I received word that my shell repairs & deseaming will take a further ~4 weeks to complete so I've taken the opportunity to work a bit on the Starlet engine...
The company I imported the front cut through said that the engine was in excellent condition so I removed the valve cover to get an idea of whether there was any sludge or carbon build up to be dealt with. I was pleasantly surprised to see it was clean as. Second pic is a shot of another Starlet engine with similar kms to show what it could have looked like! It seems like my engine has certainly been well maintained.
I spent today stripping all the Starlet engine down to ready it for cleaning (degreasing), light sandblast and a fresh lick of paint. Removed from the engine is all oil, coolant, fuel & air/vacuum lines, brackets; as well as the turbo assembly, exhaust manifold, inlet manifold, water pump, fuel rail, injectors, starter motor, gearbox and clutch.
All sensors, open pipes etc have been VERY well taped up with electrical tape so they are sealed and protected when everything gets blasted. To seal the intake/exhaust & water pump ports, I made up some blanking plates with 9mm MDF sheet (as seen in the pics below) and will be sealed with gasket maker. My mate who will be doing the blasting has give me a tip to insert foam earplugs in any bolt threads so that the threads are not damaged during the blasting. Once a light blasting is complete, I will mask everything up and paint it in high temperature engine enamel.
Engine stripped (fuel rail & injectors still attached at rear) with gearbox still on :
Gearbox removed & clutch removed. I made up a simple wood stand for the engine to sit on too and some rag have been stuffed into the holes where then injectors normally are. One question that I'd need answered : How do I remove the flywheel bolts since the crank turns when I try and loosen the bolts. Is there a trick to holding the flywheel in place to undo the bolts? I was thinking of getting some steel tube/plate and bolting it to flywheel and creating a kind of chock (against the ground)?
Heaps of build up of crud in the bell housing (easily cleaned up)
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-Alan
I blame my dad for my love of minis. I think I was conceived in the back seat of one
I also blame my Dad for me being 6' 1" - not really the optimum height for driving a Mini.