Better than nothing rust treatment?

[Bill_qaz]

Don't know if you will use peage but I just got back at the weekend and some are now camera control, you just drive through, no booth, no stopping, then go online and pay. Similar to Dartford crossing.

[svenedin]

Thank you. I didn’t know that! Not planning to use motorways but might have to

Stephen

[Bill_qaz]

Dazzler revenge activation

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Enjoy the trip

[svenedin]

Those are certainly very bright!

[svenedin]

Oh joy. Yet more issues before the trip........will we ever get to France!!!!

Went to start the car, starter motor spins fast but not engaging with flywheel.....

I will check all electrical connections first but if still no joy I will have to take the starter motor off. It sounds as if the Bendix gear is not throwing.

Fortunately, I have a Bendix spring compressor, a new Bendix gear complete and an old but functional when taken off starter motor. One way or the other we'll get this sorted.

Stephen

[svenedin]

Fixed. Not electrical but mechanical.

Battery fully charged, contacts good, solenoid end of starter cable fine, motor end of cable good, tight, clean connection. Motor spins but pinion does not engage flywheel.

Starter off, Bendix pinion lightly stuck with black clutch dust. No real effort required to free the pinion. Really not a lot of dust I thought but all cleaned up with carburettor cleaner (good degreaser) and then dry PTFE lubricant. Dust will stick and jam the Bendix gear if there is any trace of oil or grease. PTFE lubricant dries completely and leaves a very thin film of slippery PTFE. Interestingly, the Lucas workshop manual says that if the pinion sticks it should be lubricated with light machine oil despite the fact that this is just asking for trouble. https://www.lrsoc.com/forum/forum_files ... al%20C.pdf

Tested and car starts perfectly. Annoying but better than this happening in France and it would have done for sure. Lucky escape really. Almost certainly it would have happened somewhere embarrassing like the queue for the ferry. There's always the starting handle but a whole holiday of using the starting handle every time? Not much fun.....

Note to self: get that old starter motor rebuilt to have as a drop-in spare......

Stephen

[svenedin]

We made it to France and we are now in Le Mans.

Twice the car has jumped out of first gear whilst doing a hill start on a steep hill. Alarming. At all other times 1st gear has functioned entirely normally.

We seem to be running a bit hot. I don’t have a temperature gauge and we haven’t boiled but things seem rather hotter under the bonnet than normal. I checked 2x spark plugs and I think they indicate just a shade lean so I have enriched 1 flat and will check again after the next route stage.

IMG_2031.jpeg (2.07 MiB) Viewed 158521 times

[svenedin]

I thought I'd write a quick update since all the work in the winter.

We took the car on Minors on Tour 2025 to the Loire Valley in France in May. No major dramas. A few issues including the brake backplate bolts coming loose which was probably because I had painted them and not tightened them sufficiently. I noticed this of course and it was not a big job to sort out whilst on the trip. Likewise, the timing chain cover started leaking oil but again the fixings had come loose. This has happened twice now and if it happens again I will have to use some thread lock.

Over the last few days I have done the 1,500 mile service since engine rebuild. This included: head bolt torque check, rocker clearance check and adjust, spark plug colour check and gap check, oil and filter change, mixture setting tweak, ignition timing tweaks.

All is well. The engine builder specified 16 thou rocker clearances which is of course larger than the 12 thou that is standard. He said this is due to differences in the camshaft which is new (but it is not a special camshaft in any way).

Just some general observations: I was not happy about the currently available engine mount rubbers. They are too hard and transmit too much vibration. BUT: Being meticulous with fuel mixture settings, ignition timing, spark gap etc has reduced the engine vibration a lot. Now the engine idles with minimal vibration and to my mind very nicely indeed. I have Lumention Optronic electronic ignition and a Pertronix flamethrower ignition coil. Distributor Doctor (Martin Jay) told me to set the plug gaps to 35 thou and this really does make a difference. I had never been able to set the fuel mixture using the carburettor lifting pin before because the engine was just too clapped out and burnt a lot of oil. Now, I can use the lifting pin to get the mixture spot on (which is a fraction of a flat of the mixture nut). That too makes a difference to how smoothly the engine idles.

In terms of the 9" Wolseley front brakes, the brake shoes (Ferodo) are now well bedded in. This took quite a few hundred miles but I am very pleased. The car really does stop much better. I have a set of Wolseley 1500 rear brakes ready to fit but I haven't got round to it. Perhaps a job for this winter.

Other jobs I did like bearings (all wheels), oil seals (front and back) are fine with no issues. The diff continued to drip from the drain but I removed the drain, cleaned the threads and wrapped the threads in PTFE plumbers tape and that has stopped the leak. I did this with the gearbox drain plug a while back.

Incidentally, the distributor, carburettor and dynamo were all professionally rebuilt prior to the engine rebuild so that the rebuilt engine is not let down by a worn out ancillary.

Once again, thank you for all the tips, advice and encouragement. We got there in the end!

Stephen

[svenedin]

My diff oil leak fix has been completely successful. The timing chain cover less so. It was still leaking oil after I tightened up the bolts I could get to from underneath. I knew that really I should go all the way round but there was just too much in the way. This afternoon I took the radiator out for better access. The bottom hose obstructs one of the timing chain bolts completely (where the hose joins the water pump) and the fan belt is in the way of some of the bolts on the other side. It is much easier with the radiator out, hoses off and fan belt off. Some of the bolts near the top of the timing chain cover were less than tight but not exactly loose. Whilst there I tightened up the fan belt (had stretched a bit) checked the fan bolts x4. I flushed the radiator through for good measure and jet washed the insects out of the core.

If the timing chain cover continues to leak I will try a Kilgersil gasket from Mnispares. These are said to be better.https://www.minispares.com/gug705803gm- ... uine-pre-a

It's frustrating because the engine constantly leaked from the timing chain cover before the rebuild. Now it still leaks despite the fact that it has a stronger (CC) front plate and a really good condition timing chain cover! I may commit wickedness and resort to sealing goo (which I hardly ever use) because I am absolutely fed up with it leaking. I've always been rather tempted by one of these rather expensive front plate and timing cover replacements. If I bought one of these I would fit a chain with a tensioner. https://s-can.co.uk/product/timing-cove ... rris-1000/

If I end up replacing the timing cover gasket I may put the damped crankshaft pulley back as I didn't want to lose it when the engine was rebuilt and it now has just the standard pulley.


Stephen

[svenedin]

Hunting around in the garage I have found the damper crankshaft pulley which on Phil's advice I had tapped with 3 holes for a harmonic balancer puller. It's good and just needs a lick of engine green paint BUT I have also found 2x old and serviceable rubber engine mounts. Hurray! So if the timing chain cover continues to leak (which I bet it will) I will be doing a few jobs at the front of the engine. Swapping the nasty, too hard engine rubber mounts for old good ones, fitting a better timing cover gasket and re-instating the damper crankshaft pulley. I'm pleased about that because it turns the timing chain cover job which is just annoying into a much more useful set of jobs. Always a silver lining they say!

I did find one of the later timing covers (kidney shaped) with squashed breather that, assuming the front plate was drilled with extra holes, would allow a tensioner to be fitted. That might be a step too far for now. I'd need a spare front plate really, and an A+ plate as a template and a bench drill. I don't have any of those. The late kidney-shaped timing cover also needs modifying with a baffle removed from inside.

Stephen

[svenedin]

Damper crankshaft pulley cleaned up and ready for MOWOG green paint. This was new a couple of years ago.

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[philthehill]

Damper and puller:-
This is the best and safest way to remove the damper pulley from the 'A' Series crankshaft. There is no danger of damaging the rubber element or the pulley 'V' belt groove.

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[svenedin]

Thank you Phil.

Yes, that's why I drilled and tapped that pulley with 3x holes on your advice. It did not come with those holes. It came with a disc on the back that I had to remove too.

Stephen

[philthehill]

For general information:-
If the damper pulley has the timing disc fitted it has to be removed to enable that style of damper pulley to be fitted. To remove the timing disc the heads of the rivets are drilled off and the rivets knocked out. The three holes can then be tapped to enable the harmonic damper puller to be used.
Not all the 'A' Series damper pulleys are the same - there are several different styles of pulley.
I have the two piece classic Cooper 'S' style damper pulley fitted as it is better suited to the 1380cc engine needs.

[Bill_qaz]

Withdrawn

[svenedin]

I sorted the timing cover oil leak today.

I didn't take the front of the car off but wished I had really. I took the radiator and hoses off but still it was really awkward to reach all the fixings. So I ended up taking the fan belt off and the fan and water pump pulley. It became even more awkward when I had the timing chain cover off and realised that the engine builder had used gallons of black sealant. It has been said on here many times that sealant is NOT required. Not only that but the wretched thing leaked anyway and it took me forever to clean all the old gasket and rubbish off. Anyway, a greased gasket went back on, no sealant, a different timing chain cover that I had previous cleaned, checked and painted, a new oil seal and a damped crankshaft pulley.

As I started tightening up the timing cover fixings I realised that the engine builder had used the smaller of the two types of bolts (1/4") that were too long so they fouled against the engine. I have had to order some (they are 1/4" x 3/8").

I have yet to swap the rubber engine mounts for the old but serviceable ones I found but it all took so long that I put everything back together and that can wait for another day.

It is as well the engine builder did not hear some of the language that was used. I shouldn't even have to be doing this during my leave!!

One thing worth noting is that it is very tricky to knock the lock washer into the half-moon and bend the other side up against the starter dog without the front off the car due to the recessed centre of a damped pulley. It can be done but it is rather awkward.

A massive spanner and a flywheel locking tool do make the job much easier.

I doesn't take long to drain the radiator and I can save and reuse the coolant so no big deal that the engine mounts didn't get done.

Oh and the punchline is, I ran the car up to temperature and the timing cover does NOT leak. Phew!

Stephen

[myoldjalopy]

Well done, Stephen. Just another day in the life of a Morris Minor owner, eh?
There's always something to be attended to, even if its just routine servicing and maintenance........

[svenedin]

Well done, Stephen. Just another day in the life of a Morris Minor owner, eh?
There's always something to be attended to, even if its just routine servicing and maintenance........

Yes true but it's annoying to spend hours correcting the work of an expensive engine builder. Now the car can be used but it does need the correct size bolts fitted when they arrive so actually the job isn't done yet.

Stephen

[myoldjalopy]

Yes, it is very frustrating to pay someone to do a job and then it is not done properly. I wonder about places that, frankly, take too much work on and then have to rush jobs to get them out the door again.......

[les]

If you want a job doing ——— as they say but yes it’s the last thing you want when you put your trust in someone, however this is the way it is today. Fortunately the Minor is basically a diy vehicle for most things. I’m not sure about the ‘too much work thing’ more a ‘that’ll do attitude’.