27 replies to this topic

[cobblers]

I bought this about 6 weeks ago off here, Looked at a couple and realized I needed something with a bit of kick (I'm used to fairly nippy cars)
I decided on it because it looked like it had some money spent in the right places, and went alright!



Got the train down to Worcester, picked it up and set off home, steady 60 for 120 miles home (to preserve my hearing more than anything!)
All was going well until I was 4 miles from home, when the engine started knocking pretty badly
Made noises like this:
flsR6st1j_s

Having completely spent up buying the car, It ended up sat on my drive while I tried to work out what was wrong. It still had alright oil pressure, and the engine was rebuilt 3k ago.

I took the engine out, and noticed the flywheel was more or less hanging off, so put it back on properly, put the engine back in and hoped for the best. Started it up and it still knocked like a goodun, so the engine came back out and apart. I found the sump full of copper, and this:

_Y3NyiT5sfY

The no.4 big end bearings had span in the conrod. Seems there was a hell of a lot of crap floating about in the block aswell, as the rest of the bearing shells were scrap and the crank pretty scored on the rest (with no.4 big end being a right mess)


I was initally going to get the crank ground and fit new rods, but I've just sorted a 1275 bottom end (for £25 ) so I'll probably just change the crank and rods as a set (Still going to get it ground and fit new bearings)
The +060 pistons are like new, as is my block, so I'm just going to rebuild it back into the existing block.


The car needs a few major things doing to it - Spot of welding here and there, some seats and belts that aren't complete deathtraps (Theres wood holding the seats in!), and a bigger steering wheel.

I've got quite a few other bits to do. Move the digital speedo jobbie where I can see it (it's in the middle and I can't get used to it!) fit a bigger revcounter, repaint the fibreglass dash and work out the data stream from the canems ECU to make a datalogger and proper digital dash.
I also need to fit the cage properly and add the front half of it.
I've got some spotlights and a cheap HID kit to fit (being h4 lights I lose the full beam with the HID kit, but the spots will make up for it!)

It's my first mini so I'm new to a lot of things, few questions!

My block is not an a+ block, and I'm not sure what my new crank and rods are - can I put a+ kit in?
Will my pistons fit on the a+ rods? (they are 21251s)
Will my pre-verto flywheel fit on an a+ crank?
Do the gudgeon pins just press out? I saw a video somewhere where the guy heated the conrod and froze the pin to fit them, obviously I can't do this!

I only drove home in it, then went round the block twice to work out the noise (while staying under 3k) and I absolutely loved it. Just a shame it ended up being a badun!
Still, its the third car in a row that I've had to put a new engine in! (and both of the previous ones took 2 new ones before I found a decent one!) so next time I should be lucky!

[bamby]

looks like a good project shame about the engine issues that you have had with it. As for the questions you've posted up might be worth putting them in the technical section as you might get a faster responce there.
Hope all goes to plan and Fingers crossed

Bamby

[mk3 Cooper S]

What was the oil level when the engine started to knock?
Did you check it before your 120 mile trip?

[Jordie]

My block is not an a+ block, and I'm not sure what my new crank and rods are - can I put a+ kit in? YES crank will be fine. Note that theres a difference in the MAIN bearings between A and A+. But that is down to your block, so been an A block, you want A series type main bearings.

Will my pistons fit on the a+ rods? (they are 21251s) Yes. Use new gudegoen pins!

Will my pre-verto flywheel fit on an a+ crank? Yes it will.

Do the gudgeon pins just press out? I saw a video somewhere where the guy heated the conrod and froze the pin to fit them, obviously I can't do this! Leave this to someone experienced or a machine shop. Its not worth messing up.

[cobblers]

Cheers Jordie

What was the oil level when the engine started to knock?
Did you check it before your 120 mile trip?

Yeah, checked it at the first stop before any issues, still had plenty in after.

Only thing out of the ordinary was it ran quite hot (Top of the gauge even with the heaters and the auxiliary electric fan on)
It was quite a warm day, but I was doing a steady 60mph all the way.

The water was a horrible colour, like chocolate milkshake, and there is evidence (rusty water all over) that the car had overheated and boiled over a few times before. The seller did say that it ran hot and wanted a 4 core rad on - it's got a cheap repro basic one on now, with no drain tap or anything, and a 2 blade pressed steel fan along with an electric fan lashed in the inner wing.

I'm wondering if the oil just got really hot, broke down (the seller had been using cheap crap oil) causing a loss of oil film, which lead to the bearing spinning and the rest of the damage.

Either way, it's all getting rebuilt so onwards and upwards

Edited by cobblers, 03 November 2009 - 12:59 PM.

[cobblers]

Got paid this morning, so stuck in an order at minispares. Somehow managed to spend £170 - £40 on some side mirrors (the one that's on is no use whatsoever), £15 on a lock set (Every lock on the car has a different, but brand new lock and key!) and the rest on gaskets and bolts and little bits and bobs.

Going to pick the new block up this afternoon, I'll get that stripped down possibly tonight and the new crank and rods off for machining ASAP.

Also dug out some spotlamps and a HID kit for it that I've had for ages, not sure if I'll fit them or not though.

Yesterday I started designing the datalogger/interface to go with the CANEMS ecu. I emailed Canems asking for details on the serial interface, fully expecting a reply of "sorry we can't tell you" and then I'd have to spend a day reverse engineering it, but to my surprise they were VERY helpful, and gave me exactly the information I needed. Top marks Canems!
I can access the battery voltage, RPM, MAP and ignition advance, so I'm going to make a small 20x4 character LCD display to sit in the dash and tell me all that, with a big old bar graph as a revcounter to replace the 52mm one I've got, which some plonker before me fitted so that it's completely obscured by the steering wheel.

Also need to source some 6mm aly plate to make an adapter to fit my OMP steering wheel on the massive mountney boss, as I can't get on with this bloody 10" kids steering wheel, especially not with the 10x6s and A032Rs! The limit of cornering speed was more in my physical strength than the adhesion limit of the tyres, haha!

Here's a picture if anyones interested:

[mini_mad69]

Such a nice car, and such a shame about the engine troubles. Looks like a lovely car aswell!

[ChrisL]

Nice Mini, but I am a bit biasedd - It used to be mine!!!!

Good to see it again but really sorry to hear about the problems your having - I had loads of fun with it. I built the engine and fitted the Canems system. David from canems is really helpfull, did you get the software CD from the guy you bought the car from? it already has a data logging system built in. There was also a big folder of receipts etc for the rebuild.
When I had it, I fitted RS Turbo interior, the classic centre speedo, the wellers and fiesta brakes but I think some of this has been changed.

Anyway I hope you get it sorted and have as much fun as I did with it. Its name is Mave by the way!!! (named by my daughter)

Keep the updates coming..

[cobblers]

Nice Mini, but I am a bit biasedd - It used to be mine!!!!

Good to see it again but really sorry to hear about the problems your having - I had loads of fun with it. I built the engine and fitted the Canems system. David from canems is really helpfull, did you get the software CD from the guy you bought the car from? it already has a data logging system built in. There was also a big folder of receipts etc for the rebuild.
When I had it, I fitted RS Turbo interior, the classic centre speedo, the wellers and fiesta brakes but I think some of this has been changed.

Anyway I hope you get it sorted and have as much fun as I did with it. Its name is Mave by the way!!! (named by my daughter)

Keep the updates coming..

Nice to hear a bit of history on it - Everything looks to be well done, so I'm unsure what happened really. I think I'm cursed, my last two cars have both wanted new engines in within a week of buying them, so I'm used to it.
I'm afraid I've had to rename it "that bloody mini" for now. I'll reconsider that once it's driving again and I'm not living within an inch of bankruptcy because of it.
It's got a fibreglass dash and bucket seats in now, I'm not that keen on either of them. Once I get it running again and sort the more pressing issues out I'll probably take the dash out and put some reasonable seats in.
The fiesta brakes and wellers are still on - plenty of grip and it does seem to stop pretty well, but the pedal takes a lot of pushing! I expect I'll get used to it, or learn to use both feet!

I got the CD with the software on, but I don't own a laptop with a battery that lasts more than 5 minute, or that was made recently enough to be able to buy a new battery for! - It's cheaper for me to make a datalogger, and I quite enjoy tinkering with electronics like that. I've got it logging lateral G force and GPS coordinates for now. Handy, but a bit depressing when the maximum G is 0.02 (when I slammed the door) and all GPS coordinates are in the same spot (my garage!)

I'd appreciate any details on the true spec of the engine if possible! I've been told all sorts of things and take them with a very large pinch of salt, but the block looks in good nick and is actually a 1330, and the bores are still like new.

Picked my spares block up the other day, took it apart and was pleasantly surprised. I found standard size shells that have been replaced before, I assume due to the usual rebuild marks on the conrods denoting the cylinder number. The crank has no scoring or marking, all nice and tidy. Good buy for £20.
I've not been able to measure it to see if it needs a grind, but things look good. Certainly a hell of a lot better than the crank I have.
I'll measure it up tomorrow and if I'm happy, order a set of shells and some plastiguage and get it all rebuilt. Could probably put it back together as it is and run it, but I'd rather check it all out and do it right.

[ChrisL]

I bought the engine in 1997 off a friend who had it in bits in his garage. Back then I bought a minispares ultralight flywheel and backplate, orange diaphram.
The engine is a 1330cc, +60, piper 285 cam. I ran the engine in my original mini for about a year then took it off the road. The shell was then bought by Zcars for their DVD. I was left with the engine which eventually went into another mini I bought a few years later. This was eventually sold to a friend of a friend who used it for a while until he managed to knacker it. He garaged the car and then when I bought 'Mave' or 'that bloody mini' i bought it back off him for the engine. By this time the bores where shot and he crank rusty.
I bought a really good engine off another friend and had it rebored, the crank was re-ground and all new bearings fitted. It had new rings and the bock was all skimmed etc. The head is off an MG metro which I modded to the David Vizard spec, I also bought vernier timing gear. I fiited the canems gear and had the bottom pulley machined, the crank sensor was new and the coil pack £5 off ebay. The leads where custom made by Canems as well. The alternator was also brand new. The exhaust is a maniflow LCB and RC40 system from minispares.
The engine was rolling road tuned by Bogg brothers and reached 85BHP at the wheels. I ran the engine in carefully and only used Duckhams oil (not synthetic).
I bought the wellers from a mate and had them blasted and repainted and I put the coloured stripes on them.

Anyway, sorry for the boring stuff!! Heres some pics when i bought it...



The interior I fitted...


A general shot....

[cobblers]

Cheers Chris! Nice to get a bit of info on it.


I've stripped the spare block, and found it had been rebuilt with std size bearings.

The crank looks good - All the big ends are 44.45mm with no marking, and the mains at 50.80mm. You can just tell where the oiling groove sits, but not too much.
From this, I think I'm going just rebuild it all with some new stock bearings.

The conrods are less good - the gudgeon pin on one is completely floating loose, and pressed out by hand. Another has slipped to one side and worn against the bore - it seems the little ends have opened up for some reason.

Looks like I'll use the three rods from the existing engine, and one from the spare one. They are all identical 12g1507 rods, this should be OK.

I'm going to take the crank to a local machining place for a check over and see if they can supply me some bearings tomorrow morning - I'm measuring using vernier calipers, my micrometer has disappeared.

[cobblers]

The machine shop had bad news - the timing chain end main and no.1 big end were a fraction under the minimum tolerance, so I've decided to get it reground to -10 thou to be safe. £170 worth of safe unfortunately (including new bearings). Probably paying far over the odds, but I don't know anywhere else I could have taken it!

After coming back in a bad mood, I swapped no.4 piston onto a new conrod, went really well. Heated the little end up a bit, pressed the gudgeon pin out then checked it with a micrometer to make sure it was unworn (it was perfect) then heated the new conrod end up (used a heat gun for this as we'd run out of gas for the blowtorch) and for an extra bit of help froze the gudgeon pin using a Co2 fire extinguisher. All dropped together lovely, and the new rod weighed the same as the old one so no balance issues.
The machine shop wouldn't do it with my existing piston, claiming it could distort it. It didn't, so I'm happy with that.

Edited by cobblers, 09 November 2009 - 09:46 PM.

[richardsoniscool]

hey man nice looking mini you have there. i have a question about your seats, they look very similar to ones i took out a honda preludde that i plan to go in my mini, but i dont know how to secure them down, how are yours done?

cheers, mike

[cobblers]

hey man nice looking mini you have there. i have a question about your seats, they look very similar to ones i took out a honda preludde that i plan to go in my mini, but i dont know how to secure them down, how are yours done?

cheers, mike

The red ones that are currently in? They are secured down "not very well"

No clue about the recaros, they were taken out before I bought it.



Yesterday I stripped the gearbox, cleaned it out (with 5 litres of brake cleaner!) checked it all and put it back together. It all went well, new gaskets, seals and locktabs all round. Hell of a lot of shrapnel cme out of it, I'm glad I did a thorough job on it!
I also cleaned the block up (with more brake cleaner) cleared the oilways out, replaced the oil pressure plunger for a ball (and found it was already a ball), replaced the oilpump and checked the cam bearings for wear - these were surprisingly fine and not scored at all. The swarf didnt make it up so far



This morning I collected the crank (reground to -10) and some +10 main and big end bearings, and build the block up. Was really happy when it was all torqued up and it turned over nice and smooth, with no issues.
Had a few problems getting the engine and box mated up, the little half circle seal on the end of the crank didnt want to line up, and I've put my back right out lifting the entire engine on and off the gearbox on my own half a dozen times. I'm in PAIN, but it's all together and bolted up now, ready to go back in as soon as I get chance - it started raining so I had to pack away.

Hopefully going to have the engine back in tomorrow if the weather holds out, and I wake up able to walk. I doubt it will, my back is getting worse by the minute

[cobblers]

Engines back in turns over but won't start, no spark from the canems kit ECU. Robbed the crank sensor off my nans fiesta to no avail, then it got dark and I went home. I'll start with a fresh head tomorrow morning - My back was killing me as well.

Plenty of oil pressure when turning over, no noises and plenty of compression. Happy with that at least!

Got a call off my grandad, He's bought a 1972 Mini Marcos with a 1275 in, and its yellow. That's all I could get out of him, but it needs a lot of work, he reckons the floors are rusty? I though they were all fibreglass?