Pulling the Engine Out of my Austin Metro! - Metro Gearbox Rebuild, Part 1
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- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Today we're embarking on a mission. For the first time, I'm going to attempt to remove an engine in order to rebuild the gearbox on my A-Series powered 1987 Austin Metro.
Part 2: • Austin A-Series Gearbo...
Part 3: • Rebuilding the A-Serie...
Part 4: • Performance Exhaust an...
Part 5: • Engine and Gearbox Mar...
Part 6: • Will It Start? - Metro...
Part 7: • Sorting the Niggles - ...
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We all start off or remain not technical people until we attempt things and learn new skills. Most people just don't have the courage to do what you are doing. You are fast becoming much more technical.
He/She who dares ... wins most of the time.
I loved the cheer of joy when you’d split the gearbox from the engine because whenever I’m halfway through a big job I go OH MY GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE! Lol! Well done!
I’m depressed. I literally have socks that are older than you two….😂
Great work!
Oh man, was that a blast from the past.......even though it was a transversely mounted A-series in a different (BMC) vehicle - a 1964 Mark 1 Morris Mini Minor. A mate and I had that engine in and out of that engine bay every weekend for a couple of months, while he did varied mods or changed parts for better ones (including a couple of gearboxes). It got so we could have the engine and box sitting on the floor of his Dad's garage and split apart in about 90 minutes at worst. I'll never forget arriving at his place when I finished work on a Friday, then he'd pull in the drive a bit later - and before he had the engine turned off, I had the bonnet up and a 7/16th spanner on the bonnet hinge nuts! We did a lot of different things with it, but what we were mostly doing was learning about the engineering that makes an engine do what it does and how things work together to make the car go forward and backward. The more often you work on the wee beastie, mate, the more familiar you will get with it and the easier it becomes to do the necessary......and the more confidence you will have doing the much bigger jobs even if you have never done them before. They don't get much bogger than pulling the engine though - unless it is also stripping the engine down for a rebuild!
I am not certain of the final drive ratio on the Metro, but if I were faced with a diff that had gone toes up, now would be the perfect opportunity to give her longer legs. In the case of most Minis, the diff is either 3.4 or 3.7 to 1. Now, I have a MkIV with a 1275cc transplant and at 70mph, she was screaming at just under 4000rpm, so not the best case scenario for fuel economy or having much left in the rev range for overtaking Fortunately, you can buy a 3.1 or 3.2 to 1 diff and with the 1275 - or a 1098 / 998 that has been tickled a bit - it doesn't hurt them at all.....but the revs drop to just on 3000 at 70. Sure, in round town traffic, I tend to leave her in third until I get over 35, but on the open road, the rev range is so much more usable and she's not screaming at me any more......and it was much cheaper than a 5-speed box.
The other thing I will be doing shortly - and certainly recommend if you want to drive the car for fun and the enjoyment of driving - is doing to the Mini what I did to my Morris 1300GT and that's dropping in a cam that is ground to BCF731 specs. That's an old school BMC grind, but BOY does it make the car get up and boogie! With just her twin HS2 carbs in standard form, she would happily wind the needle off the end of the 100mph speedo to a point just to the left of straight down.....and would have probably kept going, but with 7200rpm already indicated by the stock rev counter, I figured she might go pop if I pushed my luck any further. In fact it gave me quite a shock when I saw it! Although she's pretty active off the bat, that cam really comes in around 2000rpm and doesn't stop giving until at least 5000, although I reckoned it was more like from 1700rpm to 5750 before I noticed it starting to lessen its oomph. My father used to use the same grind on the cams in Ford 1600cc crossflow engines in the multiple Cortinas we had in the 1970s and early 80s and the -731 had the same effect on those engines as well. There's also that beautiful loping idle they have that just makes any petrol head drool with happiness....and it says something that the 1300GT is one of two cars I have owned that I never really wanted to sell and would buy back if they were in the same condition. Sadly though, the GT was written off 5 months after I sold it and the other car I'd love to have back was left under a tree on the back lawn to rot away for several years by the next owner after it burnt a valve. By the time I saw it, it was no longer saveable.....as he'd also left the windows down.
Looking forward to seeing what the cause of the noise you mentioned was, Ed. My GT's gearbox destroyed a layshaft bearing and you only heard that noise under hard acceleration or hard deceleration.....but it was a nasty, droney, grinding rattle that sounded a bit like a worn idler gear, but happened no matter which gear you were in. Said bearing was a very social character and spread the love throughout the gearbox and into the oil pump as well. Fortunately any shavings that went up the pump were stopped by the oil filter, but the gear cluster was a mess and the oil pump was a write-off. I truly hope it isn't the same noise you were experiencing! All the best.
Well done there! I did that very project many years ago in a garage by myself when I was about your age. In my case it was saving a very early 1973 Allegro with a knackered gearbox, by swapping in a good one.
You're a better, braver and thoroughly enterprising man than me. Gungadin! A super video all round. and clever editing to remove what must have been a fair few choice expletives as you did battle with recalcitrant bits of BMC dubious engineering! Thanks, as ever, for my weekly motoring 'fix', and look forward to the rest of the engine and gearbox saga.
Rob
Thanks as ever Rob 🙂
I'm one of those people that remember and drove these cats, and yes it makes me smile that you guys love them so much, they didn't get much love at the time
Fabulous job, filmed very well, looking forward to watching this as it goes forward
Thanks Simon 🙂
Spent many frustrating/happy hours under cars back in the early 70s when i would have been around your age. Thankfully arrived at a point where I could afford more reliable cars that didn't need work other than servicing. To be honest wouldn't have missed those days. Enjoy your videos and applaud your efforts.
Great video and excellent work. Nobody is born technical. We get that way after owning British cars and taking them apart.
Congratulations, good luck with rebuild and thank you for looking after old cars.
Fabulous, well done. Must give you a well deserved sense of achievement. 😊
Good to see you getting your hands dirty Twin-Cam, something Quentin Wilson never did!
Who's a clever chappie! Excellent job.
You're a brave lad, just jumping in to it. Great video. PS! Love your go to the beach dresscode 😃
Loving your way with words - for some reason the reference to the "least appetising and definitely oiliest spaghetti you've ever seen" got me.
By the way, surely rather than an orange or lemon it would be best compared to peeling an onion? After all, it's sure to make you cry a lot as we go along.
That is a very fair point. When I was writing the script I was wondering why on earth I couldn't think of a foodstuff with multiple layers. The bloody onion eluded me!
Great video Ed, can't wait for the next one 👍
I bet you can’t 😉
@@TwinCam 😎😎
Well done... The only way to learn is to get stuck into the job, then ALL you have to do is remember the reverse sequence for putting it all back together!!
Well done Ed, I wouldn’t fancy doing this job 😂
Great video, reminds me of my red MG Metro and the week I spent on drive with my best mate swapping engine on my MG Montego
Great work - fab video - The car and it's engine look to be in great shape ! - A nice 1380cc overboard A+ series engine would be so cool - or a Turbo A+ series engine from a Metro turbo would be fun to drive - All the best of luck man - Work safe, take photos as you go and you'll be OK 👍👍👍
The art of fixing things comes in three stages, stage one is having the bottle to take it to bits, stage two is fixing it; and stage three is putting it back together. It's a simple process which you've nearly cracked. Well done young man, looking forward to stage three...
Back in the day(1980s) in the work shop, we would "crack the flywheel" as the first task, so we did it with engine in place. It solved all sorts of issues. Clutch cover off, and any ancilleries. Remove starter and lock the flywheel ring gear, Remove clutch cover, Loosen crank nut, then fit puller. The factory puller was quite compact. Someone had made a long punch from an old mini steering wheel shaft, so a couple strikes on the flywheel taper area. This method had 100% success within 3 strikes.
Every has to learn as they go along and you never finish learning ! The most important part is patience ... You are doing fine
Well done Ed. Fair play mate. Look forward to more on this :)
Great vid, I owned a MG Turbo back in the day, RUH377Y. Had to rebuild its gearbox. Wish I still had it!
well done ed! it's a good feeling when you accomplish summat that big :)
Good man Edd, dam good job they were always a pig to work on in the car, and again good job.
May not have much knowledge now however, carry on as you are and you'll learn. Well done great vid 👍
Thanks Jo 🙂
Well done guys! I well remember helping my mate take the engine out of his Metro many years ago (we did a Fiat 132 as well). In all of my cars with the A - Series engine I remember that the transfer gears were always noisy. One minor point at 14:19 - I hate the sound of metal on metal and a rubber mallet would be more appropriate. Good luck with the rest of the project!
Good goig! Always nice to work ourselves on our projects. That way, you understand how it works. I suggest replacing all oil seals and installing a new clutch disk whil everything is on hand. Well done once again! This is all excellent experience.
You get braver and braver in my eyes! It seemed so much work you've done, well done! I didnt know any of the terms but that didnt spoil the enjoyment of watching the result. A success for you. TY for sharing :)
Commuted to work late 80s early 90s in firstly a 1.0 city X and then a 1.3L. Moved onto a rover metro 1.1S G reg thereafter. Was a 54 mile round trip. Must have clocked about 100k miles on the 3 in total. Defo miss the rover! Sweet engine and oooo so lovely ride
Brilliant stuff, great job, we look forward to seeing the progress on the Metro gearbox repair. Best wishes from Bucuresti.
Brings back memories of my days working for an Austin rover dealer . We had so many metro engines out for main bearing failure and gear box bearings . With practice we had the engine and box out and it was still warm on the bench 😁
Do you recommend he strips and checks the engine over as well ?
@@johnmoruzzi7236 I would while it's out
Well done Edd, A brave thing to do when you admit to not being technically minded.
Asbestos and old oil, this is why gloves are a good idea along with your face mask. This being your first engine removal you did a great job.
Thanks for motivating me to get out and do some jobs on mine.
I hope that car was secured to to the lift while your mates head was under it, looked a bit hairy!
Brought back some memories for me this, my first time pulling an engine was out of a Russet Brown Mini 1.0 Auto that I engine/gearbox swapped to make it a manual (whilst my parents were away in Spain on holiday!).
I'm 2½ minutes in and just HAD to comment. You are talking about the issue of metric vs imperial tools. Be glad your two Metros are as new as they are, or you would need an entirely new set of spanners and sockets to fit "English Offsize" nuts and bolts, as my Geordie step-grandfather called Whitworth tools. My 1973 model Raleigh Sports bicycle was all Whitworth. Luckily one double ended box spanner had the two sizes needed on the whole bike!
Just finished now. Very interesting indeed. A neat bit of engineering, especially since Mini is now 64 years old! Keep up the good work. I'm really hoping that someday I can put a restoration video series on my channel. I will be rebuilding and invisibly modifying my 1990 Volvo 240DL estate.
May not have actually been Whitworth… there were a lot of things with Cycle Threads back then…..
Ahh. That takes me back to 1982, when I did a similar job on a 1968 Austin 1100. My gearbox made funny noises, like loose metal flopping around inside. I rebuilt the gearbox myself. Found that the main, dual, ball race had fallen apart. The balls in the bottom of the case, which occasionally got scooped up by the reverse idler gear, chipping a tooth. Layshaft case hardening had gone and needle rollers goosed. Realised at this point, that a rebuilt box would have been cheaper and quicker. But, boxed on and succeeded. Very educational.
As a licensed mechanic, I approve of this video..... Thanks for posting.
Thanks as always Mike 🙂
Tough little engines….yes I’d mod it a little… get it to breath better….. I’d even lighten the flywheel as well….. nice job so far 🤞🏽😉
For removing flywheel, make sure that flkywheel is in the right position (to avoid C clip falling off, see workshop manual) put puller on, tighten up, pour a couple of kettles of hot water over the flywheel, and it normally pops off.
Everything was done to the book.
The metro gearboxes were notorious for knocking out the 3rd motion shaft bearing making among others 4th gear very noisy and if not repaired would lead to the box locking up so have a check of it also if replacing front hub bearings make sure the split collars aren't worn anyway gotta love a metro❤
Great video, you're done very well. Better than I could.
Thanks mate 🙂
Brings back memories, my sister drove a Mini 1100 Special, Seneffe made, I had the Innocenti Cooper, my brother and I could get the engines out in an hour and a half, especially when it rained we were quick.
All skills were self taught, or taught by experienced mechanics from local garages.
Today I have not got a clue what to do if my computerized car breaks down except for calling the alarm number
Top Job, the best way to learn is just get stuck in.! Kudos 😉. One tip, please make sure you use barrier cream or gloves, protect your skin 👍 Looking forward to the next part 😁
Thanks Brett
On a Metro or a Mini always fit the speedo cable before the engine goes in, they are a bugger to fit afterwards.
An impact wrench, especially a good air driven one with a decent compressor, will remove most things. Even things like nuts on gearboxes or diffs where normally you need to lock them so you can apply torque to the buts or bolts. As others have said the more you do the more technical you become.
Seems like you're learning quickly. Well done. I hope you are going to change the clatch? It would be a false economy not to at this point.
Yes. It was done.
With most things in life, the first time is the least satisfactory/straightforward. 😁
On Mini/1100/1300/metro etc A series engines the flywheels are a massively tight interference fit on a tapered crankshaft shaft and the way we removed them back then in the trade was, you tighten the puller as tight as you reasonably can (NOT swinging on it with a four foot bar, veins standing out on your neck)
- you were extremely lucky only the puller bent...the other thing that happens more frequently is you strip the threads out of the flywheel THEN you are in a whole new world of hurt.
then after removing the flywheel locker from the starter motor hole you carefully give the outer edge of the flywheel at the ring gear four or five sharp raps through the starter motor hole in machine gun fast succesion with the flat of a ball pein hammer, you DONT try to pound it off that will never work, what you are aiming for is to shock vibrate the tension off the tapered shaft, and unless it had been welded on for like a million years, work's beautifully every time. by the way you may be wrong about it having never being changed - because we used to do them on a ramp from underneath back in the day. the battery tray was never an issue
back in the day I could change a mini clutch (the tightest space of all of them) from start to finish in about twenty five minutes on my own using this method - with the engine still in the car by the way - far less space than on a metro.
I always thought back then that Issigonis must have had a brain fart when he designed that system rather than just using a keyway and a woodruff key like on the crank pulley.
Your BIGGEST problem is going to when you come to re assemble the gearbox to the block, make ABSOLUTLEY sure you get the front neoprene half seal located EXACTLY before and AS you bring both components together because they slide and move like buggers and are hard to see and if not corrected straight away result in massive oil leaks that will drive you nuts - ask me how I know lol.
You may as well rebuild the engine whilst it's split. At lease get it on a stand and check the crank bearings. They've shared the sump with that gearbox.
No need. It’s an A-Series. It’ll be reet!
Plus, I don’t have an engine stand. That would mean expenditure with money I don’t have 😆
Reminds me of when my 1985 primrose yellow 1.0L Metro decided to shred its gearbox under the Dartford Tunnel in 1990. Not a pleasant experience, and prompted me selling the car for a Nissan Micra K10 1.0! My second Metro (my first was a 1983 white 1.0L) but the yellow Metro was my last ARG car ever. No, I’m still not sure why I bought 2 Metros! 😂
Blimey, I thought you had the White one in bits the other day 🤣
The internet. The white one was disassembled last month. This was done back in September.
@@TwinCam I noticed you said 2022 in the video after I commented. 🙂
Memories of fitting an HLE gearbox to my red Metro van (twice). Recommend wearing gloves to avoid skin cancer. Now try doing it on a classic Mini van with much harder access...
Whilst you have the engine out , it makes sense to replace the clutch, because the engine and gearbox share the same oil then you need to change the oil more frequently.
There are companies who will build a replacement radiator for you.
Naturally. It was done. Radiator is perfect. No need to change it.
The last time I removed the engine from a car it was a 1971 Fiat 500 L. Far, far easier than that!
Im going to sound like a right old fart..First the metro/rover 100 was discontinued 2 years before you was born and second....thank you for loving old cars .wish there were more like you it's like you was born in the wrong decade 👍
3 years! 😆😉
And that’s both of us. We’re both the same age!
@@TwinCam i must of had a bleeding hard life then...or you have one hell of a moisturiser 😵💫
I’m talking about Connor and I 🤣
@@TwinCam see told you i was old..can't even remember what I had for breakfast
Hi I’ve just booked Ian and dawn Kennedy’ to replace all of the hydro gas spheres on my rover 114
You should be on tv
Got a feeling 1st gear main bearing is a plastic caged bearing.
Should have got a triumph. They never break down. Oh hang on.......
Give yourself a pat on the back, you've done well. I understand your not that confident, but if you have the time and space, gearboxes and diffs are not that hard to do, perhaps think about tackling that as well.
I'm confused, you mentioned earlier in the year that you had the finances for a professional restoration.
Who said that? Because I didn’t.
Additionally, which car are you referring to here, because Melody has never been on the cards to receive restoration?
@@TwinCam I stand corrected, cheers.
Wow this video must be old as you said 2022
"not a very technical person" he sez, after taking an engine out of his car, and taking said engine apart....:)
You can’t beat a bit of brute force and ignorance.
Whatever you do, please do not get tattooed!
Eh?
Had a couple A Series gearboxes at college that we had rebuild, tutors would add "Extra" bolts (fortunately massively huge obvious not meant for the gearboxes ones) to add a bit of spice to the whole proceedings..... Ah how we laughed once we'd worked out that a 32mm headed bolt wasn't needed after we'd spent 20 mins trying to work out where it was meant to go!!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂