MiniWorld June 2019 47
cloth, paying particular a ention
to the rusty areas to the side of
the lining contact area, and then
check fi rst that one or more of
the drums is not out of round.
To do this jack the car up one
corner at a time and support it,
then slowly rotate the wheel.
You will feel on/o resistance if
the drum is out of round. If one
or both drums are out of round
try fi ing another pair of drums
but, if you use second-hand
parts, make sure that they are
front drums as the brake shoes
are wider at the front than at the
rear, and check that they too are
not out of round. Beyond this,
check that nothing is loose inside
the drum: brake linings, wheel
cylinders etc., and that the linings
are free from any contamination.
Chamfering the leading edge
of the lining sometimes helps
too. The fact that the juddering
only occurs when the brakes
are applied would suggest that
the problem lies with the brakes
rather than with the suspension
or steering but, if none of the
above suggestions e ects a
cure, you should investigate
further by looking at areas such
as the subframe mountings and
the dampers in particular.
Head cracks
I am in the process of rebuilding
a Cooper S engine, which I have
owned for many years, to fi t into
my newly-acquired 1979 Mini
- When I bought the S engine
about 20 years ago it came with
a spare AEG163 cylinder head as
the previous owner thought that
the original head was cracked.
He was correct about this but,
unfortunately, the replacement
head is also cracked. What
is my best option? Try and
get the cracks repaired
or fi t a di erent head?
Don Miller
The AEG163 S cylinder head
is notorious for cracking
between valve seats and
repair is not usually an
option. You have two choices;
either to try and source a
replacement 163 head; this
will be expensive as there
are few around and the
replacement may crack in
time, or to source and fi t
a 12G940 as used on the
Mk3 Cooper S, usually with
an additional part number
12G1805 stamped on. 12G940
heads are still relatively easy
to fi nd although they are
becoming more rare. Some
'940' heads have a smaller
inlet valve size but heads from
the Austin/ Morris 1300GT and
MG Metro and 1990s Coopers
have the larger inlet. All have a
smaller exhaust than the 163.
An engineering shop can fi t
the larger inlet from the S head
to heads not so equipped and
all 940 heads can be modifi ed
to a very high specifi cation
including to 11-stud fi tment
for your S block. Ideally try
and source an A-series (with a
fl at surface on the top), rather
than A-plus, if you want the
engine to look right for period.
SERVICING
One of the most important
things to check today when
buying a modern used car is
the service history. You need to
see those all-important stamps in the service
book and make sure that the work was carried out
at the correct time and mileage by a competent
dealer – and that the book has not been faked. A
car without a service history is worth less money
and trading in to a dealer, especially if the car is
only a few years old, will become a lot harder.
Buying a Mini is a bit di erent. Even the
youngest Mini is nearly 20 years old and
service histories on older vehicles are very
o en lost somewhere in the line-up of previous
owners. There is another reason why a very
old Mini from the 50s through to the mid-
80s might not have a service history and that
is because a documented history was not
considered to be so vital in those days.
‘Clocking’ of mileages was rife, even in the
60s, but it was not really recognised as a
problem until the later 70s. Many older Minis
were serviced by local garages that sometimes
did not bother to stamp the service book. Main
dealer servicing prices were considered high
compared with local garages back then. I do
not have any price lists from these garages
but looking at the British Leyland dealer
servicing price list which came from Hartwells
of Oxford, their prices, by today’s standards,
do look ludicrously low and local garages must
have carried out the work virtually for free!
Dealer servicing
costs have risen
somewhat
since 1971.12G940 head is often
used as a replacement for
cracked early S heads.