Ok, so this may be slightly off topic as I haven't gotten it to my Indi mech. But does anyone know the actual differences between a Dodge Neon head and one of ours? Because at first sight, the resemblances are striking. And as a Junk Yard Mini might be tough to find, a JY Neon is much more likely, and cheaper too.

Here's what I'm on about.





I've heard that the 2.0l version would be a direct swap, but have no documentation to prove.

Edit: Even the batteries are in the same spot!

 

but I don't know what Neons have the Tritec engine family installed. Have at it and have some fun!

Matt

 

Finally got the car to my Indi-mech. He agreed that the head is going to have to come off. Hopefully it's just a HG. He said that the Neons had a service bulletin about their HGs and that they needed to be swapped to a MLS head gasket (Multi-Layer Steel). Odd, Mini never had anything like that on the same engine.

But, he's pulling the head, going to send it to get resurfaced, cleaned and pressure tested. Said the labor will probably end up running around $600, which is less than the Mini dealer wanted to just remove the head.

So, if the head needs to be replaced, are the cams in the S head the same as the Cooper? I would assume there's no way, but figured I'd ask the question anyway. Or would we just take the cams out of my head and put them in the S head?

 

Well, the car has 3 burnt valves. The car was running lean because of a bad intake gasket. Extra, un-metered air = running lean. The resurfacing, cleaning and pressure testing of the head is going to cost $60 to the machine shop. I'm still waiting on how much replacing the valves is going to cost.

 

Ok, the head is back on. My Indi was putting the valvetrain back in when he noticed on of the rocker arms, this little pivot that would sit on top of the valve and is held in place by this plastic sleeve, was missing. He started looking, and two more were missing. He drained the oil and they all came out.

So, naturally while all that crap is out of the head, we might as well replace all of them. So, uh.....where do I find them? Minimania doesn't have them. Neither does Minicarparts.net

Do y'all know what parts I'm talking about? I can take some pics if need be.

WTF was Mini thinking of making engine parts, that are going to be constantly bathed in oil, out of plastic?!?!

 

pics please

 

part of the rocker arms.

 

They're part of the rocker arms? Which means I need to get all new rocker arms!?!? Crap. I hope you're wrong.

These plastic peices looked like they just snap on to the rocker arm. I mean, they came off without much effort at all.

The thing that makes me think you're right is that I don't see the parts I'm looking for on this exploded view.

http://www.allminiparts.com/showAsse...sembly=c_w_124

 

When I rebuilt a buick 231V6 I noticed the plastic/nylon rocker retainers and thought the same thing! I am pretty sure they aren't your run of the mill plastic. Some v6's and v8's also use nylon timing gears!

 

When I went over to take a look, my mechanic wanted to show me how easily they came off.....very easily. They're amazingly brittle. I'm definitely leaning towards just replacing all of the rocker arms.

 

Check over on Motoring Alliance. Theres a story on DR Mikes rebuild. He had the same problem and used valve shims to solve his problem. Rockers aren't cheap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tell me about it $44 x 8 for the intake side and 66 x 4 for the exhaust.

 

So, I just decided to bite the bullet, do the right thing and get all new rocker arms. It hurt the ol' check book, but who knows how much longer the old ones would last. Plus I'd been hearing that new rocker arms come with a metal peice instead of a plastic one.

I thought about just replacing the ones that were missing. And I thought about picking up the used head in the classifieds section right now. But I know my head is good and have no idea about that one. And just didn't want to gamble with the possibility of buying someone elses problems.