Better than nothing rust treatment?

[svenedin]

Thank you. Yes it will be worthwhile and it's long overdue. It will be my luck that as soon as I'm ready to take the car out for a test drive it turns cold and starts to rain! The wipers work really well though.

Stephen

[svenedin]

Aha..........Hurray!

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[mobylette]

[svenedin]

One thing that I am upset about is that despite specific discussion they have broken off the hammer rivets from the engine number tag. That is despite me sending an article of how to get them out that also warns not to snap them. I tried to drill the snapped off rivets with no luck. They did send the engine number tag back (damaged). I am very tempted to send the engine back to them and they can sort it out! As far as I am concerned, without its engine number tag this is not my engine and I won't be installing it until this is resolved. A possibility is that I could epoxy the engine number tag in place, exactly lined up with where the holes should be and it can then be drilled properly at a later date.


https://www.minispares.com/blog/2025/01/30/2a895-rivet/

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[les]

I’d be reluctant to send it back, you don’t know how they will tackle the issue. Better to take time to find a way yourself, you’re in control then. Good luck. You could try a small sharp centre punch around the edges, in an attempt to drive them out perhaps

[les]

———— if you have to glue it in place, you could also glue just the tops from a couple of replacement fixings, onto the plate. Making it look original. I would also be right annoyed !

[svenedin]

Thanks Les. Yes you're right. I am just being petulant.

Thanks for saying you would be annoyed too. I did specifically discuss this with the engine rebuilder. I also had a conversation with another Minor owner about engine rebuilding and practically the very first question that he asked was "What are they doing about the engine tag?" so it's not just me being my usual weird self!

I am in a rush to go on a work trip and I am just irritated that there is something so apparently trivial but not actually trivial to sort out that I really don't need the hassle of. I have somebody coming round on Saturday morning to help get the engine in and I am not back until late on Friday so I don't have long to address this. I tried a centre punch on both of them just now and they have both "sunk" a bit. The hole is blind but deeper than the broken stem. As the hole is blind they can't be pushed out the other way. The only way to drill is to take the heater pipe off so it would not be at all ideal to do with an installed engine. The fact the broken stems have sunk does at least mean that it is very clear where to drill!

Minors so often have had exchange engines that most people probably care very little about the engine number tag. I do care because it's the original engine to the car.

Stephen

[svenedin]

After a good bash with a punch that sunk the snapped rivet stems down below the surface of their holes, they will definitely drill out. I don't have time now but I have proved it can be done. I can rest easy now. That article saying they are impossible to drill out was scaremongering.

Incidentally, the same hammer rivet or "Scrivet" 2A295 holds the engine capacity plate to the block. In this case the "1100" plate. That plate is secured with 1x rivet.

I've ordered the rivets and they should arrive whilst I am away. When I get back I will make a depth gauge for the drill bit with masking tape and drill to the required depth.



Stephen

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[philthehill]

I wish you luck in trying to drill out the engine number plate rivets.
They are so hard a normal drill will not drill out the rivets. It is not scaremongering it is fact.
I doubt that you will be able to drill out the remains of the rivets with any drill even titanium coated.
Only if you can get the rivet heads above the block/number plate will you have any chance of removing the rivets as per described in your posted link above and that chance has now passed.
All of the engines I have had reconditioned over the years have had the engine number plate removed as yours has been.
I think that you are lucky to have retained the old engine plate. Many engine number plates are discarded when they are removed to allow the fitment of the boring bar.
I personally knowing how hard it is to remove the rivets (and I have never been successful) would not blame the reconditioning company for returning the engine to you as it is.
To refit the engine number plate two new holes are normally drilled and new rivets knocked in.
The rivets are made to be difficult to remove so as to eliminate the easy exchange of engine numbers and engine number plates.
I always make a note of the engine number for future reference and if required a new plate with the original numbers reversed stamped fitted after reconditioning.

[svenedin]

We shall see. The engine is not going back in the car without its plate and I am not drilling any new holes in it! I am away now but will be immediately back on this job on my return. Something is drilling out as you can see in my photo. The engine number plate issue was what stopped me having the engine rebuilt for a very many years.

Stephen

[myoldjalopy]

Why did they remove the plate in the first place? I know Phil says "Many engine number plates are discarded when they are removed to allow the fitment of the boring bar." but I don't understand what a 'boring bar' is, nor its purpose in reconditioning an engine. I do know, however, that when I had an engine reconditioned about 19 years ago, it came back with the plate removed. I wasn't much bothered as it wasn't the original engine anyway.

[geoberni]

Why did they remove the plate in the first place? I know Phil says "Many engine number plates are discarded when they are removed to allow the fitment of the boring bar." but I don't understand what a 'boring bar' is, nor its purpose in reconditioning an engine. I do know, however, that when I had an engine reconditioned about 19 years ago, it came back with the plate removed. I wasn't much bothered as it wasn't the original engine anyway.

The Boring Bar is the machine that sits on top of the block to re-bore the Cylinders.
The tag would prevent the machine sitting flat.
See this video of one in operation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMpeo-0Gl9E

[myoldjalopy]

Ah, I see now, thank you.

[Bill_qaz]

Stephen you can get diamond tipped drill relatively cheap. The one I purchased was hollow, like a mini hole saw, so the material came out through the centre.
My minor had a broken of thread tap in the thermostat bolt hole, in the head and I managed to drill it out. Take you time and keep plenty of water to lubricate and cool. The rivets can't be any harder than tool steel of a tap.https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222645770011 ... media=COPY

[les]

Good thought Bill, and handy to know.