When rebuilding an engine or overhauling the suspension of a classic vehicle there is a point when you need to order new parts. And often enough there isn't a single choice - you think about options. Should I can an upgraded camshaft? if so - which vendor? What would it cost if I choose components... Continue Reading →
Miffi’s Machine shop report
The next step after the teardown was measuring and a visit at KS Motortechnik. Even though the camshaft has no pitting or bluing the conclusion after measuring was to replace it. The workshop manual says that lift height should be 6.35mm ( 6.45 to 6.60 the default). The lobs had between 34.05-34.14mm. Subtracting 27.60 mm for... Continue Reading →
Mini engine tear down complete
Amazon delivered the Draper Verto Clutch puller in the late afternoon and I immediately took off for the garage. After unpacking the tool I was a bit unsure about the quality. The supplied bolts were 8.8 grade ones. My previous tool was second hand and came with really solid 12.9 bolts. But the three metric... Continue Reading →
Let me see (it) stripped
As you might notice by the title of today's post an older Depeche Mode song was on my playlist this week while removing Miffi's suspension parts. Stripping the subframe and engine were on my list - but a number of other things popped up as well. Since my first Mini restoration in 2019 quite a... Continue Reading →
Mini subframe removal – easy way
When I left work late for the garage at 8pm tonight, I just wanted to finish cleaning up stuff that was left from last weekend's job. But with a completely empty workbench motivation to work on the Mini was back. There wasn't a lot left to do. In order to get to the right hand... Continue Reading →
Garage Organisation Intermezzo
A business trip to Munich with the Morgan, a family weekend and a bunch of other obligations kept me busy the last two weeks. There was no time to continue on the Mini overhaul. Additionally the clutter of parts, tools and other stuff in my garage started to bother me too much. An eagle-eyed reader... Continue Reading →
Mini engine and subframe removal
After receiving a new head gasket on Saturday I started preparing the assembly of the Mini engine. Back during the restoration in 2019 I tried to keep the Mini as original as possible. This included sticking to the cast iron exhaust manifold and exhaust system. In 2023 the rear rusty and broken silencers got replaced with... Continue Reading →
Head or Tail? Mini Cooper 1275 A+ engine repair…
Removing all ancillaries from Miffi last weekend left me undecided if I am going to just try a headgasket and cylinder-head exchange right now or do a full engine overhaul. Either way the head needs to come off. And as a small fridge for cold drinks and a reclining garden chair were recent garage upgrades... Continue Reading →
Miffi is not feeling well…
Last winter I started to notice that Miffi is not running as good as she usually did. Ever since the restoration back in 2019 the engine fired up right away when the ignition key was turned. As if the car said: " If waited so long - let's burn some rubber and go". But this... Continue Reading →
Mildred’s 18V581 engine rebuild – Part 5 – Runing-in-period
A day after Part 4 was released a 20min run with 2000-3000rpm to settle in the cam-follower was completed successfully. But with Mildred's body-shell is still far from being ready - it was unclear when I could test the engine. And with a few smaller issues in Maggie's engine and an ever louder noise coming from the... Continue Reading →
Fixing C6622 