1967 mkII

[AlbertaMiniac]

Greetings, all!

I must admit that I haven't been able to source a mkI for myself as of yet, these cars seem to be few and far between where I'm at here in western Canada, but I do have a few ongoing projects I'm trying to get put together.

This past weekend I picked up my 1967 mkII from the snowbank in which it was stored.

I've had this car for eight or nine years now, hoping to finally get cracking on building up an engine and getting started on the metal work this summer.

The car was more or less complete except it did not have an engine or much of an interior, I'm a little worried I won't be able to find some of the rarer bits such as the mkII badging, headliner frames, original steering wheel, but that's certainly a long ways off at the moment. It came with front and rear frames with hydrolastic suspension, doors, boot lid, bonnet, all the glass and some random spares. I believe it was originally island blue, hoping to be able to somewhat match that colour.

With the shell, I picked up a complete 998 engine; this was going to be built into a 1098 with a crank from another engine which unfortunately suffered a bit of a melt-down right before I bought it (but I did manage to get quite a few kilometers on it before I tore it down and found some mildly damaged pistons and some large chunks missing from one cylinder wall). After removing the head from the 998, I discovered that it had been full of water for years! Needless to say the engine is firmly seized up and in a bad state of rust. I'm optimistic for now that it may be saved, the cam follower bores are what I'm most concerned about as I believe that these cannot be oversized, is this correct?

I'm also currently trying to get my 69 Cooper road ready for the summer, some routine maintenance worked out on my daily driver '91 Mini and metal work accomplished on my 81 panel van, so progress on this '67 will be slow I'm sure but I hope that I'll be able to keep this going.

Thanks to everyone on this forum! It has been a great resource for me when working through the innumerable issues which I encounter with these cars!



-Donald

[roger mcnab]

hi may be they can be bored out larger and resized back to standard just a thought you would need some body with a good mill and skill to do this but could save a rare block or one that is scarce just need to make sure all oilways were re done there is no water ways in the area
a friend of mine taught school in yellow knife but has returned back to australia he also said something about baffin island as well
cheers roger mcnab

[mk1]

Looks like a good project!

I love the idea of it being stored in a "Snow bank"

I'm sure that some members will be able to help with parts or advice. My lad has travelled over to Western Canada a couple of times, I'm sure that in future, he would be happy to bring bits over if needs be.

[AlbertaMiniac]

Thanks for the replies!

I spent some time tearing the engine apart, looks like whomever had let it fill up with water had at least managed to get some thick grease into the cylinders so the water didn't make it's way down into the crankcase/gearbox. I will get it fully torn down by this weekend and hopefully be able to make a call if it is salvageable.

It certainly is not a rare block, so all that machining most likely will not be worth it. As a backup I have a lead on another A block or two and worst case I have a good condition A+ block that I will build up with the 1098 crank. I have +.040 pistons, SW5-07 cam and a few other bits on the way already. A 12G940 vs 12G202 debate has been ongoing for quite some time, but heavily leaning towards the 202 route, the 940 head I have has been skimmed quite a bit already and may not work due to compression.

For the body, I'm pricing out getting the required panels shipped over from England, boy do these things add up quickly!

Also in the past few days got some work done trying to fit a patch into the door step on my panel van - this car had been seriously molested by others in the past, many poorly installed patches and panels which is really complicating the process. Getting close with the mkII Cooper as well, trying to wire up an old Smiths tach which had come with it, fabricating a new exhaust manifold to remote change housing bracket and finalizing the headliner. Weather seems to be turning here lately so I'm eager to get it out and get the engine tuned up.

Yellow Knife and Baffin Island must have been quite the adventure, it's absolutely beautiful up there! I haven't made it up that far north as of yet, have been to the south side of Great Slave Lake (across from Yellow Knife) and over to Fort Smith and into the national park with my good friend in our minis. His car unfortunately decided it was time to snap the crankshaft deep into the park and we had to figure out how to make it the 1400km back home. Many miles of flat towing him, finding an acquaintance with a pickup truck then renting a trailer did the trick but it was quite the time.

That's very interesting that your lad has been out this way a few times! What brings him out this way, if you don't mind me asking? I would be absolutely overjoyed if he would be able to bring a thing or two over!!


Thanks again!

[AlbertaMiniac]

I'm having a tough time figuring out what badging should have come with these cars originally, are the ones pictured the correct for the boot lid and bonnet on a non-cooper mkII? Would there be anything else other than the 1000 badge on the corner of the boot?

Also wondering what the original mirrors would have been on these cars, were they all wing style mirrors?

I am a relatively young person so haven't been exposed to much originality on these.

Thanks!

[mk1]

The badges are correct for a MK2 Austin Mini.

It may be worth investigating some of the US suppliers for panels, it may be cheaper than shipping from the UK.

[Tagus]

Hi Donald,
I'm a neighbour next door in BC. There is a good chance I have an engine or parts for your project(s). You can email me at tagusgreen@gmail.com.
Ron

[AlbertaMiniac]

Right on, Ron! I'll shoot you an email, I'm always interested in picking up any odds and ends if I can. Will you be at the Victoria meet this summer? I'm going to be there with a few other local mini enthusiasts.

Thank again, Mark! I've bought panels from the US before, but given that, from what I can tell, they seem to just buy from Mini Spares then mark it up the prices don't quite make it worthwhile; shipping isn't a whole lot less from the states unfortunately.

[Tagus]

MMW Victoria - you bet!
Das IMM 2020 - yes sir! (hopefully this virus doesn't change plans)

[AlbertaMiniac]

Managed to get the engine torn down. Pistons were well stuck, but with enough persuasion they were eventually removed from the block.

There is quite a buildup of rust on the cylinder walls, but it hasn't been bored over in the past and there doesn't seem to be much damage beyond the rust I'm optimistic that this will be a good candidate for a +.040 rebore job.

The followers came out very easily after soaking for a few days in penetrating lubricant and they all appear to be in good shape.

I am very surprised that the water was strictly contained to the cylinders themselves and did not leak down into the crankcase - everything else was in good shape such as the clutch/flywheel, con rods, crankshaft, camshaft, gearbox, etc.

[roger mcnab]

hi well you were lucky to get it all apart nice and easy my rover v8 the pistons were stuck that bad i had to belt them out with a bar and 8 lb hammer then try and turn the crank as well but with some tapping on the counter weights it slowly turned so the other rods could be un done
the oil had grit in it and was probably the original 50 year old oil thick and stinky
well hard graft will win out eventually
cheers roger mcnab

[AlbertaMiniac]

Well I wouldn't say it was nice or easy, your experience sounds very similar to mine, loads of heavy hammering and followed by a period of time picking up the small broken piston pieces.

The weather finally is turning around here and snow has begun to melt, I shortly will be able to get the '69 Cooper out of the garage and transition into picking away at the '67. I have begun amassing some new and used panels to start off the metal-work process and just about have all the parts for the engine, just need to do a bit more measurement checks on the crank and con rods before taking it to a machinist.

Here are a couple pictures of the "quick and easy floor pan and A-panel repair" which turned into quite the task (as these things usually do).