757 replies to this topic

[lawrence]

Garage tidied

Broken engine brought into garage

Gearbox removed


However on removal of the engine I have discovered I've got two different types of clutches one car was pre facelift and the other post meaning According to the Micra forum I have to make myself a hybrid clutch or redo my subframe and or driveshafts!!!
So I'm mildly annoyed

Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[l_jonez]

Swap the flywheels over, take the clutch+ flywheel off the new engine and bin them then put the clutch+flywheel off the old engine on to the new one... Simples

Edited by l_jonez, 01 January 2015 - 10:11 PM.

[lawrence]

So guys, mini update from yesterday. Like recommended by l jonez I've stopped the flywheels
Flywheels both off

Oil drained from old engine, it's castrol gtx so I'm stealing that and the new filter to put on my new engine. I'll popin a can of engine flush and change the oil again in a few weeks time.

Flywheel fitted


I also took the sump off he old engine and left it to drain, I need to stick it to the new one as it has the crank sensor bracket welded to it. Additionally I made a little metal sleeve to centralise the trigger wheel more efficiently that I had before.

So that's it for yesterday. When I get home from the girlfriends later today I'll fit the new clutch I picked up last night and then the gearbox too. Then all I will need to do is modify mysubframe slightly where some parts are a little tight round the nsf inner cv

Feel free to comment

[lawrence]

Update time guys
Few things have happened now :) firstly I've started uni so it's been a bt of trouble to work on mini!
Let's take off from before
Coolent pipe relocated and re welded

It gives me more space around the back of the subframe now

Also fitted modified sump

The engine and gearbox were now together so to save splitting them again I decided to transport them to the car via roller method :)

All the way out the garage and over the gravel all by my lonesome

Painted the valve cover

And all done

And engine fitted.

That's my progress from last week
Also sorted the clearance issue on the subframe and fixed the slightly bleeding brake bias valve

[lawrence]

On a side topic of my overall build I took the broken engine apart, the loss of compression was instantly obvious

As you can see the second inlet valve on the third cylinder is open when it should be closed
Close up

Took the valve apart and its a tiny piece of weld splatter apparantly that has got stuck between the valve and the seat. There are also minor marks on the cylinder head where the weld splatter was bouncing around.
Relapped the valve and the result is

Sealing fine

But tested the block and the oil control rings have gone on cylinder 4 .

So my engine block is scrap but the cylinder head is fine and will be kept for a future big valve, ported flowed and cammed project for the future :)

There will be an update soon of minis latest adventures of this week :)
Lawrence

[lawrence]

So then it's time for a update from Wednesday until today :)
I put the rest of the engine bay back together

Fitted my new air filters

Ready for mot booked at 2pm Wednesday :)


So we went to the mot and all was good accept she failed but a reasonable fail and considering I hadn't planned to take her till today to get her ready for Wednesday was great!
Fail list


So as you can see a reasonable fail list, did the last bits to it last night and took her in this morning :) and well she passed!!,!!!
So I'm very happy :) on the way home the gf and I took some photos and I'll upload them in a bit :)

Hope people like this update! I'm soo happy that all my heard work has paid off!
Feel free to comment
Lawrence

[lawrence]

From the photoshoot on the way home from the mot :)

[l_jonez]

Nice work getting the MOT

[miniBrain]

Hi Lawrence - well done on passing the MoT, you've done a really great job!

 

What's the car like to drive with the Nissan engine and was it worth it?

Edited by miniBrain, 19 January 2015 - 06:51 PM.

[lawrence]

Right then guys, mini update from today :)
Took her for a spin after univesity one I had sorted a few bits out. She's driving absolutely fine, lack of traction on anything slightly damp and giving it beans gives loads of torque steer but then again tracking does need checking.

So far she's driven to aylsham and back and that's about 4 miles each way. No signs of overheating and not even needing to use the aux fan to keep temperatures down. Alternators charging fine and she starts on the first revolution.

In answer to your question mini brain this conversion is great fun :) there's some lush induction noise blipping the accelerator in all gears, low down in the revs there's not heaps of power but between 3k and 5k is where the fun begins, she will pull after 5k and I'm not sure how far but for the time being while I get used to her we shall go at more sedate speeds :)

Plan for tommorow is to take her to uni. That will involve 8miles ish along the a140 but because I start at 10am it'll be 50mph traffic, then it's about 10 miles of B roads averaging 40mph and lastly 2 miles of dual carriageway so I'll stick at 60in the slow lane.

Wish me luck and I'll pop a post and maybe a video of the journey tommorow

Lawrence

[alex-95]

Great work mat, Thats a lot of gas bottles , have you thought about getting a large refillable one if you use it often enough. Make me want to do a nissan conversion.

[Ben_O]

Great work mat, Thats a lot of gas bottles , have you thought about getting a large refillable one if you use it often enough. 

If he did that, how would he have got his engine out? 

 

[lawrence]

In retrospect I should have got a larger gas bottle but I didn't really look into it. At th start of my project I bought 5 before I got the welder then I got another 5. 2/3 through the welding the ten ran out and it wasn't then worth while me getting a larger one! :) maybe in the future I will.

So a review on the Micra mini test drive
Good points
>sounds awesome
>steering feel lighter, think the engine is lighter marginally
>5 gears so cruises at 3000rev at 50mph on 12" wheels. 3500revs at 60
>hopefully more Eco. Looking to get 40mpg maybe?
>still drives, sounds and feels like a mini

Bad points
>it's loud, pretty dam loud. May need a silencer fitted, putting the bypass valve on at 40mpg is plain deafening
>it's low, as in the lower part of the subframe is hitting on the Middle of the road if it domes on B roads. Sumpguard needs fitting soon definately
>doesn't come on cam which is something I miss from the old 1275 but not a major issue
>increase in engine vibration is playing havoc with the electrics, I've got earth bolts rattling loose, door handles coming off you name it haha. But that was an issue with the sold mounted engine before so no change there
>more complex setup for carbs is proving annoying to tune
>worried that if the carbs or megajolt break its no longer a by the road fix, time shall see tho

So what broke on the test drive, as said before I did 40miles on Wednesday and 20 last night
>power to fuel pump came off so knocked the engine out, easy fix but need to make a boot build to keep spares to stop it happening again
>it's low, very very low to drive, I had a switch cable tied to one of the subframe rails and that's long gone already, sump guard to be fitted asap
>vibrations have stopped gauges working, I beileve it's an earthing issue but a dash out job to check, locktite is being bought today for car wide use!
>it conked out at the lights last night while giving it beans, I believe it was massively overfueling so flooded the engine. Carbs are in dire need of a setup
>it's overcooling, may need to drain some of the rad a change coolent for water
>oil leak ++ on hard revs, I put a breather filter on the valve cover and block, seems that on hard revs oil spits out from here

But overall it's awesome! :) tiny points to be addressed but as a whole it's working fine
Feel free to comment. Updates shall appear when work is done
Lawrence

[Anthony30]

believe me ive tried all the people i could find, they either costed like 3 k or wouldnt insure me because im 17

I was 17, once upon a time.    Time moves too quickly once your past 18 anyway.

[l_jonez]

I got 50+ mpg, raise the suspension!

What engine mounts are you using? The land rover ones I have don't cause any vibration. You sure the engine is not touching the body/frame somewhere?