I have to replace the rocker shaft, I noticed it was incredibly worn when the rocker cover was off. I should have done it the other week when the head was off the car but didn't....

Can I take the shaft out with out removing the head?

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Simon
Daily Driver - Yellow Devil 76 Clubman
Restoration Project - Primer grey 66 Morris Mini Deluxe

yep....

the frontal row of nuts should undo it...

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Simon, If you have torqued down your head I think you will need to remove it again, the second row of studs hold down the head and the rocker shaft.

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Over 1,000,000Km, but now my retirement restoration project

No - you dont need to remove the head - simply not neccessary.
The rocker gear is held down by a row of 1/2" AF nuts and a second row of 9/16" AF nuts and or bolts which also double as head retrainers.

Once you have replaced the rocker gear you will need to re-torque ALL of the head bolts / nuts.

Be careful, if you remove the pushrods, to let them drop the cam followers before you lift them out. Otherwise you run the risk of lifting a cam follower out of its position in its hole and then it means undoing the rear inspection plate to put it back in. A painful job.

I was under the impression that if you undo the 1/2" nuts that also hold the head down, you have to put in a new head gasket. How can you torque down the head properly (rule of 9 etc) when half of them are still tight?

For the sake of $20 head gasket (ACL brand from Repco), i would not risk it...?

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Hmm... Its not necessary to remove the head. It only turns a 10 minute job into a couple of hours.

The head studs / bolts (it can be either depending on the model) are 9/16 AF . The 1/2 AF nuts only hold down the front half of the rocker gear.

Provided the motor is not rotated while the head bolts are removed the head will not be dislodged off the head gasket. You then tighten up the head bolts you have removed to a little more than first pressure and start torqueing them down (even if the are already torqued down) in the correct order.

This head was supposedly just off a week ago so the gasket is still fresh and its always advisable to re-torque a head after a week or so of running.

BUT as soon as you release tension off the rear 9/16's nuts, the valve springs will put enough pressure on the pushrods, and in turn the head to actually lift it off the block (well, usually does for me anyway....

Maybe wont with the front ones still attached, but be careful anyway...

Personally, if its just a shaft change, I'd release the adjusters as much as i could, then remove the split pin off the end of the shaft, and slide that puppy out....

just a suggestion of course....

J

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I was wondering if it was possible to do that but as it's raining here and I'm alone with the baby at present I didn't feel like going downstairs and trying it on the 1275 on the engine stand .

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Should be no hassle.... back the adjusters off as much as possible and away you go...

J

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Just depends on how well all the blocks are lined up I guess , might be a bit tight but still worth a try to start with .

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Thanks for all the thought. I think I will try to remove the shaft with the supports still attached. I will be doing this on the weekend so I will let you know how I go.

Thanks again.

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Simon
Daily Driver - Yellow Devil 76 Clubman
Restoration Project - Primer grey 66 Morris Mini Deluxe

Well I removed my rocker shaft on the weekend and boy was there some wear in it. I had to remove the whole assembly as there wasn't enough adjustment to back them off the push rods far enough.

Here is the worn shaft....

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Simon
Daily Driver - Yellow Devil 76 Clubman
Restoration Project - Primer grey 66 Morris Mini Deluxe

Cool.. Thanks for the info !

Man, that IS worn !

have fun
J

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