Morris Minor Owners Club

Some of the clutch components laid out ready for assembly, if seems to me the gearbox needs to be in situ for these parts to be fitted.
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The gearbox bolted up suspiciously smoothly, no hitches...[frame][/frame]

Now for the tough bit, fitting the engine. The rear face and clutch will have to mate at a sloping angle before being lowered onto the front engine mounting bolts.[frame][/frame]

Aren't you going to paint the engine bay before dropping the engine in?? Looks like it is still in primer.

You need to lift the gearbox up quite bit bit before you join them.
A scissor jack is ideal then you can match up the faces of box and engine so they are parallel.
You may be surprised how smoothly this goes too.

I think you will end up removing the engine towers until the engine is suspended in place !

Engine argy bargy, ended up taking off the engine mounts as Les said, and mounting them on the engine, I need to hire a engine hoist to lower the lump down from above. The engine bay is painted gloss chickenjohn, maybe its a chance for another coat.
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You could just use the trolley jack.
Put enough timber under the engine to lift the sump to cross member height, bit of carpet to protect the cross member, push the engine across and balance it on the jack.
A bit of wood on the jack head will protect the sump.

The balance point is towards the back due to the weight of the flywheel and clutch.

Once you have it nicely on the jack you're home, dry.
Drop it down to a bit higher than it will finish up and wrangle the gearbox on as you roll the engine backwards.

You can lift the front of the gearbox by hand if need be.
Once you have the faces parallel they will slide together and the dowels will engage while you have a celebratory cup of tea.

I did mine this way with the head fitted which is a bit more challenging.
Another pair of hands is nice but not a necessity.

great Marky, we are definatly singing from the same hymn sheet here (well it is sunday afterall) I'm hoping to be drinking that special cuppa while I put up some pictures on here of the engine and gearbox mated together in the bay.

The engine is balanced on the trolley jack with the sump protected by a slat of wood. No place for small children or large cats, come to think of it no place for my cranium either, or other body parts, I'd hate to have to ask Kay to call the sussex fire and rescue service to free me, how embarrising, and painful.
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edging it toward the bellhousing and making sure the gear first stage lines up with the clutch...[frame][/frame]

closer... watch those thumbs, keeping the gearbox bell housing edge at the same level as the rear face of the engine by manipulating the trolley jack height a milimeter at a time...

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10mm to go, the trouble now is the studs not quite lined, the bolts line up but there's a mm out somewhere, I'm using some G clamps, very carefully, that bell housing edge is only cast aluminium, I don't want to damage it. Nearly time for that special cup of tea.[frame][/frame]

Well I'm sipping a special cup of tea and that can only mean success, that gap has gone and it lined up perfectly, tightening bolts up bit by bit around the bell housing making sure there was no undue stress on one part. Great, what a relief, and a superb feeling of satisfaction, ummmmm better than drugs.[frame][/frame]

well here she is, look at the amount of space you have to work around the engine in one of these. This is new for me you understand, the original pickup relic had the engine and gearbox collapsed through to the ground. Now then, the wife asked me to pickup some lagers so I'm off to Tesco.[frame][/frame]

what colour are you having your pick up

Grey Josh, in fact Ive seen a colour I'm really keen on in practical classics aug 2010 edition, page 69, bottom picture of a speeding Darracq, love the shade of grey on the chasssis there, I want that as my overall grey bodywork colour, anyone know what it is?

Cripes!
Who said anything about G clamps!
A wriggle and a shove would have done it.

Glad to see it in place, spend the crane hire money on petrol!

fantastic progress......

Your updates always make me smile.... When are you tesing the engine????

I'm hoping to have the cylinder head back next week, after re fitting some of the engine ancilleries, others still need work, Ive not looked too closely at the starter motor so far, Ive cleaned up its exterior but thats all, so there's some ground still to cover before a test fireup.
I was very careful when I employed the G clamp to help close the gap between the engine and bell housing rim, if anyone copies my technique do be very careful not to tighten out of sequence with the rest of the circle of bolts, doing that could put undue stress on that one area, remember the gearbox casing is cast aluminium, so quite brittle.
once I got the bolt threads within tightening distance I dispensed with the clamps and tightened up slowly and gradually, doing up bolts opposite each other and in turn. Just wiggling and shoving the engine wasn't having any effect, but I would guess every engine re-mount will be different.[frame][/frame]