Project Zippy (Midas Mk1 Coupe) Engine In!

[MrBounce]

As I had a few hours' free it was time to get lapping. No, this doesn't mean a jaunt to the local naked ladies' dancing bar, but instead some incredibly tedious work with some grinding paste and some new valves and seats. And as I had everything else that goes with them, I also built up the head.

I have decided that I also don't like my valve spring compressor. It's got a stupidly short handle which means unless you get it at EXACTLY the right angle that it likes working at, it is virtually impossible to use properly. Still, I was eventually able to add the new stem oil seals, compress all the springs, and popped in the colletts with a dab of grease. I am glad I don't have to do that again...

My new wheel bearings arrived so I sorted those (sadly didn't get the chance to use my friend's father-in-law's 15 ton press!) and have popped them on the radius arms. The grease caps are bent and horrible though. Yet more expense...

Valve-less. That soon changed...



Inlets in.



All in and looking good...



...and from the top too.



Hub on. Now need new grease caps. Joy.

[MrBounce]

Another couple of hours in the Manroom saw Matt come round with his cone compressor - time to get swearing and fit the doughnuts, Hi-Los, knuckles & top arms. Wasn't too much of a struggle apart from not being able to find both the bolts that go into the captive nuts behind the lockplate. Have left these out for now until I have had more of a chance to look for them. I also appeared to only have one rebound buffer. I KNOW I have two in a bag somewhere... Still, they can be refitted when the car's back on its wheels.

Left side done (almost - bolt missing will be added when I find them!)



And same with the right!

[MrBounce]

Well it's been a while since I last wrote anything, mainly due to me doing other non-garage related stuff. I have managed to get a couple of evenings in the Manroom though, mainly consisting of going through the numerous tupperware boxes contained engine bolts, fixtures and fittings which the previous owner had kept from the stripdown. I am not sure how useful old big and main-end bearings are (apart from for locking the flywheel), nor old valves (which looked pretty manky) but I did dig out the pushrods. They unfortunately had been kept between two pieces of gaffa tape, which was at least 5 years old. I didn't much fancy scrubbing these clean; however my friend has a wire-wheel attachment on his bench grinder, so a quick few minutes' work saw them useable again. I will give them a dunk in the parts washer too just to make sure!

I also pulled the cam out from somewhere deep under the bench. This was just a standard low compression Metro A+ unit so not much use to me; I was shocked at how much cams have gone up but this is of course because they now have to be made from new blanks. Gone are the days of buying a Kent cam kit for £60... Luckily for me, Mini Spares do their own flavours and once the £50 exchange was taken into account, £70 odd is much nicer than about £180! I have gone for their Evolution 001 (similar to the Kent 286) which they put into their built 1293 & 1380 engines. That's good enough for me. I did consider the Evolution 002 (similar to the Kent 266) but I have already had an engine with one of those; this will not be an everyday car so I can cope with something a little spikier! Now I will get to play with my new dial gauge when I time it in...

Cleaned pushrods. Gaffa tape is not good for engine internals.



Old cam. Worth £50 to Mini Spares. They now have it...



...because I have one of these!

[MrBounce]

Well I have managed to get my hands on a timing cover, which is beautifully powder coated in red. So of course it'll need painting as red & orange will look a bit rubbish together. However, as I am fitting Duplex timing gear, I needed to modify it anyway, or the chain will catch and either wear through the cover or wear itself out very quickly, or both. I need to "relieve" a small indentation on the inside, which meant hitting it with a hammer. Everyone knows that this is the best form of engineering as it's so therapeutic. I also had to get rid of the "collar" which sits on the inside of the cover around the breather hole. I used the Dremel for this as it was far easier and slightly less brutal than the angle grinder... I gave it a decent wash in the parts washer afterwards to get rid of all the swarf.

I also needed to modify the engine front plate by countersinking two holes to accommodate the two screws supplied in the Mini Spares Duplex kit. The standard bolts foul on the timing gear otherwise and everything gets messy. I was ready to fit the cam, but the box marked "Engine & gearbox gaskets" mysteriously only had a set for a gearbox. This means I need to go shopping. Again. Whoop-di-doo.

Modified (and soon to be painted) timing cover.



Countersunk holes in engine front plate.



Cam ready to go in.

[MrBounce]

I hate woodruff keys. There - I've said it. I know they're a major part of timing in an engine but they are a pain.

I lubed up the cam and gently pushed it into place, making sure I didn't bash into anything (especially the bearings) on the way. Then out came the Blue Hylomar and I chucked on the front plate, complete with properly countersunk screw holes. I loctited the screws in place and primed then bolted in the new oil pump. All I needed to do next was to line up the two timing gear wheels using the dot to dot method (lined up with a steel rule) before dropping them onto the shafts with the chain on.

With this project it was easier said than done, mainly because the woodruff key in the camshaft would not stay put. It wasn't particularly loose, it was just that if I was ever so slightly out (we are talking fractions of a millimetre here) the key would either push back and up or back and down. I just could not get the poxy thing right. After an hour of head scratching, lining up and nearly throwing things across the garage, I took a break. A swig of Pepsi Max and a couple a Jaffa Cakes later, it went on as smoothly as the Haynes manual would say ("refitting is the reversal of removal").

Of course, I am now going to check the cam timing properly using a dial gauge so it'll be interesting to see if it needs an offset wodruff key. I can then swear a lot again because I will have to do it all again...

Cam in block.



Front plate one (before oil pump fitted)



Duplex timing gear finally on (at bloomin' last!)

[MrBounce]

Armed with a dial gauge I swept into the garage feeling confident. Despite not having used one before, they sound very much scarier than they actually are as they're pretty simple to use. I had a useful guide from Andy and additional help from Doug on the Mini Forum and very constructive and valuable it was too. Thanks guys!

I first made sure that everything was perfectly set up at TDC by measuring where the gauge changed direction when number 1 piston reached the top of its stroke. The dots on the timing gear were perfectly lined up. Excellent. Then I popped a pushrod into number 1 inlet hole and took a reading of when it was at maximum lift. This was 107 degrees on the protractor wheel, exactly what the camshaft should be timed in at according to Mini Spares. I then backed up the crank by 0.025" on the dial gauge then brought it forward to 0.005" and made a note of the protractor wheel (100.5 degrees). I then turned the crank forward once again until the gauge went to zero before changing direction again. Once it read 0.005" before zero, I checked the protractor again. This time it read 112.5 degrees. I added these two figures together then divided by 2 to see if I needed an offset woodruff key. As it was 106.5 degrees and the camshaft should be timed in at 107 degrees, I would call that pretty much bang on for my engine spec. A good morning's work!!

I also fished out the timing cover bolts which had been sitting in a box of bolts since the previous owner dismantled the engine. Oh dear. They were covered in grime and dirt. I have left them soaking in some degreaser and will give them a good clean up next time.

Top Dead Centre



Max lift on Number 1 inlet.



Difficult sums.



Oh my. Those bolts are dirty...

[MrBounce]

The Manroom has been in a complete state, plus there were things I needed to do before starting back on the engine. So, after cleaning the place up, I finally found the oil thrower to go on the crank. It was, like the timing cover bolts, utterly filthy, so it spent 3 days in some degreaser. It was much cleaner when I had finished with it.

The timing cover I had bought was powder coated red - not an ideal match for a blue engine block and an (eventually) orange car. So out came the wet and dry and I rubbed it down, primed it and sprayed it silver. Once dry I pushed in a new oil seal and out came the Hylomar to put the new gasket on. The oil thrower was chucked on and the timing gear was given a generous coating of engine oil. The cover has been bolted down nicely and everything looks pretty smart.

I am now having the fun task of cleaning the flywheel housing and wok. They are, of course, disgusting. I also need to clean my gearbox before sending it off the Guessworks for a refurb. I sense a weekend stinking of degreaser coming up. Women like that, right??? 

Primed timing cover.



And the finished article, complete with new gasket, seal & oil thrower in place.

[Horney]

Comign on nicely bud!

[MrBounce]

Thanks Nick!

I have been busy. The wok has been stripped down, primed and resprayed in silver. Looking clean (doubt it'll stay that way for too long...). The small problem of seating has been addressed. I was casually browsing ebay and came across a pair of Mk1 MX5 seats from a car that was being broken where the buyer hadn't written a brilliant description. The auction also ended at a fairly unusual time (tea-time on a Thursday!) so I chanced my arm and chucked in a cheeky bid - nothing ventured, nothing gained. Nobody else bid on them, so I won them for the princely sum of £20. And they're in really good nick - so much better than others I have seen for sale. It did mean a 1 1/2 hour drive but I like a roadtrip. The guy selling them was a top bloke and they were much better than expected.

I also dragged the gearbox out from under the bench and gave the outside a really good clean. 30 years of road and storage grime is not a pleasant thing to have to get rid of. Still, an hour with the degreaser and toothbrush had it looking quite a lot better than before. I also was able to confirm it had a 3.44 diff by counting the crownwheel & pinion teeth.

I bunged the water pump on as it's been kicking about in the new parts box for a while, then set to modifying the runners on one of the seats as the Midas has a flat floor with none of the humps the MX5 has. It's pretty easy - lop off the front parts of the runners and drill a hole in the flat runner to run some bolts and spacers. At the back, remove the other "bent" bit so the seats will sit nicely. However, I will need father-in-law's pillar drill for this so after hacking the fronts off, I put them to one side.

Finally I have started stripping the carb. It is going to need quite a clean. It has leaves in it...

Clean wok - you could eat your dinner off it!



£20 for these. I am a very happy boy!!



How disgusting is this??!!



Looks a little better now - this was 3/4 of the way through cleaning.



Waterpump in place



Runners off ready to be modified. 12mm bolts - weird!



My carb might need a clean...

[Horney]

Now those seats look familiar!