18 replies to this topic

[dbcool20]

Hey guys a little update! so decided to pull the engine out and strip it. took everything appart again, can't really seem to see anything wrong but it appears there is some metalic partilcles in the oil and oil filter but nothing else looks warn and can't see any kind of rubbing or damage anywhere. weird. now i am really confused.....

[MiniGrin]

Weird..... have you checked all the gearbox bearing for noise?

[dbcool20]

Gearbox is new... less than 300miles so haven't stripped it completely but looking at it like that there is no apparent sign of any wear or damage and everything turns free.  Also took apart the con rod and big end caps to see the bearings and all looks pretty good...

[dbcool20]

Alright sorry for the long wait. Had no time to work on the mini any sooner. So being pissed of by all this i stripped the whole engine again and tore it down completely and double checked everything and have finally found a probable cause to the metalic particles in my oil!    The cam and crank sprockets are not properly aligned and the chain is slightly chewing the crank sprocket.... 

My bad i had changed the cam a while back and as i was doing some tests with different cam setups i really felt annoyed to take out the engine each time so figured out something to do the swap with the engine in the car ( if anyone is interested just say and ill give more details on that). Then i guess i must have screwed up on the alignment & shimming while putting it all back together. quite positive i checked though.... 

Strange thing is that even with no shims at all on the crank the sprocket still sticks out more than the cam sprocket (should be the opposite). Kind of weird. I have heard once somewhere that this problem has occurred before with some chain kits as the sprockets were badly machined and the sprocket could stick out more?

Anyone had this before? If so what is the solution? turn the sprocket down on a lathe to have the right length? suggestions welcome.