Engine Rebuild Videos

[MiniDave]

I'm starting a series of videos showing how I rebuild a Mini or Sprite A series engine.....

Here's the first installment......

I don't know if I'll go all the way thru, but you all can let me know if I'm giving too much detail or not enough. I just set the camera up in one place - if I need to show close ups of something, let me know.

[94touring]

Oh cool, I was hoping you'd do some build videos. 

[cstudep]

Yes so was I, these should be great!

[BruceK]

Cool idea to share your work! 

[ADRay]

thank you for this. a great "pre-run" to see what's what for my own engine tear down.

[MiniDave]

I'm going to try and be thorough, and I don't want to bore people but I'm sure there will be tiny details that I'll miss describing. Things that seem obvious to me may not be so obvious to the first timer - so if something doesn't seem right, or if it seems like I skipped a bit, ask and I'll do my best to explain further.

One thing I can't stress enough is to use the correct puller to remove the flywheel - the best one you can buy is the one John sells on Guessworks. It's a little spendy but it will work, and to me that's worth a lot - not wasting time using an incorrect puller or damaging parts with the wrong tool or process. I don't have that puller, mine seems to do the job for me, but I also use an impact wrench - tightening the puller with a breaker bar may not give the same quick results.

http://guessworks.co.uk/Shop/Parts/display.htm?id=501

I've read countless accounts of guys having to use heat, banging on the flywheel thru the starter hole and so on to get one off - if you're going to do it just buy and use the right tool, save a ton of grief and frustration.

[cstudep]

I agree that the right tool can make all the difference in the world. I just spent a little over a $100 bucks on a tool, specifically made by a guy up in Omaha to change the real axle seals on my Toyota 4runner. I will probably only use it once (may find other uses for it who knows) but that $100 dollar tool will save well over a thousand if I took it to the dealership to get the seals replaced, and actually saves about $200 in parts as it allows me to reuse parts that would otherwise not be reusable.

The guy used to make some special stuff for Mini's I guess (he used to work as a tool and die maker or something) so I was asking him if it was for the original Mini's or the new MINI's. He said it was all for 1st gen MINI's. I asked because I was thinking of buying that quessworks puller and figured maybe I would get lucky and he had some special tools for the old Mini's, he said no, but that he was always up for the challenge of making new stuff.

[MiniDave]

A million years ago when I first started working on cars, the boss had a puller for Mini clutches that he made from a 3/4" thick piece of steel, cut in a triangle shape, threaded for a 3/4" rod roughly in the center with a nut welded on the end of the rod to drive it. I used that thing a LOT to put Mini clutches in. So, it's def possible to just make one, but today at what cost in time and materials? He cut the steel out using a cutting torch so all the edges were rough as can be......also, the older engines used a different setup than the later ones, so you need the appropriate bolts and such...

I'd rather spend the $100 and get one made for the job and proven to work. I agree that using it only once is frustrating, but not having it when you need it is even worse. I used to loan tools like this out thinking that they couldn't be hurt, but soon found out otherwise as they came back stripped, parts missing etc.

I don't do that any more......if they're local I'll invite them to bring it to my shop and I'll do the job for them. Otherwise, I'll tell them where to buy the tool they need.

This puller has been modified too....I had to come up with some much stronger washers under the heads of the bolts, and I switched to grade 8 bolts. If you use it right, it will be difficult to damage it.

[MiniDave]

OK, here's part two where I remove the oil pump, cam, lifters, rods/pistons and crank.

[MiniDave]

Part 3, where I talk about cylinder heads and valves..

[MiniDave]

OK, not a video, but just some pics. I spent a lot of time cleaning the block and pistons up - that doesn't make for good video so I didn't bother....

I'm on the horns of a dilemma right now. I thought maybe I would just freshen this engine up - new consumables like bearings, oil pump, timing chain and rings. Give it a light hone to clean up the cylinders and build it back a little better than stock - after all it ran really well - it just smoked, leaked and had worn synchros and a noisy bearing in the gearbox, all fixable with a minimum outlay of parts. I already have a cam, lifters, and rings in stock that I would like to use up but......

After cleaning up the pistons I found one is damaged - I'm going to talk to the machinist before I do anything more with it. It's possible the block is worn or tapered too far and will require boring oversize. I'm almost certain the crank will need to be turned, although I also have a std crank that does not need anything.

So - if I'm going to bore it anyway......normally I would just go 40 over, leaving one more overbore to 60 if needed. OTOH, this would be a chance to go crazy and build a 1380 - when you do that the block is no longer useful once it wears out - you're done. But, do I really care?

Also, the plan for this car is to get it running nicely and sell it on, so I can build my hot rod motor for my rear engine project. That one could be the 1380 plus turbo that I've been thinking about. I already have the spare block, crank, rods and head to build that engine.....and if I go crazy I might even put a 5 speed in it and make the ultimate highway cruiser - all of which would suggest just build this one into a nice driver and send it on. OTOH, I might keep it for a while.....

See the problem? can't make up my mind.....

A couple of pics of the exhaust ports "before", I'll have after pics later. Also, block and pistons cleaned up and a close up of the damaged piston.

[94touring]

You also have this brand new 1410cc innocenti sitting in my shop you could just hop in and drive!  Granted I know you want different seats but still.

[MiniDave]

Need to get that buttoned up and cashed out/sold!  4.gif

[MiniDave]

I'll have another short video soon, I've mostly just been cleaning parts.

The machine shop measured the block and crank and as suspected, we'll need to turn the crank down 10 thou, the ring land on the pistons was also pretty worn, so we're going to go ahead and bore it out 60 over.

Today I'll order pistons, bearings and all the other bits I need so things will slow down till parts get here and I can start assembly.

In the meantime I'll do a short vid on how the head turned out, and then start disassembly of the gearbox. I want to order the parts for the box at the same time as the engine parts to save some shipping, but I'll bet there will be something I'll miss! Plans right now are for a 2:76 diff (cause I have one) so it will be a nice highway cruiser.

I still need to find a good source for a cruise control - you used to be able to buy a nice kit for about $75, but now all the aftermarket cruise controls are designed to work off the ECU, and since we don't have those they will not work.

[MiniDave]

Today I disassembled the gearbox for overhaul.....it was leaking from every seal and gasket, it had a crunchy second gear synchro and a noisy bearing somewhere.

[MPlayle]

Plans right now are for a 2:76 diff (cause I have one) so it will be a nice highway cruiser.

I have a good 3.1 final drive set if anyone is interested.

[MiniDave]

I think I'm gonna stick with the 2.76 I have.....

Today I spent all day cleaning parts, I swear I spend  more time doing that the the disassembly and re-assembly combined! The worst part is scraping off all the old gasket material, sometimes it is REALLY glued on there! And.........I'm still not done! I still have to do all the nuts and bolts and fasteners, plus paint any small bits, plus weld up that broken bracket, plus....plus....plus.....

I also got the main shaft torn down far enough to get the second gear synchro out and figure out why it was crunching in second gear, but you'll have to wait till my next video for the answer - stay tuned!

I got all my parts ordered last night, and then remembered 4 more things I needed as I lay in bed, so got up early this am and sent an email off to Spares to see if they can add it to my order. I didn't get any reply today so either they didn't or it will delay my order some more. Shazbot!

[MiniDave]

Tonight's video is a shorty......where I tear down the differential.

[MiniDave]

Rebuilding an engine and/or a transmission is not just taking the old bits out and putting new bits in (unless you're Edd China) but also endless hours of cleaning parts, painting steel parts so they don't rust and corrode, running a tap into every threaded hole, chamfering said holes and cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.....

You also discover where work was done previously, and in a lot of cases - how poorly it was done. You also find more worn or broken parts to either fix or replace as I did with the exhaust bracket....I'll weld that up later. I'll want to fit it on the trans first so I can tack it together in the right orientation.

I also found that this transmission had not one, not two, but THREE seals for the shift shaft! It also looks like they used a pickaxe to dig the old ones out and didn't bother to clean up the mess that made before fitting the five (three sir!) three seals back in. So I took a file to it to knock down the big burrs, nothing I can do about the digs in the metal, but I doubt it will leak from there anyway - I'll use a light coating of sealer just in case.

Speaking of sealer - if you don't know the correct way to use RTV, DON'T USE the damn stuff!

I have spent hours wire brushing the stuff out of the threads on the bolts, digging it out of the bottom of blind holes and cleaning it out of the threads in said holes. It also forms a nice little ring around the shaft of the bolt which sticks in the hole and is a mother to get out again! Bottom line, it's a royal PITA. Plus the way it was done on this engine it was still leaking!

The original gaskets have a sort of sealer impregnated in the paper/cardboard, so you really don't need to add additional sealer. When they're old like these they can be a mother to scrape off too. More hours......

Lastly, the steady bush on the trans that the shift steady bolts into was completely perished, the rubber was just jelly, so I had to change that as well. you have to be careful removing and re-installing one of these you can't just beat on it or you might break the casting for the diff. Since this one was just mush I pulled the inner part out then took a hacksaw blade and split the casing so I could drive it out. I also had to clean up the bore that it fits into so that I could tap it back in again.

So, all the parts are cleaned and ready for re-assembly. Parts are on the way from Spares and they did manage to add the extra parts I forgot, so maybe a week before I can start putting it back together. Once the parts get here I'll need to run the pistons and valves over to their respective machine shops, and it will be a week or more before they're done with the engine components so I'll build the trans while I'm waiting on them.

More as it happens.....

[MPlayle]

For the gouges where the shift seal goes, could you use a thin smear of JB-Weld to fill them?

[MiniDave]

Could do, but I don't think it's needed. That's actually where the support aluminum ring sits. Where the seal sits is OK

[John Gervais]

Great thread - I really like the pictures.

Hmmm, we can't 'like' posts or bookmark threads to follow them anymore?

[94touring]

Great thread - I really like the pictures.

Hmmm, we can't 'like' posts or bookmark threads to follow them anymore?

Interesting.  Like post are in the lounge still but not here  8.gif  Probably some setting I need to enable.  If you click notify it should let you know when someone replies to a thread.  I guess I never used it or if it said bookmark didn't use that either.

[94touring]

Won't allow like post in subforums for whatever reason. 

[MiniDave]

Got the last few bits cleaned up and ready for re-assembly, so I cleaned, primed and painted the case.