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Joined: May 2011
Posts: 1,318
Forum Addict
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OP
Forum Addict
Joined: May 2011
Posts: 1,318 |
Hi. I’m after an old engine, any condition. Prefer a A series from old mini or metro if possible.
Purpose is to educate myself in basic mechanics.
Thanks.
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,293 Likes: 3
Forum Master
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Forum Master
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 2,293 Likes: 3 |
I learnt a lot by taking my first Mini apart with a Haynes. Not sure if you'll get anything cheap these days though now they're collectors items This would have been £50 at one time, now £400! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/285830290203Actually, BITD I bought Minis for £50 from the "runners or spares" section of the local paper!
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 14,525 Likes: 33
Wiki Master
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Wiki Master
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 14,525 Likes: 33 |
Should be fairly cheap from any scrapyard, they don't bother trying to sell them on unless they are near/known perfect.
There's more recent cars with similar sort of basic (no-ecm, no-injection) engines which should be easier to obtain. Peugeot/PSA TU1/k engines spring to mind, though it is OHC rather than OHV and the bolts are all metric not imperial. Those engines are probably a bit lighter than an A-series so easier to work on.
First engine I stripped down was a BL-B-series, followed by a GM-BLY.
Best advice I can give you is to get a decent socket set, stripping the heads on stiff bolts is the last thing you need. I tend to have a set of 6-point impact sockets as they are much less likely to spin on bolt heads and they are surprisingly cheap. A cheapo 12-point socket set is fine for co-operative nuts and bolts but if you are doing it outside a lot of toolsets are not chromed these days (lidl) and will rust if they get damp/wet. And of course you need a torque wrench for rebuilding, no need to spend silly money on those although the electronic ones are a lot quicker and easier to use, all mine are mechanical and work fine.
Good ratchet spanners are a godsend but not cheap, perhaps not as useful for engine-out work. Cordless impact drivers save an awful amount of time and patience.
Cheap air tools are pretty useless.
Most cars have been metric for a long time, if you start on a imperial A-series you will need another toolset for metric - noting its not totally uncommon to find imperial bolts around exhaust and brakes on a car that is otherwise metric.
Its a bad hobby to get into, you end up collecting more and more tools especially with modern cars, my collection is bad enough and the newest car I've worked was a 2000 model.
There's a real danger that the left will drag Britain back to the 1970s, with secure well-paid jobs, ample housing, properly-funded NHS and social care, free tuition, student grants, final salary pensions, affordable rail fares and fabulous films and music. David Osland 2025 We don't do charity in Germany, we pay taxes. Charity is a failure of governments' responsibilities - Henning Wehn https://ddue.uk
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Posts: 14,525
Joined: July 2008
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Lucy Letby
by diggingdeeper - 16th Dec 2024 7:16pm
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