I’m want to reduce the thickness of the phenolic spacer between the HIF44 and alloy manifold on my 1293, just to give an extra bit of bulkhead/ITG filter clearance. I have a woodworking router and was wondering if the wood routing bits would cut this ‘plastic’ OK without damaging either the bit or the spacer.
Anybody done this?
Thanks.
p.s. no vacuum takeoff involved.
the problem would be , even if it did cut cleanly , with no plastic melting / jamming the bit ,
it would take quite a bit of work getting it flat enough , as there would be marks left that could cause leakage
I would make sure you can get hold of another one , just in case
I know what you mean with clearance in the bulkhead area
I wonder if you could lengthen the top engine steady , & adjust exhaust to compensate for the change in angle ?
my HIF touches some times - can’t be good for it
best of luck which ever route you take (no pun intended)
What thickness do you think you need to end up with?
i would not be using a router.
lathe or milling machine yes as you can get a flat and parallel surface.
but IIRC there were a few different thickness available depending on aplication. but I bet they will all be long gone.
I take the point about attaining flatness even with a router, which is handheld.
I wanted to reduce by about 1/8" inch. Currently it is 7/16" with gaskets (11mm or 0.438"). This should give me just a little extra on the bulkhead. I have already thumped the top of the crossmember a little to give a small indentation. I think probably the only answer would be to use the plastic spacer which has the vacuum take off and block the take off. http://www.minispares.com/product/classic/MFA446.aspx
I have tried to fit the longer 1275 steady bar but after enlarging the engine mount holes a little and applying a bit of grease the engine wasn’t happy tilting; also altered the angle of the base of the LCB too much. The above spacer, which would be 5/16" with gaskets, would seem to be the least botch up. I’m going to look at re-siting the abutment bracket onto the nut side of the carb studs, with suitable modification. I don’t want to lose the abutment as it would seem to be a deflector for spilt fuel.
The subframe is an '89 City E which has had a 1275 transplant.
Cancel my thought about the abutment plate; I forgot the choke cable is clipped to the top of it.
Adjustable engine steady? Its a tight fit with my itg, had to fit to carb then attach the inlet to the head to squeeze it on.
i would not be using a router.
lathe or milling machine yes as you can get a flat and parallel surface.
but IIRC there were a few different thickness available depending on application. but I bet they will all be long gone.
The Metro Turbo spacer was about half the thickness of the normal Mini one, if you can find one…
Not sure about the thickness of the ones from Maestro/Montego/Allegro/Maxi etc but they are all as rare as the proverbial these days.
Phil.
Why not pick up some aluminium plate and make one? Not much to it.
Thought the idea of the ‘plastic’ spacer was as a heat insulator.
I also note that on Mini Spares a few of the alternatives are NLA so I’ll probably go for the one in the MS link I put up.
Was going for an adjustable steady; they’re about £20 but the plate is cheaper. When I tried fitting the 1275 steady the engine really didn’t want to tilt and I don’t want to start relocating the exhaust system backwards if I did fit it. It is the exhaust that is preventing the tilt at the moment. The thinner plastic spacer seems to be the path of least resistance.
Hi,
Had the vey same problem you are having with my HIF 38 hitting the rear bulkhead, so I cut the spacer in half, mounted it firmly but lightly in a vice (cracked the first one) and cut very very carefully
in half, the problem I had was spending hours and hours making sure it was flat in relation to the reverse side that was already flat, used very fine sand paper, i used a Vernier micrometer to make sure it was flat to within .1-. 2 mm all the way round, if you don’t there is a very good chance it could cause a air leak, to date i had no issues, also used an adjustable engine steady to tilt the engine away slightly.
good luck
Just buy a small sheet if the right thickness and cut it out?
These guys have allsorts and a quick call would sort out what to buy…
http://www.directplastics.co.uk
FS
Or just talk to Burlen, the SU people.
They sorted a thinner one for me which, I think came from a Rover 216.
Very helpfull and very reasonable price.
