27 replies to this topic

[Prawn]

hey guys, after several months of collecting parts, hoping my 1275 would alst until i completed my new engine, the 1275 went and died on me....

so. ive borrowed a bit of cash, and gone about sorting out my new engine ASAP.

the 1380 short engine i bought on ebay turned out to be scrap.
it had dropped a shell after 500miles, and i was told it just needed a new rod and a reground crank.

the crank turned out to be twisted, which in turn had caused fretting on the centre main in the block....

oh well.

so
i stripped down an old 1275 engine for a new block, and took it all into the machine shop this week to be bored, cleaned, and the short engine built.

spec is as follows:

A+ block bored to 73.5mm and skimmed to clean up the surface.centre main strap
Cooper S crank wedged, hardened, Xdrilled and reground by MSPD
Lightened, balanced, polished cooper S rods
Powermax 73.5mm pistons, new rings.
MSPD Trackday cam, new oil pump. steel duplex timing gear
MSPD billet steel flywheel and lightened (1.7kg) std backplate (rally clutch plate)
stage3 unleaded head with double valve springs.
minispares 1.5:1 roller tip rockers.
Jack Knight 1:1 straight cut drop gears
Jack Knight 4spd SCCR box with Jack Knight 4pin diff and 3.44 FD
HIF44 carb on MG inlet, K&N cone filter
Aldon RED dizzy.
LCB manifold with stainless steel RC40 large bore side exit exhaust.

i think thats about it for the spec, its taken lots of saving, and around 2 years of gathering parts for teh build.

im spraying up the gearbox/flywheel housing tomorow. my girlfriends comming round on sunday to help me degrease and paint the engine bay. then ive just got to paint the short engine when i pick it up on thursday

before that goes in ill be fitting my metro 4 pot discs.
then ive just got to debumper the back end and blow it in and hope it matches!

should be a flyer once its run in!

[hatchet]

my girlfriends comming round on sunday to help me degrease and paint the engine bay. then ive just got to paint the short engine when i pick it up on thursday

Top girl!

If I ever mention anything even slightly Mini related my missus spits and mumbles something under her breath! She's not feeling the latest Mini much at the moment!

Nice spec though, keep us posted.

'Abbo'

[Guess-Works.com]

yeh but the engine was worth it.....

Jack Knight 1:1 straight cut drop gears
Jack Knight 4spd SCCR box with Jack Knight 4pin diff and 3.44 FD

Good luck, :cheese:

[Jammy]

The same part of the spec list I picked up on Guessworks! Mmmmm, straight cut gears.....drool!

[Prawn]

why do you say good luck in that tone should i be scared? for my ears perhaps?

theres something about a SC box.
at the riv runwhen u left the carpark field, and there were minis blasting up the hill. one came up past me, obviously with a sc box and drops, and as he floored it up the hill, the noise was quite simply intoxicating!
i just sat there and watched it fly up the hill, listening to the whine!


The way ive put it to the missus, is that if she comes round and helps me prep it all i can get the engine in sooner, and she wont have to keep driving me around anymore

she used to hate the mini and what it stands for (long hard nights working on it, driving like a b****rd, etc etc...)
but sinse she started driving 6 months ago, and passed her test 2weeks ago, shes loving it! she drove mine once and now shes hooked!

i want my new engine NOW!!!!!

ah well-off to spray up the gearbox
cheers guys

[CharlieBrown]

What sounds like an awesome spec.

How much did all this bits cost you? (Especially the Jack Knight stuff mmmmm)

[Purple Tom]

at the riv runwhen u left the carpark field, and there were minis blasting up the hill. one came up past me, obviously with a sc box and drops, and as he floored it up the hill, the noise was quite simply intoxicating!
i just sat there and watched it fly up the hill, listening to the whine!

I'm glad to find out I wasn't the only one!!!

They sound amazing don't they, such an awesome sound!

Your engine sounds like its going to be a scorcher!!

Good luck with it, keep us up to date with any developments!

[Prawn]

here a pic of my progress so far today! ive spent the entire day stripping the old nasty black paint off the box, degreasing it, and now spraying it up silver again

im nto actually sure how much its all cost me actually..... let see roughly:

i bought a 1380 engine that was 200miles old from a mate.
it had a 1380 turbo block, wedged turbo crank, cooper S rods, and the jkd box, drops and diff. it had spun a shell on the bigend after 200miles from BRAND NEW! so the pistons, crank, and the whole gearbox was brand new.
i paid £600 for the engine thinking i could regrind the crank and be sorted.
crank turned out to be twisted, which in turn had fretted the block.
one of teh rods was scrap, and in my search for a single new one, ebay granted me a full set, lightened and polished for £75

so:
pistons and gearbox £600
mspd crank 180
mspd flywheel 120
stage 3 head came on my last 1275
new rings 60
aldon red dizy 50
rods 75
clutch plate 45
roller rockers 150
cam+oil pump 50
duplex gear was 20

thats about it really

so about £1500 i think give or take a few.
not bad considering sum total of the transmission parts comes to more than that!!!!

and its all brand new stuff pretty much, so should be awesome!

Attached Files

•  gearbox_painted.JPG   98.15K   23 downloads

[Madmax]

shes looking good prawn, i too agree about the straight cut drops and gearbox, theres something very very addictive about that clatter and whine

by that spec its going to be an impressive road engine

[Dom]

sounds great, good luck with the build

[Prawn]

cheers guys, got the engine bay to do tomorow, going to give the front subby a lick or hammerite, along with the beathers, clutch arm and slave, and other little bits, i also need some VHT paint to do teh exhaust manifold, because it looks foul in brown rst colour

ill post pics of the engine bay tomorow night

the engine should be built up by the end of this comming week. them im away for a week and dropping it in the following weekend

so excited!@!!!!!

[Prawn]

righty then, more progress

picked up teh short engine today, and im currently painting it up in engine enamel red!

the work done appears to be very good, and the builder has a VERY good reputation around here, so fingers crossed it should be great!

the engine bays all painted up completely now, theres not a single part i havnt painted, so it should look pretty smart under the bonnet

everything is black, silver, or red

Attached Files

•  red_engine_bay_.JPG   115.01K   14 downloads

[Prawn]

short engine, just being painted, i think its going to need a few coats!

Attached Files

•  short_engine.JPG   142.31K   15 downloads

[Madmax]

looking really good prawn, cant wait to see it fully built

[mini_sam]

ahhhh looking very nice prawn! keep up the good work, spend all you like the engine!! money means nothing... :fear: