Welding K1100 Cylinder Head

[Morrisman]

madmatt is one of the og's. Matt Read is his actual name (think the spelling is right) he's been around minis all his life and has forgotten more than most, he was doing these conversions when most of us had never heard of a 'bmw k100'..... hes also done some other daft conversions, like fwd v8 mini as well.... runs a company called readspeed, which i believe his father started back in the day...... he's still about on instagram and fb i think, i see stuff from him ocassionally, and there pretty much all i use (other than here/pistonheads and a couple of others.... havent been on tm for donkeys years, might go see if my login still works....)

I saw a Rover V8 stuffed into a Mini, mated to a Princess gearbox for front wheel drive. If I remember right, rthe crankcase needed a few mm skimming off the sump face, to fit the gearbox. The builder depth-drilled dozens of holes, then ground and filed it down somewhat crudely, then dragged the block around his concrete yard to level it all up.

 

[Morris]

I saw a Rover V8 stuffed into a Mini, mated to a Princess gearbox for front wheel drive. If I remember right, rthe crankcase needed a few mm skimming off the sump face, to fit the gearbox. The builder depth-drilled dozens of holes, then ground and filed it down somewhat crudely, then dragged the block around his concrete yard to level it all up.

V8Mini.co.uk - You know it makes sense

 

[minimutly]

V8Mini.co.uk - You know it makes sense

I am responsible for a small bit of the Spag's website there...

 

[Morrisman]

V8Mini.co.uk - You know it makes sense

One could spend hours in that web page, glad too see he is still going strong.

 

[minimutly]

madmatt is one of the og's. Matt Read is his actual name (think the spelling is right) he's been around minis all his life and has forgotten more than most, he was doing these conversions when most of us had never heard of a 'bmw k100'..... hes also done some other daft conversions, like fwd v8 mini as well.... runs a company called readspeed, which i believe his father started back in the day...... he's still about on instagram and fb i think, i see stuff from him ocassionally, and there pretty much all i use (other than here/pistonheads and a couple of others.... havent been on tm for donkeys years, might go see if my login still works....)

Aahh, now I know, he pops up regularly on FB reels, porting mini heads etc.
Thanks

 

[zeppelin builder]

²

Peter Baldwin the Mini racer had a BDA engine in one of his cars I believe?

Jim dryden Scotland raced a BDA mini too

 

[zeppelin builder]

a friend built a supercharged austin 7
and i welded up the head he has a seperate cooling system for head and block with 2 radiators

 

[minimutly]

HOrizontal boring this afternoon, new experience for me, access to the back of the table not ideal, need a bigger workshop...

All 3 done!

 

[minimutly]

More tigging tonight. I wouldn't dare say I'm getting better at it, but the tendency to want to launch the torch across the workshop has gone away, and my use of both hands, feeding the filler, and using either foot for throttle control has improved.

 

[minimutly]

I succumbed to the modifying bug, nothing heavy just a tidy up of the valve throats. Not sure if I will up the valve sizes or not...

 

[minimutly]

I succumbed to the modifying bug, nothing heavy just a tidy up of the valve throats. Not sure if I will up the valve sizes or not...

Those valve seats are nice and wide -crying out for some oversize valves.... Today I nodded the head on the Town Wood house mill (19 degrees), used a seat cutting arbor in a collet holder to set up on each guide, swapped to a boring head to machine some decent reliefs for the valves (two heads, 16 valves in total). That's quite a lot of changing tools. Now they're even more asking to be increased in size.
The TW is a delight to use, but doesn't have a spindle lock, so every time you want to release a tool in the quill you have to open the belt cover to hold on to the belt to stop it turning. Might need to see if something can be engineered somewhere...

 

[minimutly]

Welding completed on the 1st head. So I tried to "pull" the bow out of it using heat, and the mini block with 6 middle studs fitted. Bolted the lot up and went at it with my propane roofers torch. First time just bolted and torqued down, got it nice and hot, allowed to cool. No difference..
Second attempt with a pair of 10 thou feeler gauges under each end - maybe the bow is a bit less, but still there.
Today I tried another tack, heated the head on my ceramic hob (but not before checking the block was still flat - it wasn't, the threaded inserts I'd fitted, the ones next to the relocated studs had lifted a couple of thou, so I had to scrape these areas flat). I got it up to 130 degC, dropped it onto the cold block and torqued it down - is it getting hot enough?
Right now I'm letting it cool before testing again. If it comes flat enough I'll give it a flycut and post a pic or two.

 

[Popcorn]

You're never gonna straight an alloy head out like that, after all to move the alloy you have to anneal it. Don't forget it is a complex casting and if you get it that hot you'll just end up knackering it.
You've got the gear just skim it.

 

[minimutly]

Well it overheated and bowed, so I see no reason heating it again and "persuading" it back wouldn't work. In fact I can report that it has worked, took 5 goes and a bit of patience, but straight it now is. Just machining the bottom flat leaves the cam rocking on the middle bearings, which can be corrected, but it's a pain.
It's currently on the mill being "ended", then it's going on the other one to be skimmed..

 

[Popcorn]

Just HOW hot did you get it ? I bet the cam wasn't rocking before all this reheating. Only had mine skimmed and the cams turn fine.
I wouldn't be surprised if the heads gone soft now.
You're not getting any of the cam retainers mixed up are you ? There numbered but six and nine can be mixed up.

 

[minimutly]

I got it with a bow in it (but it was an online buy, so I never realised until it turned up). It's not soft, anything but, seen plenty of alloy heads show up as mush when you flycut them. The bow was noticed after washing and welding (as soon as I noticed the head gasket failure damage I checked the cams, and then checked the head face.
Are you trying to imply I caused the head bow by trying to straighten it? You can bet all you like, but I wasn't born yesterday, and know what a bowed head looks like.
For info, the cams now sit nice and even across the bearings, head is skimmed 8 thou or so (hard to be sure because all the datums have moved), the chamber volumes should be close, but will be checked, and ports had a nice tidy up.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Annealing is a major problem with K series heads when they have overheated , I believe that a hardness test is carried out on them by some engineer reconditioning companies before any other work is carried out . I have had heads that have been welded that haven’t caused any problems but others have. An interesting project, in my time the best head to fit was a 12g295

 

[Popcorn]

Im not implying anything...........
What I was saying was that you got the head too hot when you welded it and as above it's quite a well know fact that these heads don't like getting too hot when welding them.
Now the goal posts have moved and you've started with a warped head all bets are off...........


Yeah a 295 that's the first mod I ever made to a mini, was still a learner at the time.
Only for the small bore engines though.

 

[Melvyn Best]

Yeah a 295 that's the first mod I ever made to a mini, was still a learner at the time.
Only for the small bore engines though.

Powermax pistons,lightened 1100 con rods ,88g229 Cooper 997 cam , 1.5” SU on a water heated manifold MG1100 exhaust manifold with a Sprite mk1 silencer. My first attempt at tuning as a 19 year old

 

[minimutly]

Well that's two hours of my life I won't get back - still needs a last cut, but it has a slight bend I want to get out first.