It was time to get to grips with the engine that I had first selected to go in the Hillman with such disastrous results in 2014. You may recall that with only a few weeks to go before leaving for France, I discovered a 9" crack in the block when the engine was started up with water in it (a year before, Learned Counsel and I had run the engine for 30 secs with it sitting loosely in the chassis, just to determine whether or not it was a runner). Fortunately, I had another Series I engine to hand.

My hoist lifted the block 3" short of the bench height, so a neighbour was drafted in for the final heave-ho - the Morris 6 is crazily heavy as engines go. The first job was to remove the head studs and with the aid of my Sykes stud remover, all of them came out relatively easily.

After working out how to best turn the engine on its side without damage to myself or anything else, the sump came off to reveal the crankshaft. I was hoping that I would be able to use the big end shells if they weren't too bad, though as the crankshaft will be going in another block, the mains will have to be renewed. Factory marks adjacent to each bore indicated that 5 of the big ends were +005 and the sixth was STD so even if the shells were shot, there was plenty of scope for a regrind of the crank journals.

The oil pump was first removed as it straddles the skew gear on the front of the crank...

... and removal of the main and big end bearing caps showed that the engine hadn't done that much work, so what a shame to get frost damage so early on in its life. The casting at the top of the block is very thin and I understand that historically, this was not unusual.

The flywheel didn't cause me any problems - the bolts all came off easily with the help of a breaker bar and with the mains caps off, the crankshaft popped out. I left the front pulley on for the time being as I didn't have a socket big enough to get the starter dog nut off. The farm workshop might be my best chance there.

The conrods are in very nice condition and I expect the pistons would clean up quite well, but I've got a new set which I'd like to use - providing they can be made to match the replacement block. I haven't looked at the 'new' block and can't remember what size the bores were - let's hope my luck continues.

It's such a pity that this engine was neglected; the bores are really clean and unmarked...

... but unfortunately, the block is now just scrap. As the water jacket is so vulnerable to frost damage on these engines, this time around I'll have a very close look at the top of the new block before the rebuild starts. Anything less than perfect will not pass muster.