Today, a great many of us rebuild, will rebuild or have already rebuilt our Mini engines. This may be due to engine failure, part of a restoration or to upgrade the existing engine/increase theSometimes the crank would be reground. But then there was the problem of the bores, these would be worn and there would be definite ridges in the cylinder walls at the top of the travel of the top piston ring. If new rings were fitted, they would often break when they hit the ridge. The answer was to fit a set of Cords piston rings. Cords were steel rings specially designed to conform to tapered and oval worn bores and were available in both standard and oversize to accommodate previously rebored engines. The top ring was a cast iron ‘ridge dodger’ to compensate for the wear ridge at the top of the cylinder. The idea was good, and many people swore by them. Some engineers were less than keen though…
