1399cc with 3.765:1 Final drive
Turbo Mini Forums

Now then, time to start building the engine, the main part should be done for end of next week. Jimster came through with the push rods, the Kent 274MD cam is on order, the block is at the machinists to have the top flashed off as is the crank for polishing and bearings. Collected the new clutch today, building that up tonight to take to the machinists to balance the whole rotating assembly. Should have everything back for friday for final wash and clean before assembly.

6 tooth speedo spindle is now in the post on its way to me, and i have an 18 tooth pinion from a 3.2:FD Cooper SPi box, which will be rebuilt with the Minispares bearing kit, leaving out that chocolate lay shaft.

Order going in to MiniSpares tonight for all the little bits, like timing chains, core plugs, followers and valve springs.

Been looking for the original colour for the block. Im not too keen on shiney red. I found that Red Lead is probibly what it is painted in originaly as its almost an exact match.

Plenty pictures to follow as usual

Edited by Sprocket on 4th Jul, 2006.

Get in there mate, want to see this kit when its done

Manchester Minis

Make it so

pics would be good

Is this the "show us yours" section that tradionally has pictures actually "showing" us something?...

Jf.

Dry build

Edited by Sprocket on 4th Jul, 2006.

what pistons are you using? i didnt think minispares did the +20 73.5's any more?

I've seen the future and tbh its Pie

Total seal rings from here http://www.totalseal.com/ distributed in the UK by http://www.performanceunlimited.co.uk/ They were very good in that it was a custom order and only took a week for them to arive on the doorstep from the US. They may be able to supply any size and combination of rings by the look of it.

The Pistons are New Old Stock and a lucky find and buy on Ebay. They turned up and three of the rings were broken. Rang around every where (knowing it was hopeless) to see if anybody had new 74mm rings, even phoned Omega themselves. No luck, they have been out of production far a good while now. Still MED shed a glimmer of hope in that they were having a small run of forged 74mm pistons made by Omega and they would have spare ringsets. Spoke to the bloke I bought these of and explained all. He was very helpfull and happily refunded half the auction price ( Now that was a turn up for the books).

Waited till January this year, almost 12weeks when MED were expecting their pistons from Omega, good news the pistons were in, bad news that some one else wanted a set of rings, tried them and they were different sizes. OMFG.

Searched the Net for ring manufacturers and came across Totalseal, gave the guy at performance a call and the rest is history.

Was considering going for the gapless rings due to the bore flex, but decided against as they were almost twice the price, My machinist had concerns and Phill Hepworth sucked long and hard through his teeth, over the phone. Any way, there is a strong chance that it'll go bang or at least smoke like theres no tomorrow, so thought it was not worth the extra expence.

MED currently selling Forged 74mm Omega pistons at £425 with a short compression hight for stroking http://www.med-engineering.co.uk/product_d...92&vlang_id=336

New bearings, new camshaft, new clutch, fresh block, polished crank.

Let the build begin

He he that looks good, shame its got to go inside the engine.

Manchester Minis

..

Edited by Sprocket on 4th Jul, 2006.

Ha thats a funky old amec ruler!!!
i use one just the same! But im special as mine is a james scott one!!

Im at pretty much the same stage but im to nervous to start! loks good though! keep us informed!

Engine build so far

centre main strap???

Never knew you could use the chain tensioner with a duplex.
I would have had it 11 studded too

part from that looking good

Metro turbo weekend driver,Mini turbo in the making again!

Isee you have put the oil gallery plug very far in, I would check that it doesnt close one of the sidegalleries there, it could EASILY happen, at least on an A block....

Center strap not being used on this this time, its not going to be a rever , besides the original is tough enough for the power expected. Oil gallery plug seats before the oil galery to #1 main bearing, I checked it. It was the first one i did and found the plugs just a little small, treaded the others better (bit dissapointed with that realy), as for 11 studs well may be i should have but you turbo guys seem to get away with it alot. We shall wait and see on that one, and yes i know there will be more block flex on this. I'll be surprised if i get anywhere near 100BHP with this spec, the head is only a stage two and will strangle it. This is more of a base for further mods to see what sort BHP increase mods give in the real world

Lapped the flywheel in, checked the cam timing, fitted the head, water pump and dizzy. Stripped, cleaned and currently rebuilding the box. Surprisingly the box (off a 78,000 mile 92 Cooper SPi) is in excellent condition. The only fault I found so far is that the idler gear shaft is bolloxed. The lay shaft and main shaft are mint. Final drive changed over.

Just curious: what's the difference between an MD276 and the 274 you're using? Other than that the whole thing looks good enough for any mantlepiece: shame to actually use it:)

cheers

1963 Cooper
1975 Pick Up

The 274 is designed specificaly for the injection cars with a whole load of exhaust duration and almost standard inlet duration.

I think its a combination of restricting power to prevent the injector reaching 100% duty but also, the main factor, it does not affect the emissions. Long duration cams throw lots of unburnt fuel into the exhaust, on the injection the lambda sensor sees this as a lean mixture and so the engine actualy runs rich and fails MOT spectacularly.

Ah the wonders of fuel injection

Off topic but does anyone know if the latest version of Megasquirt works with Mass Air Flow meters as that would solve the problem to a degree

Progress is now in the hands of the suppliers. Waiting on an input gear nose bearing for the gearbox, a primary gear thrust washer, a brake line and a heater valve blank plate. Hoping to get the engine in and running sunday and paint the rest of the panels in the evenings of next week. This may swap about depending on the parts turning up, but looking good for te MOT on friday now. If it fails then I'm going to sack it for getting the car to Avon, but I will still be going

Edited by Sprocket on 6th Jul, 2006.

I am intregued by the temp sensor in the head, I see it has two pins, I am assuming one sends the temp to the gauge on the dash, what does the other do?

Its an SPi sensor, baisicaly one pin is 5 volt base, the other is signal. It is mearly there to fill a hole. The SPi ecu and temp gauge sensor is actualy in the water jacket of the inlet manifold.

Didnt have the time to get it running. It seems I am running in to more problems now then I have across the whole project. These just set you back and back. So it will be tomorrow for a run

One thing i am a little concerned about is the oil pressure is 90 psi when cranking over with the plugs removed and new 20w50 Penrite running in oil. Going to wait and see what its like when its running and has warmed up. I did fit a new Ball and spring and did notice that i had to compress the spring quite a bit. If its still a problem, I'll rob the piston and spring out the engine i took out and see if that makes any difference.

Everything works electricaly other than the indicators and the head light flasher. I have changed the stalks as the clip was broken. I got these from Mini and Metro spares in Warrington, so, chances are its the stalk that is actualy faulty, knowing them.

Not going to have the time to get paint on all the doors so will only be doing the bits that actualy need it for now. It'll be a bit of a harlequin of different whites. LOL

Well done mate, looks great, let me know when your starting it :) It should run really well.

Manchester Minis

Looks good, just out of interest how come you use penrite?? I stopped when they stopped printing the spec on the bottle, they claim they still meet the spec on there site but why isn't it on the bottle?