Tiz's Minis

Maintaining your SU Carb

2008-01-17T13:07:00.000Z

My new engine will use the carb that was on the Metro, a HIF 44, I've already brought a service kit so I plan to overhaul it myself. I've been looking for a supplier of bits for SU carbs for a while and I just found one.

Burlen Fuel Systems http://www.burlen.co.uk/ are a one stop shop for all your SU carb needs. They seem to have spares for all the SU carbs and can fully restore your carb to concourse condition. You can even buy brand new carbs if your wallet is deep enough.

Should I upgrade the camshaft as well?

2008-01-02T14:16:00.000Z

I'm trying to decide if I should upgrade the Cam to the Swiftune SW5-07 . I've heard excellent things about this camshaft, and it sounds like a good performance upgrade without being too lairy. This car will be for road use and I can't see me needing to race it.

As ever with decisions on this car, money plays a part. When I took the engine out I discovered I've got work on the front suspension to do. The rubber donuts have collapsed, I struggled to even get my jack under the car. It's all extra expense and money is tight. I've got to consider the performance/pound that a new cam would give me.

On the other hand, the engine is already out so now's a good time to change it.

Progress (Slow)

I've stripped some more of the block down, there's a lot of muck on that engine! Brought some engine degreaser to start attacking all the grime that's built up over the years. Once it's clean I'll probably give it a coat of paint.

Cheap Inlet Manifold

2007-12-20T17:13:00.000Z

In that excellent book Tuning the A-Series Engine by David Vizard he has a long discussion about ways to improve the inlet flow of the A-Series Engine. He tests many different manifolds, providing detailed analysis.

It turns out that the Manifold on the metro is pretty good, not the best but a big step up from the standard Mini manaifld. In fact the MG Metro manifold can be used unmodified, as it's seperate from the Exhaust manifold.

My manifold was from a standard metro, this is cast as a single unit so in order for me to use it, I've had to cut it off. It's a bit of a fiddly job a combination of grinder and hacksaw did the trick. So it doesn't interfere with the new LCB a certain amaint of tidying up is necessary to remove the remains of the cast iron that joined the exhaust and inlet manifolds.

It is possible to use the exhaust manifold as well, it also flows pretty well. You would almost certainly need to seperate the exhaust manifold from another casting as I don't think it would be possible to seperate the manifolds without damaging one of them. One other advantage of using the Metro exhaust manifold is it can reduce noise

Life gets in the way

2007-12-20T16:50:00.000Z

My mini is still in the garage waiting for some attention, well to be more precise an engine.

The car was moved to it's garage prison soon after the gearbox failed. I quickly brought a Metro with a 1275cc A Series engine in it as a temporary replacement. My wife was not too impressed, whoever styled the Metro was not thinking of the image conscious when he put pen to paper.

My intension was to do an engine swap, that was some time ago.

The good news is I had an enjoyable weekend in the summer removing both engines. The eyesore that was the metro was removed by a nice man with a big grabber arm on his truck, (Great Toy!!).

The bad news is the project hasn't got any further.

Free time has been my biggest problem, weekends seem to get soaked up with stuff. The stuff isn't necessarily bad, infact it's excellent quality stuff and normally involves entertaining my young daughters.

Things have got to get moving again, I need to hear that 1275 fire up.

UK Classic Mini Parts

2007-01-12T13:36:00.000Z

I've just added a link to http://www.ukclassicminiparts.com. The prices look good and I found the quick search the easiest way to find what I was after, it does what it says?

How to damage yourself servicing cars.

2006-02-17T18:05:00.000Z

This happened to me as I was changing the front discs on my renault megane.

The first set of discs and pads had been changed with no problems. so I confidently went over to the other side of the car with my axle stand and wheel nut spanner. Unfortunately the last time the tyre was changed the car mechanic, who must of been a 20 stone gorilla had done the wheel nuts up so tight I couldn't budge them. Not to be beaten I really leant into it and put my full weight on the spanner, this was to be my downfall. The spanner slipped and I fell nose first onto my axle stand. I was lucky I'd not broken it, but it did swell up and the bleeding took most of the day to stop. Hey you live and learn.

Well, other people live and learn, you'ld of thought that I'd make an effort to look after the nose after that. I went back to the car the following day to finish the job off. My wife had piled the tools into the boot the day before so I opened the boot to get the stuff out again. Sadly my nose got in the way again, and collided with the corner of the boot as I was closing it, reopening the wound.

Personally I blame my genes, the Tyrrell family are renowned for the size of our noses, rivalling concordes. I guess it shouldn't be a surprise
when it gets involved in an accident!

What's been going on the last couple of months

2006-02-17T17:44:00.000Z

I've not posted for a while so here's a quick catch up on what's been going on with my mini's.

Sadly I've not found time to even go near mini number 2. It's still sitting on the drive looking sorry for itself. Hopefully it will get looked at before the summer. I'm not too worried about the challenge of getting it MOT'd before Steve's Herald and Chris's A35 as neither has made any progress. Chris has infact managed to go backwards as his A35 is currently being used as a log store!

The MOT was due for E232 WMA at the beginning of January. This is totally the wrong time of the year to be working on cars, way too cold. I knew that I had to replace the track rod ends so I decided to get that sorted and put it in for it's test.

No real problems were encountered changing the ends. As I was replacing them I didn't need to worry about protecting the thread as I was splitting the ball joint. I counted the number of turns it took to remove them to make live easier when putting the new ones back on. I should get my tracking checked but the handling has not been affected.

The car passed it's MOT on the second attempt. I needed to replace a tyre. I consider myself lucky. There were quite a few advisory items to get checked out over the next couple of months. I'll post about them another time. I've now got a 12 month ticket so I'm happy.

Apoplogies for any spelling mistakes. I'm posting this from my pocket pc wth my 6 month old daughter asleep on my lap.

Austin a35 with an A Series Engine beats Jaguar

2005-11-16T10:16:00.000Z

The A Series engine has a lot of potential especially considering it's age. Rae Davis at Goodwood's Motor Circuit Revival 2004 illustrates what can be done. Have a look at this video clip (WMV File 1,899 KB) of his A-series powered A35, I especially enjoyed watching all those big lumbering Jags being left for dust.

For more infomation on this A35 go here..

Thanks to Chris for these links, I wonder if his A35's will be as fast when he gets them on the road

A Mini Is Reborn!

2005-11-10T23:43:00.000Z

I'm not the only person who's having fun keeping a mini on the road. Have a look at Charlie's blog A Mini Is Reborn!

The Challenge

2005-11-08T08:52:00.000Z

I've not blogged much about my other mini of late. This is because my time has been taken up fixing the red mini (E232 WMA). Hopefully this will change over the next couple of months.

There are three people in our office who have cars that need some love and attention. Steve with the Triumph Herald, his blog is called Dented the Bloody Herald Again, Chris who's got three Austin A35s (no blog yet) and myself with one very sick 1987 mini mayfair see post http://www.tiz.st/MiniBlog/2005/03/mot-failure.html

The challenge is very simple, the first one to get their car MOT'd and in to work wins. I have to say Steve has the easiest task, sort his brakes and replace the drivers seat. Chris and myself have in Chris's own words to sort out all the things that go round and all the things that go up and down.

This should be fun!

Tuning SU Carbs using the Gunson Gastester

2005-11-07T12:49:00.000Z

The original version of this article can be found at Auto Expert Pro. I have decided to repeat it here as some of the the source document's images are missing. It's worth paying a visit to the web site of Auto Expert Pro as they do have some good articles on tuning your engine.

One other thing to note before reading the article is that Lorenzo Dunn originally wrote the article for an american audience tuning a british car. He does not include any figures regarding the actual emmisions required for the UK MOT test. I believe the current MOT guidelines at the time of writing are as follows

MOT Emmisions

Taken from www.bobmckay.co.uk/p_emissions.html

First used before 1/8/1975 - Visual test only. Failure for excess idle speed, dense blue or black smoke for 5 seconds at idle or during acceleration up to 2500rpm or half engine max speed whichever lowest.

First used between 1/8/75 and 31/7/86 - meter test CO <=4.5%, HC<=1200ppm.

First used between 1/8/86 and 31/7/92 - meter test CO<=3.5%, HC<=1200ppm.

First used between 1/8/92 and 31/7/94 - advanced emission test (CAT) if its running on petrol when presented, to the vehicle specific limits usually around CO<=0.3%, HC<=200ppm and Lambda 0.97 - 1.03. A basic emission test will be carried out initially.

And so to the article

By Lorenzo Dunn

Failing the emissions test. Lack of power. Poor gas mileage. Does this sound like your car?

These maladies are often signs of a British car with improperly adjusted carburetors.

Carburetor woes are more common with a British car than With most other cars on the road simply because British cars are usually equipped with highly adjustable SU or Stromberg carburetors. These deceptively simple instruments are a source of rough running, poor gas mileage, and failed emissions tests second only to worn out Lucas ignition systems. The pity of it is that the innocent carb is rarely broken - the problem is usually just the way it's adjusted. Fortunately, with the aid of a simple CO meter like the Gunison's Gastester MK2, British cars are also among the easiest to get in tune.

Both SU and Stromberg carbs rely on an adjustable jet or needle to set the mixture. All carbs have an idle mixture setting but on SU and Stromberg carbs the idle adjustment also fine-tunes the mixture throughout the carb's entire range of operation. Most conventional carbs have fixed jets to control the mixture off idle, so a badly adjusted idle mixture is not a big problem; it makes no difference at other throttle openings. That's not the case with SU's or Strombergs - idle mixture influences all throttle openings.

The British car carburetor's adjustability is the proverbial two-edged sword. If you've just moved from the seacoast to the mountains or added a new free-flow exhaust system, the adjustability is wonderful. in many cases a few minutes spent adjusting the mixture will get you in tune whereas other carbs would require an expensive teardown and rejetting. Talk to somebody who has spent hours elbow deep in jets and emulsion tubes while tuning a Weber and the ease of adjusting an SU doesn't seem half bad. However, if your car has been worked on by somebody who isn't familiar with British carbs or it's been the property of a less than experienced owner, the chances are that the carb is out of adjustment - maybe way out!

Engines need a very definite mixture of fuel to air to run at their best. A mixture of 14.7 parts air to I part gasoline is called the stoichiometric ratio - a
term that you may recall from a long-ago chemistry class. Near the stoichiometric
ratio is an idle mixture for emission control. Engines need a slightly richer
mixture at idle and a much richer mixture when starting or accelerating. They
can run on a leaner mixture when running tinder a light load.

This difference in mixture for varying conditions is called mixture spread and in a SU or Stromberg, it is taken care of by the carb needle profile, so you don't need to worry about it. Your task is to set the idle mixture correctly and let the carb take care of mixture throughout the rest of the range.

In days gone by, it took the powers of Merlin to read the signs and get the idle mixture set correctly. Adjusting the mixture was a test of a mechanic's faith and ability to ken the unknown. You'd set mixture by following a mysterious ritual in the manual: "Lift pin 1/32 of an inch or so. if the engine picks up, the mixture is rich." Frankly, I had better luck using an Ouija board to commune with the spirits of combustion!

The more pragmatic approach was to start by adjusting the carb rich, then leaning the mixture out until the engine speed increased and then just began to drop. Less arcane, but still only good enough to get mixture in the right ballpark.

These days, 'in the ballpark' isn't good enough. Your engine can seem to run quite well with the mixture set incorrectly (especially if the mixture is too rich). But the emissions test station (and, over time, your mixture set incorrectly wallet) will detect the difference.

A car that sounds fine may still be spewing pollutants (and getting significantly worse mileage than it could be getting). At the other extreme, a lean (or 'weak', in British English) mixture can cause loss of power and (if bad enough) poor idling or even engine damage.

Years ago I was taking a summer school auto shop class while trying to coax a very worn-out Mini 850 into daily commute duty. I brought it into the shop and told the instructor that I wanted to rebuild the carb. The car was difficult to start, getting bad mileage (hard to do for a Mini) and generally running miserably. He told me the biggest problem with my carb was the location ... right on top of the engine where it was all too easy to fiddle with! After a tune-up and a mixture adjustment the car was running like a champ again and producing its full 34 HP of pavement rippling power.

I found out the hard way that the same adjustability that let the BMC competition garage tune Timo Makinen's Mini Cooper for precisely the conditions of the '67 Monte made it easy for me to comes with a complete, well-written instruction booklet. When used correctly, it can enable a novice other links (correct ignition settings, engine condition, float level, etc.) are in place you are likely to have a very frustrating time tong to get the engine running perfectly. Adjusting mixture should be the last step in a tune-up, not the first.

Preparation

There are a few things you need to do before using the GasTester. Setting the mixture is a link in the chain of proper engine operation; unless the other links (correct ignition settings, engine condition, float level, etc.) are in place you are likely to have a very frustrating time trying to get the engine running perfectly. Adjusting mixture should be the last step in a tune-up, not the first.

The first thing to do is to make sure your car's ignition system is in excellent shape. in general you should start your first mixture fine-tuning session after doing a complete ignition tune-up; new plugs, points, distributor cap, rotor and plug wires. This is especially true if you've just bought the car and don't know the history of these components. I've seen ignition problems sideline British cars way more often than carburation problems. Ignition tune-up procedures should be covered in your shop manual.

Second, take a look at the overall condition of your car's engine. if it's burning a little oil don't worry about it. That won't make a big difference. However, if you have a cylinder that is down on compression from bad rings or a burned valve, then you need to take care of that before expecting miracles from a carb tune. Third, check to see that your carb and intake system are in generally good shape. Any leaking gaskets, broken vacuum hoses, or loose intake manifold studs will make mixture adjustment difficult or impossible. Make sure that your carb doesn't have a leaking float valve. If there's fuel on the top of the float chamber and a smell of gas under the hood, the float valve is probably leaking and you have a dangerous condition to correct.

It's also worthwhile to take the float chamber top off and make sure the float level is correct if you're in doubt. Check your shop manual for details on how to do this. On older SU carbs it is pretty easy to do; you don't have to take the whole carb apart. On SUs and Strombergs it's much more involved, but these carbs tend to have fewer float level problems anyhow. Unless the float level is correct, setting the mixture adjustment at idle may not make it correct at other throttle openings.

The one last thing to consider is whether your carb has the right jet, needle, spring, etc. for your engine. Why wouldn't it? Well, one SU or Stromberg carb looks much like another and it isn't unusual to find a car where the correct parts have been replaced by whatever was handy at the time. if the needle, etc. is wrong, you can get the idle mixture set correctly and find that mixture is wrong at other engine speeds.

If your car has a modified engine it may need a different jet/needle combination than the original one. Getting that set up is more involved than a simple mixture adjustment; get a tuning manual for your car if you're running something other than stock. Having said all that, don't get too worried - if your car has run well in the past you probably have a jet and needle combination that works. If you tune the ignition, adjust the mixture at idle, and the car still doesn't run well, it's worth checking to see if this is the problem.

Get familiar with mixture adjustment on your carburetor. Do it with the engine cold so you won't have to feel out unfamiliar carb parts on a hot engine! Check your shop manual or one of the manuals specifically for your type of carburetor. There are quite a few different mechanisms for adjusting mixture and a special tool is usually required (or at least makes the job easier). These tools are available from most British parts suppliers and don't cost too much.

Tuning Single Carbs

When you are (finally!) ready to tune the carb, get the car well warmed up. Letting it idle in the driveway won't do it. Go for a good drive until the temperature gauge is up to normal. Make sure the choke is fully pushed in. If you're not sure about the choke adjustment check the carb linkage to make sure the choke isn't sticking before setting the mixture.

At last you're ready to connect the GasTester, let it warm up and calibrate it. Connecting the GasTester is simple. You hook up the power leads to the battery and turn the machine on. On my Mini, the battery is in the boot so the power leads have only a short way to go. if your car has the battery under the hood you may need a set of jumper cables or some other extension to the leads. Gunson's could have made the leads a bit longer to make this easier.

Warm-up and calibration is where the low-cost nature of the Gastester reveals itself. You need to do calibration by letting the Gastester warm up with the probe sitting in clear air (outside the exhaust pipe) for eight minutes and then use the calibration knob to bring the meter needle back to its calibration point. The instruction book covers this in more detail; it isn't a big deal aside from the wait.

In my experience it isn't a bad idea to repeat this process every half hour or so during use to ensure that the calibration is still correct. As the Gastester is used it may drift and require adjustment. This would be an inconvenience in a busy mechanic's shop, but it is something that the enthusiast mechanic can easily five with.

Once the Gastester is calibrated, put the probe in the exhaust pipe and proceed to set the mixture. You want to get the probe about eight inches into the exhaust pipe and you want to make sure that the hose is routed back to the meter without any kinks in it. Position the meter where you can see it while poking about under the hood (or enlist an assistant). Let's look at a sinoe-carb car first, then we'll delve into the more complex situation of multiple carbs.

As you richen the mixture, the GasTester will indicate a higher percentage of CO. As you lean the mixture out, the GasTester will show a lower CO percentage. As somebody said, "It's just that simple!" It does take about fifteen seconds for the meter to react and a minute for the reading to fully stabilize, so make your adjustments slowly and a little bit at a time. Let the meter catch up before making more adjustments.

If you've done mixture adjustments without a meter, this is when you'll start to smile. It's great to see the result of your adjustment instead of struggling to hear a change in the way the motor sounds. You know what's happening instead of guessing. You may be surprised (I was) how a several percent change in CO% makes no difference in how the engine runs at idle.

Your state may have particular CO% limits for emissions tests or your car's manual or under-hood sticker may show a CO% setting. If not, aim for a CO reading in the middle of the green zone on the meter - between about 2% and 5%. In general, the lower percentage end of the range will give you better economy, the higher end more power.

Incidentally, you may see very rich mixtures used on race cars. Don't try it for the street. Race engines run rich to get the advantage of the cooling effect of extra fuel vaporizing. Racers change their oil after every race, rebuild engines frequently and don't pay much attention to fuel economy. Unless you want to do the same, avoid ultra-rich mixtures.

If you're after economy or trying to pass a smog test, you may be tempted to go for a very low CO% setting. It's false economy because a mixture that is too lean can cause engine damage. And it won't help you at emissions test time because too weak a mixture won't burn efficiently and the unburned gasoline will show up as a high HC (hydro-carbons) reading - something that doesn't show up on the CO meter. Aim for the midrange and you should be OK

You may find that you need to raise the idle speed a bit while setting the mixture (especially if your carbs are a bit worn). That's fine as long as you're not above 1500 RPM or so. just use the idle speed adjustment screw to temporarily set the idle higher. Don't pull out the choke knob to get a fast idle - you run the risk of going too far and having the choke richen the mixture.

With one carb all you need to do is set the mixture, adjust the idle back to what it should be, pack up your gear and go for a country drive. Maybe this is why big single carbs are the hot setup for Minis these days! With multiple carbs things are a bit more complicated.

Tuning Multiple Carbs

The CO percentage the meter measures at the tailpipe depends on the settings of all of the carbs, not just the one you are adjusting. Unless your car has a pretty unusual intake and exhaust system there will be mixing between the carbs before the intake charge enters the cylinders and mixing in the exhaust system before the tailpipe. The CO meter will see a mixture that's the average of the mixture and airflow through all the carbs. It's possible to have one carb set too rich, the other too lean and still have a mixture that, on the average, looks correct to the CO meter. This actually happened to me with an old twin-carb Volvo 122S. A slipshod mechanic at the smog test station simply leaned one carb out all the way to get the car to pass the test. This isn't good for power, mileage, engine fife, or emission control.

To prevent this, what you need to do is ensure that all the carbs are set to the same mixture adjustment when you start and adjust them all equally when you are setting mixture with the meter. This is easier said than done, but it isn't really all that difficult. More on this later. The other thing that you must do (and this is good just for general performance as well as setting mixture) is make sure that the carbs are balanced (or synchronized) so that each carb has the same amount of air flowing through it. Your shop manual will spell out the procedure for doing this. Basically, what you are doing is disconnecting the throttle linkage between the carbs, setting each carb's throttle plate to the same position so the same amount of air will flow through each one and then reconnecting the linkage before moving anything!

The difficult part of this is ensuring that each throttle plate (or butterfly) is open the same amount and therefore the same amount of air is passing through each carb. There are airflow meters that can help this process or you can rely on the age-old rubber hose method (one arcane bit of British car lore that is actually easier than it sounds).

With that preparation out of the way, you need to make sure that the carbs are all at the same mixture setting. To do this, adjust each carb all the way to its full lean position (with the engine off). Count how many turns of the adjusting screw or 'flats' of the adjusting nut gets you to full lean.

Next, richen the mixture on each carb back to roughly the original setting. You do this by adjusting each carb by an equal amount. Be careful when doing this - count quarter turns of the adjusting screw or 'flats' on the adjusting nut. You want to have each carb set to the exact same mixture setting. It won't be the right setting yet, but each carb will be wrong by the same amount! There's another way to do this on SU carbs, recommended only for the terminally precise. Take the suction chamber (die top part of the carb) off and actually measure the position of the adjustable jet and ensure that it is the same for all carbs. What you want to measure is the distance between the jet and the top of the carburetor bridge.

This operation requires a deft touch - you need to be able to pull the suction chamber off straight to avoid bending the needle and you have to be careful not to drop the piston (which is spring loaded inside the chamber).If you've rebuilt your carb a few times this will be a simple enough operation and not as difficult as it sounds, but you do need to know the innards of your SU pretty well. Spend a night curled up with a carburetor manual (some fun ... ) before you attempt this method!

After you have synchronized the carbs and set them all to the same mixture setting, you are ready to tune. Start your car and adjust the mixture as you would for a single carb. However, make the same adjustment on each carb in turn. in other words, if the car is running rich, lean the mixture by the same small amount (like one flat or one quarter turn) on each carb. Wait for the meter to stabilize and then continue the adjustment. By doing this you are keeping the mixture setting the same between the carbs, adjusting the multiple carbs as if the mixture adjustment screws were linked together.

When you're through with this, your car should be ready to give peak performance as well as good economy and low emissions. Check the mixture from time to time with your CO meter. You'll be surprised at how little it changes. if the CO percentage does change drastically, suspect the ignition system, float level, or an intake manifold leak before you start playing with the mixture adjustment. It's actually very rare that a correctly adjusted carb needs to be fiddled with; they usually need adjustment because somebody else has messed them up, some other engine parameter has changed, or after a rebuild.

All in all, I was impressed with the Gunson's GasTester MkII. it is a basic, no-nonsense machine that makes mixture adjustment a straightforward process instead of a test of patience. The Gastester MkII is without frills, but it is simple to use and gets the job done. it's a worthwhile investment for the enthusiast mechanic. It could pay for itself quite quickly in avoided retests at the smog station, saved gas, and fewer trips to the mechanic.

Gunson's Gastester MK2

2005-11-04T16:20:00.000Z

In the UK it is part of the MOT to check for emissions. This has to be a good thing both for the environment and the running of your engine. If the emissions are way off then something is wrong with your setup.

With this in mind I recently brought off eBay a Gunson's Gastester MKII.

This device measures the Carbon Monoxide CO levels at the exhaust. The basic principle is at close to the minimum CO levels is the optimum fuel/air mixture or stoichiometric ratio.

If you want to know more here's a copy of the Gunson Gastester MK2 manual

Tip No 4: When replacing the radius arm

2005-11-04T12:04:00.000Z

Last year I had to replace one of the rear radius arms (also known as Trailing Arm) on the red mini. I brought a reconditioned radius arm from DSN Classics. The job was going smoothly until it came to reusing the Pivot Pin on the handbrake quadrant and the Clevis Pin which attatches the the handbrake cable to the drum brake. Both were in a pretty bad shape, I was just about able to reuse the Pivot Pin but I had to make my own replacement Clevis pin. It cost me an extra hour of my weekend sorting those two items out.

My advice is to budget for replacing these pins together with their split pin fasteners when you replace the arm. As you can see from DSN Classics these two items are not going to force you to remortgage the house!

Now the fuel gauge has stopped working!

2005-11-02T12:11:00.000Z

Driving in to work this morning I noticed that the fuel gauge was at the bottom of the scale. I didn't think I was that low on petrol, so I pulled in to a garage and topped it up anyway, it would be embarrassing to get caught out and have to call the AA again. It didn't need a full tank to fill her up so I guessed the problem was with the fuel level sender.

When I got to work I opened the boot to find that one of the connectors had come off the sender. I've got too much in the boot and something must of dislodged it. I must clear that boot, most of it is tools just in case I have a problem.

I reconnected the wire and the fuel gauge works fine now. I guess if I ever get round to upgrading the interior of the car I should board and carpet the boot, that way the connector will be protected.

Things you can do with the engine still in the car.

2005-11-01T13:07:00.000Z

The Haynes Manual has this to say on the subject of major operations that can be done with the engine still in the car.

The following operations can be carried out with the engine in the car:
(a) Removal and refitting of the cylinder head and valve gear
(b) Removal and refitting of the timing chain and sprockets
(c) Removal and refitting of the clutch and flywheel
(d) Removal and refitting of the engine mountings

There is one more major job that can be carried out with the engine in situ.

On a recent job I had to remove most of the cooling system. The radiator, hoses, fan, pulley and water pump were all out of the car. I noticed how easy it was to work on the right hand side of the engine bay. There was nothing between the engine block and the inner wing. I' d thought no more about this until I was reading an article in the Internet Mini Encyclopedia about camshafts and right at the bottom of the page was a description on how to replace the camshaft without removing the engine.

Have a look at the article, Changing a cam in situ

An Electric Mini Pickup!!

2005-10-31T22:58:00.000Z

Do you fancy trying something a little different? Well this guy had the genius idea of converting a mini pickup to electric power.

Kaptain Kleaver's Electric Mini Pickup

Very cool idea!!

This should of been so easy!!

2005-10-31T14:04:00.000Z

So the Ignition Coil has gone, fix that and I'm up and running.

Attempt 1
I raided the coil off the other mini. OK, ten minutes later the coil was swapped, time to switch on. Nothing! Five minutes of fiddling about and I'd managed to get the thing started, great lets give it a go. Two hundred meters down the road it died on me. I thought of pushing it back up the hill, decided against it and towed it back again.

There was no way this car was going to start again today. I begin to have doubts about the state of the spare coil. I'd run out of time, I was needed elsewhere, failed!!!

Attempt 2
I'd brought a brand new Lucas Sports coil, a sports coil was chosen as it has a much higher output, a friend had also told me that if I want to change to electronic ignition the sports coil would be better.

First problem. I'd brought a coil designed for use in a car without a ballast resister, my car uses a ballast resistor. The Internet Mini Encyclopedia has an explanation on how a ballasted system works and how to remove the ballast wire. I followed the instructions in the article with a couple of changes. My fuse box had a spare terminal on position 1 of the fuse box so I was able to connect to it directly, no horrible splicing to the loom. The existing ballast resistor connection also has the wire from the solenoid attached. I figured I didn't need either wire so I simply taped them out the way and replaced them with my 12v feed. I also too the opportunity to replace the dodgy looking connectors on the negative connection to the coil.

Ok, lets give it a try. It did, after a bit of fiddling, start, and on that occasion it fired straight away. Having learnt from my previous experience I decided to try initially to move the car around the car park rather than take it out on the road. I couldn't believe it, it died almost straight away. It was getting dark now, time to go. Failed again!!!

Attempt 3
I'd gone away and thought about it, the only thing I'd not checked was the low tension side, the wire from the condenser to the negative terminal on the coil and the very flimsy looking cotton covered wire that links the base plate of the dizzy to earth. After checking with my multimeter I could find no continuity problems on either. I put it all back together again, making sure each connection was good and tried again. This time it started first time, I wiggled everything that would wiggle and it didn't fail. Took it on a test run and covered about ten miles with no problems. I'd call that fixed. I can only summise there was a connection that was failing. The new ignition coil is brilliant, I've never had the car starting so well. Third attempt, success!!

Don't be a numpty, turn the ignition off when the cars not running!

2005-10-21T17:22:00.000+01:00

I broke down the other night. I was coming home from work in the recently serviced red mini. I was feeling quite smug about how well it was running, there was one thing bugging me though. The radio sounded awful, this needed to be sorted or else I'd have to resort to singing to myself. No a pleasant thought!!

I pulled over to look at the radio,after five minutes of re-tuning/ checking connections etc I decided that this was a job for another day. I turned the ignition and nothing, the engine turned over but refused to start. This was similar to the problem I had trying to start the car after the service, I'd put that down to the rain.

OK, lift the bonnet, check the cables etc, try again, nothing. This went on for about another 30 minutes. During this time I was joined by a passing member of the Eastbourne and District Mini Club which was much appreciated. There's only so much you can do at the roadside so I decided to ring the AA to get them to have a look. At this point I was really glad to have a radio even if it did sound a bit crap, the AA man took an hour to get to me and then I had to wait two hours to get a pickup truck to take the car home.

The AA patrolman after going through much of what we'd already done felt the ignition coil, it was way too hot. His diagnosis was the ignition coil had probably burnt out. The final straw for the coil was probably when I'd stopped to check the radio and left the ignition on. He patiently explained that if you stop and the points are closed it completes the circuit and there's current flowing constantly through the coil. Bugger, I know this, well I'd of known this if I'd of though about it, problem is I'd never thought about it. My inexperience playing with cars has bitten me on the backside.

Tip No 3: Exhaust to Manifold Fitting

2005-10-21T16:20:00.000+01:00

This can be a real pain to do on your own as it's difficult to get the exhaust flush with the manifold. Here's my solution:

Jack up the front of the car
Place some bricks under the exhaust(I use 3 brick pavers, approximately 150mm).
Gently lower the jack until the exhaust butts up to the manifold.(Don't drop the jack all the way, you could crush the exhaust!)
Tighten up exhaust clamp
Remove bricks and jack

Tip No 2: Gaskets

2005-10-21T16:13:00.000+01:00

The other day I had to remove my heater tap and I didn't have a suitable gasket. A quick trip to Halfords solved the problem. They sell a silicon instant gasket. A great product, it can be used in plenty of situations although it's not recommended for major gaskets like the cylinder head gasket. It's easy to apply and just works.

Tip No 1: Pushrods

2005-10-21T15:54:00.000+01:00

Before you put your cylinder head back on your block, try the pushrods in their holes in the block. Make sure they all sit at about the same height. When I put my head back on the other day one of the rods was a couple of inches too high. The cam follower had become dislodged and was lying on its side. To get at it I had to remove the head to get at the access panel on the back of the engine. Very annoying, wasted a good 20 minutes.

Giving the mini some love!

2005-10-18T12:58:00.000+01:00

I've now given the mini some loving, and it's running really sweet. The mini was in a sorry state, here's a list of problems it had:

Overheating

Rough Idling, sometimes it even cuts out

Noisy, if I don't get this sorted I may need a bigger stereo

Here's the list of jobs I decided needed doing

Strip the cooling system

Replace the water pump and hoses

Flush out the radiator

Replace the cylinder head gasket

Basic service on engine, new points, spark plugs, leads, oil filter, air filter, set tappets, change oil etc

I ordered the parts from my favourite supplier DSN Classics This company are quick to deliver, reasonably prices and have good technical support when you need to ask a numpty question. They also have a policy of charging a sensible price for postage. If you just want a small item, you don't need to pay for an expensive courier to deliver it next day.

Stripping out the cooling system was fairly easy, simply unbolt everything. I took the radiator away and back flushed it to remove any crud that was stuck in it. The connector to the heater hose was rusted, which probably explains why there was not much heat coming out of the heater.

Next, I took the cylinder head off to replace the gasket. It was really difficult to tell where it had blown so I was hoping I hadn't got anything more serious like a cracked head.

Whilst I had the engine in two bits I decarbonised the pistons and all round the combustion chambers. I used the technique in the haynes manual of ensuring that I didn't get any loose bits of carbon in the wrong place in the block.

Turn the crank until two of the pistons are at the top of their travel.
Mask off the other two pistons and all the holes in the block
Smear grease round the edge of the pistons you are trying to decarbonise.
Scrape the carbon carefully away from the pistons.
Clean up the exposed surface and turn the crank until the other two pistons are at the top of their travel.
Repeat steps 2-4
Clean everything with petrol

I put the head back and adjusted the tappets, haynes recommends around 15 thou gap. I'm sure 15 thou was the gap I'd set them to on the last service, my feeler guage was rattling around in the gaps,I think they were nearer 25. It was fairly easy to reset the gaps and within 20 minutes I was on to the next job.

The points were a bit fiddly to set up and the new top radiator hose was rubbish, I went back to the old one. The rest or the bits went back on the engine easy enough.

It was beginning to get dark now and the rain started pouring down. The last half hour of assembly had my head and shoulders under the bonnet with the rest of me exposed to the driving rain. Not a nice experience, I must make a point of clearing my garage out.

Time to try starting it. This took for ever, I wasn't getting a spark and I checked and rechecked everything. After another half hour of this all I had to show for my efforts was a flat battery. I was at the point of giving up and decided to try one last time jump starting the car. Success, I was up and running, the exhaust was making a lot of noise, needs bracket putting on again. My best guess was the driving rain had got something wet.

I waited till the next morning to change the oil, oil filter, check the coolant levels and bolt the exhaust on properly.

Daddy's broken the mini!!

2005-10-17T13:45:00.000+01:00

The car has had a lot more use recently as I now use it for my daily commute, 50 mile a day. I've spent the summer just using the car and not really thinking too much about it. Not thinking about it also equates to not servicing it and not really loving it.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the water temperature was getting a little hot. I had a look in the radiator and the levels were a bit low. I topped it up and all was fine for a while then it overheated again. My first thought was the cooling system had sprung a leak. I popped down to Halfords one lunchtime and brought their leak stopper. This didn't work, it still was loosing water.

The next time it started to get hot I pulled over and investigated. Water was coming out, but from the expansion time that comes off the next of the tank, there was no leak from anywhere else. Who designed that tube, it comes down the side of the radiator and drips onto the subframe. If they's made it a couple of centimeters longer it could of dripped onto the road.

I tried taking the thermostat out, this had no effect other than it taking slightly longer to overheat. Someone at work suggested that the head gasket might be blown, I hadn't seen any signs of oil in the coolant. I had another look and there did seem to be a bit of froth in the radiator, maybe that was it.

Finally it overheated so much I had to pull over and call my wife out with a bottle of water. She came out with my daughter who's two. We got it going, I got home and took the car off the road until I could sort it. Ever since then my daughter has been telling everyone that Daddy's broken the mini.

I've decided to strip the cooling system down, replace the water pump and change the head gasket. I think I need to give the car a good service at the same time.

The car needs some loving!

Hands off my radiator!

2005-10-17T13:14:00.000+01:00

This was another strange one from a couple of months ago. My wife returned from work in the mini and noticed that steam was coming out of the car. On investigation it looked like the nuts that hold the radiator bracket to the thermostat housing had been undone. The only conclusion that I could come to was someone was after the radiator.

I find it difficult to comprehend the cheek of some people.

Window smashed, lock broken, stereo gone, bugger!

2005-10-17T13:09:00.000+01:00

This actually happened quite a while ago, and cost me a lost weekend sorting the mess out. Basically someone had decided that the car stereo was a desirable item and my car was inline for some damage. They must of put a screwdriver in the lock and when that didn't work decided to smash the window.

Step 1: Find a replacement window
Fortunately, a friend of had an old mini that was waiting to go to the scrapyard so the window on this car was mine. Not too bad a job removing the old window, except for the masses of sticky gloop that is used around the winder mechanism. It's a bit like very sticky bluetack. The rails that the window sits on were very rusty, hopefully mine would be in better condition.

Step 2: Inspect the damage
On to my mini. I managed to get most of the glass out of the bottom of the door with a screwdriver. Whilst I had the door cards off, I had a look at the genral condition of the door. It's beginning to rust, water has been getting in at the front of the window just where the outer sealing strip meets the corner. It's going to need a re-skin at some point and some remedial work to the frame of the door.
Step 3: Fit the new window
Here's a tip, if you've got to replace the rails on the window, make sure you mark the exact position of the old rails before taking them off. That way you wont have the window too far forward or backward when it comes to refitting. fitting the window was just fiddly, there's two rollers which have to fit in a channel which would be easy enough if you didn't have the rest of the door frame to consider.
Step 4: Try and fit a new lock.
I managed to get the old lock barrel out easily enough, mini locks are only held in place with a clip at the back. Unfortunately the new barrels would not fit the handles. My guess is that the aftermarket barrels have a poor quality casting. The solution is to file the barrels down a bit. A job for another day, hey the rest of the doors work!

One thing I have learnt from this excercise is to inspect the state of all rubber seals before you start a job. The seals on my window could of benefitted from being changed, I'm sure I'll pay for that at a later date.