83 replies to this topic

[Teapot]

My '81 pick-up's innards have always been a bit of a mystery, so when my friend Dougie offered his skills, his workshop and his free evenings to do a bit of probing, I shook the moths out of the old overalls and grabbed a spanner (probably the wrong one).

We had a simple plan – to swap the final drive for something more relaxed, since Huey on 10" wheels with the original gearing, whatever it is, can be fairly hysterical. We guessed there was a 3.4 f/d in there, so a 3.2 should calm things down a bit. Wrong, as it turned out.


There's no number on the engine, but the registration doc says 12HC01AA115059, which I think means a Metro HLE/Economy from the mid-80s. But that may refer to the engine before the one that's in there now, since immediately after his first rebuild more than a decade ago Huey was side-swiped by a van and went back into the repair shop. When I bought him I was told he had a 1380 lump from an MG Metro. In which case, is his fast road cam the excellent MG one? Anyways ...

Pic
Servo is coming out. Anyone want to buy a servo? At this point we also decided to change the dizzy cap, rotor arm and HT leads ...


... but not the plugs, which are a good colour, less than a year old and have been burning evenly.

[Teapot]

Scruffy but serviceable: the usual HIF44 with a K&N instead of a flat top (long story, never mind). It works fine. In fact mechanically everything works fine but Dougie is keen to make it just that bit better. He talks to the engine a lot. The bottom hose really didn't want to come off, so he said some very interesting things to it



With the inlet manifold off we glimpsed a nice clean job of porting the inlets


The exhaust had continous welds as well as clamps at both ends of the y-piece, so had to be cut off. There were also cracks in the joints at the top end, so it went to the scrap heap. It will be replaced by a Maniflow large bore lcb. Dougie wanted to heat wrap the exhaust manifold but I thought it would be OTT for a Devon pensioner's car so we dropped the idea

Edited by Teapot, 11 December 2012 - 04:18 PM.

[Teapot]

With the exhaust out of the way, the gear linkage was disconnected. Confirmed all 4 front subframe mounts solid. Also offside suspension cone looks ready to retire, so both cones will be replaced in the front


The direct approach to disconnecting hub joints


Onward and upward and don't drop it

[Teapot]

Plastic bags & ties stop the driveshaft ball-bearings falling out



Hub carrier joints and wheels back on, Huey sits a lot higher now


Radiator off and we approached our goal. The oil was black as black (so doing a good job, right?) and the sump plug had collected very little crud. Millers Classic Mini 20/50 oil is on order. NB must remember to order an oil pressure release ball & spring


Removed rocker cover with gasket intact to reveal double valve springs

Edited by Teapot, 19 December 2012 - 10:02 AM.

[Yoda]

This could be interesting, will watch to see what else you find!

[Teapot]

Off with his head -- gas flowed, ported, skimmed quite a lot, but properly done.


The block is stamped B 020. Powermax pistons, dished, probably 11cc. One stud rusted, possibly by penetrating water space in the block as suggested in another section. We hope to get away with putting sealant on the thread


Oddly for an A+ block there was a breather on the crankcase but not the timing cover, and we're wondering if that's why the engine was covered in a fine mist of oil. Dougie has a replacement (above)


Copper head gasket was wearing through between 2&3 cylinders (will be replaced by BK450).


Nice things start to arrive

Edited by Teapot, 11 December 2012 - 10:43 PM.

[RawlinsGTR]

LOL. Best written project thread I've read in a while.

Looks good.

[Teapot]

Clamping the valve springs to release the collets. The inlet valves are 29mm single groove, the exhaust ones 35mm triple groove. At this stage Dougie thinks it might be an MG or Metro 1300 head. They are all being replaced. Dougie had a spare set of inlet valves and I got Minispares' last three TAM1061 exhaust valves with the fourth from Somerfield Minis


Releasing the head studs with lock nuts just like we used to do with Meccano


It took two evenings to release the crankshaft pulley bolt, using a 200lb torque compressed-air gun, lump hammer and bar (which bent). It was left to soak overnight in easing fluid and next evening it was heated and hammered, and it finally came off with the gun


Locking tab knackered or what?

[Teapot]

Ta-daaaaa ... off comes the diff casing to reveal the final drive to be ... 3.1:1, not 3.44:1 as expected. Damn! Back went the 3.2 f/d, exchanged for a 2.95.


Removing the timing chain cover revealed duplex sprockets well-worn due to loose chains and no tensioner. Whether or not one is needed is discussed in the following threads
http://www.theminifo...-needed-or-not/
http://www.theminifo...ex-timing-gear/
http://www.turbomini...p=vt&tid=463432

The cam is marked Kent 286! That cheered us up



The new duplex obviously has regular dental check-ups


Once again we struggled, this time with the nut holding the pinion gear, using gun, heat, more gun, hammer, bar and 5ft scaffold pole. After 20 mins, one more try with the gun and off it came.

Edited by Teapot, 16 December 2012 - 03:12 PM.

[Teapot]

The larger 2.9 pinion wheel was a tight fit ...


... so the inside of the c-plate retaining the bearing was machined about 1mm, like this. Thanks to tmf members' advice about this, it wasn't unexpected


Beginning the tidy-up with a quick wash of fan & rocker cover. At this point I contaminated the washing machine with cloths soaked in engine cleaner. Bad vibes

[Yoda]

Removing the timing chain cover revealed duplex sprockets well-worn due to loose chains and no tensioner.

Tis normal practice to run duplex without the tensioner, and they are nearly always a tad slack too. and a little noisy !!!

[Teapot]

Crank pulley sanded and etch-primed


Timing plate likewise, and screw holes countersunk to avoid being fouled by the timing chain


Changing the pinion by using a puller on the bearing, which is old-style with a plastic casing ... maybe not such a good idea ...


... the plastic cracked and the bearing only partly came away, leaving the rest to be cut off. Not elegant

Edited by Teapot, 06 January 2013 - 09:39 AM.

[Tamworthbay]

Great pics! Just about to start a strip on a 1275 so very useful.

[Teapot]

Lining up the dots ...


The new duplex gears in place with tensioner added


All back together, using a small spanner to avoid overtightening the short bolts


Er ... but then Dougie remembered there is a dimple here which gets in the way of a duplex gear. So the cover came off again and the dimple was knocked out. And does anyone know what the little attachment on the side is for?

More to follow (I hope)

[Tamworthbay]

I think it is for a crank position sensor fitted to metros.