Following the discovery of the loose pulley on the Sprite Mk2, I have
removed the engine and box. The pulley, possibly from a old Mini (just a
guess) is different from the A+ pulley only by the A+ having an extra ring
riveted onto the rear face of the pulley for the purposes of timing the car
with a special gadget that slots into a clip on the A+ timing covers. Some
sort of inductive pick-up? Anyway, the new A+ pulley fitted nice and tight.
The decision is that the crankshaft is more resistant to wear than the
material that the pulley is made of, although the woodruft key (the pin that
slots in to stop the pulley spinning round the shaft) is a bit soft too.
I'm going to get another woodruft key from one of the scrap Metro engines as
this one is looking a bit chewed. I haven't pulled the timing chain yet but
will do so to ensure the bottom cog has not worn the same way. I think that
the reason the pulley bolt loosened was that I had used the locktab from the
camshaft pulley which does not have a tang to slip down the groove that the
woodruft key goes down. I had thought that the recess in the crank pulley
was to knock the tab back into. It seems, upon reflection, that the recess
is there to allow you to get pliers behind it to aid you in pulling the tab
up against the nut.
Changing the gearbox at the same time gave me the opportunity to try and
answer another question that cropped up on one of the lists a while back,
namely "can you tell a 1275 box from a 1098 from the serial numbers/part
numbers". I looked at 2 1275 and 3 1098s, two of them being from Minors.
They all had different numbers on the outside of the main casing, some with
number and letters and some with different groups ( eg 41456 or 2297 - AG6)
They all had the same number cast into the inside face of the bellhousing
(12G 121 or something like that). Both 1275s had VAF-5 marked on the
inside, just below the bottom of the clutch fork pivot. Only one of the
1275s had a remote assembly for the lever which contained the cast section
designed to fit a reversing light. No Morris Minor had a reversing light
switch in the UK. How about export cars? Anyone?
Decided to hunt for a GRP front end for the car. Does anyone know the
address for the place that sells the replica Sebring Sprite panels.
Somewhere near Brum/Coventry? Failing that, does anyone in the UK have a
lead on either a used front or know where I can buy a non-original-factory
shape front? Betty Windsor Beer Vouchers available for the right item!
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