I'm a noob when it comes to building engines, but would I be right in thing that smoke is white, not a bluish colour?

I know you can expect a reasonable amount of smoke with a new engine (with an new parts, really). I changed my exhaust and manifold, and it was smoking like what you have in your pics there for perhaps 10 minutes. Nothing was wrong, it was just the new parts 'smoking' in.

that's really really wierd


I'm no expert either, but I don't expect a new engine to smoke. I usually have a bit of oil on top of the pistons on first startup, but it burns off in a couple of revs, then nothing

a new engine, (one that has been built well & nothing wrong with it internally) should start up with a slight puff of smoke (assembly oil) & clear almost immediately (within seconds)

if it continues to smoke for a long period of time then i`d suggest that either:::

the oil expander rings have been overlapped when fitted

or the ignition advance is "WAY" to much

or oil is being sucked in via poor breather catchers

or there is a pile of old oil still residing inside the exhaust pipe

or there are a few more silly reasons, but generally & most commonly (from what i`ve seen of "other" peoples mistakes in the past) the oil rings have been fitted overlapped

i`m not saying that this is "Your" problem ,,, so check your ignition advance first & then your breathers, but if it keeps smoking then i`d be stripping it down & checking the rings

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

Unfortunately, this is the one I suspect. . .

I know some of the history of this engine and it's setup (in fact that's me standing in the smoke haze. . . ).
Timing is pretty much spot on - 10 degrees.
There are no breathers on this motor (something that will need to be rectified) but it continues to smoke even when running with the oil cap off.
There isn't any old oil in the exhaust - the old motor was tired but not a 'smoker'. . .and the smoke continued for way too long in any case.
After running for a while, there is a lot of visible oil on the piston crowns. . .more that I would ever expect to be able to be continuously fed down the inlet guides.

Sadly, I think it all has to come out again. . .

That much smoke can only mean rings or bore related issue. Even running old guides with no oil seals will only smoke up for the first 5-10 seconds and not as much as in that photo!

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Lillee - 1969 Morris Mini K

Thanks for all your help guys

That's no good after all that work! Hope it hasn't caused any damage to the bores.

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68 Mini
70 Moke

You and me both

Nah it shouldn`t , "IF: it`s the oil rings over-lapped causing the smoke, then "Butt" them correctly & whack it all back together again & she`ll be all hunky-Dory

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No offence intended here but--> anyone writing a book about minis 30 years ago may not have experienced such worn or stuffed-with components as we are finding these days.

You should put your heart & soul into everything you do.

In the photo withthe car running I cant see if you have fitted the brakes yet. Is there is a booster fitted and bled??? If it is faulty the bell can fill up with fluid. Vacuum sucks it into the intake and burns white.

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1970 Cooper S ex-Bathurst & ATCC
1964 Austin Cooper S ex-Group C race car
1967 Morris Cooper S ex-Group B
1962 Mini Speed sports sedan
1968-71 ex-Peter Manton Shell car

Nope - no booster on this one. . .definitely oil smoke, not brake fluid smoke. . .