Starting another engine build, this time a former SPi 1275 engine and A+ rod change transmission. The tranny is in pretty good shape, just needs a new set of synchros and a good clean and reseal, we'll also be adding a cross pin diff. but keeping the 3.1 final drive. The engine will be getting 40 over 10.3-1 compression pistons, a Calver head, cam and rockers and a new HIF44, MiniSpares intake manifold and a Maniflow LCB exhaust header and RC40 exhaust system. All the machine work is done, the crank was turned 10 under on both the rods and mains, then the journals were micropolished the block overbored, the new pistons have been installed on the straightened and resized rods. The block was decked a few thousandths to clean it up and give a good surface to hold the gasket (the head is new) Most of the parts are here, so the last few days I've been cleaning parts and waiting for a clear day to paint the block. There was a LOT of old paint on the engine and it took a couple of days of wire brushing scraping and even paint stripper to get it clean enough for paint - today I got the self etch primer on and the first coat of Sunrise Red RustOleum paint on it. Once all the paint is done I'll let it cure out for a week or so then I can start the build.
A 64 Classic Mini - originally the car had an 850 - the car is getting a total refurb, paint, interior, suspension - the works.
Today I reset the block in the stand so I can install the cam bearings and build up the lower end. To get ready for that I cleaned everything again, ran a tap thru all the bolt holes, cleaned off all the overspray and cleaned and painted some more parts to be ready to install when I get to that point. Tomorrow I'll start putting it all together....
Looking good Dave. I'm not familiar with the A+ engine. Any big differences between it & the garden variety of A series lump?
Yes and no.....mostly it had to do with strengthening the block, the mount for the dizzy is different as is the drive, the mount for the alternator is moved forward between cyl 1 and 2, and there are a lot of extra strengthening ribs in the block. Other than that......they are pretty much interchangeable. Unless...... you're talking about an MPi A+ (multi point fuel injection) Those have no distributor (so no dizzy hole either) and a myriad of other changes.....even tho it's still basically the same motor underneath.
Dang it, forgot to order cam bearings (again?) so on hold till Moss ships them out to me - in the between I'll keep cleaning and painting parts I guess.
Damn.......I wish I lived closer. Would love the opportunity to just hang around and be a go-fer for a while. Love this stuff!
I can always use an extra set of hands to clean parts and fetch stuff - too bad my kids and grandkids live 1800 miles away!
STILL don't have my cam bearings, so I've been working on other things..... The head is a brand new Calver head, and he also bought the 114 rockers, new high performance shaft and stands, so I got to assembling that. Once thing I noticed right away, since the stands are narrower than the original ones, I'll have to do some shimming to get the rockers to line up well over the valve ends. So, yet another order - this time to MiniSpares as I needed some other parts too that Moss didn't have. Also, these rockers didn't come with adjuster screws, fortunately I had a spare set of those on hand. So that's mostly buttoned up till the shims get here.....I've also been cleaning and organizing all the little parts and fasteners - takes for frickin ever! On to the transmichigan....
Next it was time to tear down the transmission....it's a later model rod change which I find not too hard to work on, other than there are a LOT of little bits and bobs and this one was really crudded up.....I'll spend far more time cleaning it that the teardown and reassembly. I had to order a few bits - a couple of bearings, layshaft, some lock tabs and small stuff and of course synchros. He's decided to go with a 3:44 diff, so I'll be changing that over from the 3.1 that's currently in it. Once all the parts finally arrive I can get going on the rebuild, in the meantime it's just clean, clean clean....Man there are a lot of parts in one of these transmissions!
Cam bearings came in at last, so I installed them using my custom cam bearing installer tool, then put in the lifters, cam and oil pump. Once that was done I went ahead and installed the pistons, then the crank and torqued everything down to spec. Then I installed the front plate, cam retaining plate, chain and tensioner, so I can begin to time the cam. Before I did that I set up the dial indicator on the end of the crank so I could measure the end play - you want 3-4 thou of play.
Today I went ahead and timed the cam in, then torqued the cam nut to 66ft lbs, and bent over the lock plate. I put the seal in the front cover, gave everything a good once over and put the timing cover and front pulley on..... lastly the water pump went on, so now the front end is pretty much done. Still plenty of bits and bobs to go on, but the next thing up will be installing the cylinder head. I'm still waiting on shims so I can locate the rockers and I also found I don't have any core plugs (aka freeze plugs or expansion plugs) and I don't know when they decided to do it but once again I found more metricosity - the core plugs are 33.6mm, so not much hope of finding them at the local Autozone.
With the cam dialed in, next job is to put the head on - which is the easy part. The fiddly part is getting the rockers installed. I had built the assembly up before, but you have to take it off each time you add shims to get the rockers in line with the valves, plus you have to make sure the push rods don't rub on the sides of the holes in the head.....you also have to mostly disassemble the shaft each time to change the shims and in doing so it's easy to reverse one of the stands - ask me how I know!!! So after a couple of hours of fiddling about, it's on and torqued down - next job is to set the valve clearance Clarance. Once that's done It's time to take it out of the engine stand and start on the transmichigan. I still have parts on the way for that and they won't be here till Monday. I'll be out of the shop the next two days as I'm taking the green car down to Tulsa to my buddies' body shop to fix a couple of bad spots on the front fenders, and I'll be hauling the Innocenti back so I can button it up and start getting some break in miles on it. Lot's of little jobs to do on it yet.
Is the Calver head and valve train considered to be a premium high performance modifications for a street car ??
Definitely, and it's pretty spendy but it works well, and makes good power and torque....... Carb and exhaust mock up..... Ceramic coated headers... Brandy new HIF 44, needs a spacer to clear the linkage.... Pipercross air filter The engine is pretty much ready to come off the stand now, so I can install all the front parts, oil filter housing and pipe, oil pressure relief valve, dizzy, alternator and starter. But I may wait on all of those till I get the engine mounted on the transmichigan
Spent all damn day today cleaning transmission case parts, they were so encrusted and nasty! finally my back said enough! I think I got everything cleaned so I can paint tomorrow - it's supposed to be sunny and warm all day, perfect to get paint to dry and cure out. Once everything is painted and cured out I can start the transmission assembly....
A good hot day for engine painting, excellent a hot day for assembly work not so much, use the floor fan. . Nice work as usual. Don