1969 Mk2 Cooper

On a sliding window car use the Downton style ones but bolt them through where the front catch fastens to the glass.

Great idea but will they angle in enough on the passenger side to see?

Tonight I connected up my exhaust properly with some sealing paste and went to fire her up but it wouldn't fire. Traced the fault back to the electric fuel pump. Got 12v on ignition but it's dead. Looks like I need to replace for another one...

Edited by blacktulip, 29 February 2020 - 09:34 PM.

Give it a few taps with a screw driver handle, works on my Minor

If taps don’t work stripping it down and freeing up the rod inside usually works, I had a nos one that wouldn’t work bit this fixed it, they are pretty simple things 

SU?Take it apart and clean points and adjust diaphragm,easy but time consuming routine maintainence.Steve..

SU?Take it apart and clean points and adjust diaphragm,easy but time consuming routine maintainence.Steve..

Its an auf214 pump

So this week I ended up just buying a new pump. I fitted it today and got the engine fired up. The engine runs very smokey with blue smoke so I suspect that either the head needs a rebuild or the rings, bores or both have worn. I did notice the tappet chest breather hose was open to air. I'm sure it should be connected to somewhere but not sure. The twin carbs have no pcv valve and the inlet has been blanked off. I need to investigate this and see what is the correct way to set it up. I also connected up my timing light and then realised that there isn't any timing marks on the cooper engine. I did feel a bit silly.

early small bore heads don’t actually have proper valve guide seals just an o ring which goes brittle so worth investigating. 
If you ignore the fact I have 1 1/2 h4 carbs and no oval air box, this is pretty much how the PCV valve should sit, but it gives an idea of how it should be.

 

436CF0B7-878C-4BEC-945B-6D632C484CC1 by darren carr, on Flickr

early small bore heads don’t actually have proper valve guide seals just an o ring which goes brittle so worth investigating.
If you ignore the fact I have 1 1/2 h4 carbs and no oval air box, this is pretty much how the PCV valve should sit, but it gives an idea of how it should be.

436CF0B7-878C-4BEC-945B-6D632C484CC1 by darren carr, on Flickr

I will whip the head off at some point. I might even rebuild it anyway with unleaded seats, new guides etc.

I need to find a pcv valve and do it right. Your mini is so nice. That rocker cover is lovely. What is it and where did you find that?

thanks,

 

its a replica HRG cover I purchased from a member on mk1 forum, not sure if it was only batch made, but it does finish the engine off nicely. PCV valves are pretty easy to find and the rubber diaphragm is available new.

This week i started her up again and turned her around so the front is on the inside of my garage ready to take the head off. Whilst turning her around I notice that the clutch judders a lot so I'm thinking I should pull the engine for a rebuild. Maybe i could look for a temporary donor engine whilst I do the rebuild. It looks like I won't be getting any summer use this year.

Tonight I did a compression test to see if I could diagnose the smoke problem and the results were from cylinders 1 to 4

5 bar
5 bar
14 bar
14 bar

So firstly I think the head gasket may be blown. So I get the head off and found this...


It has been running rough as well but I put it down to being sat for a while.

Here's a few shots of the bores. There is a slight ridge at the top. I can feel it on my nail. Not sure what warrants a rebore but I will see how it goes. If there's 14 bar across then I think that's good enough for me to try.




So with the head off I inspected the stem seals. First one off and it was rock hard and split







I need to give everything a good clean and hopefully it will be ok. Then I can turn my attention to the clutch judder....

With the current covid-19 lockdown I've been doing a good few evenings in my garage away from humans.

The head gasket is now changed. The head has new stem seals and I lapped the valves in. The head will need a rebuild in the near future as I'm not too happy with the play in the guides but it should be fine for now.

Other jobs completed...

-New poly engine steady bushes
-Cleaned the starter motor as the bendix wasn't returning properly.
- Full set of lights all wired up and working

All that's left now us to fire her up and see if the smoke has reduced to an acceptable level. I think it may be running too rich as the new plugs were black. Maybe the previous owner richened the mixture to keep it running even though the head gasket was blown. I have a colourtune so I will inspect tomorrow if the initial start up goes to plan.

Got her fired up today and the engine doesn't blow bellows of smoke anymore so that's a result. But..... the clutch is still juddering. I'm beginning to wonder if one of the bottom end bearings has gone.

I've bit the bullet and decided it's best to pull the engine and see what's going on. I've made a start tonight and all that's left to do is unbolt the remote linkage, mount bolts, drive couplings and exhaust. Then its ready to lift out.

Whilst taking everything off I got to the clutch slave which looked old and past it so I attempted to take the hose off the mounting bracket but it wouldnt budge. So I snapped the union pipe off close so I could get a socket on the top. It did turn but so did the rest of it. I will wait until the engine is out then I might take a grinder to it. Fun and games as always.

Edited by blacktulip, 27 March 2020 - 12:06 AM.