After lots of delays due to health issues and a trip to the Mini Meet East Meets West in Colorado, I'm back working on the Inno. Installed the crank, cam, lifters and oil pump, then the front cover. Installed one piston assembly so I could set the cam timing. Pistons now come to about 5 thou of the top of the block, just as they should! I had ordered a 2* offset key for the cam, and with it in the timing checks at exactly 106.5*….as my goal was 106-107, I'd say I'm there! Next up I'll install the rest of the pistons and double check the rod bearing clearance - I already checked the mains. If they're as they should be I'll torque everything up and assemble the rest of the motor. More as it happens....
Well, better......but still a long ways to go. I'm still really limited on what I can do, but thanks for the comment Dave. More progress..... Once the cam was timed in I installed the locking tab, torqued the nut, installed the gasket and cover and the front pulley, locking tab and bolt. With that done I stood it back up on the blocks and made sure the top of the block was completely clean, then ran the new studs into the block. Added the copper head gasket and fit the head.... installed the washers and nuts and cinched it all down. It's not torqued down yet as I'll need someone to hold the block while I torque the nuts. Note too that the 11th stud is actually a 5/16" bolt. I also need to look at the positioning of the rocker arms and make sure there's no interference with the stands and that the arms are centered as much as possible over the valve stems. I may have to pull them off again and add a shim or two before I'm done. But...….progress.
I didn't like the way the bypass hose (the rubber bellows style) fit, so since I hadn't torqued the head down yet I went ahead and pulled the head up and replaced it with a cut to size chunk of silicone hose. Much better fit now and it should last forever. The only way you can do this with the head torqued down is to remove the water pump. I had to notch the edges of the valve cover for clearance for the head nuts and bolt - I also had to notch out the cork gasket to fit. I was going to use a silicone gasket but I did not want to try and take a notch out of it.....
Thanks, no sense in doing a half way job when you're stuck into it this far. Sill, I know guys that put them together with dirty parts, ugly nuts and bolts etc.....I'm sure those engines run just as well as this one will, but I just can't do that (Edd China)
In my experience those bellow style bypass hoses don't last. What you have done is perfect. Really enjoying your build Dave.
Today's jobs..... Torqued the cylinder head and adjusted the valve clearances to 15 thou.....I put the old valve cover back on as I don't have any new seals for the aluminum cover. One of the problems with the carb/manifold setup used on the Inno was there were no locating tangs, holes, studs or anything else to center the manifold to the cylinder head - so I took the carbs off the manifold and drilled some 1/8" holes for some roll pins, transferred to the gasket and used that to locate the pins to the cylinder head. I then drilled the head (carefully, the holes are aimed right at the pushrod tubes) and checked the fit - looks really good. That should make it easy to install the manifold accurately once the engine is in the car. Some more boxes ticked. Seems like progress is really slow, but between my back and the other things I have to do (mowed the south 40 today too) I'm going about as quickly as I can. I hope to have it pretty much done by the end of July as most of it is assembly at this point, I'm sure there will be delays as I find bits I need.
This was the manifold as I took it off the car, you can see that it wasn't lined up to the ports at all, now it will be in line and stay in line.
This is going to be a great Mini! Great tread @Minidave Thanks for taking the time to post your work.
OK, all caught up after two days of intense reading. I'm new to the forum, new to classic minis and just got my hands on an '73 Inno 1300 Export. We have a mutual friend, John McGee over here near Annapolis. Any chance you want to do all this to my mini? I promise it won't be half the headache. I think mine is all original.
The soonest that could happen is next year, but there is one thing you could do for me - I'll send you a PM.
New seatbelts installed, next up I'll put padding and sound deadening for the carpet on the floor, then install the carpets, then I can install the inner seat belt anchors. The engine is ready to go back on the transmission, basic timing and valve adjustments done. Once I get the transmission rebuilt I can marry them up and set it in the engine stand for its first test runs. That will be a big day in the life of this Inno! Can't wait to hear it make some noise.....
More electrical success, the horn now works from the steering wheel (with a jumper, we haven't found a horn button yet - well, we have but he wants stupid money for it, still looking for one with a reasonable price) all of the headlights work correctly from the switch on the column, the parking lights work correctly, both in the headlights and in the T/S assy's, the turn signals work, dash lights work including the low fuel light and I found the wire in the loom for the reverse lights and once powered up they work too. As this has a switch on the transmission instead of the shifter, I'll have to run the loom out to the gearbox, but that's an easy chore. All of the gauges work so far, I still have to test the oil press, speedo and water temp and the tach will have to wait till the engine's in. I left the extra power wire off the ignition switch in the car so if we want a lighter socket adaptor for Garmin, dash cam or phone charger power it's there, but I'm not going to add one of those sockets just yet (originality and all that) the car does have a working cig lighter so we can always power them from that with an adaptor. The only thing I discovered that doesn't work is the dome light, and I found the wire for the door switches broken, so that's an easy repair too and I'll have that done today. I was at the upholsterer's on Friday and the seats are almost done and do look terrific. Rear is all done, bottoms of both fronts were done and he was working on the backrests, so I'll go ahead now and start installing the interior fittings. with the seatbelts done so I can go ahead with carpet pad and carpets. Slowly coming together.....
Got tired of chasing electrical gremlins and ordered a new wiring harness for the Inno today. I kept finding problems and fixing them only to have something else quit working. I was surprised that anyone even HAD a wiring harness for it - complete and brandy new for about $350 shipped. It's on it's way now.....
3 steps forward, 2 back, one sideways..... In the meantime both my other Mini/MINIs are running great, the green car is running as well as it ever has - yesterday I replaced the tire that got a flat going over Loveland Pass on the way to Snowmass last month. The patch job they did was good, and it ran another 1200 miles before I changed it, I'll keep it as a just in case tire....