro working in an AR dealership in the 80's. Maybe there was a taxation reason to make one for a different market? Or maybe it was to satisfy some local manufacturing agreement where it wasn't worthwhile upgrading the plant to make A+ engines?

 

I had a mate working for AE, he said slotting the split skirt pistons was a bugger, with loads being turned in to scrap.

[Keith Staley]

Thank you for all your responses. :)

[Spider]

I certainly never saw any sign of an 850 Metro working in an AR dealership in the 80's. Maybe there was a taxation reason to make one for a different market?

 

It is listed in the Workshop Manuals as a 'Metro' and 'Metro (export)'.  I do recall on one of the forums someone (I think in France?) mentioning them.  By the sounds of it, there weren't very many!

[pusb]

 

I certainly never saw any sign of an 850 Metro working in an AR dealership in the 80's. Maybe there was a taxation reason to make one for a different market?

 

It is listed in the Workshop Manuals as a 'Metro' and 'Metro (export)'.  I do recall on one of the forums someone (I think in France?) mentioning them.  By the sounds of it, there weren't very many!

 

 

So would that have been an 850 A+?

[Spider]

 

 

I certainly never saw any sign of an 850 Metro working in an AR dealership in the 80's. Maybe there was a taxation reason to make one for a different market?

 

It is listed in the Workshop Manuals as a 'Metro' and 'Metro (export)'.  I do recall on one of the forums someone (I think in France?) mentioning them.  By the sounds of it, there weren't very many!

 

 

So would that have been an 850 A+?

 

 

I've not seen one, so I can't say for sure, but working off the Workshop Manual, no, it was only an A Series.

[mab01uk]

Never seen or heard of an 850cc Metro in UK but it seems they were for export models only:-

 

Engine - Metro engine identification data

1^st prefix group identifies engine capacity -

85  =  850cc (mainly used in export only models)

99  =  998cc

12  =  1275cc

http://www.calverst....cation_data.htm