Project The Austin 2dr 1100 story - Part IV - Now in sharleys hands

[xkjagnz]

I get 1.5 stainless offcuts and 1mm galv from the scra bin at my local industrial estate (a fireplace shop)

[catsinthewelder]

That Austin has quite a lot of filing cabinet and office desk metal in its floors, sills and bulkhead.

 

I did buy some metal once but that was because I needed a 6' length of 3mm to make an inner sill for the Disco.  I popped round to the local fabricators and exchanged cash for a few things from the offcuts pile.  Buying an 8x4 sheet sounds like a massive PITA to transport and store.

 

If the metal that you have is galvanised just grind it off,  make sure to grind it back at least an inch from where you are welding on both sides and wear a mask.

[Eddie Honda]

Buying an 8x4 sheet sounds like a massive PITA to transport and store.

 

Sounds? It is!

 

[SiC]

That Austin has quite a lot of filing cabinet and office desk metal in its floors, sills and bulkhead.

 

I did buy some metal once but that was because I needed a 6' length of 3mm to make an inner sill for the Disco. I popped round to the local fabricators and exchanged cash for a few things from the offcuts pile. Buying an 8x4 sheet sounds like a massive PITA to transport and store.

 

If the metal that you have is galvanised just grind it off, make sure to grind it back at least an inch from where you are welding on both sides and wear a mask.

Yeah I've noticed that already.

 

Useful to know that about the galvanised stuff. It looks like the offcut bits I bought off eBay contain alot of galvanized bits.

 

While you're reading this thread cats, do you remember what the outcome was on the oil pressure on this engine? In your old threads (about 7years ago now...) you mention that the oil pressure light flicked on and you did some stuff to the engine. Do you remember what you did?

 

If/when I pull the engine, I intend to replace the oil pump anyway. If you've done the oil pressure relief valve then I won't bother changing it too.

[catsinthewelder]

I bought a new pressure switch from Minispares and fitted it around the time it came off the road.

 

Unfortunately the battery died shortly afterwards followed by the starter so I can't remember having it running after that.

 

If it idles without the oil light being on then it probably worked.

[purplebargeken]

1500 Dolomites do the same thing re: flickering oil light. New filter (non-return type) and new oil with some STP oil treatment is the prescribed course of action.

[vulgalour]

It does idle without the oil light coming on or flickering.  Or it did when I had it running last at any rate.

[SiC]

Unfortunately I've only just managed to get out now and start fiddling, as my other half really wanted the fish tank moving today.

 

First order of business was starting the lump. Did a bit of prep like filling up the coolant, check oil, add a splash of oil to the top end, clamp the fuel filter down and fill up the dash pot first.

[Video]

 

If you can't be bothered to watch five minutes of me rambling on, here is when I started it the second time with less talking.

[Video]

 

That engine is certainly a good-un! Puts my tappy MGB to shame.

 

Next up was something that's been really bugging me. This car has two ignition switches.

 

I guess because the key is missing on the column, the second one was added. I wanted to take the column lock off so I can at least have a chance to see if I can find a replacement. Looks a bit different to what's available for Minis unfortunately.

 

It appears someone has been at this before trying to remove it.

 

I dug out my battery powered cheapo Audi Aldi mini tool and set to the security bolts.

 

A short while later.

 

The steering lock bit pushes into this cut out.

 

Not sure what to do next. I think I might jack her up and start prepping for engine removal.

[SiC]

I think I'll need a new rear view mirror too.

[cort16]

I buy mine from a local steel yard . Ive still got tons of it but I wish I’d covered it in oil as it’s all gone rusty . If you’re going to get right into it maybe a jig for spinning it over would be in order?

[Eddie Honda]

I think I'll need a new wing mirror too.

Is/was it attached to a wing? Then it is NOT a wing mirror

 

#pedantsunday

[SiC]

I have seriously considered a rollover jig. Unfortunately my budget at the moment is a bit blown with all the welding stuff I've bought recently. I don't think there is too much that I need to get all underneath for.

 

She's currently jacked up and I've started removing bits ready for the engine pull.

 

I jacked up at the front of the subframe, as I couldn't get my jack elsewhere easily. Plus I think behind the engine is the gearbox selector and I didn't want to risk cracking the sump by lifting it there either.

 

 

One of the bottom of the subframe is missing a chunk compared to the other side. I guess maybe ripped off when someone jacked it up at the wrong point previously?

 

This car will never be a show beauty queen. Well it could, but it'd be a triggers broom. I quite like the fact I don't need to worry too much about getting things perfect - unlike the MGB where it'll mess it up if I don't.

[SiC]

Is/was it attached to a wing? Then it is NOT a wing mirror

 

#pedantsunday

I meant rear view mirror. Typo.

[MikeKnight]

Awesome, nice to see you've really started digging in. Kudos on the ignition switch.

 

It's a nice engine on this one, started first time without a problem once I sorted the ignition wiring out.

[SiC]

I had to start this one up, just so I could compare it to my MGB. I'm now worried that there maybe something wrong with my MGB engine.

[SiC]

So I carried on with pulling bits off, ready for the engine pull. Unfortunately I seem to have forgotten to take some pictures, so hopefully you can imagine some of the ones I've missed.

 

First order of business was removing this bonnet catch. I must have de-brained myself on this half a dozen times already. Blinking hurts!

 

The battery tray was next out. 4 nuts in the inner wing and the tray pulled right out without a fight. Then it was the turn of the clutch slave. For this, I undid the two mounting bolts and ziptied it out of the way.

 

Next up was the radiator. There is a bracket up top with 4 bolts and a bracket down below that has one bolt holding the radiator on. The hose on the bottom of the radiator was putting up a proper fight. Ended up having to take it off the other end on the water pump and push the pipe down to drain. Didn't spill too much and could wash the little bit I spilt away. I'm mega cautious as I really don't want my little cat drinking any split anti freeze.

 

One the system drained, the radiator simply pulled out. The bottom hose turned out to have it's pipe clamp rusted siezed. I used a pair of pliers to pull the remaining bits off.

 

I gave the radiator a proper good flush out with the hose. There is these weird hard crystal bits up at the top that I have no idea what they were. I guess it's something that old coolant has crystallised up?

 

Coolant was disgusting.

 

At this point the engine bay looked like this.

 

Now I had to disconnect the driveshafts. I was a bit worried about this as there are two designs. One is a 4 legged rubber thing that has u-clamps around. I think the same that the mini uses. Another design is shafts that go directly into the differential. This looked a far more of a pain to remove.

 

Luckily for me it was the 4 legged spider thing. Looks like this:

https://www.minispares.com/image.axd?type=product&picture=350/GCD101.jpg

 

The left side just required two u-clamps removing, then it could have the coupling pushed over. Forgot to take a picture of it undone but you can see the nuts to be undone here.

 

Drivers side was a bit more of a pain, because for whatever reason the design is slightly different and you can't push the driveshaft back. So you had to remove all 4 u-clamps. To be fair, none of the bolts put up a fight at all.

 

Here it is all loose. It doesn't look like it's possible to really replace these without pulling the engine. So I'll have to give them a good inspection and change if necessary.

 

One thing these a-series have is a big extension on the gear linkage. Very different to modern cars where they simply bend a few cables around. Haynes and the BMC workshop manual differ on what to do here. Haynes say remove completely, while BMC say leave it hanging. As I am going to be welding in that area, I elected to just remove it entirely.

 

Undo the gear gaiter. Two screws up top. Gear stick pulls straight out. Then two bolts to release the backend mount.

 

Next was 4 bolts on the transmission end to undo. Only one bolt fought and naturally it was the one that was the most difficult to get to. The two spanner trick gave enough leverage to shift it.

 

The jack stand was so I could undo the bolts without it crashing to the ground and cracking the casting.

 

Once this was all undone, the gear change mechanism simply dropped away. Not very heavy piece either.

 

I'll need to source and replace the rubber mount here as it's all cracked up and letting dirt in. Will be easy to change once the engine is pulled out. I'm hoping this will just be a standard part that is the same as used on Minis.

 

I left my most feared job to nearly last. Removing the exhaust was something that I knew would be siezed and stuck.

 

First off was to loosen the bracket holding the exhaust to the transmission. I didn't undo it all the way, to save it crashing down.

Rubbish photo, but you can just see the nut behind the sump holding the exhaust.

 

Next up was the clamp itself. This had the carb return spring attached to it too. So the first nut held that, which came off fine. I didn't take a chance on the clamping nut and so used my impact driver (basically a weak impact wrench) to loosen it off. Without too much fight it came undone. Clamp pretty much came away at this point.

 

Unexpectedly the exhaust was pretty much now free. Just undid the nut on the transmission bracket completely and a single bolt that holds the exhaust on at the tail end and slid the exhaust from under the car.

 

Finally I then removed all the other bits like air filter, starter connection, earth, alternator connection and a few pipes.

 

Only things left is to label up the remaining electrical connections, disconnect them, disconnect the fuel lines and remove the bonnet. I've undone the back engine mount bolt, so I can remove that up top with my fingers. Front and gearbox side mounts are easily able to get from up top.

 

Got a box full of bits, ready to go back on when the welding is done.

 

All I need now is an engine crane and the mounting hooks for the top of the engine! I shouldn't need to jack it up to get it out of there. Hopefully a straightforward job...

 

I have to say, it's an absolute joy to work on this car (so far). Plenty of room around components, very simple, uncomplicated design and logical. The parts are pretty light and easy to move around without straining yourself. Despite the rust on the body, none of the fixings were really that siezed up either.

 

If anything it went all a bit too easily and quickly. Makes me suspicious that I've got a proper fight in store coming soon. Probably the welding!

[vulgalour]

That bloody bonnet catch, literally!  Got me and Mike a few times and I daresay it's claimed the scalps of all the previous owners too.  That coolant will be at least 7 years old, I didn't get as far as flushing that out, so it's not that surprising to see it so grim in there.  I think a lot of the good on this car is because for pretty much its entire life its been in regular use until the last couple of years and every owner has done enough to keep it going until a job too big came along and it was moved to the next owner.  Unfortunately, that seems to have been at the expense of the bodywork, but it's a 70s car, so it's pretty much par for the course.

 

Interested to see what you find when the engine comes out.  Hopefully nothing too intimidating is hiding.

[PhilA]

That crystalline gunge is a combination of antifreeze coupled with the small number of alloy pieces in the cooling system reacting over the years.

 

It should all flush out. It really likes to block up heaters too, and you'll often find it looking like a bad angiogram picture in the heater valve, thermostat housing and other small-bore coolant pipes.

 

Invest in pipe cleaner brushes

 

 

Phil

[BeEP]

Sorry to be a know-it-all after the event, but a couple of points to bare in mind ..

 

Take the whole bonnet off!  I know what you mean about the catch, but I've never managed to lift an engine out of one without removing the bonnet anyway.

 

The radiator etc can stay attached until the engine is out; it's easier to sort the bottom hose etc afterwards.

 

The gearbox to gearchange rubber 'mount' is different to mini.  If you get stuck I think I have a spare spare new one.

 

I know you said you'll be removing electrical bits first, but if nothing else remove the distributor cap first.  Because of the gearchange extension lump on the back of the gearbox the engine/box needs to tilt to come out and the dizzy cap will inevitably hit the bottom of the slam panel.  It's easier if you have the correct bracket which attaches to the head bolts and is desiigned to ensure the engine tilts as it comes up, but easy enough to manilpulate it without.

 

The driveshaft rubber couplings can be replaced with the engine in situ by splitting top (or bottom) balljoints to allow the driveshaft to move outwards sufficiently (although obviously replacing them with the engine out makes perfect sense here).

 

Good luck with it; I'm enjoying the updates.

[Geep]

And make sure you have a hoist that goes up high. Engine and gearbox below makes for a tall lump. 

[SiC]

Sorry to be a know-it-all after the event, but a couple of points to bare in mind ..

No don't worry! I'm new to this, so I'm likely to make errors. Nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious, especially with me. As my wife often attests to me.

 

Take the whole bonnet off!  I know what you mean about the catch, but I've never managed to lift an engine out of one without removing the bonnet anyway.

Yeah, both Haynes and the Workshop manual says take the bonnet off too. I've left it on for now as the car is left outside, as its likely I'd get rain/bird poo/cats under my bonnet. I'll need to give the hinge mount a tickle with the welder too, as the metal has cracked a bit and the bonnet catches on the body at the back.

 

The radiator etc can stay attached until the engine is out; it's easier to sort the bottom hose etc afterwards.

Thats good to know. I wasn't sure, so I removed it anyway as its one less thing to crash into the body and damage when pulling the lump. I also don't have a crane yet, so I'm just finding stuff to do until I get that. Its out now anyway. I'll probably put it back on before I put the engine back in again.

 

The gearbox to gearchange rubber 'mount' is different to mini.  If you get stuck I think I have a spare spare new one.

Good to know. That's why I couldn't find it on any of the Mini parts sites then! There is a NOS one that has popped up on eBay for £30+postage which I thought was a bit on the pricey side. My original plan was to clean it up and mash a whole load of TigerSeal in between the sandwich halves.

 

I know you said you'll be removing electrical bits first, but if nothing else remove the distributor cap first.  Because of the gearchange extension lump on the back of the gearbox the engine/box needs to tilt to come out and the dizzy cap will inevitably hit the bottom of the slam panel.  It's easier if you have the correct bracket which attaches to the head bolts and is desiigned to ensure the engine tilts as it comes up, but easy enough to manilpulate it without.

All the cables (apart from the earth and starter feeds) I've left on last night, but my plan is to attack them with the label maker before disconnecting them. Otherwise I'll completely forget what went where knowing me!

 

I've ordered a pair of these to put on the head bolts, as it was all that I was aware of:

 

Was there something better I can get?

 

I'll try and remember to remove that dizzy cap! Also try remembering to label the leads, to make it easier to get the lead order right again.

 

The driveshaft rubber couplings can be replaced with the engine in situ by splitting top (or bottom) balljoints to allow the driveshaft to move outwards sufficiently (although obviously replacing them with the engine out makes perfect sense here).

 

Good luck with it; I'm enjoying the updates.

Useful to know. Do you reckon its worth replacing them? I'll inspect anyway of course, but I've read that bad things can happen as they break up. There is also the QL5000 part that is an upgrade on the Minis. Quite expensive, so is it worth it?

 

Thanks!

[egg]

Great start, and stealth y tho. Keep it up.

 

[Mally]

Regarding steel, this is a place I use for a lot of things. Mainly because it's just round the corner.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-Mild-Steel-Sheet-Metal-9-1-2-1-5-2-0-3-0-mm-Guillotine-Folder-Press-Brake/272299943601?var=571131868275&hash=item3f665766b1:m:mRdvfbMMOAPAcEvQsYiNlKQ

[BeEP]

Good to know. That's why I couldn't find it on any of the Mini parts sites then! There is a NOS one that has popped up on eBay for £30+postage which I thought was a bit on the pricey side. My original plan was to clean it up and mash a whole load of TigerSeal in between the sandwich halves.

 

Agree £30 + p&p is pricey; I think even Earlpart used to sell then for less than that!  I'll have a look and if I have a surplus spare you can have it for £15 inc p&p if you want/need it.

 

I've ordered a pair of these to put on the head bolts, as it was all that I was aware of:

s-l16001.jpg

 

Was there something better I can get?

 

Those are all I've got and I've removed loads of ado16 and Allegro engines with them.  The bracket I referred to was I think a BMC service tool.  A friend of mine has one, but it's the only one I've seen.  It does make it easier with remote change boxes like yours, but certainly not essential.

 

Useful to know. Do you reckon its worth replacing them? I'll inspect anyway of course, but I've read that bad things can happen as they break up. There is also the QL5000 part that is an upgrade on the Minis. Quite expensive, so is it worth it?

 

If they are the original rubber type then yes, I'd replace them.  They can break up, and even before complete failure the resultant play can lead to holes appearing in the gearbox.  I've only driven one in this condition and the noise is pretty obvious; but in my earlier years of 1100 ownership I knew of a few where the first time the owner realised anything was wrong was when all the oil escaped!

 

The uprated needle roller type (QL5000) last longer but do transmit more harshness.  I'd stick with the original rubber type, unless you're planning on serious mileage.  If you do go for the needle roller type, if any of the cups come off the yoke (quite likely as you try to get all four U-bolts in) keep an eagle eye on the needles; at best they'll fall out of position within the cup, at worst they'll end up on the floor.

[SiC]

I've seen this:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F172229711202

Looks nifty but it's payday today and I've spent all of it paying off my credit card bill. I still need to buy an engine crane too.

 

I think I'll hold fire on the mount for now. Apart from I can't afford it this month, I reckon the other can be put together with generous amounts of Tigerseal between the pieces.

 

A pair of rubber ones aren't too dissimilar in price to a pair of QL5000 ones. I think I'll give them a good inspection first. Plenty of time to decide as I need to get the welding done first before any of this goes back in again.

 

It's a shame that Earl Part went belly up. Plenty of things I would really like to have ordered from there.

 

You don't happen to know of any inner sills (inside the car) going? Ex-pressed car panels do a complete floor but it's £300 per side. If I knew of my abilities I'd probably have gone for it. However I don't want to spend that and bugger the panel up trying to weld it in.

[BeEP]

That lifting bracket does look like the one my friend has (although it's some years since I've seen it, and his is definitely a period item).  I don't think the advantages are worth £70 (inc postage) though!

 

No problem re the sandwich plate.  Do be aware though that the gearchange remote (and hence the sandwich plate) are all that opposes the engine rotating around the crankshaft, so it does have some work to do. The later cars with rod change gearboxes have top and bottom steady bars to achieve the same thing.

 

Sorry, I don't know of any inner sills.  They are part of the floor pressing, with the outer sill, central membrane and closing panel forming the complete sill structure (I'm sure you know this already from your comments about what needs welding).

[purplebargeken]

To be fair, none of the bolts put up a fight at all. 

 

What fuckery is this??

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Used to use rope around the rocker shaft when pulling these out - it's not a very heavy engine and it'll do it no harm.

[Geep]

In our teens, myself and mates used to take these and mini engines out using an old angle iron swing frame and one of these

 

 

Nothing to fear if you take it steady and watch the front when you tilt it to come out then get high enough to clear the slam panel. Remember the speedo cable too!

[Guest Hooli]

I've had metro, mk 2 escort & midget engines out with one of them. Can be a bit of a bugger on your own to control the swing, especially putting it back.