Morris Minor Owners Club

Finally, all parts have arrived for reconstruction of my engine and I'm at it! One question; when it says to liberally lubricate the journals, shells etc should I use grease or regular engine oil?

Regular 20W50 oil - lots of it and keep everything very very clean! remember - after fitting each part on the engine - make sure it is still free and easy to turn !! If at any point it tightens up - STOP, and retrace the last steps. Also - be sure to put plenty oil in the hopefully new oil pump - and if the engine is not going to be started within a few days - some like to add a little vaseline just to try to kep that oil in place, but don't overdo it. I have to say - i never use vaseline !

I have rebuilt 3 engines over the years (and I must say I quite enjoyed it!) and I have always used plenty of lube and kept everything spotless then when the engine was in the car I have removed plugs and spun it over on the starter until oil pressure is there, this is the condition which imposes minimum load on the bearings until the oil 'gets round' Incidentley I always spin the engine on the starter after an oil change until pressure is apparent.

Yep - essential point - also a way to find if you have remembered to put any oil in the sump - and if you have fitted the oil filter correctly!

Essential! I'll remember to do that... New question, at the moment. When the conrods are going onto the gudgeons, should any lubrication be applied to the pin or the small end?

Yes - lots on both! Everthing that moves - oil it!!

Thank you... I'm working quite nicely now, everything is oiled copiously as I move through it and I've just replaced the sump. Cam goes in next, I do believe. I admit I had a rather unhopeful start... Fitted the pistons in perfect reverse order, which didn't work, to put it mildly! But everything is scrupulously clean and now in the right place. Very nice.

Put cam in before fitting sump - it's easier to feed it through with your fingers from below. Hope there are new (or v carefully inspected) followers going in with the cam!

Brand new, like the vast majority of moving parts within the car! I haven't bolted on the sump yet, so I'll fit the cam first... Thanks for the advice!

new problem: the upper left-hand bolt on the camshaft retaining plate will not screw in. It appears that the block has been stripped of thread or somethi g, as other screws have also failed in the same hole. What can I do?

Are you sure the plate is right way round - it only goes one way to line up all the holes. Easy answer is to just tap it out to a slightly larger size - and enlarge the matching hole in the plate. It was 1/4" unf - so plenty meat there to tap it 5/16" unf. Drill size will be 1/4" and I imagine unf taps are readily available in USA! Good idea to have 1/4, 5/16, and 3/8" unf taps on hand anyway.

Right, then, I'll do that... I'm definite that I fitted the plate the right way round, as I took the greatest care to do so and noted its position on removal. Same with everything... Every bolt is going into exactly the same place it came out of, even the unimportant ones. I want this to work!
I've done unf taps before, shouldn't have too much trouble with that! Thanks.

Just double check the head of the slightly larger screw - clears the cam drive pulley ok. Pretty sure it will - but check!

Everything worked out well! The timing cover went on without event, after which I sprayed the sump and cover (masking off areas where ancillaries will be attached, of course, and certainly the crankshaft!). But now I have another question (I predict quite a few more before the end): the starter dog requires tightening, according to the Haynes, to 70lb. Is this one of the figures which are strictly necessary? I have no torque spanner, only a torque wrench and the attachments don't fit over all that fancy shaping. I have a big enough monkey wrench to do it manually, though. Is this advisable?

heya jack, what fun rebuilding your engine yourself, and how incredibly satifying - lucky you

hope it carries on going well

I dunno about the starter dog, as you say it's a tricky one due to its shape. Someone will know the answer

Just use the longest spanner you can get on it and flog it up tight using a heavy hammer.

Or...

70ft/lb is the same as a 10 st (140 lb) person standing on the spanner 6 inches away from the centre. (If you weigh more, stand closer...)

Use your skill and judgement and just get it as tight as circumstances will allow.

Starting the engine with the handle, if you ever do that, tightens the nut, and the nut is so massive that its own inertia naturally tends to tighten it over time anyway. It is unlikely to ever come undone on its own.

Well, I don't usually have to crank start the car, but I can certainly crank it a few times before I connect everything up (I'm a bit wary of cranking a live engine, I've been warned that it can jump back and take a few fingers off!). I'll definitely try standing, I'm just slightly heavier so I'll have to work it out but I would guess it'll be about 5 and a half inches.
I also have a large sledgehammer, and a 16-inch spanner, so that could yield some fun...

heya jack, what fun rebuilding your engine yourself, and how incredibly satifying - lucky you

You're right, it is fun... Watching it all go back together is great. I've had a couple of issues, and it's a steep learning curve when you've never done more than a fuel pump or carb before, but that's all part of the excitement. Tell you what, though, after a month of the engine being in bits all over the garage, it'll be wonderful to hear the engine starting, and watching my handiwork run (fingers crossed)...

Just do it up as tight as you can, within reason - degrease the threads first and put a run of loctite on - then just get it as tight as you can, and flip over the lock tab (the other side goes backwards into a recess in the crank damper (or pulley if you haven't got a damper), although it's doubtful if it ever actually does anything!

That lock washer thing is interesting. neither the pulley that came off mine, nor the replacement (ESM) I had to get because the original was too mangled, had any space for the lock washer to fold back into.

This makes the lock washer pointless. I just used the loctite instead.

Can you actually get replacement pulleys with the correct lock-washer slots any more?

My lock washer didn't have anything to fold back! The edges were slightly raised, and it just locked onto the pulley (which has no slot). All in all it's therefore completely useless, but it should be there so it is. Along with copious lashings of Loctite...