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I've done several A-Series engines but all have been for Sprites - starting to tear into my first Mini engine so this is probably a stupid question. What keeps oil from leaking past the primary gear bushings and onto the clutch?

A lot will be flung out of the holes just behind the gear section, which are in board of the seal. The rest is down to the clearance of the bushes on the crank.

Thanks. That was going to be my guess. A very BMC way of handling it - don't use a seal, just give the oil somewhere else to go!

Early 850 Minis had a thinner tail crank and an oil fed primary gear via an oil feed hole in the crank tail and used white metal bearings, this caused a lot of clutch problems due to oil leaking onto the clutch so the later primary gear had oilite Deva bushes designed by Glacier to run without the oil feed. Dealer fix mods at the time added a brass plug to blank off the oil feed and fitted the primary gear with the new type of bushes, so few remain oil fed unless the owner now desires total originalty!

Sounds like I should be happy to have a 998 then!