Mini Cooper 1380cc Engine Headed for Hawaii

This is a Mini Mania custom rebuilt engine for our friend Peter in Hawaii. We rebuilt the engine and transmission that he sent us out of his Mini. This is a 1380 cc engine built as a nice torquey street engine mated to an original Cooper S style remote-shift 3 synchro gear box with Hardy-Spicer outputs. This is going into a Traveller Woody wagon, so the extra power will be really nice.

Removing a Mini Cooper Verto Flywheel

Okay, this one’s by special request for Gus, one of my most frequent MiniMania customers. This question always comes up,

“How the heck do you get the Verto flywheel off?”

In this series of videos using my iPhone, I show how to setup the puller using a space against the crank to give you the best chance at taking the flywheel off without too much swearing.

Part 1 of 4: Here I show how to use a spacer against the crank shaft to make sure the puller has the desired affect.

Part 2 of 4: This explains what type of puller to use and what’s important for setting it up right.

Part 3 of 4: This is more detail on how to setup the puller and common problems to look out for.

Part 4 of 4: Finally, after everything is setup, we take the flywheel off and have our first look at the crankshaft and primary gear.

OUCH! I hope that didn’t just happen

Sometimes, as careful as we are some minor disasters do happen when working in a confined space! In my case with the weather changing, I have four cars crammed into at best a 3-car garage. It’s a good thing my Mini, the visiting Moke, and my S1 Elan add up to TWO normal cars!. Still with pulling the engine out of the Moke there’s a hoist and jacks and tools and extension cords…. And that’s what happened… tangled the cord and pulled that light smashing it onto the hood of the poor Mini. It could have fallen almost anywhere else in that garage with just a minor mess, but nooooo! Right onto the just painted Mini !