7 replies to this topic

[SamMason]

Well, its been a while since I've been in this corner of the internet - I feel like I should put a post in the Introduce Yourself section!

 

But anyways, my Mini, a 1990 Mayfair affectionately known as "Miss May" recently come out of hibernation when I decided that I wanted to use it as my wedding car. Long story short; dragged out of the garage and MOT'd in early 2020, I used some new-found free time of that year to poke at the bubbly paintwork and realised that the patch work necessary was beyond my somewhat lacking skills. So the car was taken to DH Bodyrepairs in Barnstaple, where Dez did an amazing job (he's well worth a phone call if anyone in North Devon wants bodywork done), every panel aside from roof had something done to it. At the same time, the seats and door cards were taken to Adjusted Customs near Uffculme and re-trimmed, Laura and her team there are brilliant and the quality of work is equally so. I also had a set of Wolfrace 10" alloys refurbished and removed my previous 12" 5-spoke Revolutions.

 

In all, the car now looks great! She made a Covid limited, rainy, wedding day a little bit better. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the exterior looking shiny and rust free. The interior "just" requires some sound deadening, new carpets and if my wife gets her way, a beefy ICE install (I prefer the A series symphony, but apparently music is better   ). However my biggest concern at the moment is under the bonnet... Miss May has covered over 120k miles and I know for certain that the last 40k have been without any major work on the engine or gearbox. The unit has been tired for a long while, and the radiator recently gave up the ghost; hot sunny day + moderately heavy stop/start traffic on the M5 = kaput rad. After getting it towed, and replacing the radiator, I'm now finding some serious problems with the cooling system. This was the final push I needed to get going with an overhaul.

 

The original plan was to work with what I have - 998cc A+, and a 12G940 Head sitting unused in the garage. The engine was booked in with a local specialist, for stripping, inspection and rebuild. Although booked is an optimistic term, theres about a 4 month waiting list. To top it off, at this point my father asked: "After spending that money having it rebuilt, will you be happy with a 998?"

 

I now have a 1275cc A+ unit sitting on the workbench! 

 

It was an eBay listing that didn't sell, made the seller an offer on it and he accepted. It supposedly has low compression but does turn over freely. Running the engine number through Guessworks engine number decoder, it appears to be from an MG Metro.

 

The new plan is to strip 1275 myself, figure out what needs renewing and take remedial action where necessary, then rebuild and replace the 998. The hope being that I can learn some new skills, save a little bit of money on the labour side of things and be able to say "I built the engine" when people ask if I've done the work myself.

 

To that end; I've pulled my copies of the Haynes Manual, the David Vizard "bible" and Dez Hammills The 1275cc A-Series High-Performance Manual off the shelf and set about waving spanners around. 

 

The 1275 is not in fantastic condition, so far I've found;

- Every mating face has been slathered in gasket sealant of some sort. Looks like bathroom silicone sealant, and there are beads of the stuff everywhere. 

- The oil drain plug threads are none existent, the plug was glued in with sealant.

- The outer flywheel housing appears to have been added to it for sale, water staining on the inside indicates its been stood outside for a long time. And the inner housing has a chunk missing near the starter motor.

- The bores appear OK, but thats beyond my expertise right now. 

- The head, looks OK but I'm yet to take the valves out and give it a proper look. 

 

Up next is to get the block and gearbox casing separated.

 

I haven't put much thought into the final product, as I'm not sure what will/wont need replacing. Once I know that, I'll think about final specs'.

But for now I have two questions for the collective:

- What parts can or can't I poach from the 998 in the swap? 

- What should I look to replace as a matter of course? 

 

At this point I think all ancillaries will be transferred, as the new unit has none. The 998 has an HS4 carb, which should do the job to start with and I'll be fitting a "stage 1 kit" when all is said and done. 

 

I'll be uploading more photos as soon as I figure out the best way of doing so 

Edited by SamMason, 18 July 2021 - 08:01 AM.

[some1158]

Looks good - especially the interior. If you change the ICE and don't want the speakers, it's worth trying to sell them as that model of speaker is now very rare and someone may want them...

[SamMason]

Thanks! I'm really pleased with it so far, the interior is getting there slowly. Interesting point about the speakers, I've not seen them on many (if any, come to think of it) other cars at all so I'd assumed they weren't common. I've pulled out the old radio in an attempt to fit a new one but ran into issues with wiring, but they vaguely worked before then. Really not sure what I'm doing ICE wise to be truthful, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it! 

 

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How about a few more pictures? 

 

This is the Metro lump, sans rocker cover and pre initial teardown. The caterpillars of sealant can be seen all around it, as can the missing chunk of the flywheel housing. 

 

After taking the head off, this is what I found; The cylinder bores aren't great - all four are in similar condition, and the piston tops are pretty much the same. 

 

I've done a bit of research today and it appears that even in standard guise the 1275 will more than surpass my expectations about power. I've never had a need to investigate big bore engines, so I'm pleasantly surprised. I expect from the condition of the bores it'll need an overbore and I'll see what, if anything, can be done with the head when that time comes. As I mentioned in my earlier post, the 998 in the car is booked in with a specialist, so I figure that they wont care about me providing them a 1275 in component form instead - I'm just waiting for workshop time I believe. 

[SamMason]

Well now... its been a long while since I've updated this thread & quite a bit of stuff has happened in the 8 or so months since I last posted.

 

I got myself a new job which meant I had a lot less time to work on the engine &/or car. I made the decision at that point that if it was left to me, the 1275 would never get rebuilt or swapped in. So the engine sat in the workshop in bits for a while, while I tried to pin down the specialist for a date - they strung me along for months and never actually got booked me in. Colour me unamused. I then contacted a couple of other firms and got it booked in with Exeter Engineering. 

 

They've been fantastic throughout, answering all of my questions, speaking with total clarity regarding dates and time frames, and where happy for me use the TMF+ discount with Minispares to order the parts they required for the rebuild of the Metro lump. 

 

Everyone loves pictures of shiny new engines right? This is the unit having had all the machining done, painted and in a semi complete state of build as of a couple of weeks ago. 

 

 

 

Its been over-bored by +40 thou (which I believe takes it up to 1310cc?) as the bores were shot, as evidenced above. The cam has been replaced with a Minispares Evo item, 1.3 ratio rockers and I believe both the block and head have been skimmed very slightly. When it goes in the car, it'll breath in through a set of rebuilt twin HS2s, and out through an RC40 exhaust via maniflow 3 into 1 manifold. The gearbox has also been fully stripped and rebuilt, it seems that a previous owner decided the clutch wasn't needed to select second gear... So thats been replaced along with anything else that needed it. While the 3.44 FD gears were perfectly usable, I've gone with a 3.2 ratio set to reduce revs on longer runs - I'm used to a 3.1 FD in my knackered 998, so combined with 10" rims I think it'll be a decent compromise.

 

I dropped the car off at Exeter Engineering this morning so they can complete the engine swap next week, although it may take longer as they're running behind. I'll get the full spec sheet and some glamour shots once the work is all complete.

 

 

 

In other news, I've fiddled with fitting a new (old, been sitting in the garage in a box for years) stereo head unit. Just need to arrange a permanent live to the HU to let me set presets, or have it remember which track the CD was on.

 

Swapped out the parcel shelf speakers for some new ones as the originals were showing their presumed 30+ year age with the ability to play music. 

 

Out with the old...

And in with the new!

This was taken prior to final fitting, the white wire goes down into the boot through the parcel shelf and is nicely hidden out of site. It has also been bolted down properly, although I could do with painting the bolt heads or find some black ones. 

 

Once I've got her back I'll work on the rest of the interior. New sound deadening, underlay and carpets have been on the cards for a while, but there are other bits that could do with tidying up. 

[MikeRotherham]

Good thread.

 

Something I've always wondered, is how do you go about getting a modified car like this insured?

 

Usually, insurance companies  have a list of standard cars with an established insurance group but with a modified car with an engine that now produces more power and hopefully uprated safety features like brakes and new wheels how do they assess it?

 

Is it all based on the power output from the engine?

Edited by MikeRotherham, 27 February 2022 - 08:27 AM.

[SamMason]

Good thread.

 

Something I've always wondered, is how do you go about getting a modified car like this insured?

 

Usually, insurance companies  have a list of standard cars with an established insurance group but with a modified car with an engine that now produces more power and hopefully uprated safety features like brakes and new wheels how do they access it?

 

Is it all based on the power output from the engine?

 

I insure Miss May through a local insurance broker and have it on a classic car policy. I've spoken to them on numerous occasions regarding the modifications and both parties have been really helpful - although the insurance company are terribly slow at responding to emails. 

 

With all the mods to the bodywork, brakes and wheels they asked for a written breakdown of the works completed and for it to be signed off by the garage that completed it. Bit tricky when I did the brakes, wheels, spotlights & clear indicator lenses - but the chap that did the bodywork was happy to sign it off for me.With regards to the engine, I told the insurance broker my plans & they came back to me that it would be a +/- 22% increase on my current policy cost, plus additional £100 excess. Although that would change if I was fitting a performance exhaust (an RC40 counts as performance doesn't it?). I just need to let them know when the work is completed and the DVLA know the engine numbers have changed.

 

Presumably there are algorithms that calculate the costs and such, but I've no idea how it works really. My brother-in-law is an Actuary - I should ask him one day... 

 

The fact they asked for it to be signed off by a "professional" is another reason why I've opted for a specialist to carry out the engine build and complete the swap. 

[MikeRotherham]

Thanks for the info. It's good that the broker helped you sort it.

[SamMason]

Time for an update? I think so!

 

The big news is.... The new engine is in and running. Wahay! 

 

Its a bit of a story (feel free to ignore it skip to the pictures!), so lets rewind to the end of February when I last updated this thread. At that point, the plan was for the transplant to take place the following week from that post. It actually occurred several weeks later, as there were delays finishing off the engine build up. Turns out the carbs I'd bought (which were originally off of an Austin 1100) where many flavours of wrong. To start with, the inlet manifold was incorrect and fouled the bulkhead - a problem I should have spotted as I've read about it so many times on here... Then there were delays with needing different throttle linkages and heat shield. Apparently the 1100 carbs are closer together than on a Mini/Metro...?

 

With those issues sorted, the engine went in, was set up and reported to be running nicely, save for figuring out a minor oil leak and a couple of other finishing off tasks. However the delays had pushed the car past its MOT date. "Not a problem, we'll sort that for you." Says Aaron from Exeter Engineering, a few days later I get the call that the car had failed its MOT... Wheel bearing, headlight aim and emissions. The wheel bearing and headlight aim are what they are and not a problem, but the emissions proved to be a right pain to resolve. They battled with different breather/PCV valve configurations but couldn't get the emissions down & in the end they left the engine breather open to atmosphere for the MOT. It passed and a second hand PCV valve was trialled after the fact, it works where new ones had been failing. Odd. 

 

Then came sorting the minor oil leak... It was not a minor fix... The first expected site was from the timing cover, all nuts were cinched up several times but the oil kept leaking. Eventually they concluded that it was the half moon seal. So over the course of 2 days, the engine was removed, split, repaired, reassembled and refitted. Just in time for the car to be set-up, tested & delivered back to me before the Riviera Run - a deadline I'd set to Exeter Engineering several weeks prior. 

 

Riv' Run was a perfect trip to start breaking in the new engine (or continue it, Exeter Engineering had but a decent amount of miles on it in setup and testing). The new unit has plenty of go, and is far, FAR, louder than the old 998! Drove down on the Saturday, stayed in a local B&B and turned up for the rainy Sunday. I was asked if I wanted to enter the Show and Shine, and thought I'd happily give a couple of quid to charity and forget about the contest. The show was nice - if a little damp. My wife and I had a wander, took some photos, bought some odds and sods. Got back to the car in time to see the judges making their judgements, had a laugh and a joke with the chap next to us that we'd not prepared at all and were just happy to be there. 

 

So imagine my surprise when they called my name as winner of the 1990-1995 category! First show entry ever, first prise! What!? 

 

Anyways, pictures? 

 

From this:

To this:

 

 

Still a bit of work to do, I'd like to clean up the brake servo and colour code it to the body. Perhaps do the same with the wiper motor cover. I'd also like to to tidy up the wiring as well, someone (me) butchered in some auxiliary lighting wires and it isn't too tidy. I also need to turn the fan around, I'm 99% sure its been put on back to front. As well as figure out if the engine mounts are up to the job, I get a solid thump on the bulkhead during spirited pedal work. 

 

 

So I own the best 1990-1995 Mini in the world... just ignore all the others that weren't in Cornwall at the time! 

 

 

 

Next project is to sort out some sound deadening/mass loading to bring the vibrations and general internal racket down. I'd pulled a lot of the sound deadening out following a rain storm and some non-watertight window seals several years ago. The rest was removed before the last lot of welding in 2020 and the old 998 never seemed to make much noise, so I just threw the old carpet back in and called it good. The 1310 wants to shake the life out of the shell and the vibrations are particularly bad between 3000/3500 revs.

 

Till next time!

 

So I own the best 1990-1995 Mini in the world... just ignore all the others that weren't in Cornwall at the time!