Midas Cars Forum - www.midascarsforum.com

Hi,
I have spotted two! turbo engines on Ebay, anyone up for a challenge.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Metro-Turbo-Engin ... 41588b20b8

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MG-METRO-TURBO-EN ... 35b12e719e

Victor.

My turbo engine is coming out of my Midas next month. These standard Metro turbo engines are not really interesting, but with low compression pistons the turbo can go to 1 bar and then it can be a lot of fun. Drawback is a lot of noise and a ridiculous fuel consumption. Also in order for an A-series engine to cope with 100+ bhp, a heavy clutch is needed and S/C transfer set. The heavy clutch will eat away the crankshaft every time you operate it. My engine can't spin on the starter motor anymore when I push the clutch.
Hence my engine will be overhauled and modified to an aspirated engine. I am going to detune the engine to about 80bhp (maybe 90), so I can have normal drop gears. Also the head will be skimmed to increase compression back to 10:1. That should bring back the fuel consumption to an acceptable level. The clutch is going from duble grey to orange, much lighter so the crankshaft isn't stressed that much.
I really would have been interested in trying to get a modern Japanese engine in from f.e. Suzuki or Toyota but money and time etc.

Hans,

You must have balls of steel and lead boots. I run orange plates in my engines, even though they produce more power than a (standard) turbo.

1. Because I dont have balls of steel.
2. Because I would rather sacrifice a burnt out clutch plate than let my crank thrust washers/clutch thrust bearing burn away and drop into the sump (or rather gearbox with spinning gears)*.

* a typical symptom of bad/worn crank thrust bearings is when your engine speed drops/dies on pressing the clutch.

The double grey clutch was installed by the previous owner, not me! Of course I should have scratched my head when he told me he had frequently breaking clutch cables and in the end switched to hydraulics. Another clue was a completely bent bolt that connected the hydraulic cylinder to the clutch operating arm. In the end I got the message when I noticed the problems with spinning the engine. Repair of the crankshaft will be between 50 and 250 euros! Fingers crossed it's the low end. A crankshaft shim is just 15 euros

Hmm I am confused. Cables with a double grey? Did they do a double grey on cable operated verto clutch?

I thought they only did double grey pressure plates for the earlier 'WOK' style clutch systems.

Mine is the earlier style 'WOK' with orange pressure plate and hydraulic clutch, activated via an MED clutch arm, as the ball in the end kept snapping (even with an orange plate).

Problem with crank shims can be as simple as catching it early (ie immediately) and just a shim swap for a few quid, down to having to get the affected block (and crank) shim faces remachined and put in fatter shims (or even scrapped block/crank if its too bad, like I had to do once . That really pissed me as it was a brand new crank. Never again a double grey for me!

manifold wrote:Hmm I am confused. Cables with a double grey? Did they do a double grey on cable operated verto clutch?

I thought they only did double grey pressure plates for the earlier 'WOK' style clutch systems.

No idea, I am just repeating what the Mini specialist told me. I will find out when I strip the engine. Preferably I would have brought the whole engine to them, but a) once in your lifetime you have to strip an engine yourself and b) they are overloaded with work.

Worth checking the clutch arm and plunger as well while it's out I'm running an standard diaphragm on a AP Rally clutch so not the most civilised thing but when the clutch arm ball has wear it's hellish. If properly worn it gives you a stiff spot at the bottom of travel so will chew a clutch cable in a matter of weeks.

Cheers,

Mike

If the clutch arm is short, its a verto. If its long its the old wok style (unless someone has mixed it by accident). There was also a peculiar setup on the crossover period. 1982-1983ish.

The flat end on the ball also affects the the older style too. The MED long arm kit seems to have sorted that out though as its a lot bigger. I suspect it will last a lifetime.

There's a supercharger kit on there at the moment as well for a couple of hundred quid (I know it will go for more than that) but it's on my watch list