OK, so I've decided to do the thing right and pull the rest of Fiona's block, to put in a new clutch, repaint, and fix all the leaks. Pray for me. Pray for me hard. This being the case, I wonder if anyone out there would be interested in joining me and my friend Grafton for the eviscerati... erm, I mean... the remainder of the job? As described here, I already have the cylinder head, carb, radiator, and exhaust mainifold off the car - now I need to hoist out the rest of the block and take it to my house for a proper clean-up and re-fit. I'm ordering parts... lots and lots of parts... and expect to do this in January sometime. So, if anyone wants to get greasy, all while learning a lot (maybe even more than you ever wanted) about classic Minis, let me know. I'd welcome the participation of the legendary Pigg Brothers (((bow... scrape...))) but the head removal went so well I hope to do it all on my lonesome if nobody wants in. Last, if anyone has a line on a engine hoist (or, even better, has one I can borrow for a few weeks) I'd greatly appreciate it. Tips and/or helpful suggestions on how to proceed (if not already listed in the Haynes book., which I already have) would also be greatly appreciated. Please keep your horror stories to yourself, though - I don't need any more anxiety over this, thanks. :biggrin5:
If you strike out on the engine hoist and you can put Fiona on a trailer.... Bring her down to my shop and we can snatch the engine out with my electric overhead crane....
Oh wow, I wish I was close enough to help. I've had the engines out and back into a few classic Mini's and I have an engine hoist! Don't fret, it's real easy to do. Dave
I like to think of it less as "fretting" and more of "sweating the details ahead of time" thank-you-very-much. What hoist do you have and what did it cost you? Given I'm helping a few people with (increasingly-heavy) motorcycle rebuilds lately I may just give up and invest in purchasing one, provided I can pack it away somewhere. I see lots of "gently used" ones all over Fleabay and CraigsList, too...
Only if you can get the MINI 4 feet in the air. A cherry picker is what I'd use. Matt you can probably pick up an engine crane cheaply for Harbor Freight. They have collapsible models that are easy to store.
With a cherry picker you can drop it out the bottom, then raise the car up over it - that's how I pull the motor out of my E-Type.....
where do I start. Matt you can always call or email and I will help out in anyway I can. I hope you know that. These Minis can be a pain sometimes and I hope to minimize that for you. I am taking my engine and trans out this winter also. I hope to maybe take it out on the 24th of this month. I am in the same stage you are at, taking everything off the engine. I am going to tag and bag everything to help when I put it back together. I am 90% sure we are going to pull it out the top since I can't hoist the car up that high in the garage (right now). I will be doing a lot or work to the sub frame since it will be easy to get to. I jacked my car up about 2 feet so it is easier to work on. If you need anything just call. I might not have the answer for you right away but I know a few people . I could stop by sometime with a brother in tow and maybe take a look and give you some advice. We are going to try to work on about 4 minis this winter. Mine is priority number 1 and put some performance stuff on the yellow one. We have two other that we hope to get on the road and just be drivers for right now. If you want to stop by my place and see what I got going on I can show you. My brother Darin just picked up a heater for me for the garage so I hope it will be nice in the coming months. I should have taken the Blue Mini apart sooner but I just kept driving it and now I feel behind a little bit. Good luck and if you need anything just call. Just keep tearing it down since the hard part is to fix the problems and put everything back together. I am driving mine down to NC for a Classic Minis United get together in April so I have to get the car back together asap. If you want some info about Classic Minis United then I will forward it on. Jason 917-549-2519
I have a portable heater that runs off of a standard BBQ LP tank you can borrow to warm up the garage.
are you talking to me? thanks if you are. I have a few heaters that run off of propane. My brother just picked up a unit for my garage so I should be good. thanks
I didn't read anywhere but when doing a job that requires removing many parts the tag and bag works well. But I find that taking detailed pictures helps a great deal. And lots of ginkgo biloba! :lol:
Just set up a web cam and record the whole process, data storage is cheap these days and you can then use the footage for other things, like seeing where you screwed up putting it back together
Well, here is a update. I pulled my engine yesterday out the top. We wanted to pull it out the bottom but I don't have the head room to lift the mini up that high in my garage. It really wasn't that bad but there was three of us. Matt. I recommended that you have three. We could have done it with two people but I see that it was easier with three of us. Matt if you need anything then give me a shout. I still need to take the bell housing apart to mount the engine on the stand but I got about 4 months until I need the car running, plenty of time hehe. I will post a picture sometime later.
I used a hoist to get it out. I don't think I would want to try to just use man power. It wasn't to bad, but you still have to pay attention . I just unbolted the exhaust so we had to move the engine around the exhaust .