Okay sounds good, i'll do that.

Yes, I'll sell the engine. I've shipped many to the west coast in

years past when I was importing them from the UK.

Was the head off your engine?  If not, I'd put some kerosene

and oil in the cylinders via the spark plug holes, and put the plugs

in finger tight. let it sit for a few days, and put a big socket on the crank pully and try to turn the engine. Turn it in the direction of tightening the bolt, otherwise, you'll unscrew the crank pulley bolt. Give it time, It will free up. Folks will say use Marvel Mystery Oil.  It's basically oil and kero. What ever is easier. If the head was off, and the bores are rusted, you have a choice of disassembly and machining the block, new pistons, etc, or sell it off, and buy another lump.

The condition of the engine is unkown it has been weather exposed for a verrry long time. 

Well if it came to it would you be willing to sell the engine?  and if so pm me the price maybe?

just for you zip - pic from Todd's austin america site - it is metal

cheers

Barri

put a stock 1300 AA engine back in, with a single 1 1/2" su carb.

It's a pretty basic setup with points ignition. Your Dad might be

too young to know what to do with points, but it's easy to learn, and we're all here to help.

I've got an AA engine, but on the wrong coast. NY.

How many miles on the car and what makes you think your engine is no good?

Well, I opened up this thread expecting to find that someone was looking for photos of a stock Austin America engine bay.... Anybody got one or a link to it?
I'm curious to see what the air filter box looks like for a 1-1/2" SU & if it's made from metal instead of the ublgly plastic ones available for Minis...

Oh, and to the original poster, sorry for the thread hijack. But it looks like you've already found what your looking for.

Thanks for all the info!

I hate to add this on a mini site but another good forum is the MG experience. they have a forum for MG 1100 and include austin americas. I have both a MG 1100 and an america and both are fun cars.

//www.mgexperience.net/phorum/list.php?56

cheers

Barri

Okay, cool thanks.

There is someone in MOASF that maybe at the Hayward meet who either has an MG 1100 or AA. It is in beautiful condition. Can't guarantee he will be there in that car as he has several.

//www.moasf.com/hayward

But I would get a ride in one to get a feel for what they can do. As Mike(SPANK) says it is only money up to a certain point.

Wow thanks!  That clarified a lot.  I would like to stick to the stock nature of the AA.  I'm only 19 andI feel like when it's said and done i'll get a lot more props from the people a lot older than me which i value more than the people my age(majority of which just don't understand the concept of a clutch).  Anyway as far as machining stuff goes i have a friend who CC's things for a living so if that helps it will probably cut back labor fees a lot.

It's all $ and how you want to spend it.

Pistons alone will cost you at least $250 unless you can find a deal on fleabay.

From there, it's all head and cam on the A-series. Head can be anywhere from Free (if you do your own head work from basic valve job to porting) to $2K+. Cam is $100 if you have your own cam reground up to $350+ if you buy one off the shelf.

Stock hp is 65ish with a 1275. Once you get 80hp or so at the wheels, (95ish at the flywheel) any more gains will come at a supreme cost of reliability. expect it to cost a ton of $ to get over 100hp at the wheels if you're going A-series. I mean $2K in parts and maching alone. And then reliability is low.

Basic rebuild of your engine will run you $1200-1500 in parts in machine shop work buying stuff retail on sale. a little less if you find super parts deals. That doesn't count the transmission.

Fabbing up your own conversion subframe using stock AA suspension will likely cost you less in $ outlay but more in fab time. Single Cam vtec engines (or heck, regular ol' 1.5l honda engines non-vtec that people take out to go vtec) will give you more umph for the dollar, but at the expense of taking away the stock nature of the car and you'll be chasing niggling problems.

My advice is go take a ride in someone's mini who has a built 1275 and put 4 people in it. That's about what you can expect with the added weight of the America. The decide if that's what you want.

Fixed my contact info and what have ya.  Yeah i am definitely "green".  project started because i leave for Army basic training in november so my dad wanted to start a car project with me.  Kind of a father son thing i guess.  The current stock engine is in bad shape.  My Dad (who is a pretty good with cars) is set on beefing up a 1275cc motor.   I guess what I wanted was the opinion from people who are familiar with these cars as to, whether or not beefing up a 1275 would be more beneficial than an engine swap in the long run.  I personally would like this car to be a daily driver, but to still pick up and zip through corners.  Sorry i'm all over the place with my questions.  Thanks again.

Right, what Spank said. I assumed you were looking for info on alternatives to do a custom swap or hot-rod the car, since you asked about cutting the eingine bay. But, if you can't afford "conversion kits" then what you should probably be thinking about is something close to what the car came with. The AA website I gave you would be a good place to ask questions and do some research into what it actually is you've got.

Ok Alex317, you sound a little "green".

First, if you fill out your profile with at least your location and perhaps a means for people to email you offline/privately, you may get more help than someone who doesn't. Just sort of the etiquette around here.

I guess what you're saying is that you have no engine at all, eh?

The standard Austin America / MG1100 engine is the same basic platform as that's found in a Mini, which we all here likely assumed you knew since you are posting here on a Mini forum. But if you didn't know that, there are very slight differences between Mini and America powerunits that some people will choose to point out and magnify in order to show off how much they know, but the reality is you can put any Mini engine and/or transmission combo you want in any America/MG1100 you want, and vice-versa.

a few things to consider:

A transmission that already has either Yoke style or Hardy Spicer style output shafts on it (the typical style found on the Americas) will make life very much easier for you because the commonly available axles, the stock ones on the America, can generally take either the matching yoke or hardy spicer inner cv couplers.

The America had additional engine mounts on the timing plate that the mini did not/does not have. You do NOT need to have this mounting setup / in order to run a mini engine in your America. 

Before I or others blather on, make it clear what you're wanting. Info about Americas in general? Info about putting alternative engines in Americas? or?

--Spank

Thanks much!  Any certain place i should look if i were to go about buying an AA engine?

Oh, well in that case, any A-Series should fit into an AA subframe. Here's a good resource: //www.austinamericausa.com/

The conversion kit for the vtec is a little out of my price range.  Any ideas of an engine i could drop in there without spending too much on conversion kits?  Appreciate all the info, thanks.

Here's an idea:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.479888282312.261220.189756617312&type=1