Kansas City MINI Enthusiasts

How bout a complete Austin Mini engine for $1500
http://lawrence.craigslist.org/pts/4417263867.html

It's a 998, that's why he's selling it.....45 rip roaring horsepower!

Minidave wrote:It's a 998, that's why he's selling it.....45 rip roaring horsepower!

Hahaha. Good point. I think you can buy lawn mowers now with more horsepower.

My classic had a 998 in it and it wasn't too bad. Just don't hope to get on the highway too quickly. I think the 0-60 time was 30 seconds....

I can't find any piston rings that will fit the 1275GT pistons I have.........................sighs. I may wind up buying pistons and rings.

Today I started on the tranny teardown, I need to clean everything and I'm changing the diff ratio so I can drop the RPM's substantially on the highway, since that seems to be most of the driving I do with Buzz.

First I have to pull off the side covers where the stub axles go....

Then tap down a few locktabs, unwind some nuts and off she comes....

On the recommendation of literally everyone in Minidom, I'm changing over to a central oil pickup, however to get the old one out requires removing the layshaft. in this pic you can see the tube is loose that goes over to the sump screen, but it won't come out till I remove those gears. The gear on the far left side of this pic is the pinion for the diff, I have to change it too to match the new crownwheel and sometimes you have to modify the carrier it sits in for the bigger gear. It's not too hard to do, just a little grinding here and there. Once it's all clean I'll pack it all in some clear tubs (think giant Tupperware) till I get the new gears in a week or so - that keeps everything corralled so I don't lose the little parts and keeps the dust/dirt out of the works too.

Alrighty then, I got the old oil pump pipe and strainer out of the sump.....all I had to do was remove the pinion bearing retainer so I could release the inner shaft in the laygear, then I carefully mauvered the laygear out of the box. Once it was out I released the lock tabs on the strainer bracket, and removed the bracket. Once that was of I could wrangle the strainer out of the sump too. Then it was just a matter of putting it all back in again. The new one goes over to the left in this pic, so I won't have to go thru any of these gymnastics to install it.

It was nice to see the layshaft roller bearings and inner shaft were in great condition, so I won't have to do anything to the transmission innards except swap out the pinion and crownwheel, and maybe modify the bearing retainer to accept the larger pinion gear.

Can anyone tell which parts got bead blasted?

Today was a day for more cleaning and painting of pieces parts.....till I start getting new parts in I'm pretty much at a standstill on putting stuff back together, but there's still a lot of this to do yet anyway, so I'm staying busy for sure.

This is the left axle, rotor, hub and stub fresh out of the bead blaster - it makes short work of rust and corrosion and leaves a perfect finish for painting.

And here are some of these parts fresh from the paint booth - which is a stool out in the yard with a tarp draped over it! Today has been a challenge for painting, after the t-storms rolled thru the humidity is up crazy high and the wind is pretty breezy. I just wait for a calm minute and hit it quick with the paint! I found a unopened can of black engine paint in the basement that I'm using today, only thing is I bought this can when I was doing the rustoration on my old Jag - 20+ years ago! Still works perfectly tho!

The rotor come out nice too, but no comments on my tape work, it's a brake rotor and the paint probably won't be on there more than a few months anyway!

Success! I found a place in the UK that has my piston rings in stock, now I can get all the other bits and bogs and gears on the way.

Parts are now ordered, the next item on the list to be cleaned up/painted/refurbished is this.....sure wish I knew what the paint code is.

Today's challenge was to remove the steering rack and the two master cylinders so I can clean up and paint the bulkhead - you practically have to stand on your head - as Dimini is in the first pic - to see where the clevis pins are that attach the master cylinders to the pedals. To do that we removed the carpet, driver's seat and the seat mounting brackets so they wouldn't poke him in the back. Interesting to note one clevis was being held in with a bit of wire rather than a cotter pin.....the steering rack was just a matter or taking out the pinch bolt at the bottom of the steering shaft and then removing 4 nuts that hold the rack in - I took it out both to clean behind it and to replace the rack boots - one of which was torn. While in there I decided to flush the heater core too, the water coming looked like dark chocolate cocoa at first, then went to milk chocolate, then after about 3 gallons of clear rinse water finally came out clean. To think that's what was circulating thru the cooling system.....I'll also order rebuild kits for the clutch and brake master cylinders and rebuild them while they're out, both look like they might have been seeping a bit.

Got the block back today from the machine shop - wallet considerably lighter.

Here they are, side by side for all of you who want to play spot the difference (other than the fact that one is shinier). In all of these pics, the Sprite block is on the left and the original Mini block on the right.

Have fun...

Those with sharp eyes will note one difference in the last shot, here's a close up. This is the transfer port for the oil pickup. I will have to do a small modification to the Sprite block here.....but other than the odd extra bolt hole and the way they machined the oil port, they're identical - same casting number and everything.

Today I tackled the oil suction port on the Sprite block.....I took the block up to school to do the final bit of machine work, the oil pick up tube on the Sprite is threaded in and just goes down to the sump, where the Mini sump is the transmission, so it's just a port between the two. Also the Sprite port is 1/8" smaller than the Mini, so I decided to match it up. The engine machinist said it wouldn't matter but I figured the factory did it for a reason.....

Here you can see the difference in the port and also the difference in size of the bore......



and here's the hole in the Sprite block up close, you can see it's threaded and chamfered for a fitting


The oil pump fits in that round recess, and the suction port is the large opening in the left side of that recess...



First I used some metalized epoxy to fill in the threads and to neck the port down to the same size as the original, that way the hole I drill will be consistent all the way thru the block.

Then onto the BIG drill press, I had to drill twice, once from the sump and once from the oil pump.....

The resulting holes came out perfect

Time for some color.....

While waiting for parts to come in from Jolly Olde I started cleaning the engine compartment today, and was surprised to see that again, there is no rust to deal with, just some surface garbage that needs cleaned and repainted.

I also got word that my parts are finally on the way and should start arriving by the end of the week. You watch, they'll show up Thursday while I'm at school and need a signature or something....

Today I got the paint sorted out for the firewall.....I posted a pick of Buzz on an English Clubman Estate Facebook page and someone in the club had one the same color and gave me the code. After trying for two weeks to get the paint code in the end it didn't matter as they couldn't make me up a spray can based on the formula alone. The only formula that they could mix was for a two pack, where you have to mix the color and hardener right before you spray them, so no way to make me up a spray can. Instead, I took the hood down to the paint store, they scanned it and made me up a pint. If I decide to spray it they'll put it in a spray can for $10, but right now I'm planning just to brush it on, since almost everything I'm painting is behind the subframe or other parts and barely shows.

Next I got word that all my parts have shipped and should be here by Friday, so then I can really get going on the re-assembly. To that end I spent about two hours this afternoon running a tap into about 100 holes in the block to make sure all the threads were clean so I can get accurate torque and good sealing when it goes back together.

With school ending, spring yard work and parts coming in, I am really going to be busy the next few weeks!

Piston rings came in today from England, notice anything interesting about the box?

Minidave wrote:Piston rings came in today from England, notice anything interesting about the box?

Made in USA?

Yep! Had to go to England to get piston rings made in the USA.....

Hastings is still in bidness, and these rings are listed on their site......if only I knew! And now I do......

Minidave wrote:Yep! Had to go to England to get piston rings made in the USA.....

Hastings is still in bidness, and these rings are listed on their site......if only I knew! And now I do......

Next time

Actually, I sent a note off to Hastings - the rings I got are soooo old school, they're not even chrome plated, so Ima see if they have updated ones and what they'd cost. I hate to keep spending money, but I also don't need to overhaul it every 30K either.

Minidave wrote:Actually, I sent a note off to Hastings - the rings I got are soooo old school, they're not even chrome plated, so Ima see if they have updated ones and what they'd cost. I hate to keep spending money, but I also don't need to overhaul it every 30K either.

Understood.

My new SU fuel pump is on its way from MiniSport in the UK. I got it for 55 bucks shipped. MiniMania wanted $165 plus shipping and 7 enterprises was $85 plus shipping. Amazing!!

I ordered most of my parts for Buzz from them, they should arrive today in fact!

Don't forget to take a picture of the hole under the breather can on the clutch end of the engine for me! Pretty please?

Nice build thread! Always very jealous of the classics, you should see Lyle's collection from the DSM club.

Is he on Facebook or a forum somewhere?