24 replies to this topic

[dangerousdowning]

OK, so the mini has been off the road for the last couple of years and finally going to get it ready for a MOT.

I needed to get the cylinder head off for a job and made a start this evening.

Got the carb off and most of the other bits, leaving just the manifold, which is a two piece type that joins at the bottom to a Y piece.

When undoing a couple of the nuts, the manifold studs unscrewed from the head......this got me thinking that it might be easier to stick a couple of nuts on each monifold studs (one doing the job of a locking nut) and removing the remaining studs, rather than wrestling under the car, trying to remove the manifold from the Y peice....which has probably fused together.

 

Anyone done it this way?

 

Thanks

 

Luke

 

just spotted typo in the subject title, but can't change it - doh!

Edited by dangerousdowning, 09 March 2015 - 11:25 PM.

[sledgehammer]

If it's a LCB (Tubular pipes - not cast , Y piece underneath the floor)-

 

I usually leave it on the exhaust , & cable tie it back  a bit , to give the head a bit of clearance

 

& I don't usually take the studs out of the head on the manifold side (rear) - the head should slide upwards on the head studs

 

but I may have miss understood you ?

Edited by sledgehammer, 09 March 2015 - 11:40 PM.

[Tupers]

I never remove the manifold studs (unless they come out with the nuts) but I do unbolt the engine steady so I can rock the engine forward slightly and the manifold backwards off the studs. 

 

This is particularly handy on a standard Mini with a combined exhaust & inlet manifold when you don't want to mess about re sealing the down pipe. 

[dangerousdowning]

It is an LCB, but not enough movement to pull away from the studs, without having to get under the car and remove from the Y piece.

[Cooperman]

I always remove the studs and replace them with 1.25" long x 5/16" UNF hexagon head screws. That way the head can be removed very easily for head gasket changes, or for any other reason.

On the Ford Cortina Mk.1 and Mk.2 the manifolds were bolted on and that worked fine, as it does on the classic Mini.

Use good quality set screws.

[Tupers]

I saw this on a metro cup car a while ago.

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[dangerousdowning]

good call Cooperman.

 

Will see if I can remove the other studs and replace with screws.

 

It's been a while since I got my hands dirty with the mini, but muscle memory kicked in fairly quick, with the back starting to ache not long after getting going.

 

The car was off the road for 6 years, then got it road worthy, doing a whole bunch of jobs, like new rear subby, new suspension, welding, etc. Then only drove it for another year before garaging it for another two years.

 

I think it would be wise to replace most of the hoses, as a number of them have gone a little hard. Wondering if I should do anything else while the head is off, like cleaning the inlet manifold?...I'm going to grind the valves.

Edited by dangerousdowning, 10 March 2015 - 12:21 AM.

[Cooperman]

Using bolts does really work well. As the inlet manifolds on most of the Minis I've worked on are opened up and the location rings are removed, I use two short dowels to locate the inlet manifold when positioning it. A later gear linkage roll pin cut in half works well for this with the holes for the pins in the head slightly small and the holes in the manifold slightly larger.

This all makes it possible to change a head gasket in around one hour if one is in a hurry and a bit of help is on hand.

[lawrie124]

I am really liking this idea.

I always use spring washers on the standard nuts and washers when using standard studs.
Would the same apply if using the hex head bolt method?

[Spider]

With those types of (horid) LCBs, I have nearly always been able to use a tyre lever between the LCBs and the back of the engine block to get them clear. If they have that (silly gearbox wrecking) bracket on to the gearbox, you'll need to let that off first.

 

 

Using bolts does really work well. As the inlet manifolds on most of the Minis I've worked on are opened up and the location rings are removed, I use two short dowels to locate the inlet manifold when positioning it. A later gear linkage roll pin cut in half works well for this with the holes for the pins in the head slightly small and the holes in the manifold slightly larger.

This all makes it possible to change a head gasket in around one hour if one is in a hurry and a bit of help is on hand.

 

I have never considered using bolts, but i agree on the face of it, sounds like a good idea, the only 'thing' is just lining everything up to get the first bolt in, which I wouldn't think would be a bigy.

Edited by Moke Spider, 10 March 2015 - 07:51 AM.

[racingbob]

silly gearbox wrecking, what do you mean Chris

[racingbob]

maybe we could take 1/4 inch off the stud as it seems to be that amount causing the trouble

[Spider]

silly gearbox wrecking, what do you mean Chris

 

Most Exhaust Headers (Extractors) I've seen have a bracket from the lower part of them to one of the bolts on the side of the Gearbox. From my experience, all these do in time is strip the thread in the case and usually mangle the case at that point.

[racingbob]

 

silly gearbox wrecking, what do you mean Chris

 

Most Exhaust Headers (Extractors) I've seen have a bracket from the lower part of them to one of the bolts on the side of the Gearbox. From my experience, all these do in time is strip the thread in the case and usually mangle the case at that point.

 

mines got one of those on, I suppose you better make sure its tight eh

will check mine today but haven't had a problem

 

one thing I have noticed is the bracket around the manifold there

is broken/split where the weld is but still in place and sort of holds it

[Spider]

 

 

silly gearbox wrecking, what do you mean Chris

 

Most Exhaust Headers (Extractors) I've seen have a bracket from the lower part of them to one of the bolts on the side of the Gearbox. From my experience, all these do in time is strip the thread in the case and usually mangle the case at that point.

 

mines got one of those on, I suppose you better make sure its tight eh

will check mine today but haven't had a problem

 

one thing I have noticed is the bracket around the manifold there

is broken/split where the weld is but still in place and sort of holds it

 

 

On reflection, you guys in the UK also got lower engine steadies which I think reduce a lot of lower engine fore / aft movement. We never got those steadies factory fitted here. At a guess, these may help.