These photos are from a 1964 MG 1300, but they use the ubiquitous 1100/1300 engine with gearbox in the sump power-plant that was installed in MILLIONS of cars back in the 70's through to the 90's when classic mini production finally ceased.

Check these photos out:






































The car was brought to me and my chum, as we have done quite a lot of work on the old BMC/BLMC cars that have these power-plants in them.

The car was EXTREMLY noisy in the gearbox, and was leaking a large amount of oil.

When they put the engine back onto the gearbox, they used a home-made gasket between the engine/box and the clutch housing(they admitted that), and that is a BIG no-no, as the correct gaskets are thick by design, and you torque them down while measuring  the end-float on the intermediate gear and it's thrust washers to make sure everything is good.  Putting a home-made gasket on, made out of thin gasket cardboard means the clearances are all screwed up, and this is the end result - which is not good.....

It basically just rubbed itself to bits, with metal debris eventually getting picked up by the drop-gear arrangement, and blowing teeth of the intermediate gear, and knocking a large hole right through the clutch cover housing!

Ouch!

Note that we have not even FOUND the remains of the needle-roller bearing that normally lives in the cover housing, and only a slim amount of the outside of the cage of the bearing shell remains!  Yikes....

Because of all the metal shavings etc, this engine and gearbox will have to be totally stripped and cleaned, to make sure there are no metal filings left to cause more damage, so it is gonna cost them a few bob!  

Moral of the story: Use the correct gaskets, and don't cut your own unless you HAVE to.  The after-market housing gasket is easy to get, and only costs about $15 or so, and cos they did not want to spend $15.......well...it's not going to be a $15 repair job, I can tell you that much!

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Smoke makes things work. When the smoke gets out, it stops!

Ouch. What a mess!

Ouch alright. That is going to cost them a packet.
There is a lot of work to do just getting all the metal bits out of the motor first. How do you plan to repair the crankcase where the shaft punched its way through the end.
pete

@ SimpleSafeName - Indeed....

@ Godoh - The INTERMEDIATE gear punched through the clutch housing.  Replacement clutch housing and intermediate gear will fix the issue - along with the CORRECT thickness gasket!  

That's pretty much the repair simply-speaking, but due to the damage and metal fragments that have now got into the lubrication system, the engine and gearbox will BOTH have to be totally stripped, cleaned(to eliminate any metal fragments still inside the lubrication system) and reassembled with a replacement clutch housing, intermediate gear and associated needle-roller bearings.

....and a correct gasket, and measuring the end-float this time!

I have made sh*t loads of gaskets for all sorts of things, but always use correct gaskets when they are used as or with shims.

A bit off topic, but an example of where the genuine gasket is the wrong gasket.
Many decades ago I was repairing an ancient Villiers lawnmower 2 stroke engine. So old it had a deflector crown piston.
On reassembly it worked but with little power which turned out to be due to air leaking in/out through the crank bushes. No new-fangled ball bearings in this one.
It had no seals either, just tapered bushes so the thickness of the gasket between the front and back crankcase halves determines the clearance between the bushes and the shaft.
As the engine ages you need a thinner gasket to prevent leakage.
Edited 2023-10-09 06:39 by phil99