616 replies to this topic

[GraemeC]

The idea of putting oil in the banjo hole is to fill the oil pump only to help with getting initial pressure - it only takes a few cc’s of oil the. Turn the engine over backwards to suck it into the pump.
I’m not surprised you couldn’t fill the engine through there!

[johnR]

Yes I realise now that I misread the advice to' fill it through the banjo hole' as fill the engine not fill the oil pump - ah well, live and learn!

[johnR]

I've now adapted the timing chain cover, re-painted and replaced it. With the dizzy connected up, turning the engine over on the starter shows the revs on my phone so that's working. Oil pressure went up to 100psi which is high but I'll see what happens when it's running in the car. Not such good news on the fuel pump - I may swap the one from the 998 onto it - at least I know that was OK recently.
Fairly close to installing the motor in the car now(I might just try a quick fire up with the plugs in while it's still out)and the better weather is incentivising me!

[johnR]

Some more progress today - I've replaced and tested the fuel pump..and discovered in so doing that what I thought was the breather on one of my carbs is in fact the feed for the second carb so I've now blocked that off. (p.s.this later turned out to be a mistake - the little tag where I've got the fuel pipe attached to the floatbowl top is in fact a breather as I originally thought and blocking the other pipe off caused a vacuum which meant that the engine would cut out once it reached 50mph causing me major headaches trying to work out why. I finally figured it out in July)(P.P.s. only it wasn't the fuel causing the problem but the crank and bigend bearings failing as I subsequently found out!)
I have spark at No.1 plug so now I need to block off the manifold brake servo stub and rig up cables for throttle and choke and we should be good to start.

Edited by johnR, 05 May 2021 - 04:59 PM.

[johnR]

Should have been good to start, but didn't want to! Having checked there was fuel to the carbs and the jet tubes were clear, that the timing was about right there didn't seem to be any obvious reason for it not to go but it couldn't be coaxed to start. I checked the compression and they were all between 210 & 230 psi so I went over the valve gaps again. I think this may have been the problem - some of them seemed overtight so having re-gapped them I used a syringe to introduce some petrol into the carb mouths and it finally started. I will now finish painting the upper surfaces of the head, bolt the rad back on and run it enough to zero the timing as a baseline for the dizzy using a borrowed strobelight. I've also collected the dregs of the Tartan Red used on the car from the paintshop to touch in the odd chip around the engine bay while I've still got good access. 

[johnR]

Still can't get it to run. I fitted the radiator, thermostat and heater valve with hoses and coolant and rigged the engine up with the exhaust for the first time. Once again the closest I got was by adding petrol through the carb mouths, but it wouldn't hold an idle or rev. I've re-checked timing with No4 inlet and exhaust rocking, No1 TDC and at that point the pulley mark is bang on the top mark on the pointers. I've re-checked valve clearances (15thou, SW5-07 cam) I've tried turning the dizzy whilst cranking to no avail. Friend and professional mechanic with many years experience of Minis booked for Thursday!

[johnR]

Still won't run but the problem now seems more one of overfuelling rather than under that I had before. Following advice here I've taken out the plugs to let it dry out overnight and we'll see tomorrow. I also checked the (Lucas gold sport) coil which showed 4 ohms so no problem there. I've fitted the exhaust to diff cover bracket after bending it into an S shape and using a slightly longer diff cover bolt.

[johnR]

After another couple of hours going through any possible reason that it won't run we have decided that the manifold gasket must be leaking air - the contact area around the inlets is very marginal on the large bore gaskets. I'll adapt a standard one to the slightly larger ports instead.
I've had a measure up and the standard gasket is almost bang on @ 35mm - it may need opening out a fraction (1mm?) to be sure it's not intruding into the inlet, but that will then give me a good sealing area.

Edited by johnR, 12 April 2019 - 11:03 AM.

[johnR]

A quick test with the old gasket from my 998 shows suction and a neighbour has offered his Dremel to trim the inlets on the new one I've ordered so fingers crossed. 

[johnR]

Thought I'd give the theory a try with the old standard gasket from the 998 trimmed a little around the inlets and it has now started and run! (until the carbon monoxide build-up in the garage forced me to retreat. Tomorrow I'll set up the exhaust outside and hopefully all will be well.

[johnR]

Made a schoolboy error when I bolted the exhaust manifold back on - I forgot that my mechanic friend had helpfully put kitchenroll bungs in the ports and I'd only removed the inlet ones. It didn't take too long for them to get blasted out the tailpipe to my embarrassment! It now starts and runs but the exhaust manifold quickly gets very hot and it revs quite high with no throttle so I'm guessing the old gasket still isn't quite fully sealing - hopefully the new one will arrive soon and do the job. 

In fact the manifold got so hot it bubbled off most of the zinc plating - lesson for another time, get the engine running properly before having your manifold plated!

Edited by johnR, 21 April 2019 - 07:30 PM.

[johnR]

Re-painted a few little nicks in the paintwork around the engine bay ready for new engine installation. I may go over them again to build them up fully before a sand back with 1200 wet'n'dry and a polish. Also removed the old driveshaft pot that I'd left on the shaft. The battery is back in the boot which meant I could test the Lucas in-line windscreen washer pump that has replaced the old manual pump that was like a dehydrated mouse spitting on the screen. It works really well and with a pushbutton switch fitted in the old manual pump body it looks original.

I'm now on a deadline as Downton Engineering Social club is having a Mini@60 show at the Cuckoo Fair in early May. It's a great event, not too far away and I need the pressure to get it finished.

Edited by johnR, 21 April 2019 - 07:27 PM.

[johnR]

The new standard gasket arrived from Minispares, better than the previous one in two ways - the inlet holes are already the perfect match to the head and the material it's made from is easier to trim so I was able to quickly match the exhaust ports with a Stanley knife as well.

So now a little more work on the paint chips to get them acceptable and the engine can finally go in (with plenty of cardboard to prevent more chips!).

[johnR]

Went canoeing on the river Axe in Devon this morning but then felt I couldn't prevaricate any longer and lined the engine up ready for re-fitting. In the four years since I put the original engine in I'd forgotten that you need to take the alternator and starter motor off to fit it in so after the first abortive attempt it was back out , take those parts off and up in the air again. 

No problems this time - just the usual fiddle getting the engine mount bolts in place - I did remember the trick I developed of removing the upper long bolt that secures the rad mount to the gearbox allowing the mount to swing in just enough to allow the mounts to line up, then once the bolts are in jack up the engine to replace the bolt.

 

And in!

[johnR]

Spent today fitting the speedo cable that I meant to have done before I put the engine in - turned into a major job as a result because of the lack of access and the problem I had with the (Metro?)speedo drive output being a tight fit on the centre console type cable and not going fully into it's slot. I ended up having to heat the nylon ferrule at the speedo end of the cable, slide it down the cable about 5mm then cut 5mm off the cable inner. Then I refitted the offside front suspension which also fought me and ended up taking the best part of an hour whereas the other side was done in about ten minutes! I also fitted the rear hangers for the RC40 and put the carbs in place to check for fit and cable runs - all seems OK. Left to do is fit the front of the exhaust, carbs ,second head steady and speedo console.