13 replies to this topic

[mudwerx]

Hi all

 

i am just starting my final project at a young 50 years old so this will be my last one and it has to be just perfect, always loved my minis when i was young so i took the dip and bought a 1980 mini that is quite remarkable in respect of only one owner from new never used in the rain and as clean a shell as you would get without buying a new one and only 34k miles from new, bless she was only ever used for a weekly trip to the hairdressers and a bit of shopping in fair weather.

 

there are a few little bits of surface starting to show on the underside and i am not keen on the colour its pageant blue so i am going to strip it back to a bare shell blast it and start from fresh so i am up to engine removal at the moment, teamed with a haynes manual and lots of swearing i am dithering,  do i remove the engine on its own then subframe or remove engine and subframe complete then separate them after as the subframe needs to come out as well to be coated.

 

some of you must have done this so will know better than me the best / easiest way to remove them both and whats involved.

 

thanks in advance everyone.

 

 

[KernowCooper]

if you remove engine and subframe together the car needs to be really high to wheel it out, I normally take the engine out and tackle the rest, each to his own

[Gremlin]

I've done it both ways and by far the easiest I found is to lift the engine out of the top and roll the subframe out from under the body, if you lift the body off the engine and subframe you have to lift it right up and the engine/subframe is really unbalanced

[Ben_O]

When i did mine, I removed the hubs and front suspension, sat the front of the car down of the ground with some lengths of 2x4 under each side of the subframe.

Next i unbolted the subframe from the car and then jacked it up as high as i could, then i put some lengths of wood under the front of the floor. Then i jacked it up higher using a block of wood on the jack and adding more wood under the front floors until the body was clear of the top of the engine.

I also removed the cylinder head first to reduce the height i needed to lift the shell.

 

Once it was high enough, i just dragged the subframe out from under the car and dismantled it from the engine afterwards.

 

Although i did it this way, it's not necessarily the quickest but it was the only way i could do it as i was working on my own and had no access to a hoist.

 

Ben 

[Ben_O]

Another point that is worth mentioning for anyone else reading this and wondering (although it doesn't apply to the OP) is that you should decide early on if you are going to fit a new front end. That way if you do, you can cut the front off with the engine/subframe in situ and then remove them together with the front end panels out of the way.

No need to lift it much then!

 

Ben

[mudwerx]

Cheers guys, think i will go engine out then subframe after in this case then, just need to find a nice 1275 to replace the original 998 unit.

 

do they come up on here from time to time ?

[Gremlin]

Yeah, but a good condition one will not be cheap

[KernowCooper]

Good 998s are about 1275s that you can drop in are very rare, and need complete rebuilds mostly

[Cooperman]

With the age of all these engines now it is rather unwise to fit any replacement engine, 998 or 1275, without stripping it and replacing anything which is required, such as oil pump, bearing shells, piston rings, thrust bearings (especially these), water pump, etc.

[mudwerx]

Yeah, but a good condition one will not be cheap

 Hey what is cheap these days, would rather get one that can be rebuilt anyway so i know whats been done,got a nice engine builder near me who is prepared to take on the work if i can find a 1275 base for him to work on.

[Stu.]

I dropped my engine, subby and running gear in one go. Itll be the last time too. Removing the engine with a good hoist is the best and safest way to go. Much more control and stability.

[Cooperman]

I once removed engine, gearbox & front sub-frame together. It was from a Cooper 'S' in 1969 - never again!

[087dave]

Engine and box out defo.

[Captain Mainwaring]

I once removed engine, gearbox & front sub-frame together. It was from a Cooper 'S' in 1969 - never again!

 

Why? I did mine working single handed using a tirfor to lift the body up with the engine and frame sat on blocks, it was like shelling peanuts,.

After that I made  trolley up so I could lift the body up and wheel the new engine and frame in.

 

Each to his own, but I'd do it the same way again.