For this week’s Redline Update, it might be best to get an appropriate snack of tea and crumpets. The newest Redline Rebuild project has arrived and God Save the Queen is playing on the shop stereo. It’s dimensionally small but big on character. If you haven’t guessed it already, Davin’s next engine rebuild will be pulled from a 1965 Austin Mini Cooper S. Currently it’s got a bit of a smoking problem, but if anyone can help it break that addiction it’s Davin. First, he has to get a good look at what he’s got though.

The Mini drove itself into the shop but has multiple signs that it has not lived a life of careful pampering. The tailpipe could be a fog machine while the engine is running, and more than a few parts and pieces are visibly tired. With a flurry of wrenches, Davin gets right to work taking parts off in prep to pull the engine and transmission. There are plenty of interesting finds, but the starter is one worth mentioning. At some point, a non-correct starter was made to fit by enlarging the holes in the mounting ears. It’s not stupid if it works, right?

The four-cylinder engine is a small package, but the Mini is also quite small. That means that getting the powerplant out is not as easy as, say, a 1937 Ford race car. At first lift Davin found that his plan was maybe not the best, but with a few more parts pulled off the engine finally left its cozy sheet metal home and gets bolted onto a nicely fabricated engine stand mount.

If you are itching to see this tidy little package pulled apart, you are going to have to wait ’til next week. For now, you should subscribe to the Hagerty YouTube channel and then go out and work on your projects.

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