Obtaining an Engine! Part 1

Wednesday 16th April 2003 - Buying a metro

First day of the Mini Modification!

Bought a Metro from Reading after a long search for a metro engine ended in vein, I decided it would be easier to find a working car and strip it.

Car Cost £75 and some petrol (£20)

The Mg Metro I bought is White and had been broken into. Not a good start, but the price had to reflect something. The car is a bit of a wreck and isn't really road worthy. I think the owner left the car open on purpose for someone to steal. Joy-Riders obviously tried to steal the car, the ignition had been torn apart, but there was no broken glass (i.e. not locked). However, the battery was flat. Maybe worth making note that your local car thief wont call out the AA to get a jump…….

With a bit of fiddling and head scratching by Dave, the Metro started fine with a jump off the Mini. Dave drove the car back to harrow as well, isn't he good to me J

Thursday 17th April 2003 - Made plan

Finally got some bits, feels like I'm starting at last. Got a Haynes manual through the post for the metro, and received some arches and other accessories. Thought I'd go for some group 5's, hopefully they wont be too difficult to fit and could prove a good buy if it means that I don't have to go the expensive sports pack way.

Beginning to loom on me that I'm going to need somewhere to do all these mod's. I don't think the landlady will be too happy if I turn up with a rusting old metro and stick it on the driveway!

The initial plan was to do an engine change and tweak the look of the car by adding some 13"s and some wide arches. I set a budget for the entire job at £3,000. Hopefully, I should be able to keep within this total without too many problems.

Saturday 26th April 2003 - Fitted arches

I removed the arches from the car. They were relatively easy to remove, the pop rivets were carefully drilled out and the new arches sanded using a Linisher. The arches were rough around the edges and were poorly finished. They also didn't have any slots cut for the seams, so I used a file and a hacksaw and modified them myself. I only had 2 rims with tyres on, so I fitted them to one side of the car to get an impression for what they looked like.

Monday 28th April 2003 - Update

Not much has happened with the metro since I bought it, I have been looking for a garage in the local area to do the work, but haven't found anything as of yet. Considering using the work Car Club Bays to do the work in, but they are expensive at £5 a day/ £25 Week. Plus you can't do welding in the bays, which is a bit of an annoyance. Will endeavour to find something, possibly with Dave and a few other work people.

Drove the metro around the work car park as well, it seems sluggish and isn't running very smoothly. It doesn't idle at all. I think the problems stem from a leaking exhaust manifold and a badly set-up carburettor. The engine doesn't smoke at all and revs reasonably well, although it defiantly doesn't have the legs on the Mini. The box feels like a bag of sponges, but I was planning on replacing that anyways.

Thursday 1st May 2003 - New garage

Joined in a small partnership with some work people in long term renting a garage to do our projects, 1 slot booked - £50 / PCM. Haven't seen the place yet, but I have been told its huge and would be a good place to do the work. From the hints I have been given by the others it would appear that it's a barn located about 10-15 minutes drive from my lodgings in harrow. It sounds quiet a good deal particularly if I get some help off Dave J

Monday 5th May 2003 - Moved in to garage

Today I got my first look at the garage. It's defiantly big. It's also defiantly a shed. The place is only half concreted and what was there was smothered in pigeon poop. Dave drove the Metro round to the garage in return for a lift with one of his cars.

Now all I got to do is attempt to remove the engine and a few other useful bits, I think the best thing to do is have a good read through ol' Haynes'y.

Tuesday 6th May 2003 - Started engine removal

Got well stuck into the engine removal, following the Haynes manual pretty much word for word. I'm trying to keep as many parts as possible to hopefully save myself from having to get new bits and pieces. I can see this project running out of control before I have even started, so I don't need to have to buy more bits already.

Wednesday 7th May 2003 - Removal continued

Pretty much everything came off the engine today, with only the drive shafts and gearshift to remove I was getting quiet excited. It's taken me a lot less time than I expected to get this far.

Thursday 9th May 2003 - Engine ready to lift

Decided to save some money and spend some time in the garage instead of go out, Dave helped yesterday with removing the gearshift, it was getting tricky getting the stuff off the underside of the car. We only had one trolley jack and 2 axel stands, some of the time Dave needed to use them so I found myself juggling jobs, which to be honest I was quiet happy with since I had go so far so quickly.

We were having difficulties removing the drive shafts; they wouldn't come out unless we split the suspension around the hub so it could be moved away from the diff. This proved quiet tricky since we didn't have a ball joint splitter L. Angle grinding through the upper suspension arm seemed to be the perfect solution.

With the drive shaft removed, with the aid of a large hammer, the engine is ready to come out.

Monday 12th May 2003 - Engine out

With an extra pair of hands around, in the form of nick (my boss from work), it proved the perfect time to remove the engine from the car. With the one side of the diff disconnected the engine could swing to the other side to allow for the removal off the other drive shaft.

The engine mounts were removed one by one, with the car propped up on one corner with an axel stand. The trolley jack supported from below the engine whilst the last few supports were removed. This was not strictly needed since it turned out that the engine supports itself on the mounts with the bolts out.

A rope was slung around the engine and tied to a scaffold pole we found lying around in the garage. With all this in place we began our first lift. Dave and me took either end of the pole with nick steadying the engine as it came out. The first lift was a failure since the mounting studs decided to get in the way of the lift.

A second attempt ensued with good results; we lifted the engine clear of the bay and put it down carefully in front of the car. Once the scaffold pole was at shoulder height the engine wasn't that difficult to move around. If we have tied it better to the pole we wouldn't have needed a steady to move the lump around, although it was essential for removing the engine from the car.

The metro engine bay was beginning to look a little sparse