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Hello Everyone,i have a 1275 engine,11 stud head with a 1275 tag under the manifold,engine number12H/199/2**,i was told it came from a very early Riley Kestral and were a similar spec to the Cooper s engine,Can anyone clear this up,Thanks in advance,

I thought Kestrels were 1100, that sounds more like a 1300GT type of unit.

the early kestrels were 1100 but they changed to 1275 at some later date,and the story is they were a lot faster than the gt,anyway i was told if it had the 1275 tag on the back it would be a cooper s but its probably only hearsay from an old timer i spoke to,Thanks just now,Cheers dillorto

dillorto wrote:the early kestrels were 1100 but they changed to 1275 at some later date

I think Riley dropped the Kestrel name though ? The 1300GT engine was similar in some respects to the late 1275 S but different in so many ways, ie block, crank, rods etc etc.

Yup, sounds like a 1300GT to me too.

Good engine, but not an S by any stretch of the imagination. Early 1300's did sport a 1275 tag on the back of the block.

Great Stuff Guys,Thanks very much,Now i can get to the job in hand which is to strip to bare metal and start rebuilding my MK1 1960 mini seven,front end missing because the previous owner put on a fibre glass clubman front in 1972 which will have to be removed and replaced with the best panels i can find,so if anyone has advice about parts suppliers for this job i would be very much obliged,i have been toying with idea of buying a soda blaster but dont know if they are any good,or just use the old angle grinder wire wheel method,which i have used in the past but its not ideal,anyway thanks again, Norman, way up in Montrose, Angus

was this car on ebay? - there was a white mark one with a clubby front that looked quite good.


a soda blaster is a great idea, but unless you have about 5 grand to spend on a proper one (and a huge compressor and very forgiving neigbours) its a no go.

i bought one of the small 'miller' type ones of ebay and its brilliant for carbs and little bits, but it would be like trying to colour a car in with a felt tip pen if you attempted to soda blast a shell with it!

its well worth paying to have the car done though by someone with the proper gear, it will come back distortion free, clean and read to prime up with no secrets. id never, ever consider wasting time trying to strip the paint off a car using paint stripper or flap wheels or anything like that - for the cost its just not worth the hours it takes!

you should leave the flip front on - mark ones with plaggy fronts are the way forwards!!!

Thanks for the advice,soda blaster is now off the shopping list,this mini was on ebay but it is brown,tatty and was in perth,i was thinking if i left the clubman front on it might retract from the originallity and the true value when restored but i am always open to new ideas and it would certainly save a lot on the cost of a front panel/wings etc.i tried to upload photos but it keeps telling me the file is to big and im not that freindly with computers,Thanks Again,norman

dillorto wrote: i tried to upload photos but it keeps telling me the file is to big and im not that freindly with computers,Thanks Again,norman

Alls you got to do Norman is right-click the image. Left click 'edit'. Resize down to about 1200 x...whatever and it'll upload to photobucket and such easy peasy.

i think the photo might be on

looks like a good little project!

Out of the ado16 engines, the MG 1300 mk11 comes out tops, followed by the late Riley Kestrel 1300 engines. And since you say it is 11 stud and bolt, it is big valved, twin carbed, but does it have the funny long centre branch manifold that gave it eventually 70bhp, with standard twin 1¼ SU Carbs? Sounds it has. All Austin/Morris 1300GTs had the funny long centre branch exhaust manifolds, by the way, and 70bhp standard.

yes it does have the long manifold,i took the head off today and it has the big valves with double valve springs,sounds like its descent 1275 engine to put in a late mini for a bit of fun,Thanks Meantime,Norman