my 1380 n/a engine rebuild
Turbo Mini Forums

the engine has been in the car for around 5 years and 10k ish miles with no problems running 104 nanas and 102 curly wurleys.
was planning to take it out later on in the year a freshen it up as its done a few trackdays now ans was gettin a bit tired and smokey, plans changed when all of a sudden it made a really nasty knocking sound, initial suspisions were big ends.
last week engine was hoisted out and stripped to find this



the missing piece was found lurking in the diff housing and luckily has stayed as one, further inspection revealed this






conrod is fucked, crank is currently std size so is going off to the machine shop next week for a re grind. i didnt get chance to take any pics of the bore but that is fairly untouched, will need a slight hone to get perfect again. however that is goin off to be cleaned checked over as a matter of course.
the chunck of metal next to the bearings is the tip of the mechanical fuel pump which we think snapped off and caused damge to the piston.

spent yesterday degreasing, cleaning and paint stripping everything. he was cleaned up and valves re-lapped in.
im going to try sort a piston out tommorow and once ive found out what size the crank has been reground to shall order all new bearings and gaskets, hopefully more updates to follow soon

Why did you have a mechanical fuel pump?

I seriously doubt it!

didnt have a blanking plate, and being in a hurry to get the engine in and running i threw it on instead, lesson learnt really

You can make a blanking plate from any piece of thin steel or aluminium

I seriously doubt it!

edit; hit wrong button and posted to early

Edited by nick1275 on 21st Aug, 2010.

been a while since my last update, decided not to get the crank reground as it was cheaper to find another std. it was also decided to get some new pistons, i could get a single one however for some silly reason the engine had 11cc pistons in so this time we went for 7cc and were fitted to balanced rods to get the compression a bit more sensible



have spent ages with paint stripper an wire brishes getting everything cleaned up ready for paint whilst the block was off getting cleaned up a new cam bearings fitted. the head was also stripped, cleaned and re lapped the valves in









also had the carb apart masked up and painted



got all the bits back last week, so started to put it all back together today, all thats left to do is torque head down and do valve clearances, fit flywheel housing and flywheel/clutch assembly which i am waiting on a oil seal for

as i left it today mocked up with exhaust and carb

Edited by nick1275 on 21st Aug, 2010.

edit; double posted for some silly reason, mods please delete this post

Edited by nick1275 on 21st Aug, 2010.

i will be the first to say its very tidy but have you literally dunked the head in paint ebay style?

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

no, got some engine paint in a tin thinned it down a sprayed it on, all been done in a mates spay booth. the silver is a similar paint and has also been sprayed and a coat of laquer. we did the carb in the same way with satin black hammerite, that had loads of coats due to it being thinned down like piss to go through the gun. obviosly everything was masked up inclding the carb which wasnt easy

i hope the paint doesnt come off with sustained contact to oil

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

looks very smart. Shame to get it dirty.. whats it going in?

its going back in to this

nice looking clubby - love the wheels.

What camshaft was in?

Nice and shiney by the way ...

Rusty by nature

286 cam is in it, this time round ive added 1.5 roller rockers and a med ultralight flywheel and backplate. will get megajolt on it before long too

Been a while since i updated this now, engine is all in and running and has been in for a couple of months now with about 300 miles on it. first impressions are very good drives so much better than the previous build, feels like it's pulling better with the roller rockers and slight compression increase. just taking some getting used to the lightened flywheel, but the throttle response is way better than before

a couple of shots prior to instalation




engine in



theres still some work to do tidying up the bay, going to re route the heater hose better and neater, make a bracket for the fuel reg.currently looking into megajolt and id like to get that on ready for a rr session once ive properly run it in

Looks good. Need to see more pic's of your car.

Love the clubman,nice job on the engine as well.

Cheers Ross

looks really nice, i like clubmans on 10s. engine spec sounds good, and black webers look ace.

Edited by george91 on 13th Nov, 2010.

How wide are your wheels and what arches are they?