Soldato
I don't know if this will be of any interest to the folks in here but here goes! (it's a long thread)
My girlfriend bought her first car in June 2008, a '98 Mini with Full leather interior, webasto full length sunroof, rare amaranth colour and full sportspack kit.
Car was fantastic until December 23rd when the engine went pop. It lost all of the oil through a huge hole in the diff casing - a replacement gearbox that was fitted had a broken diff tooth hiding in it. It then threw the diff tooth through the diff casing, lost all the oil and thus seized the engine.
So this is what faced me in disassembly:
My ghetto garage
----
So the rebuild started in fury on the 29th January (The delay was due to me going to London for New years and then being ill for 3 weeks). The Engine and head were further disassembled and this was what we had:
Piston rings were measured and found to be shot.
Oil pump was inspected and given clean bill of health.
Pistons were then cleaned - pain in the *** they were filthy.
Cylinder head:
Cyl 1:
Exhaust Valve was in a bad way - with signs of major leakage.
Inlet Valve was ok, small bit of pitty on the seat. Nothing a lapping wont fix
Cyl 2,3&4:
Exhaust valves worse than Cyl 1.
Inlet
The inlet valves also had lots of oil deposits.
Here's a pic:
From left to right:
Exhaust 4, 3, 2 (after 20 mins lapping), Inlet 2
Here are the exhaust and Inlet valves from Cyl 2. Exhaust has had 20mins lapping, Inlet was just out of the head.
Here are the cyl 2 ports.
The exhaust was still not good after lapping, but Inlet required just lapping. Some strange heat marks in wall of cyl 2 below the pitted part of the seat. We decided all the exhaust valves required replacement.
----
So bring on another another delay.. I was then in an awesome car crash which helped, so the rebuild was set back even further. I don’t have many more pics, but here is what was done:
Everything cleaned
Bores Honed
Crank polished
New Big end bearings
New Main bearings
New cam followers
New piston rings
New exhaust valves
New valve stem oil seals
New Spark Plugs
New Oil Filter
New Air Filter
New Fan Belt
New alternator
All new gaskets
2 Gearbox bearings replaced
1st gear replaced
New diff housing
Engine painted
New Engine mounts
The car was then washed & the interior fully detailed with some lovely new mats.
Here are some pics:
Gearbox cleaned and repaired:
Cylinder head cleaned:
Crank & pistons fitted:
Engine built up and painted:
Radiator seemed to leak a tiny bit of coolant at the start, but then mysteriously stopped. I found a couple of the pipes weren’t 100% secured – me rushing I imagine.
The engine literally fought us every step of the way - it was a horrible job, and incredibly frustrating. It was 2 full days and 3 full evenings to put back together and get running. The head rebuild took 20 tedious hours+ (all done by my dad) and the rest of the rebuild wasn't far behind that.
Finally on March 4th, it drove out of the garage under it’s own steam! I’ve learnt a lot from all of this. First rule – don’t rebuild MPI engines. Second rule – don’t buy high mileage MPI’s.
Mileage when replacement gearbox/new discs&pads & service: 78600
Mileage at point of blowup: 80501
Mileage after first service: 81400
My girlfriend bought her first car in June 2008, a '98 Mini with Full leather interior, webasto full length sunroof, rare amaranth colour and full sportspack kit.
Car was fantastic until December 23rd when the engine went pop. It lost all of the oil through a huge hole in the diff casing - a replacement gearbox that was fitted had a broken diff tooth hiding in it. It then threw the diff tooth through the diff casing, lost all the oil and thus seized the engine.
So this is what faced me in disassembly:
My ghetto garage
----
So the rebuild started in fury on the 29th January (The delay was due to me going to London for New years and then being ill for 3 weeks). The Engine and head were further disassembled and this was what we had:
Piston rings were measured and found to be shot.
Oil pump was inspected and given clean bill of health.
Pistons were then cleaned - pain in the *** they were filthy.
Cylinder head:
Cyl 1:
Exhaust Valve was in a bad way - with signs of major leakage.
Inlet Valve was ok, small bit of pitty on the seat. Nothing a lapping wont fix
Cyl 2,3&4:
Exhaust valves worse than Cyl 1.
Inlet
The inlet valves also had lots of oil deposits.
Here's a pic:
From left to right:
Exhaust 4, 3, 2 (after 20 mins lapping), Inlet 2
Here are the exhaust and Inlet valves from Cyl 2. Exhaust has had 20mins lapping, Inlet was just out of the head.
Here are the cyl 2 ports.
The exhaust was still not good after lapping, but Inlet required just lapping. Some strange heat marks in wall of cyl 2 below the pitted part of the seat. We decided all the exhaust valves required replacement.
----
So bring on another another delay.. I was then in an awesome car crash which helped, so the rebuild was set back even further. I don’t have many more pics, but here is what was done:
Everything cleaned
Bores Honed
Crank polished
New Big end bearings
New Main bearings
New cam followers
New piston rings
New exhaust valves
New valve stem oil seals
New Spark Plugs
New Oil Filter
New Air Filter
New Fan Belt
New alternator
All new gaskets
2 Gearbox bearings replaced
1st gear replaced
New diff housing
Engine painted
New Engine mounts
The car was then washed & the interior fully detailed with some lovely new mats.
Here are some pics:
Gearbox cleaned and repaired:
Cylinder head cleaned:
Crank & pistons fitted:
Engine built up and painted:
Radiator seemed to leak a tiny bit of coolant at the start, but then mysteriously stopped. I found a couple of the pipes weren’t 100% secured – me rushing I imagine.
The engine literally fought us every step of the way - it was a horrible job, and incredibly frustrating. It was 2 full days and 3 full evenings to put back together and get running. The head rebuild took 20 tedious hours+ (all done by my dad) and the rest of the rebuild wasn't far behind that.
Finally on March 4th, it drove out of the garage under it’s own steam! I’ve learnt a lot from all of this. First rule – don’t rebuild MPI engines. Second rule – don’t buy high mileage MPI’s.
Mileage when replacement gearbox/new discs&pads & service: 78600
Mileage at point of blowup: 80501
Mileage after first service: 81400
. Loving the thread also...my missus is currently ohhing and ahhing at the pics and then glaring out of the window at her Clio!.