Transman, I hope You read this (or anybody who can give a qualified answer). My friend's Newport -61 is slipping in 1'st and reverse. It's a -55 to -61 touch (or soft) glide, push button gearbox. All is perfect in second and third. Oil new - 500 miles ago (actually made it worse), bright red as the old oil was, no bad smell, not done many miles over the last many years. Somebody wanna guess?.
OK4450, this is for You or someone who can guide me some of the way. I thought of You, OK, as You know a Morris Minor as well as I do - been driving in them for the last 35 years. My (above) friend put a bee in my head today. I have a Morris Minor 4-door -53 saloon awaiting a total rebuild and that bastard asked me: what if sh.. happened and you (I) dropped that GM 502 big block (which I do not have, but I may be able to afford) in it by accident, instead of that tiny original engine? . Have I been thinking since!!!!. Well, I don't care much about hp., but torque is a very big issue - 600 nm. at around 2000 rpm or less sounds nice in my ears - and so is smoooooooth running. And I do not care for anything above 4000 rpm.
How - and with what parts - am I going to build such a nice little engine?.
I have been told that a Mustang II front clip would be sufficient in the front, but any good suggestions for the rear?. I'll have to say that I would like to keep it as original to look at as possible. That includes the tyres, which at the most will be 185/60 x 14 on 5,5 x 14 alloy rims. I know they are not original, but what can you do with the original 3,5 x 14 rims?.
I am not scared with regards to the body, that's easily reinforced, brakes are no problem, it's off the shelf items, but the suspension has me worried a bit, so any good ideas are more than welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Klaus

You could perform a stall converter stall test on the transmission. This is a perfectly valid test if the privilege is not abused.
Put in it reverse, hold the foot brake, and try to rev the engine quickly. It should stall out at around 2000 RPM give or take a bit. Wait a few minutes and repeat the tests in 1, 2, and 3. You MUST allow a few minutes idle time between each stall test.
If the engine revs to 3000 or whatever then the clutches are slipping which means it's rebuild time.

I don't consider myself an expert on Morris Minors although I have owned a Sunbeam Alpine (wished I still had) and a couple of Morris Minors. Neat little cars and far more reliable than anyone gives them credit for.

A big block, or even a small block, will shred the entire driveline. About the best option would be to narrow a GM or Ford rear axle and tub the wheel housings. This will also likely mean altering the tunnel so a larger transmission will fit. This is going to be one of those job that will require a lot of thought and more than likely, a lot of backtracking and redoing things. It's aggravating but it's also fun in a perverted way.

To be honest, if I were going to do this I'd go with a small block Ford or Chevy. For some weird reason the Chevy performance parts are generally much cheaper than the equivalent Ford items. All of the race car guys here run Chevy engines for this very reason; half price. The physical dimensions would make it much easier to fit also.

A small block anything, even stock, will make that car eyeball smearing fast and would likely outrun anybody before ever hitting 4000 RPM.
Being a fan of the unusual and perverted stuff this sounds like an interesting concept to me. Everybody has modded Mustangs, Camaros, Civics, and whatnot but how many own a hot rod Minor? None.
If I were at a car show and saw a V-8 powered Morris Minor I'd be stuck to that thing like glue. At a car show last year in Utah I must have spent 20 minutes eyeballing an early VW Bug in which someone had stuffed a Ford 302 into the back seat. It was absolutely fascinating to me and from a side view about 30 feet away it looked completely original except for the fatter rear tires.

A gentleman here many years ago used to have an English Ford panel wagon and he had a modified 327 Chevy stuffed into that dinky vehicle but it did involve moving the seats back about a foot. A friend of mine built a 60 VW Bug with a Buick Wildcat 401 and a Ford 9" in the back so anything is possible.