what ever happened to the Marina , that the engine was getting rebuilt?

Hello Steph and Kev, how wonderful to see an "old school" mechanic go through the simple proceedure of re-fitting the cyclinder head, and getting the settings (head tourqued and valve clearences) done - as per the book!! I lernt my trade (mechanic) the same way, slowly and shurley so that confidence is gained for the next time! Looking forwards to the next video. Best wishes from Lincolnshire

Good to see you back in overalls Steph. Seems like years since we last saw you under the bonnet of a car. The Morris Minor sounds good, and I'm looking forward to seeing you re checking those torque settings in 500 miles. Great video - take care 🙂 X X

I really enjoy these tinkering videos, you should do more of them! I've done a head replacement on a Mini, it looks like access is much better on the Minor 🙂

I don’t even drive I’m a cyclist although I do collect 1960’s minic motorways but I love the cars featured and the way Steph presents this channel is a must watch for me .

With regard to priming the oil filter, I do this every time even on modern cars,vans and trucks. Priming the oil filter is old school but best practice 😉

This brings back memories. Spent many an hour with grandpa and dad in the shop as a kid grinding those burnt valves by hand. Long process and that gritty old grinding compund went everywhere.

I have to say that you must be an amazing friend to have such amazing friends. Thanks for the DIY video. For a car geek like myself seeing the workings of an A series was a treat. Thanks for all that you do !!!!

Steph, don't worry about you and Kev having to explain everything into great detail. Not everyone will know how to fit an A series cylinder head. That engine sounds so sweet so that was a job well done and it was absolutely the right call to farm out the cylinder head work. You're not just a pretty face.

This was brilliant and great team-work 💪 Thank you Steph!

Good job folks. The A series is the ideal engine to work on if you are learning. Simple and pretty tough.

What a delight is the dear old A-series!

It's about time you got some spannering videos done Steph! Your level of detail I'd say is just right. Not everyone is, or has a Kev. You're lucky to have him and kind enough to share his knowledge! Kev. Mate, you're a true star in the making! Thanks for sharing! 👍👍

Those BMC A Series engines are a great starting point for any hobbyist or backyard mechanic. I remember working on a friend's 1098cc powered Leyland Mini Clubman here in Australia. So easy to work on compared to the more modern, more complicated Honda cars I now tinker with!

Ah he is a good Lad is Kev. I agree with everything you did and I would have done it the same way. It is always a good idea to prime the oil filter, with modern oil filters it is best to fill them with oil before screwing them on so priming this is good and putting oil on the top end before turning the engine over is good practice. All very well explained for anyone who has never done it before. BTW Steph maybe you could teach Kev how to use 'catch up TV' ? He would never miss an episode again! 👍👍😁

Missed you on Sunday Steph my Sunday morning was definitely missing something but Monday is fine . Excellent video Steph and very informative. I have done this job a couple of times way back when but it is always good to watch. Thoroughly enjoyed it and what a great guy Kev is.

I love the banter between you and Kev 😅

Another excellent video. It's good to see you take us through all the steps that a beginner must make. There are too many videos elsewhere where some mechanical knowledge is assumed. We've all got to start somewhere. Thank you Steph and Ken 🙂

Done that job on A-series engines, HA & HB Viva's and Bedford's and quite an number of VWs. Always did valve grinding by hand. Seem to remember valve clearance adjustment was done with the engine idling on the Vauxhalls. VWs were done with shims of different thicknesses. A very enjoyable video, takes me back. Now the world is full of OBDII, EGRs and DPFs. Be good to go back. By the way, I don't doubt that your tray with nuts and bolts on it wasn't metal but good to remind viewers to keep metal away from battery terminals.

Is that a 10V/189E/L engine number? I had one fitted to a Morris 1000 saloon that probably came from a Morris 1000 van, they had larger dished pistons to lower the compression ratio. The L stands for low compression. Probably also why the compression pressures were showing around the 120 psi mark. I made the mistake of fitting an MG 1100 12G295 head to mine thinking it would increase the compression not realising they have bigger combustion chambers and made it worse! Well done on changing the head though, with new valves etc should certainly run better.

Great vlog Steph and what a nice guy Kev is. He also has found a use for the Daily Mail which is quite an achievement. Glad you have your Moggie back but my question has to be, where is the Marina?

I think I might be a bit in love with Kev! What an outstanding chap. Really enjoyed this vid

I like the banter between you two.

A brilliant tinkering video, love the chemistry between you and Kev

Absolutely cracking "Bread and Butter" mechanics. 👍

I remember doing the same job on my Hillman Avenger this is before my hands give up the ghost, very satisfying when it all go's well.

Remember helping a mate years ago when his allegro got rougher and rougher coming back from London but his valve had a hole burned in it

Hats off to you for getting involved and getting dirt under your nails while keeping Nancy in good health 👍🏻👍🏻

Great vid both of you. Well done

Thank you both for your efforts. I enjoyed watching.

Nice to see you take pride in looking after your cars, Steph. Clear as mud to me though......

Now THAT was really interesting! I am going to watch it again 🙂.

Looking good Steph ….love the boiler suit, Kev seems a great bloke that ‘landlord’ IPA beer 🍺 is a lovely drop of Ale 😉

Such a beatiful little car

Another cracking watch , love the enthusiasm of all your vids

Great video!

What a blast- Nice work!👍🛠🔥

Loved this! Kev's always such a laugh too. Being a modern mechanic I've never even touched a pushrod so this was actually very interesting to me. This looks like a far more fun job than the VW Transporter head rebuild I'm doing at work, that's for sure! 😫

What memories your videos create for me . I cannot count the number of times I have done this job especially on the A series engine . Nancy looks really well and so do you . Thanks for ALL your inspiring videos

Not that I want you to have an excess of car problems Steph, but I enjoyed that👍

I really enjoyed that. What a nice treat! Thanks

The ability to explain complex concepts in simple, easy to understand language is a skill that very few people have, but you have in spades.

Even when you're working on a car your outfit is colour co-ordinated, nice one 👍. Doesn't it feel great as a novice mechanic when you solve something and repair it? Thanks for a tinkering video, I really enjoy these.

Well done guys I'm so glad you went with the hardened pistons. I have a 1967 5 main bearing 1.8 MGB engine in my little MGA and I can't wait until I don't have to muck around with that lead replacement stuff anymore. But as they say if it aint broke don't fix it so I'll put up with it while it's running good. May I say Steph you are looking fantastic and I'm loving the matching outfits with all the different coloured cars absolutely stunning. Kev really good walk through with the reassemble and lots of great tips as well.👍🏻👍🏻❤

Great video, thankyou 🙂. I appreciate you working slowly and carefully whilst explaining what you are doing. Great information, hoping to put it into practice myself once I get my hands on a Morris Minor van that I long for.

I really enjoyed that, really did. Thank you Steph and Kev. Best wishes from New Zealand

Glad you listened to those that told you to put the valve pushrods back in their correct order, ive been doing it that way for years and my Dad taught me that . I spent a lot of time all self taught replacing camshafts and cleaning clogged oil strainers on Mk2 Cavaliers in the 80s and 90s which seemed to be their biggest failure points. although nothing on the level your facing but I love to tinker with 1960 to 1998 Citroens from time to time and restored a 1987 2cv not long ago. Very nice job you should be very proud. the important thing is always take you time and never rush even if it is your only mode of transport.

She's in such good hands with you! Terrific car; looking forward to your next tinkering vid.

Proper Britool ring spanner on the valves .Good job.

Ken, is a great friend to have and I like his nice simple way of explaining the processes. No need to complicate things what done warren it. Nice video. Bob

Thank you both, for such a good video, I liked it very much😊

Great content Steph enjoyed the vlog Nancy looks and sounds fantastic looking forward to seeing more on her ..

Apologies if already covered here, but it appeared as if the cylinder head fasteners, while using the proper bolt sequence, were tightened to the final FULL torque spec all at one go. Please correct me if I misunderstood on that detail. I was taught, all those years ago now: to properly secure / tighten the cylinder head fasteners, one would use three steps sequence of tightening those fasteners. In your case, I believe the final torque value is 45 - 50 ft/lbs. This the case, one would start torquing these nuts at say 25 ft/lbs [using the proper tightening sequence], then graduate upwards to 35 say.. Finally the 45 or 50 ft/lbs be achieved. Might be a more gentle approach, no? Your after repair re-torque is a super good practice! Best to you all & love your coverage!

Great video and content as always ❤

I've got one of those lights in my garage! Although the wiring on mine is a lot less likely to kill you.😂 Great video Steph and Kev.👍

I agree about paying up to have a specialist fix specialist parts, as for brakes and bits and bobs, game on 👍

There is logic to the cylinder head bolt tightening sequence, it is starting at the centre and working outwards to avoid warping of the head. Look at the sequence and it will make a spiral going outward from the middle.

Haha I think kev is telling fibs about not starting the car before you arrived 😂😂😂 all good fun tho x

Great video Steph! I had missed the "tinkering " videos you used to do

Great one thx

Makes me remember my first headgasket-change. I also had a manual at hand, but didn’t have a clue what it would be like. I managed to get the head off and had it sanded and flattened. New headgasket and the head back om the engine. With a torquewrench all the headstruds in the correct sequence. Last one i could not get up to the “click”. I tried and tried and then suddenly the strud broke! Had to take the whole assembly off again and found the strud had broken off flat with the engineblock….. How do i get the remains out 🤔. There was no way getting grip on that strud. In all despair i just pressed my thumb on it and it turned!! All the way out. Pfieuw! Never expected that. Found “new” struds at a junkyard and got the job done in the end. Drove over 100k km’s with my dyi headgasketchange. Much much later i learned that you should always use new struds when reassembling the head, as they are made to ‘stretch’ and they stretch only once…… This was (another) GREAT video Steph! Loved it and good memories. Thnx 👋

I had a 68 minor nearly identical to yours, 2 door Trafalgar Blue, though yours looks a lot shinier under the bonnet. Anyway it ran fine for years then the running became lumpy & it started conking out in embarrassing places! I changed all the easy bits, coil, distributor cap etc. New fuel pump & even a new carburettor. Never really got to the bottom of it. I suspected then it might have been a sticky or burnt valve. I should have got it compression tested. Around 2005 I sold it to a work colleague. As far as I know it is still on the road.

That’s the trouble with those a series engines the exhaust valves on cylinder 2&3 are next to each other so that part of the head runs hotter .

Thanks for sharing Steph, it's a pleasure to see a tinkering video again. Much appreciated. Kev's a real character, does he have his own KZfaq channel 😊👍

Those 948cc engines have two major problems with #3 cylinder. The valve seat on #3 always cracks because of inadequate thickness of the head there. Your engine shop did the right thing by inserting a Stellite seat. It is the ONLY way to fix this. The other problem is block flex that causes distortion of #3 cylinder, that causes blowby and excess oil burning. BMC even made a special piston with an extra oil scraper ring at the bottom to control oil burning. The only way to fix this is to have #3 bored out, and fitted with a steel liner sleeve. I drove a MM for years as daily transportation. I could tear down, and rebuild that engine blindfolded. And that's no exageration.

A Minor (!) correction, unleaded petrol doesn't burn hotter than leaded petrol, but the lead in leaded fuel provided some lubrication to the valves and valve seats, which prevents brinelling which leads to recession and /or burning.

Great tinkering video been there done that owned a couples of Hillman Gazelles and the 1725 rootes engine with the alloy cylinder hesd were notorious for blowing head gaskets but on my Toyota Hilux 1997 the tge the 22R engine is an iron block with an alloy head but as far as l know the cylinder head has never been off in 26 years and 432000 kilometers so Toyota got it right were rootes group failed

Awesome

I would gradually increase the torque setting on head bolts in the order, not load up 1 bolt to the max 😘 otherwise you done well.

Another great video Steph, and I’m all for simplicity (although I’m not even that advanced!). I have been watching your videos for a while now and long before I’d even thought about buying a classic car, but I’m now on the hunt for a Morris Minor Traveller, so very excited!

At 8:00 he talked about using emery paper to flatten the top of the block. Is there not a risk of grit dropping into the oil passages?

Great video , thank you. I'll be starting this job tomorrow. Did you put the head gasket on dry ?. Thanks ,,,, John.

Since ive never run into this problem, what causes burnt valves? Lean combustion?

I hope you did some mild porting on the head and manifolds as terrible from factory ,even basic work can add 10% to horses and better economy too.

Fantastic video why can’t my daughters help me with my car can I please adopt you😂😂😂

Such a great video Steph! It's videos like this that gave me the confidence to buy my first classic and do most jobs on it myself 🙂

Good to see it up and running again and now able to run on unleaded fuel without the lead additive. Were you running it before with a lead fuel additive? Awesome video. 🙂🙂

Good to see Kens still at it !Steph how is the Marina getting on ? A quick word to the wise when it's time to tighten the head down don't forget to check the bypass hose between the head and the water pump most people forget this ,and whilst your running the new valves in keep an eye on the oil as the compression will be better now and more than the old bottom end is used to dealing with,to check for any blow by with the engine hot and ticking over remove the oil filler cap and look for fumes .

My extension light is identical to yours haha 😂

What's the best method for torquing up the manifold? What order should you torque it up. Thanks

Well done Steph. You have me all motovated to take my 1937 Austin 10 Cambridge across to Cambridge for Armistice this year. Its the best part of a days traveling to get there, espcially at 30s car speed.

Had a triumph spitfire needed choke to pull away from lights every time friend reckoned exhaust valve dead right when I compression tested it u can use a thermometers covid style gun cool exhaust port is bad cylinder

Expat here. Kev is a legend. Emmerdale is on, I'm outta here! Love this.

Hi steph, just a tip... don't de doing a hubnut when he has a tinker 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Usually exhaust valve on # 3 cylinder.

thank you , You beautiful people ! informative and with a camerawork that is really impressive . I tend to look at everything morris minor related as Ive got 2 of them ( A 59 and a 34 with a Aseries engine,) Few are as pro productions as this , Pics are crisp and lightning perfect . One could see every detail ! Im waiting for a video on how to remove the master brake cylinder on the 59, Strained my back in the midlle of it a few weeks ago doing it the buschmecanic way in the backyard and i guess my tools are still there somewhere,,, You made my day , Thank you, Keep it up Steph ! Youre one of the lovliest people ever in the motorworld , And Kev, Looking forward to see moore of your work ,Love the unselfish way You share your wisdom . We need moore people like You .

I used to love doing jobs like this when I drove old bangers from the 60s, 70s & 80s back in the day (late 90s) - you could pick up a MOTd mk1 Escort for a few hundred quid needing TLC back then!! I distinctly remember the first time I took the head off a car, it was a Hillman Hunter 1500DL. I had quite a collection of Haynes manuals by the time I moved overseas. Happy days.

At last - a use for the Daily Mail 😂. Good job both!

Outfit matches, yay

Who restored the morris for you ?

22:18 Lucky it's not an older Vauxhall Steph. As it memory serves me these were done with the engine running . 🙂

I haven't watched Emmerdale since they killed off Chris Tate.

Hi Steph from the US (Florida). It's good to see your love for classic cars extending to getting your hands dirty by working on your own car's internals. I was curious which year and engine size your Morris Minor is? These were never imported to the US so, they all look the same to me. It sounds like the cylinder head work done by that shop was high quality. Adding valve seats is a good idea. The leaded fuel the engine was orginally designed for, had some measure of valve seat lubrication, which lubrication you don't get with the unleaded fuels. A burnt valve is usually caused by too lean a fuel/air mixture or driving the car at or near maximum speed on a long trip.

At last a use for the Daily fail.

Seeing way too many burnt valves on cars on this petrol in uk