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 Posted: Jun 7, 2017 09:58AM
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I see no oil at all dripping off the rockers or shaft? Make sure the oil feed hole is on the correct pedestal. If you remove the rockers and crank the engine over you should see oil coming up the oil feed hole on the 1st pedestal nearest the radiator.

Mini's are like buses they come along in a bunch

 Posted: Jun 7, 2017 09:35AM
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US
I lost track of how your car was running.  The rocker problem was fixed and it's still purring down the road?

 Posted: Mar 22, 2017 02:15PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by malsal
Not the worst i have seen. Start the engine from cold and remove the oil cap then look to see how much oil is being pumped over the rockers. This is just to make sure you don't have an oiling issue to the top of the motor as the wear could be lack of oil.
Still running great.  It's quite oily up there but I don't see a lot of being pumped around.  Here's a video link.  Does look normal?

Thanks!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6nEdtc1CIo

 Posted: Mar 18, 2017 07:26PM
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US
Quote:
Originally Posted by Morninglightmountain
This slanted wear mark is the only suspect thing I've found other than a missing washer. 
Witness mark from  the spring touching the shaft. May have had a broken spring if not recently then sometime in the past. i wouldn't consider the wear serious but if spring was broken it may allow either one of the rockers to slip off the valve stem and alter valve operation. Of course this is all pure speculation. If I saw this from anormal operating engine I would just replace the offending spring and make sure I understood the cause of the wear.

 Posted: Mar 18, 2017 07:06PM
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Not the worst i have seen. Start the engine from cold and remove the oil cap then look to see how much oil is being pumped over the rockers. This is just to make sure you don't have an oiling issue to the top of the motor as the wear could be lack of oil.

If in doubt, flat out. Colin Mc Rae MBE 1968-2007.

Give a car more power and it goes faster on the straights,
make a car lighter and it's faster everywhere. Colin Chapman.

 Posted: Mar 18, 2017 05:51AM
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This slanted wear mark is the only suspect thing I've found other than a missing washer. 

 Posted: Mar 17, 2017 12:37PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dklawson
I hope this is indeed the fix.

When you replaced the rocker assembly did you check that all the pushrods were still straight?
i checked them about a month ago when I had the head off.
not this time. 
Took it for another pretty long drive again.  No problems so far. 

 Posted: Mar 17, 2017 11:23AM
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US
I hope this is indeed the fix.

When you replaced the rocker assembly did you check that all the pushrods were still straight?

Doug L.
 Posted: Mar 17, 2017 11:02AM
 Edited:  Mar 17, 2017 12:41PM
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cool,we are happy to know your mini is back on the road, at 70mph? you must have a 1275 engine. 
..be safe and enjoy your mini.


edited: my first guess was a bent pushrods as mr lawson pointed out below and MLM said that yes they're all straight,   But tell us do you know how to check if the pushrods are straight or not? To begin with?   Roll it in the table

 Posted: Mar 17, 2017 09:03AM
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Hope you have it fixed. The excessive valve noise was a clue in the video you posted but i am thinking it has to be more than a missing washer. I would take your old shaft apart as one or more of those rockers had to be binding/seizing up at some point to make that kind of racket. Also if you find abnormal wear check your oil flow to the rocker shaft.

If in doubt, flat out. Colin Mc Rae MBE 1968-2007.

Give a car more power and it goes faster on the straights,
make a car lighter and it's faster everywhere. Colin Chapman.

 Posted: Mar 17, 2017 07:40AM
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Image Gallery
Hi fellas,

I was able to take the car for a pretty decent high speed 70+mph drive today with no issues.
I hope i'm not jumping the gun here.  But fingers crossed it stays fixed and isn't some anomaly. 
Thanks to Chris for putting me in touch with Jim who helped me diagnose the problem.
Jim and I double checked the valves and we took a ride.  After hearing the problem he suggested I start by replacing the rockers.
I replaced them with a set I had off an old Midget engine and the car is running better.
The old rockers were missing a thrust washer (or at least a regular washer) on one end. That's the only thing I saw that was obviously wrong.
Hopefully it is fixed.  
Thanks to all you folks for your help.
I'll update more later.