Random notes on the restauration of Morgans, MGBs and Minis
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Hard to believe that five months past, since we assembled Mildred's engine. A few open tasks and issues prevented the final completion. The biggest problem was that I bought ARP main bearing studs instead of bolts. The 18V engines need those as otherwise the oil sump cover does not fit. Although I know that it... Continue Reading →
After last weeks engine rebuild session it took me a while to clean up everything. The only thing missing to finish the engine are the ARP main bearing bolts. As mentioned last week I mistakenly bought ARP studs. These are used for the 18GB engines - 18V requires bolts. A set is ordered and should... Continue Reading →
This full post is going to be a long read. The TLDR summary is: After a number of problems the engine is about 85% complete. A few parts need to be changed and ordered - a first test firing might be still a few weeks away. But if you want all details you need to... Continue Reading →
Finally! It took much longer than expected to get the parts of Mildred's engine back. The first part of the engine rebuild was the disassembly back in February 2024. The company I worked with sent the parts to an external machine shop in Aachen. Expected completion was about 6-8 weeks. Calls in April, May and... Continue Reading →
With just a few hours in the garage every week, it felt like I did not get much done in November. But looking back at the pictures I took - quite a few things happened. First was setting up my new welding machine. There is not too much to say about it. It does what... Continue Reading →
