Morris Minor Owners Club

I am planning to undertake a rebuild of my side-valve engine this summer and would like to mount it on an engine stand. When I have rebuilt A-Series engines, the bolts I have used have screwed into the block where the backplate attaches, and I assume that it would be the same with the side-valve.

If you know the specification of the bolts I need to acquire in order to do this, I would be very grateful.

Also, does anyone happen to know the weight of a side-valve engine?

Many thanks.

Hi,
The gearbox to block/sump mounting bolts are M8x1. No backplate as such, gearbox bolts directly on the the block and the sump.
I don't know the weight, but slightly heavier than the A series.
Hope this helps...

I recently rebuilt a USHM3 and after looking at the casting decided not to mount the engine on an engine stand. I thought the casting (or more specifically where the tapping were) was a bit femmer for supporting the weight of the block.
I just used sections of wood to rest the block on and manhandled the block around to suit the orientation needed and relocated the wood as required. It worked for me.

Thanks everyone for your responses and apologies for the delay in getting back. I am flabbergasted that some of the bolts are metric!

Mick - I would be very interested to know if there are any specific tips or advice you have pertaining to the dismantling and rebuilding of this engine, and also whether there are any specialist tools/sizes of tools I will need to acquire in advance. I do not have the car with me at the moment, but for example do you know what size spanner I will need to undo the crank pulley? Anything else ‘unusual’ or peculiar I will need, beyond the usual things like torque wrenches, valve spring and piston ring compressors?

Thanks in advance.

Ryan,

There are no surprises rebuilding a SV. I’ve rebuilt half a dozen Ford and BMC engines in my life and the SV was by far the simplest.

The only thing I did different front the book was to remove the big end caps and remove the crank leaving the pistons in situ. This then makes them a doddle to remove. They are removed and reerected from the crankcase rather than the head.

Essential tools
Set of Whitworth combination spanners
Set of Whitworth 1/2 drive sockets

Also I needed a 3 leg gear puller as the cam sprocket had seized and was a pain.

As for other tools i raided the ‘small engine’ section of Princess Auto and got the Lilliputian valve spring compressor, piston ring compressor and a small hone to break the glaze. I treated myself to a Neway valve seat cutting set. I had a burnt valve so needed inserts. If your seats are okay you’ll get away with a valve lap.

I needed a drift to drive the old valve guides out and new in but easy to make.

Reassembly was the tear down sequence reversed. Pistons went in before crank.

The starter dog is 5/8W

Mick
This is the kit I bought… all in C$100

Mick,

Thank you very much for your response - it is incredibly helpful. I think that I have all of the tools needed though hadn't considered that a smaller valve spring compressor and piston ring compressor would be needed.

Re the removal of the pistons and purely out of interest for when I do it - may I ask why you found it easier to remove them from underneath? Presumably you re-fitted the pistons from the top, or again did you do this from underneath?

On another note, when I rebuilt my A-Series, I replaced the oil pump. However, I note that the oil pumps on these engines are quite different and that won't be as straightforward. Did you inspect it and replace any parts in yours? I guess that it is necessary to at least check it but as for being able to tell if something is worn or indeed doing anything about it, I'm not too sure at the moment.

Thanks again.

Ryan

rsawatson wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 7:21 pm Re the removal of the pistons and purely out of interest for when I do it - may I ask why you found it easier to remove them from underneath? Presumably you re-fitted the pistons from the top, or again did you do this from underneath?

The conrods will not pass through the bores, hence the requirement to erect the pistons from the sump. It wasn’t any more difficult than doing from the head other than once the piston is in you have to full release the piston ring compressor to clear the big end!

Other than cleaning the oil pump and a cursory inspection I left it alone. It looked in good condition.

Mick