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CLUTCH OIL SEAl

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With the cost of new primary gears spiralling ever upwards, and the availability of good, serviceable used ones, fitting new bushes to existing gears is becoming a more common solution. For some reasons for bush failures and rectification to stop it re-occurring, see article Primary gear - Bush problems. Since there is no useful information given in any of the workshop or DIY manuals on this subject, following is my approach to dealing with the issue. The first thing to get to grips with is which bush is which. This has added an element of confusion to many conversations I have had with folks on this subject, so - the FRONT bush is the one nearest the engine block, the REAR bush is the top-hat one nearest the flywheel. This is because the front of the engine is actually the radiator end - quoted in 'in-line' engine-speak. The REAR bush is the same on all primary gears - be they for small or large bore engines. The FRONT bush is different for each though; the small-bore one is smaller

GEARBOX - Up-Rating Drop Gears

The standard drop gears are fine for practically all road use - almost irrespective of power output. part numbers: DAM9373, C-STR123, C-STR124, C-STR30, C-STR30A, C-STR30T, C-STR30TA, C-STR230, C-STR240, C-STR250 Terminology - Drop Gears - Transfer gears (primary, idler and input gears) Large-bore - Refers to anything based on a 1275-type unit Small-bore - Refers to anything based on 850/998/1098 units Despite what many folk believe - they are more than strong enough, and will perform perfectly well if correctly set up. That means getting the idler and primary gear end floats right, and using new bearings for the idler gear at each re-build. Simply following the methods outlined in the relevant workshop manuals will achieve these simple goals. There are two problems with standard drop gears - the main one is the helical cut of the teeth, the other a very limited selection of ratios. The helical-cut teeth are essentially power absorbing - both from increased metal-to-metal c

Primary Gear – Bush Problems

part numbers: 13H2934, LUF10005, CE12, 22G109, DAM8889, DAM8887

The first thing to get to grips with is which bush ...

Engine - Running in Procedure

This is another of those subjects that crops up on the message board frequently. I am constantly surprised by the number of engine builders - or people who charge other folk for building engines at any rate - that never hand out such an information sheet. It seems pretty daft to me that having taken a wad of money off of a customer for an engine you've lovingly put together, you'd want to help that person get the very best out of the engine. And the running/breaking in procedure is absolutely crucial. It at least ensures no damage is incurred when the engine first bursts into life. A collection of the usual suspects have explained their own methods on the board, along with various others - many of which probably work just as well for them, a few which are down-right dubious. Following is a sheet I administer with every customer engine I build.

RUNNING IN NEW ENGINES

Install engine. It is absolutely imperative that the cooling system is more than sufficient to deal with any temperatures likely to be produced by the engine. More power means more heat to be dissipated. A standard radiator is very unlikely to be able to cope with a reasonable power increase over standard.

Do not fill cooling system yet. Set clutch throw-out and free-play take up. Double-check all connections electrical, oil, fuel and cooling system. Put in engine oil – use a cheap multi-grade mineral oil. DO NOT use either semi or full synthetic oils. They will stop the rings from bedding in. Remove spark plugs, and spin engine over in bursts of a few seconds to pick up oil pressure and prevent starter motor damage. DO NOT start engine until oil pressure picks up.

Once oil pressure is showing, check ignition timing statically. Set to figure advised by distributor maker, or if no figures available, set at around 6-8 degrees BTDC. Re-fit spark plugs a

Contrary to popular mis-guidance, all BBUs will fit all four-syncro gearboxes. It was only the three-syncro boxes that varied in casting dimensions causing hassles where 1275s were applied to 850/998 gearbox casings.

Terminology -
BBU - Big Bore Unit (1275cc based engines)
SBU - Small Bore Unit (850/998/1098cc based units)
FD - Final Drive

NOTE: This information is largely for transplanting large-bore engine units into small-bore engined Minis. For further information on up-grading transfer (drop) gears, refer to relevant separate article.

Terminology -
BBU - Big Bore Unit (1275cc based engines)
SBU - Small Bore Unit (850/998/1098cc based units)
FD - Final Drive

Is this familiar? - You take the small one out; you put the big one in. In, out, in, out, shake your fist about, you do the hokey-cokey and you turn around, that’s what it’s all about...

Terminology -
BBU - Big Bore Unit
SBU - Small Bore Unit
Bodge - English term for 'make do' engineering- assured to fail at an in opportune
Moment.
Dizzy - Distributor

NOTE; this information is largely for transplanting large-bore units into small-bore engined cars.

Is this familiar? - You take the small one out; you put the big one in. In, out, in, out, shake your fist about, you do the hokey-cokey and you turn around, that’s what it’s all about...kinda sums up the situation many folk find themselves in when attempting to endow their beloved Min with a more impressive turn of speed.

Primary Gear - Bush problems

Although not of immediate interest to many road-runners/street-burners, mainly accorded to the racing scene, it seems to be a perplexing problem to a very large number of folk around the world, and has burned up plenty of telephone time. Distilling the myriad of 'the symptoms go like this' descriptions down from various languages it has been put to me in - the end result was always the same. The bushes at one end or other, and sometimes both, had failed in their duties. Incidentally - some of the confusion when trying to sort the problem descriptions was down to misunderstandings about which end of the primary gear is which. To put the record straight, the end nearest the engine is the FRONT end. Consequently the end nearest the flywheel is then the REAR end. The two biggest outstanding symptoms were severe oil leaks onto the flywheel/clutch assembly, and difficulty/impossibility in selecting gears.

Primary Gear - Setting end float

A fairly crucial part of how the primary gear operates is its tolerances and running clearances. End float is a continual problem as folk either ignore it through ignorance or lack of accessible information on how to do it, or belief special tools are needed.

Terminology: DTI - Dial Test Indicator Also, later factory assembled engine units (from about 1992 onwards) were built up using whatever thrust washers were available, since Rover were not making regular orders for all shim/washer sizes due to the forthcoming end of production. Consequently, many units left Rover with incorrect (usually too big) clearances. The primary gear was no exception. Too much end float and clutch disengagement is adversely affected, the gear floating up and down the crankshaft in unison with the clutch plate. The result is a graunching gear change since the plate isn't clearing the flywheel and pressure plate surfaces fully. Too little end float and the gear is likely to be pinched tight as it

Post race check after Donnington revealed – well, nothing really. Except I still have oil coming from somewhere to give a fine rust-proof coating to the area adjacent to the Clutch housing. Seriously annoying as generally I don't build leaky engines. No leaks from the calipers – so that's a relief, although I am still lacking confidence in the brakes on the whole. I am more and more coming to the conclusion that it is the pad type....

It was time to strip both front brake calipers completely and re-seal them to stop the irritating leaks. So that's exactly what I did using the new sets of seals I bought from KAD instead of the standard AP Lockheed seals. The AP ones look fine, but obviously something is causing them to relax or deteriorate in race use. With the calipers re-built and re-fitted I bled the system up with my Gunsons Easi-Bleed one-man brake bleeding kit.

It seemed pointless fitting new pads in for one race as I had plans to up-grade the brakes over the winter which would include a new set of a different type. I then decided to try and track down where the damned oil was coming from that was on the inner wing and under the clutch....

From the beautiful setting and interesting and testing/demanding track that is Cadwell Park to the stark, tedious double drag strip, chain-link fenced edifice that is 'Stalag Silverstone'. Most definitely not a Mini-friendly circuit. The track is not very entertaining at all. Mostly two longish stretched of flat-out with two stops – one a hair pin (Becketts) and one a 'hurry up and wait' series of very, very slow corners that you have to literally trundle round.

A Star is Born

Team Bailey with Mini Spares has had a very busy winter as you may know from some of the previous blogs I have written, and the run up to the first race at Castle Combe was to be no exception.

Besides all the car building I have taken on a new unit at the Snetterton race track in Norfolk to start the Snetterton Speed Shop as well as this being the new home for Team Bailey racing. Since October last year I have built up 2 new cars for myself a Mighty car 2 and a Super car 4 as well as my 2 team mates new cars a Mighty for Justin Cooper and a Super for Chris Slade.

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