Well my mini's sat around for a few weeks while I maintained a gut feeling that the primary gear is causing the whine. The after talking to a mini expert and then reading in the 'Mini Expert' magazine about how a worn primary gear will cause a road car to whine I think my gut feeling is now justified so I orderered and replaced the primary gear.

Yesterday I was putting it all back together when I snapped one of the three bolts that hold the clutch spring cover to the pressure plate I searched my manuals but couldn't find a torque setting so I guessed 20lbs, seemed too easy so thought 30lbs should do it... snap! So now another set back, fortunately I have a spare pressure plate and I'm waiting for the arrival of another bolt that 'MiNi MuLiShA' has kindly offered to send me.

So hopefully by the weekend I'll know whether it was the primary gear, if it still whines there will be a FREE mini available at the bottom of a steep cliff!

Stay tuned

_________________

I know your pain Tim, I had a whine in my Mini once and had trouble getting rid of it, the only solution I found was to fit straight cut gears.

Now it sounds sweet!

DOZ

_________________
Videos - Turbocharged A-Series on Dyno & at Wakefield
Mafs waz not my strong subgeckt at skkol

You mean my gears will be noisy?

Hey willie what was the damage for your straight cut gears?

_________________

Far far too early to know - at least let him get them into his engine and subsequent mini. Give it a week after that and then we will know.

PM me, I'll put you onto the right people

I received the bolts from MiNi MuLiShU in the mail today (thanks mate) and hastily put it all back together to find my clutch isn't disengaging properly. So I can't test drive it to see if the whine's gone. I even put a new throwout bearing and carrier in because my clutch didn't feel 100% disengaging when selecting first before, now I can't select anything. I set the flywheel and clutch up on the bench (as read in 'The Mini Expert') to make sure there was no gap between the straps and that it wasn't pushing on the straps, seemed ok.

Any suggestions?

_________________

When you fit new clutch parts everything moves towards the engine.
Did you undo the big nut and locknut (throwout stop) a few turns, on the end of the bearing carrier? If not, do it now.
It is the last thing to be set, AFTER you are happy with how the clutch engages/disengages.
Debate rages on whether this stop is needed- many race cars don't use it as it's regarded as useless weight, and the original 850 had no thread or nuts there anyway...

_________________
DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.