Morris Minor Owners Club

Folks,

I'm in a bit of a situation at the moment. I have my 1098 out of the car and sitting on the ground. The engine as running very sweet until I took it out of the car, over a year ago now. My car is going off to the painters in the next few days and I can't decide if i should strip down the engine and rebuild it while the car is gone.

I do was to clean it up and respray it while its out, no point in having a shiney new engine-bay and having a old dirty engine in there, so we'll start with that.

Q. 1. Does anyone have a good procedure for cleaning the engine getting it ready for painting.

Q. 2. Should I rebuild it now while its out of the car or just service it and put it in and hope it still runs as sweet as it did when I took it out.

Thanks again for any advise in advance.

George

P.S. If anyone knows of a 1275 in ireland at reasonable money let me know!!!!

Q. 1. Does anyone have a good procedure for cleaning the engine getting it ready for painting.

You can get engine degreasing agents like 'gunk' which are useful for removing the bulk of grease, oil and grime. Don't bother so much with thinners to remove oil as they just thin it down and spread it around - for final cleaning use hot water and detergent as this gets rid of oil and grease. Obviously you need to get it thoroughly dry before painting.
It's always worth to sand it a bit to give the new paint a good key, and prime any bare metal (etch primer if you can get it).
I've had fairly good results from brush painting engines (most moggy specialists will do brush paintable engine paint) but most people on here will advise to spray it.

As for rebuilding it - if the engine was running sweet before hand and the open cylinders haven't corroded then I would just service it.
However when it is clean and on the bench,it is often worth to consider changing the big ends and main bearings, and also the rocker shaft if it has any wear (or the timing chain if it was rattling). This will usually give a major improvement to oil pressure thus making an old engine last a lot longer.

I would suggest leave well alone except maybe bolt the starter back and check the compressions, and then rebuild the head if reqd. There again the head is just as easy to do in the car.
If you do strip the motor , renew the oil pump before thinking about doing anything else. BUT bear in mind if you do strip the motor when it was running well you open a can of worms because most parts will show some wear and you will end up renewing virtually all the moving parts.

Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere !

Alea jacta est...
a

bmcecosse wrote:Si fractum non sit, noli id reficere !

Ahhh, so that's where I've been going wrong all these years...

If you fix it before it gets broken then you know what it's meant to look like... or something

I thought this was an english language board?!?!

Hello George,

I would overhaul the engine giving you a long trouble free experience, but, then you seem to indicate that you'd like an engine swap. In which case there is no point.
I have recently done a 1098 to 1275 swap and now wish that I had spent the time and money in upgrading the 1098 as it was such a difficult transplant and (synchromesh on first excepted) not that much of a gain in performance.

Terry,
I fear that there is little evidence to support that view!!!

Alec

TerryG wrote:I thought this was an english language board?!?!

Cor blast me bor, weh tha's a rumm'n cause oi allus though' oi wuz gud'ut speek'n english. Then agin, oi allus end up speek'n a whole lud'a squit.

Mebbe them thar furriners can larn me summun gud instead. Oi shuld've spent more time list'nin' n larnin' at school thun sittin thar hiving jollyfercations.

Thin agin, oi larned me good. Oi used ter allus do my wuk fer school. My ol dad he used ter say afore I went out; " Hold yew hard gal, yew better meark sure you're ahid or yesself afore you gew chearsing bishie barney bees."



And of course, my terrible Norfolk accent along with a translation is here

I thought this was an english language board

It is, but people do like to show off their talent!!!

Thanks for the advice folks.

I think I will just clean her down, painter her up and wait and see if i csan pick up something with a bit more power in the coming months.

Thanks again.

George

OK, someones got to ask...

Can I have the Latin? translated please.

Woo,

Alea jacta est...

- roughly "The die has been cast" - die being the correct singular (English) of dice (not the metal working thingy). Basically used when you've given your fate to chance - bit like taking a Moggie engine apart....

fractum non sit, noli id reficere !

"if it ain't broken, don't fix it"

still, "nil illigitmum carborunum"

You may find the attached link of interest (now go read the books!)

http://www.terrypratchettbooks.com/cgi- ... =004140;p=

Colin

I meant the challenge of speaking Latin had been cast, and I resent being called Illegitum! What's all this Pratchett? Alea jacta est is out of Asterix!

Iv'e tried, but I can't get on with Terry Pratchet. Much to the disdain of a number of friends. I like Asterix though, although I much prefer Lucky Luke.

...a man after my own heart.
a