First Time Engine Rebuild

[Declan_Burns]

Excellent link Phil!
Edd -beg borrow or steal a pipe bender from a friendly local plumber and fill the pipe with quartz sand before bending or use a pipe bending spring. A little heat also helps.
Regards
Declan

[edd_barker]

Finally cracking on!!

Head has been on and torqued up, blu-tac on valves showed plenty of clearances.

However I stripped nuts on two rocker pedestals? Tightening to 25lbft. New studs and nuts from minispares. Any thoughts why? I will go back to old studs and try and dig some nuts out from somewhere.

Should there be a spring washer? I have just gone for round washer, on top of locking washer.

Cheers,

Edd

[edd_barker]

Trial fitting the manifolds, I have now noticed that the manifold flanges are different thicknesses, around 1mm thicker on the new alloy manifold

[frame][/frame]

Which of these is my best option do we think?

Easiest: make up the slack with half washers and epoxy them to the fat one. Might not take he heat though.

2nd: file a step into the washers, I am not sure I have enough overall thickness though.

3rd: file down the alloy manifold. Bit reluctant to do this, will also be a pig of a job!

Any advice from others who have overcome this problem?

Cheers,

Edd

[panky]

The half washers would work but right fiddly to get some of them to stay in position before you get the nuts on. Best to see if you can find some thicker ones and step them.

[philthehill]

Use a spare manifold gasket cut off either side of the exhaust port to pack out the exhaust manifold and which will make up the difference in manifold thickness.
Better though if you can cut through the centre of the gasket stud holes and use the manifold studs to positively locate the additional gasket.
You may have to file the ends of the inlet manifold washer platforms to expose half of the manifold stud.
Doing it that way has worked for me every time.

[panky]

That's a brilliant tip

[edd_barker]

Phil that is a very good idea! I will give it a try, hopefully that will give enough thickness, as the gap is pretty big.

Many thanks all,

Edd

[philthehill]

Edd
If you have to add two extra thicknesses of exhaust manifold gaskets so be it - there will be no problems if you do.
Phil

[edd_barker]

Thanks Phil, I reckon it'll take 2.

Which material should I get? The Payen set had the usual composite type, eBay has various materials including an alloy one. Shall I just go for cheap and cheerful?

Edd

[philthehill]

I would go for the Payen as it has a proven history.

[john newton]

hello edd just read your engine rebuild,how are you getting on with it.your prob with oil pump cover might be caused by a warped/bent flywheel.i have very similar on a ten pound scrappy engine,probably caused by dropping it on the heap. good luck with rebuild. re john

[edd_barker]

No going back now, front of the car is off!

Can anyone remind me what the vacuum take-off noggin is called for the inlet manifold. Standard mini alloy manifold, I can't remember the name or the thread that brings up loads of them on eBay.

Also any tips on hoisting much appreciated? I have a levelling bar so was going to go off rocker studs as per manual...

Cheers,

Edd

EDIT - Thanks for your interest John! The flywheel ring gear wasn't seated correctly, so had been hitting oil pump cover. New ring gear installed, flywheel was thankfully ok.

Cheers!

[panky]

One of these?

http://www.minispares.com/product/Class ... o%20search

[edd_barker]

Yes! Sort of, I had found that but it seems quite expensive for what it is. Also not entirely clear how to tighten it up into the thread. Sure I found some Ebay options before, but cannot for the life of me remember what they were called.

[panky]

It's either that type, simply called a vacuum take off stub or pipe, you would just need a small set of grips to tighten it, a bit of PTFE tape on the thread and it wouldn't need to be too tight. The other alternative is the banjo union and bolt version as fitted to late Minis and Metros, which are a lot more expensive.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Classic-MG-Me ... SwWntXNLpQ

There are cheaper ones that crop up but you will also need the banjo bolt and washers - cant find any of those
The Minispares one is cheap in comparison to what you'll find on eBay, unless you are very lucky.
You could do a search on the Mini forums to see what thread it is and maybe pick up a fitting from something else, depends on how urgent you need it.

[panky]

Just spotted a servo connection blanking plug and it says that the thread is 5/8 UNF
Hope this helps.

[edd_barker]

Hose tail fitting! Knew I'd get there in the end. Although it appears that actually they are all bsp. I guess the minispares one will do.

Thanks,

Edd

[philthehill]

To confirm - the thread is 5/8" x 18 TPI UNF.
The part No: of the adapter required is 12H1405.
This is the link to the correct part:-
http://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/eshop/in ... s_id=13233
The sealing washer is Pt No: 1B3664.

Be aware that some of the adapters sold as suitable do not have the correct thread.

[edd_barker]

No going back now!!!

[frame][/frame]

It was a PIG to get out, not enough space to pull it forwards off the spline to then also clear the front crossbar of the car. To go back in I think I will use the load leveller bar, we didn't use it this time as couldn't find the main chain for the hoist (unused in 30 years) so had to make one up, including parts from an old anchor...I'd also forgotten to pull the clutch return spring off, which made for an interesting noise.

Will update as to how it goes back in. Probably have a bit of a hose down and tidy up first.

Cheers,

Edd

[edd_barker]

I would like to replace the bolts holding the engine mount towers on, as two have stripped and will need cutting out.

However the back-corner two are obstructed by the tie-bar bush, blocking removal from below. Can I just remove the tie-bar, counting the turns for alignment, do I need to support the suspension in any way? Car currently not jacked.

Thanks,

Edd