DISCLAIMER: IDRIVEACLASSIC and the presenters accept no responsibility for any damage pertained to your vehicle or vehicles in your care following the steps shown in this video.
A series engine. So simple to work on and so simple to diagnose any problem within a minute or so. That’s if you’re trained and qualified to do so. ( worn bores and rings = burning oil which = carbon build up. Which = burnt valves.
Hello Steph and Kev, how wonderful to see an "old school" mechanic go through the simple proceedure of re-fitting the cyclinder head, and getting the settings (head tourqued and valve clearences) done - as per the book!! I lernt my trade (mechanic) the same way, slowly and shurley so that confidence is gained for the next time! Looking forwards to the next video. Best wishes from Lincolnshire
Good to see you back in overalls Steph. Seems like years since we last saw you under the bonnet of a car. The Morris Minor sounds good, and I'm looking forward to seeing you re checking those torque settings in 500 miles. Great video - take care 🙂 X X
I don’t even drive I’m a cyclist although I do collect 1960’s minic motorways but I love the cars featured and the way Steph presents this channel is a must watch for me .
I really enjoy these tinkering videos, you should do more of them! I've done a head replacement on a Mini, it looks like access is much better on the Minor 🙂
With regard to priming the oil filter, I do this every time even on modern cars,vans and trucks. Priming the oil filter is old school but best practice 😉
This brings back memories. Spent many an hour with grandpa and dad in the shop as a kid grinding those burnt valves by hand. Long process and that gritty old grinding compund went everywhere.
Steph, don't worry about you and Kev having to explain everything into great detail. Not everyone will know how to fit an A series cylinder head. That engine sounds so sweet so that was a job well done and it was absolutely the right call to farm out the cylinder head work. You're not just a pretty face.
I have to say that you must be an amazing friend to have such amazing friends. Thanks for the DIY video. For a car geek like myself seeing the workings of an A series was a treat. Thanks for all that you do !!!!
Haha I don’t know how I got lucky and got to be such brilliant friends with Kev. We do have a bloody good laugh and speak most days. He’s a very important person in my life.
It's about time you got some spannering videos done Steph! Your level of detail I'd say is just right. Not everyone is, or has a Kev. You're lucky to have him and kind enough to share his knowledge! Kev. Mate, you're a true star in the making! Thanks for sharing! 👍👍
Ah he is a good Lad is Kev. I agree with everything you did and I would have done it the same way. It is always a good idea to prime the oil filter, with modern oil filters it is best to fill them with oil before screwing them on so priming this is good and putting oil on the top end before turning the engine over is good practice. All very well explained for anyone who has never done it before. BTW Steph maybe you could teach Kev how to use 'catch up TV' ? He would never miss an episode again! 👍👍😁
Those BMC A Series engines are a great starting point for any hobbyist or backyard mechanic. I remember working on a friend's 1098cc powered Leyland Mini Clubman here in Australia. So easy to work on compared to the more modern, more complicated Honda cars I now tinker with!
Missed you on Sunday Steph my Sunday morning was definitely missing something but Monday is fine . Excellent video Steph and very informative. I have done this job a couple of times way back when but it is always good to watch. Thoroughly enjoyed it and what a great guy Kev is.
Another excellent video. It's good to see you take us through all the steps that a beginner must make. There are too many videos elsewhere where some mechanical knowledge is assumed. We've all got to start somewhere. Thank you Steph and Ken 🙂
Great vlog Steph and what a nice guy Kev is. He also has found a use for the Daily Mail which is quite an achievement. Glad you have your Moggie back but my question has to be, where is the Marina?
Done that job on A-series engines, HA & HB Viva's and Bedford's and quite an number of VWs. Always did valve grinding by hand. Seem to remember valve clearance adjustment was done with the engine idling on the Vauxhalls. VWs were done with shims of different thicknesses. A very enjoyable video, takes me back. Now the world is full of OBDII, EGRs and DPFs. Be good to go back. By the way, I don't doubt that your tray with nuts and bolts on it wasn't metal but good to remind viewers to keep metal away from battery terminals.
Is that a 10V/189E/L engine number? I had one fitted to a Morris 1000 saloon that probably came from a Morris 1000 van, they had larger dished pistons to lower the compression ratio. The L stands for low compression. Probably also why the compression pressures were showing around the 120 psi mark. I made the mistake of fitting an MG 1100 12G295 head to mine thinking it would increase the compression not realising they have bigger combustion chambers and made it worse! Well done on changing the head though, with new valves etc should certainly run better.
Loved this! Kev's always such a laugh too. Being a modern mechanic I've never even touched a pushrod so this was actually very interesting to me. This looks like a far more fun job than the VW Transporter head rebuild I'm doing at work, that's for sure! 😫
Even when you're working on a car your outfit is colour co-ordinated, nice one 👍. Doesn't it feel great as a novice mechanic when you solve something and repair it? Thanks for a tinkering video, I really enjoy these.
Great video, thankyou 🙂. I appreciate you working slowly and carefully whilst explaining what you are doing. Great information, hoping to put it into practice myself once I get my hands on a Morris Minor van that I long for.
Apologies if already covered here, but it appeared as if the cylinder head fasteners, while using the proper bolt sequence, were tightened to the final FULL torque spec all at one go. Please correct me if I misunderstood on that detail. I was taught, all those years ago now: to properly secure / tighten the cylinder head fasteners, one would use three steps sequence of tightening those fasteners. In your case, I believe the final torque value is 45 - 50 ft/lbs. This the case, one would start torquing these nuts at say 25 ft/lbs [using the proper tightening sequence], then graduate upwards to 35 say.. Finally the 45 or 50 ft/lbs be achieved. Might be a more gentle approach, no? Your after repair re-torque is a super good practice! Best to you all & love your coverage!
Glad you listened to those that told you to put the valve pushrods back in their correct order, ive been doing it that way for years and my Dad taught me that . I spent a lot of time all self taught replacing camshafts and cleaning clogged oil strainers on Mk2 Cavaliers in the 80s and 90s which seemed to be their biggest failure points. although nothing on the level your facing but I love to tinker with 1960 to 1998 Citroens from time to time and restored a 1987 2cv not long ago. Very nice job you should be very proud. the important thing is always take you time and never rush even if it is your only mode of transport.
There is logic to the cylinder head bolt tightening sequence, it is starting at the centre and working outwards to avoid warping of the head. Look at the sequence and it will make a spiral going outward from the middle.
What memories your videos create for me . I cannot count the number of times I have done this job especially on the A series engine . Nancy looks really well and so do you . Thanks for ALL your inspiring videos
Absolutely right. I did my apprenticeship in a morris/M.G. dealership (1969 to 73). That's how we were shown. Tighten them all a bit at a time. Also, I guess it depends on the torque wrench (inexpensive or mental price snap on ) but we were told don't go past the "click", stop immediately it clicks. There should be 2 clicks, one when it hits the torque setting second when you release.
Well done guys I'm so glad you went with the hardened pistons. I have a 1967 5 main bearing 1.8 MGB engine in my little MGA and I can't wait until I don't have to muck around with that lead replacement stuff anymore. But as they say if it aint broke don't fix it so I'll put up with it while it's running good. May I say Steph you are looking fantastic and I'm loving the matching outfits with all the different coloured cars absolutely stunning. Kev really good walk through with the reassemble and lots of great tips as well.👍🏻👍🏻❤
Ken, is a great friend to have and I like his nice simple way of explaining the processes. No need to complicate things what done warren it. Nice video. Bob
Makes me remember my first headgasket-change. I also had a manual at hand, but didn’t have a clue what it would be like. I managed to get the head off and had it sanded and flattened. New headgasket and the head back om the engine. With a torquewrench all the headstruds in the correct sequence. Last one i could not get up to the “click”. I tried and tried and then suddenly the strud broke! Had to take the whole assembly off again and found the strud had broken off flat with the engineblock….. How do i get the remains out 🤔. There was no way getting grip on that strud. In all despair i just pressed my thumb on it and it turned!! All the way out. Pfieuw! Never expected that. Found “new” struds at a junkyard and got the job done in the end. Drove over 100k km’s with my dyi headgasketchange. Much much later i learned that you should always use new struds when reassembling the head, as they are made to ‘stretch’ and they stretch only once…… This was (another) GREAT video Steph! Loved it and good memories. Thnx 👋
A Minor (!) correction, unleaded petrol doesn't burn hotter than leaded petrol, but the lead in leaded fuel provided some lubrication to the valves and valve seats, which prevents brinelling which leads to recession and /or burning.
I had a 68 minor nearly identical to yours, 2 door Trafalgar Blue, though yours looks a lot shinier under the bonnet. Anyway it ran fine for years then the running became lumpy & it started conking out in embarrassing places! I changed all the easy bits, coil, distributor cap etc. New fuel pump & even a new carburettor. Never really got to the bottom of it. I suspected then it might have been a sticky or burnt valve. I should have got it compression tested. Around 2005 I sold it to a work colleague. As far as I know it is still on the road.
@@idriveaclassic XWE 140G It was my only car & my daily driver for a few years. I used to do most mechanical work on it, including a clutch change. I would still like to own a classic but not keen on laying under cars anymore 😁 Love your vids though.
Those 948cc engines have two major problems with #3 cylinder. The valve seat on #3 always cracks because of inadequate thickness of the head there. Your engine shop did the right thing by inserting a Stellite seat. It is the ONLY way to fix this. The other problem is block flex that causes distortion of #3 cylinder, that causes blowby and excess oil burning. BMC even made a special piston with an extra oil scraper ring at the bottom to control oil burning. The only way to fix this is to have #3 bored out, and fitted with a steel liner sleeve. I drove a MM for years as daily transportation. I could tear down, and rebuild that engine blindfolded. And that's no exageration.
Great tinkering video been there done that owned a couples of Hillman Gazelles and the 1725 rootes engine with the alloy cylinder hesd were notorious for blowing head gaskets but on my Toyota Hilux 1997 the tge the 22R engine is an iron block with an alloy head but as far as l know the cylinder head has never been off in 26 years and 432000 kilometers so Toyota got it right were rootes group failed
Thanks for sharing Steph, it's a pleasure to see a tinkering video again. Much appreciated. Kev's a real character, does he have his own RU-vid channel 😊👍
Good to see Kens still at it !Steph how is the Marina getting on ? A quick word to the wise when it's time to tighten the head down don't forget to check the bypass hose between the head and the water pump most people forget this ,and whilst your running the new valves in keep an eye on the oil as the compression will be better now and more than the old bottom end is used to dealing with,to check for any blow by with the engine hot and ticking over remove the oil filler cap and look for fumes .
Well done Steph. You have me all motovated to take my 1937 Austin 10 Cambridge across to Cambridge for Armistice this year. Its the best part of a days traveling to get there, espcially at 30s car speed.
I did, also I very carefully blew out the oil ways, and put oil down the bores to catch it, I then cleaned the bores out using newspaper, which is super absorbent, I then changed the oil and filter, so I was very careful 😊😊
Had a triumph spitfire needed choke to pull away from lights every time friend reckoned exhaust valve dead right when I compression tested it u can use a thermometers covid style gun cool exhaust port is bad cylinder
Another great video Steph, and I’m all for simplicity (although I’m not even that advanced!). I have been watching your videos for a while now and long before I’d even thought about buying a classic car, but I’m now on the hunt for a Morris Minor Traveller, so very excited!
Good to see it up and running again and now able to run on unleaded fuel without the lead additive. Were you running it before with a lead fuel additive? Awesome video. 🙂🙂
@@idriveaclassic Well you will not have to use it now the head has had the unleaded valve seat upgrade. I am not sure how effective the additive is either an would always say if possible go for the head upgrade to not have to bother with it.
I used to love doing jobs like this when I drove old bangers from the 60s, 70s & 80s back in the day (late 90s) - you could pick up a MOTd mk1 Escort for a few hundred quid needing TLC back then!! I distinctly remember the first time I took the head off a car, it was a Hillman Hunter 1500DL. I had quite a collection of Haynes manuals by the time I moved overseas. Happy days.
thank you , You beautiful people ! informative and with a camerawork that is really impressive . I tend to look at everything morris minor related as Ive got 2 of them ( A 59 and a 34 with a Aseries engine,) Few are as pro productions as this , Pics are crisp and lightning perfect . One could see every detail ! Im waiting for a video on how to remove the master brake cylinder on the 59, Strained my back in the midlle of it a few weeks ago doing it the buschmecanic way in the backyard and i guess my tools are still there somewhere,,, You made my day , Thank you, Keep it up Steph ! Youre one of the lovliest people ever in the motorworld , And Kev, Looking forward to see moore of your work ,Love the unselfish way You share your wisdom . We need moore people like You .
An amazing chap in Lincolnshire called Andy Sheraton. I’ve noticed other Morris Minor drivers have popped in there too now and he’s been doing impeccable work for them too. Good news spreads eh! He does all classics though - really rated his work which is why I chose him.
Hi Steph from the US (Florida). It's good to see your love for classic cars extending to getting your hands dirty by working on your own car's internals. I was curious which year and engine size your Morris Minor is? These were never imported to the US so, they all look the same to me. It sounds like the cylinder head work done by that shop was high quality. Adding valve seats is a good idea. The leaded fuel the engine was orginally designed for, had some measure of valve seat lubrication, which lubrication you don't get with the unleaded fuels. A burnt valve is usually caused by too lean a fuel/air mixture or driving the car at or near maximum speed on a long trip.
