The TLDR version of this post would be: Mildred is/is not finished, Miffi’s block has new cam bearings and needs to get painted, Miffi’s subframe is back in and new Rover V8 SD1 parts are slowly showing up.
It has been a long evening. It was 5pm when I got to the workshop and I could only look at the results. Mildred now has both rear wings attached. But the work is not completely done. The weld along the seam needs clean up. The right sill needs to be pulled out (like on the left) to match the door line. A few more hours are required. Unfortunately this is not going to happen anytime soon. The progress streak is over. Vacation time will stop all professional work for at least two weeks.There are a few things I can do during this time on Mildred, but I also have a number of other projects and tasks in parallel.
One of those is Miffi’s engine rebuild.With the engine block back from the machine shop the next task was changing the cam bearings. This is the first time I am doing this myself. The machine shops charges between 100 and 150€ for this. The universal tool from Amazon was just over 50€ when I bought it during Black Friday sale. How hard can it be? After watching this great video from Thomas Classic and Modern I was confident that I could do this as well. And it turned out to be very easy. Getting the old bearings out did not even take 10 minutes. I added markers for the oil holes and also transferred those to the edge of the new bearings. It is important to have a heavy hammer – otherwise you not gonna get anywhere. I took my time on inserting the new bearings – but it was also quite easy.
Next I cleaned the block, new bearings and new camshaft. after applying a squirt of oil, I fitted the new MED (well, Piper) camshaft. It was a bit tight at first, but it went in when rotating the cam and applying a bit more oil. Once seated I was able to turn it by hand. After removing the cam I started cleaning the block so that it can be painted tomorrow.
After that was done I was able to inspect some of the packages that arrived today. The much awaited delivery from CSI-ignition.nl came in just in time. Long time reader might know that I am not using the 123 ignition. Frontline set me up with a CSI Standard ignition back in 2018 on Maggie. The great results with the CSI Pro distributor on Mildred’s 18V engine made me also choose this distributor for Miffi. Frankly, they are a bit harder to order compared to the 123 distributors. But Wim (the inventor and man behind the online shop) is a great contact if you need one.As I knew that I will also rebuild the Rover V8 SD1 next year – I also ordered a CSI for this block as well as one for another MGB
The second package was a lucky find on “Kleinanzeigen”. A used SD1 inlet manifolds along with two HIF6 and (most importantly) the linkage between the carbs was another missing part on the Rover V8. Now I only need to find a lightened flywheel, a new waterpump, starter and alternator to have all auxiliaries completes
Limora (Bristish classci spare part store) in Germany has the reputation for being overly expensive. And for quite a few parts this is true. But they are very helpful when you call them, have most parts in stock, deliver quicker than anyone else and especially for Mini standard parts are NOT really more expensive than the competition. Don’t let the Onlineshop fool you. Find the part, give them a call. This week the saved my twice. The spring for the Mini gearbox shaft as well as the front suspension knuckle ball joints where delivered one day after ordering.
This allowed me to finish the fron
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