Hey there
I bought my first mini a few months back that I found advertised on here. It was a great little car when I bought it with a reasonably solid body. Only main problem with it was it was only running on three of the four cylinders. After a few cylinder compression tests and a cylinder leakage test we came to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to take the head of. After taking the head in became obvious the exhaust valves from cylinder two and three had burnt right out. They had made there way up the head about 4mm. This photo isn’t very clear but shows what I’m talking about.
I sourced a head from a guy in the my village who had shed loads of pieces and mini parts. The head I chose was from a 1989 engine and still and hadn’t been used for quite some time (My mini is a 1982 however the head seemed to match)
This is what the head looked like after I’d taken it off the engine and got it back home, not bad for £30
After a lot of cleaning, lapping in the valves, and oil bath to strip the head of all grease and a coat of the paint this is what the head and rocker cover now looks like:
I bought new valve stem seals to replace the old ones and new rocker cover seals. As is necessary I also bought a new head gasket set. Before replacing the head I used gunk within the engine bay to remove most of the grease and sprayed numerous parts and used autosol on others. Whilst putting the head back in I also managed to snap the choke cable so a new choke cable was also put in. New hose clips were used where possible and any bad bits of hosing were either trimmed back or replaced. Although on the whole most of the engine bay was in good nick.
I managed to borrow a very good quality torque wrench from a friend which was good.
This is what the engine bay looked like after the new head had been replaced. I must say for a good few days hard work I’m very pleased that it started first time perfectly with no problems. The total refurb cost me around £50
Head - £30
Gunk - £7
Lapping Paste - £3
Deburring Drill Bits - £3
Gun Gum (For the manifold) - £3
Choke cable - £4
Rubber seals - £3
The video below shows the second start up
This is the first work I’ve ever done on a mini and I’m proud with the results 
Having some interior made up by retro retrims at the moment so really looking forward to getting that and finishing her off… oh and she’s called pippa 
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Adam
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