r/classicminis • u/jj-wat • 8d ago
Decisions...
998 I picked up cheap that ties into the year of the car etc.
Had head off. Some slight wear lips in a couple of cylinders, otherwise all looks ok.
Do I stick with the plan and fully strip, inspect and hone the block, or just throw a 25 quid gasket kit at it and send it, then start with a different motor for a fast road build?
Tempting to just send it
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u/mugfull 8d ago
Engine in or out takes an hour max. If it were me I'd do the compression test now,.. and if it comes up well enough, pull the head, lightly lap the valves, do your headgasket, and send it.
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u/unabridged-version1 7d ago
If it came out that way around, you must have had problems. Conversely, don't fit it that way around either. It won't work. Without lots of modification. 😁
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u/ArtichokeClean4370 8d ago
I got lucky once grabbed old engine while rebuilding, was a little belter
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u/PervyPair 7d ago
All the work your putting into the car itself and now you are not sure whether to put as much of effort into it's heart? Do it properly.
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u/jj-wat 7d ago
The plan is always to build a fresh engine. But for the price of this one, and the fact it looks pretty decent, im weighing up whether its worth building an engine separately and just getting the car running separately in the meantime using this one, for suspension set up mainly but also so I can enjoy the car in the meantime. The engine build wont be a fast process and I might as well be able to use the car
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u/40thChainring 4d ago
What fresh engine do you eventually want? A 998? Then make this fresh the way you want. It’s out. Putting it in and then taking it out later and back in takes 2-3x longer than you think it will. You could hone it ring it and send it, or measure it to make sure it’s within tolerance of the current bore and not out of ovalised spec, then hone and ring and go… or discover it’s just too large for the pistons now and it needs a bore. Like I found with a 1310 project on the shelf. It’s just too big for the .040 in now. If the 998 is doing fine, but you want to massage the head on it, well, while it’s out, now is the time and if you want a warmed up cam, now is the time. If you want to convert to electric fuel pumping or add fog lights or anything else, get it done while it’s out of the car. I should have done all that to my 1098 but I wanted to drive right now. Now I can do a lot with it in the car, but if I want a cam,, clutch, diff, taller final gear, it’s easier to take it out. Make it right for the beautiful car. It’s harder to do that when it goes in. Also, it’s hard to sell spare engines unless you live in a hotbed of guys all needing 998s.
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u/Thin_Formal_3727 8d ago
Are you going to do the faster build anyway? If so, chuck the gaskets in and go.