1965 Morris Mini - From NZ to the UK!

[W1NG3D]

Well, that was an unexpected turn of events!

I sold my 2006 JCW on Friday afternoon, so I made my way to the garage to collect the Mk1 to use as a runabout while hunting for a new daily. Of course, it decided on the way home that this would be the perfect time to lose compression on cylinder 4, spit out some coolant, and start to get a little hot...



All signs pointed to head gasket failure, so rather than risk driving the rest of the way home, I opted to wait for recovery and got it towed instead. Better safe than sorry!

I got started on Saturday morning - the bonnet was removed so I could crack on with draining fluids and unbolting various gubbins to remove the head.



Carbs were first up, I got to work disconnecting the fuel line along with the choke & throttle cables after getting the rocker cover out of the way.



I opted to remove them separately from the manifold, this proved to be much easier than trying to take the entire inlet assembly off in one go as I've done previously.



Slowly but surely, my parking space started to look like a bit of a junkyard



Once the fluids were drained, it wasn't much longer before the rocker assembly, pushrods and cylinder head were removed.



Lo and behold, suspicions were well and truly confirmed - the gasket had completely gone between cylinders 3 and 4. Oh dear!



All of the residue and gunk was cleaned up, and a new Payen BK450 gasket was fitted ready for everything to go back together. It was nice to see that the bores were in good condition with the cross hatch marks still visible, and I was also able to verify that the head was very much of the big valve variety!



Just like they say in the manuals, "refitting is simply the reverse of removal", and just like magic it's now looking like a complete engine again...



After torquing the head down and topping off the fluids with fresh oil & coolant, it fired right up and sounded lovely! It was run up to temperature and thoroughly checked for leaks, before the carbs were checked for balance and mixture. It turns out they were pretty much spot on, and I suspect that the head gasket must've been on its way out for some time before finally blowing on Friday - I've been struggling with erratic idle and part throttle driveability for a little while, but this has now been completely cured.

A good 50 miles of gentle motorway driving allowed everything to bed in, after which the head was checked and retorqued as required. A quick check of the plugs verified a good fuel mixture, and the power delivery is now lovely and smooth right through the rev range, so everything is now working as expected.



These cars sure know when to pick their moments, but thanks to some decent weather and some helpful friends offering me gasket sets and tools to borrow, it wasn't too much hassle to fix in the end. The joys of classic Mini ownership!

[IslandBlue]

Great news, always good when a fix turns out to to be straightforward with no unexpected issues!

Also reassuring to have a nose around those parts that you wouldn't normally get to see and confirm all's well.

[Philsa]

Excellent job.
Love the set of twin HS4 carbs.
May you have many more happy miles.

[Kay1]

Yea nice one. What plugs you running?

[W1NG3D]

Thanks all!

Yea nice one. What plugs you running?

I run BP7ES plugs with this engine, which it seems to run very happily on.

[roger mcnab]

hi mate
when i had my mk1 eons ago it could be relied upon to break down at the worst place and time it seems to be in their dna
i once had the return hose for the oil cooler burst in the middle of nowhere in the dark luckly the feed hose could reach the block and was connected so i could get home
cheers roger

[W1NG3D]

I took the mini out for what might be its last major public appearance this year, with an enjoyable trip to Goodwood Revival yesterday. Similarly to last year I parked in the pre-'66 area with other lovely classics, not far from a couple of Radfords.

This was particularly special as my dad is currently visiting from New Zealand, and it's the first time I've seen him in a few years thanks to the pandemic, so it was fantastic to bring him and my brother along in the classic to enjoy some vintage racing and everything else that the Revival has to offer.

This also marks a year since I first got the car back on the road with the replacement engine!







The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice that the GB Car Rally badge has been refitted to the centre of the grille, which has some sentimental value and looks right at home on the front of the car.

I do hope to get out and about for a drive at least a couple more times before the weather takes a real turn for the worse, but as we inevitably head toward those colder winter months, I'm starting to think about what jobs I might consider tackling during the Mini's hibernation period.

I quite fancy smartening up the interior with a full carpet set and potentially getting the seats retrimmed, and I'll likely also look to get the wheels, roof rack and spare grille all blasted and powdercoated, with some fresh tyres fitted afterwards. All of this naturally requires funding so it may take some time, but with winter coming, at least I'll be able to have the car off the road for a while if needed.

[W1NG3D]

It's been a busy month, so I've still not had the car out or done any tinkering since Goodwood. I'm hoping to get out for a local meet this Wednesday, as no doubt it'll be one of my last opportunities to enjoy the car in reasonable weather and on salt-free roads.

That said, I'm sure I'll still be spending plenty of time working on the car over the cooler months. In addition to the list of jobs I've come up with in the previous post, I've also acquired this rather lovely KAD internal linkage kit with the fancy lift-collar reverse lockout mechanism.







It's ideal for my application as it's already had custom bracketry made up for a Mk1 floorpan, and will fit to my rod change box neatly through the existing magic wand hole. It even came with the appropriate magic wand gaiter and surround, so I should have everything I need to bolt it straight in.

I will repaint the blue bracket into Almond Green to match the rest of the car, and also need to make up a blanking plate for the soon-to-be-defunct remote hole, which should make for a rather tidy installation I hope. This is how it looked in the last car it was fitted to, and it's making me think twice about fitting a full carpet set now

[mini_surfari]

I've got one in my car with a carpet... just for thought.

https://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=6 ... ilit=66ish

[Peter Laidler]

Just thinking out aloud, but is there any reason to fit an expensive KAD remote over a well tried, tested, easy available, reliable, underfloor, standard or later rod change. I've seen two later rod-change types fitted to old lever Mk2 850's. In fact I helped my pal do his over one day last Summer! All the rear fitting kit is available as I recall

[W1NG3D]

I've got one in my car with a carpet... just for thought.

https://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=6 ... ilit=66ish

Ooh, that does look rather nice to be fair! Definitely food for thought.

Just thinking out aloud, but is there any reason to fit an expensive KAD remote over a well tried, tested, easy available, reliable, underfloor, standard or later rod change. I've seen two later rod-change types fitted to old lever Mk2 850's. In fact I helped my pal do his over one day last Summer! All the rear fitting kit is available as I recall

I already have a later rod change fitted under the floor, and it works okay. However the Minispares rear bracket kit isn't great (the supplied rubber bobbins completely sheared apart as soon as I tightened them up!), and I've not been able to get it mounted optimally alongside my larger-than-standard exhaust sharing the same space. Yes the KAD lever is expensive, but a) I bought this second-hand so far cheaper than new, and b) it's a nice bit of kit that'll make the car feel a bit more special. So I'm rather keen to fit it with all that in mind

[Fanfaniracing]

I would fit tve Same Kit in my Car if modified to Rod Change.

Makes the Gear Lever sitting a bit higher and making the Gear change more comfortable

[minibitz]

I fitted one of those to a customers car a month or so back.

Can see the idea behind it as far as stick location. Our customer wanted to fit a larger exhaust and mount it higher up in the tunnel which was the reasoning for fitting the kit.

In practise selection is super notchy, like all quickshift setups only worse due to the additional drag in the universal joints and mount bracket could be designed better as there is minimal clearance for handbrake lever.

Lots of faffing around for an "improvement" that at the end of it all wasn't an improvement at all.

[W1NG3D]

I fitted one of those to a customers car a month or so back.

Can see the idea behind it as far as stick location. Our customer wanted to fit a larger exhaust and mount it higher up in the tunnel which was the reasoning for fitting the kit.

In practise selection is super notchy, like all quickshift setups only worse due to the additional drag in the universal joints and mount bracket could be designed better as there is minimal clearance for handbrake lever.

Lots of faffing around for an "improvement" that at the end of it all wasn't an improvement at all.

That's interesting to hear Lee - I was wondering about the bracket's proximity to the handbrake myself, will have to see how it all comes together once I get it fitted.

[minibitz]

Hey Jack, the kit we were given had a thick washer/spacer supplied with the intention of using it between the lever and lever mount to space the lever away from shifter housing bracket. It worked.....just. Still need to keep an eye out for lever being full down.

As the car we were working on had race seats fitted there wasn't really anywhere else to go with it. On a road car I think we would take time to come up with a better solution.

[W1NG3D]

Hey Jack, the kit we were given had a thick washer/spacer supplied with the intention of using it between the lever and lever mount to space the lever away from shifter housing bracket. It worked.....just. Still need to keep an eye out for lever being full down.

As the car we were working on had race seats fitted there wasn't really anywhere else to go with it. On a road car I think we would take time to come up with a better solution.

It looks like the bracket on my setup has already been modified to better suit the Mk1's round tunnel floorpan, so I'll have to get it all in place to see how it fits, and work out if any further refinements can be made - as mine is very much a road car I'd like it to remain nice and usable. Fortunately, I'll have a fair amount of time over the coming winter months to tinker as I'm not keen on having it out on salty roads!

[W1NG3D]

The latest edition of Mini Magazine got released today, so naturally I had to grab a few copies off the shelf as the Mk1 has been included as a featured car



I also ordered a framed collage of prints from the photographer who did the shoot for the magazine, which arrived yesterday evening. Great timing for the release of the magazine!

[850RS]

Congrats!!! Your Mini looks great! I may need to try to find a copy.

[CaliforniaMk1]

I like both the originality and personality of your car. Well done making it yours while keeping it right.
Mike.

[snoopy64]

Had a read today.. nice feature, great pictures