Open the box see what you got......(My Engine)
Turbo Mini Forums

About a year ago I picked up a "Turbo" engine & box along with a full set of ancillaries, anyway I finally got round to stripping it down and here are a few pics. I realise that the conditions that it was stripped in where not the best, and it will be rebuilt in a lot cleaner environment, but I needed to strip it so that I could move it.



When I took the head off things didn't look great, the top of the pistons where seriously coked :( but the bores looked good and you can clearly see the cross hatching (I'll try and get a better picture showing the cross hatching)



The head needs a good clean but seems ok at a glance, I didn't really look at it as I was more interested in the bottom end, but it says 26cc on it so I'm guessing that is the size of the chambers but I need to measure them.



The box is a helical item with a splash tray and a central pick up pipe, but that's all I know at the moment.



At some point some one fitted a central main strap, but the twat used grade 5 bolts to secure it (I wanted to cry when I saw that bastardisation) also the tang on the crank is allot better than it looks.



The journals (both big ends & mains) look fantastic however I'll need to get the mics out to check it.



One plus was the duplex timing gear (the chain is already in the bin and I'll be getting a new one but at least I don't need to buy the sprockets) this shot also shows those dire grade 5 bolts.



Another nice find was a 266 cam, however this has left me with an awkward decision, keep the 266 or buy a phase 2 like I'd originally planned.



The biggest surprise was the state of the pistons, I couldn't find any visible signs of wear on them bar the coking on the crowns. So this got me wandering if the engine had been rebored (the cross hatching on the bores also got me wandering) I put the mic on the skirt of one piston and sure enough they are +20 thou. Sadly they are AE pistons so I'll either flog them or use them in the MG depending on what they are and what size the dishes are.

Now a couple of days ago my dial bore gauge arrived in the post so I had to have a play with it. After a quick calibration using a mic I ran it down the bores, bore 2 was a thou under size, bore 3 was 1/2 thou oval and bores 1 & 4 were spot on.

All in all a very weird engine. All I can guess is that it was rebuilt started up, but not set-up and then sold, very strange.

Edited by Rob H on 11th Oct, 2006.

Looks like youve go some very servicable looking parts.

Would be worth checking the block deck and head for true.

Some guys I know get them pressure tested as well just to make sure they are not rebuilding a buggered block or head.

Looks like the head has had some work on increasing the chamber size, 26cc looks about right judging from the amount of beak removal.??

A little lapping of the crank nose and flywheel will tidy up the crank nose.

A newoil pump is a must, the avonbar item and nothing else.

Cheers

Brocky

BTW - I took my buddy VTEC Pete out for a spin this weekend, and even though I am running her in, he gave it a name, the "Brocket"...cause I'm a brocket maaannn, nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah....

Build thread - http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=7483

Katy Mini Owners Club Thread - http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.php?p=vt&tid=505552

Let's make sure you embarrass at least one VTEC MINI today !

https://www.facebook.com/groups/17557298589...096464253807802

hi rob ,looking at all that gunk on top of the pistons , i hazzard a guess that there was a happy engine building turbo owner ,full of enthusiasm, hooning down the rd a few hundred miles after investing a fair wad of wonga on his spanky new cam pistons expensive 1.4 inlets head , and then the turbo inlet seal blew ,and the huge cloud of smoke issueing forth sent him into a major depression and he went and sat in the dark ,on his own ,and gave up !
hey ,his loss ,,your gain !!!

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Hhhmmm, looks closer to 30ccs to me

www.miniman.com.au

"""LazyGoodForNothingSmartArseKnowItAllBackYardMiniMechanic"""

On 10th of Oct at 10:50pm Brocky said:
Looks like youve go some very servicable looking parts.

Edited by Rob H on 11th Oct, 2006.

Just measured the chambers and they are 26cc each, shame as I'd have liked a little more.

:Edit: Just measured the crank and all the journals are with in tolerance :)

Edited by Rob H on 4th Nov, 2006.

I managed to do a tad more work on the engine today and made a start on the 11 stud conversion:



:EDIT: This shot also shows some of the porting that's been done on the head.

Finished the 11 stud conversion, here's a couple of pics:





I was going to do the 5/16 conversion on the gearbox bolts but like a muppet I ordered 6.9mm drill bits instead of 6.6mm drill bits, so that'll have to wait till either I order some more tools or find somewhere locally that sells 6.6mm bits.

Edited by Rob H on 5th Nov, 2006.

ditch the bolts

minispares north sell centre main strap and the correct grade bolts for around
7 pounds

The bolts are as good as in the bin, I've discovered the MiniSpares sell the bolts on there own, so I'll be getting a pair in the not too distant future.

More Progress:

I managed to get a drill bit from my local DIY shop, so I was able to crack on with the 5/16 bolt conversion. If anyone is looking for imperial cap head bolts, I got mine from Merlin Motor sport over at Castle Coombe. I also started to remove all the sharp edges from the block with a small file (I'm not sure if you can see this in the photo or not) the next job is the zetec oil jets.

More progress, I've got the holes drilled for the zetec jets and there looking good, they still need a little tweaking, but I'm getting there, slowly.

The cap head bolts over the differential housing is a good idea

You got that drill bit out then mate. You still coming to Malvern and bringing a T2 with you???????

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

I've got the drill out, and I'm still going to Malvern. I've also cleaned up one of the pistons using Rob's spray on engine cleaner. Also crudely measured the dish whilst I was at it and got about 11cc or 12cc.

They are about the only place I don't prefer allen or torx heads ......

Been there, swore at that ...

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

Have you crimped up the end of those zetec jets to get a smaller hole? im toying with fitting some to my engine but they look awfully big and im fearing for my oil pressure a tad!

I've not hand my hands on any yet so how big is the standard hole? Maybe you could plug it and drill it out as required of weld them and drill them etc.

Would be more consistant than crimping the ends or am I being a little to anal here????

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

How exactly would you drill weld? Welding by its nature forms a very very hard surface that drills won't touch?

Brazing I suppose could work, but crimping the ends slightly seems a better idea to me.

You will need heat to 'move' the tube to where you want it to be, so heat and crimp the end at the same time.

You can quite easily drill weld with a carbide bit, have done it many times at work when prototyping stuff as brazed joints last less than no time in our application, might just as well try using epoxy glue! Best part of 3000 bar will pop a brazed plug out like a cork from a botle. Tempering back a welded joint is not much of a problem either, just be careful it doesn't distort.
Never really like brazing after a couple of bad expeciences a few years back and I don't even bother keeping the kit to do it. Having said all that it is problably ok in this sort of application.

The problem is getting the drill started square, especially with very small diameters. If it skips sideways when it meets a defect in the surface then it's all over. My technician at work is god like in his machining abilities though and has drilled 0.2mm holes through weld before with 100% success.

You could always sleeve them down if they where big enough to allow it then permenantly attach the sleeve to the jets. If your carefull and have the right kit making small diameter sleeves down to 0.1mm wall thickness is possible.

I might be over thinking this again but when you spend all your working life with stuff with sub micron tollerences it's hard to get back to mm let alone inches. Currently the tightest I have to deal with is a matched assmebly with a differntial diameter seat with both diameters concentric to 0.0005mm max and the actual diammeter of each approx 2mm +/- 0.00025 to give a clearence variation of 0.0005 worst case. Scarey thing is possible on production volumes with the right machinery ... LOL

What size hole do people recomend? If I we find that out I might get hold of Rob's jets and mod them for him, time allowing of course as I know he wants to crack on.....

Edited by RogerM on 27th Nov, 2006.

Every day is a school day ...........

How fast and how expensive ...... the same question...

He he he he I love it when Vegard sets off on a rant!!

but they come easily available in a decent quality...

I'm with dave bit of time putting a couple of bolts in of better quality

coming along nicely rob, we can up things a but when i move to the new garage and buy some decent tools