Wide Ratio Gearbox And 1380 Engine Build by AndyMiniMad

10 minute(s) of a 171 minute read

Its all done, I started it up and did the timing with the strobe, Needs the carb done and the tappets set, but its runing, and no smoke. I took it for a scud this morning and its not far off, I reckon with the carb sorted and the tappets adjusted to 14thou its going to be spot on. Its a bit wet in Inverness today so its a bit slippy out there. Comes on cam at 2600revs. Im not allowing it to rev beyond 4k and am only useing about 1/4 throtle for acceleration. It is turning heads, took it through the town and people were literally stopping to look and listen, The sound is awsome. Very lumpy below 2500revs and then a sweet spot before all hell breaks loose at 2750. Very tempted to let it go, But Im going to have to be good for a week or so untill its done a few hundred miles.
Oil presure at tick over. (1200rpm)

The tick over is quite high untill it loosens up a bit, I will set it to about 1000revs once its run in. I have a vidio of it runing but my broadband is very slow today for some reason so it wont upload to photobucket. will try again later when all the porn junkies have logged off.

10-30-2010

Look at what ive been up to.......
Shagged gearbox case after only 100 or so miles.

Spare case at the ready. Another engine out job!!! Going to transfer the wide ratio gubbins into the spare case tomorrow.

Im getting pretty quick at taking the engine out now. Lots of practice over the last month or so. Trying to keep a smile on my face. But its getting more and more difficult every time i have to take this SODDING BLOODY engine to bits.....Calm thoughts......uuummm....uuummm....ummm. F*ctk it wheres my big hammer.....

10-31-2010

It seams that when I built the engine up for the second time I must have forgotten to grease the thrusts after the dry build measurements were done. I reckon this wear happened as soon as the engine was started. I only drove it for 70 miles or so before stripping it all down again. Just goes to show, One tiny mistake and KAPOW!! one broken gearbox case. Im sure it could be repaired, (Welded up and reground), But Im lucky enough to have some other cases in the garage so its just a matter of swopping everything over.

Been busy with the "gunk" today getting it all cleaned up ready for the bits to go in..

11-2-2010

Im on hold for a couple of days with putting it all back together, Found out that the center main strap I got from Jonspeed came with dodgy bolts. Apparently the tensile strength is just not up to scratch, Very dissapointed with Jonspeed, I would of thought a company with thier pedigree would have checked the bolts before sending them out.
Anyway Ive been speaking to Martin of MRA Mini's and they are sending out a new strap with the correct bolts. will post pictures of the two types of bolt when the new ones arrive. Meanwhile I would advise anyone who has recently purchased a center main strap and bolts to get confirmation of the tensile strength of the bolts before fitting. Unless of course they came from Martin..

As a disclaimer Im Not having a go at suppliers here. But simply pointing out my own poor luck with Jonspeed.

11-3-2010

My new center main strap and bolts arrived today from MRA Minis. Super fast delivery and a nice certificate to proove the tensile strength of the bolts. To hell with Jonspeed, I know where my business will be going in future...



Im off to the garage to get these bits done. Might have it all runing again by the weekend..I hope this is the last time im ripping this engine out. Well untill ive built the 1330 supercharged monster that will be my next engine project. Watch this space!!

1-19-2011

Hello again. its been a while since my last post, computer problems. Anyway a quick update on Haggis. Not good news im affraid. the gearbox was rebuilt again only for the same fault to come back. So its parked in the garage just now and has been in there for 6 weeks. its going to need another stripdown and rebuild. Im very peed off at the moment. Managed to get a new case from Fleabay. but this time im going to replace the flywheel housing allong with all new bearings and a new idler gear. Ive got all the bits but I just cant find the motivation to rip the engine out again. I know its got to be done sometime. As you can tell im feeling a bit sorry for myself just now.

2-14-2011

Hello. Ive finally got myself motivated and decided to go for the staight cut roller bearing idler gears from MED..

http://www.med-engin...mp;vlang_id=130

Im really hopeing that this will cure the problem.. So over the next few weeks ill post pictures of the new gears going on. Just hope i can put up with the extra noise.

2-17-2011

WooHoo!! The drop gears have arrived.



Ive started the strip down, and the engine is ready to lift out. Also started to strip the rest of the car ready for painting.. Bought a compressor a few weeks ago and have been waiting for the tempreture to go up a bit. Its been Bloody freezing up here in the north of scotland. Anyway ill post some pics soon of it all coming apart. Snowman Rally this weekend so will try and get some pics of that as well. Might be a bit busy with the spanners though. We are car 85 if anyones interested..1380 Clubman.

2-23-2011

Well thats the engine out again and on the bench ready to be striped down. Ill bung on a few pics of the damage when i get it apart. Ive sent the spare gearbox cases and transfer case away to get cleaned and the fancy idler gear support pins to be pressed into them. Should get them back next week so will post some pics. Other than that its just been stripping the car down ready for the new paint job.

Oh and just in case anyones interested we were 56th overall in the snowman rally and 4th in class. We are dead chuffed with that considering the car was down on power for the last stage and had no clutch for the last two stages. Well done to Steve and Susan!! home safe and didnt stick it on its roof.

2-24-2011

Well Ive stripped it down again and guess what??? Its the same fault as before.. No surprise really as I thought it sounded like the same thing. Anyway the new roller bearing drop gears will solve the problem.. Here are the pics..

Gear box



Transfer case



This is the idler gear. I think its suposed to be 22.22mm. Is this my problem?



And the other side.



Here is a picture of Haggis. He is being stripped down ready for a respray.



A few pictures of the 1380 rally clubman before the Snowman Rally.







Ill keep you updated on the rebuild and will post a few pics of the drops going in.

2-27-2011

Hello..I stripped the engine down. The gearbox case isnt back yet so cant start the rebuild yet.

Anyway just for fun we took the mini based buggy we have been building up to the old runway at tain. This was its first proper run so we were pleased it didnt go bang!! A couple of vids of us having fun.

Click on the pics to watch the vids.

3-4-2011

I got the gearbox cases and transfer case back today. They managed to reface the gearbox cases to remove the worn areas. Apparently it was a ridge that had been pushed up by the idler gear shim so they refaced it without having to remove any metal off the rest af the case..



The other box was cleaned up and the carrier for the roller idler gear was pressed in



The newly damaged box is at the back waiting for all the gears to be moved over.



And the transfer case has been cleaned and the support bit has been fitted.



Roller idler gear on the shaft.



It spins beautifully. No more shims to worry about.

Ive stripped the wide ratio gears from the damaged case and started to rebuild it all up in the new case. I wont bother to post any pics of the box build but will post a couple of pics of the drop gears once they go on.