Ever since I've owned my Mk1 Pi, it hasn't had the correct engine fitted. This has always irked me somewhat and I've always kept an eye out for the right one. My Pi is currently fitted with a Mk2 Pi engine which starts with an MG prefix. The correct engine for my car should start with a CR prefix.
Whilst browsing on ebay last week I spotted a CR engine which would hopefully be ideal. Luckily a friend of mine in Derby went to nearby Nottingham where the engine was situated and looked at it for me, confirmed it would be good and collected it for me. Even more luckily for me he was coming down to mine at the weekend anyway and brought it with him.
I had some free time today so I started to partially strip it down to give me an idea of what I was up against and what parts I may possibly need.
Removal of a big end bearing cap and a main bearing cap showed hardly any wear on the bearings and crank at all and the 308778 original Stanpart camshaft looked good as well. The oil pump filter also looked clean , so this engine has been looked after at some point. I say some point because when the engine arrived newspaper had been stuffed into the bores to keep them clean and extraction of the newspaper showed it to be 1983!
All was looking good, but the cleaning of the top of the pistons gave the biggest surprise. At some point in its life the block has been bored out and had plus 60 thou pistons fitted. This will increase the CC (Cubic Centimetres) from 2498cc to 2601cc. (or in other words 2.5 litre to 2.6 litre.)
At present it looks like this engine could just be fitted in the car and used as is. However, I will still be fitting a new set of big end bearings, main bearings, piston rings and a new oil pump, to hopefully get some longevity out of it.
The funny thing is, the other engine that I have fitted in my Blue Mk1 has also been bored out to plus 60 thou as well, so I'll be running two Mk1 saloons both with 2.6 litre engines.
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