998 main bearing caps
Turbo Mini Forums

I'm just in the process of stripping late 60's cooper 998 engine for a rebuild and was looking for some advice before spending any money on it.

The main bearing caps have a groove similar to that in the block such that the oil can enter the lower shell via the hole. Should I be worried about this extra groove at all in terms of strength of the caps?

I presume this was deleted on a+ engines with the introduction of the solid lower shell.

I'm intending to run this Na initially with the injection setup and then add the turbo at a later date. Not looking to go too high power as want to run standard gearbox / drops for now.

Thanks

This will be fine.

I can't find any reference to this being a problem in the olden days.

Saul Bellow - "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep."
Stephen Hawking - "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge."

I've looked in the books I have and there is no mention either. Vizard's suggestion re turboing the 998 is to use the later y type head studs and that is about it.

It won't be high revving so not going to add a centre strap.

Not sure what to do about the cap bolts - as I don't like the little lock tabs as they look pretty squashed. Suppose the options are to use some hardened washers, a+ bolts or see of arp do anything better.