Morris Minor Owners Club

I fitted 1x 4mm fan spacer after the water pump pulley and underneath the fan blade and reinforcing plate. There is now good clearance of 1 fan blade past the crankshaft pulley but a bit close with the other blade (probably it's 4mm because it was "just" touching before.

I could fit another 4mm spacer to get an even greater margin of clearance between fan blade and crankshaft pulley but I am a bit reluctant to do this. The reason being that the second spacer would not be located on the nose of the water pump pulley; it would only be held on by the 4x 1/4" bolts. This doesn't seem that secure to me. What do other people think?

Stephen

All a bit weird but this is fixed.

What I didn't mention was: the fan that went back on the car was not the fan that came off the car. I refurbished a spare fan (hence the bright yellow).

I decided to try the old fan for fit and discovered that it would almost certainly have been absolutely fine with no fan spacer. With a 4mm spacer it has more than adequate clearance to the crankshaft pulley.

Looking at the two fan blades together they are the same length and the look identical but they are obviously not identical! I presume there is a difference in the angle of the blades (pitch is that called?)

Engine started and it all seems fine so far.

Stephen

If the clearance is different on each of the two blades the fan is bent or not flat on the pulley.

Bill_qaz wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 4:06 pm If the clearance is different on each of the two blades the fan is bent or not flat on the pulley.

Yes it must be bent.

Bend it back into shape?

myoldjalopy wrote: ↑Wed Feb 28, 2024 5:57 pm Bend it back into shape?

Yes I’ll have a go tomorrow. This is the danger of changing two parts at once. If I had only changed the crankshaft pulley all would have been fine but I changed the fan at the same time and then assumed it was the pulley causing the fouling problem!

Stephen

This is a front plate from a different engine. It shows the plate with pitting corrosion where the timing cover gasket sits which must surely contribute to the leaking problems that are so common. There is a pulled up thread as well. This plate is not bad compared to the front plate on my engine which is considerably worse. As this is at the bottom of the timing chain cover (nearest the road) it must get wet regularly. I speculate whether blow-by gases contribute. These gases contain water as that is a product of combustion. Some of the later timing covers have provision for a breather hose connection to the timing cover. Anyway, without opening a terrible can of worms here, I think sometimes corrosion on a gasket mating surface would be a legitimate reason to use some sealing goo if all else fails.......By the way, I have not used any sealing goo.....

Stephen

I do not consider that the corrosion shown in the picture above is severe enough to cause a leakage problem.
The corrosion is only on one small part of the gasket sealing face and there is plenty of non corroded contact face area remaining to give a good seal.
Greasing the gasket allows the gasket to remain supple and helps to eliminate corrosion of the steel in contact with the gasket.
Only on a modern where gaskets are not provided and gasket goo is the factory recommended gasket medium would I use gasket goo. For example - when I stripped the engine on my Suzuki Waggon R there were no gaskets fitted by the factory and a tube of gasket goo was the only means of sealing a joint. It made splitting the sump from the block into a nightmarish task.
If the engine is run at a reasonable temp any moisture inside the engine is displaced through the breather.
Water on the front lower part of the engine can cause corrosion but if the engine is kept clean and the metal parts painted corrosion will be kept to a minimum.
Any front engine plates used by me will have been grit blasted and any corrosion therefore removed; and if 'Fertan' is applied immediately after removing any residual grit or dust corrosion problems are eradicated.

Good. I am already having a replacement plate blasted. I'll pick it up primed so that it doesn't rust until it can be installed.

I should have posted this picture at the very beginning but this is how the timing cover was to start with. It is obviously leaking oil and there is a mess of gasket+goo. The arrowed bolt is the one where the thread stripped. There seems to be a dent in the edge of the cover I hadn't noticed. I will repair this before repainting it (a spare cover is on the car now).

Stephen

Today I will see if I can bend the freshly painted yellow fan so that it clears the crankshaft pulley. I know it should fit because the old rusty fan fits perfectly.

Stephen

Fan was an absolutely trivial matter of a small bend and it's fine.

Everything is back together. The front panel was really annoying for the 3 bolts in the middle at the bottom. I didn't enjoy struggling with that.

Engine runs well it seems though the weather is too bad to take the car out for a run. No leaks of water or oil that I can see. At idle there is noticeable smother running of the engine with the damped pulley. In fact, I think I could balance a coin on the radiator and it would not fall over.

Many thanks for all your help. I could not have done it without you!

Stephen

Here are 2x front plates that I have. 1 has been blasted and primed and has the reinforcement, the other has already been countersunk for a duplex chain. Neither are perfect and the primed one is actually rusting through the primer. I'd need to strip it and inspect it more closely. I am inclined to use the reinforced plate in preference.

Stephen, which is the countersunk hole on the front plate please? Is it the one I've circled?
. I have just painted both mounting plates in gold and it obviously makes sense to do the drilling while it's off the car.

rocco wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 11:46 am Stephen, which is the countersunk hole on the front plate please? Is it the one I've circled?
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FrontPlateCountersunkHole.jpg

I have just painted both mounting plates in gold and it obviously makes sense to do the drilling while it's off the car.

Yes that’s correct and the other hole that’s opposite it. 2x countersunk holes.

Between heavy rain showers I managed a 10 minute test drive. I was sceptical about how much difference a damped pulley would make but it is really noticeable and I wish I had done it a long time ago. The idle is very smooth and gear changes are noticeably clean especially changing down. The pulley really does reduce engine vibration. I am very pleased!

Stephen

I still have a slight leak. It’s not engine oil (those leaks seem to be sorted) it’s gearbox oil. The reason I can be so confident is the oil is completely clean whereas my engine oil could do with changing soon and is dark in colour.

The gearbox is a refurbished gearbox fitted about 14 months ago.

The oil seems to be leaking from the gearbox drain plug (at least that’s where it drips from). When I last changed the gearbox oil I did do it up pretty tight. I don’t want to bust the alloy case by doing it up crazy tight. Any ideas?

Stephen

As the drain plug is the lowest point on the gearbox the oil could be coming from anywhere.
I would suggest that you clean the gearbox casing and then run the car and see if you can trace the leak.
But before you do anything check the current gearbox oil level.

Roger. I’ll check the gearbox oil level this weekend. I’ll also get the car on ramps at the front and have a good look and clean underneath. An engine oil change and filter change is due so I’ll do it all at the same time.

Stephen

svenedin wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 3:08 pm Roger. I’ll check the gearbox oil level this weekend. I’ll also get the car on ramps at the front and have a good look and clean underneath. An engine oil change and filter change is due so I’ll do it all at the same time.

Stephen

This leak was from the drain plug. The threads were wet. No gearbox oil anywhere else. Gearbox oil level was fine. I just tightened up the drain plug cautiously.

Stephen