Rambling Words, Rambling Wheels

After a very long wait, my Mini is closer to receiving a power plant. Not that there’s an engine in the car, yet. I just have a retrieve an engine that doesn’t have a gash in the engine.

This powerplant is an Austin American 1275 cc engine. It last powered a rotting Mini coupe which a group of us spent a fall Saturday lifting off of it. I’m sure the car itself was nice, at some point. When we got to it, though, the 2 x 6s we used to support it on the lift sunk into the collapsing frame and body panels. When one of the guys disconnected the heater inside the car, the coolant ran right through the floorboard.

The engine was in far better shape than the body. It hasn’t actually run in any years, but the local expert tells me that it is healthy enough to power the Traveller. There were several layers of grime and grease over a chipped and pitted coating of Ford Blue paint.

The first order of business of cleaning the grime. I spent half a day in the drive way going through four rounds of cleaning. Carb cleaner, then rinse. Crud Remover (a locally produced cleaner), then rinse. Dawn, to cut deeper through the grease, then rinse. Dawn again, rinse again.

Next was smoothing out the paint. I decided not to strip it completely off, just scrape the chips and smooth it out. The upper portion of the engine is steel, and the lower is aluminum. The steel portions were holding their paint fairly well. The aluminum portions, though, released much of its hold on the paint, exposing areas of mild surface corrosion. A selection of wire brushes helped complete the prep work on the engine.

Painting, at first, seemed like an easy decision. Classic Mini engines came from the factory in olive green from top to bottom. I had already bought a can of “BMC Green” paint (part 220-580 from Moss Motors), and figured I’d cover the whole thing in it. After the final cleaning, though, I thought it needed more. I’d already spent time painting the engine compartment with steel and aluminum paint. I painted the steel parts a dark steel gray, and the aluminum parts, well, aluminum. I began looking deeper into engine paint schemes, and found several references where the steel blocks were painted green, and the aluminum bits were, well, aluminum. I had my paint scheme figured out.

After an initial coat of engine primer, I hoisted the engine and taped off the upper portions. The lower aluminum bits received a couple coats of, well, aluminum paint. I took care to fill in the spaces between the fins of the oil pan. This was beginning to look like the right decision.

I dropped the engine from the hoist, so I could rough-fit the valve cover back on. I flipped the taping to cover the lower aluminum bits, spreading newspaper to protect the new, well, aluminum paint. The rest of the engine then received a couple decent coats of BMC Green.

The result was surprisingly good, given this was the first engine I’ve ever painted. Check out pictures starting at http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0BzJMiuT5btcF8hUtLCMeQ?feat=directlink, and click the “Next” arrow at the top.

The next steps are to install new gaskets and seals, clean up the carbs, and replace the speedometer cable.

How will the engine perform once it’s in? Still a mystery.