38 replies to this topic

[mjrstar]

Talk it up.

[plasticdash]

Fix that case / Put bigger cam in now please.

[forced]

Sounds like it's got creeping death.

Must be time to drop a japper in there?

Steve

[DodgySam]

reading the build thread and seeing the pics almost makes me want to go out to the garage and stare at the heap of dusty primer covers panels that was and kinda is a mini.

[mjrstar]

Dodgysam: that one of yours has a blody nice wheel choice, i went cheap on mine and got some ex escort rims filled and drilled. Makes me want to do to a tougher looking rim.

Forced:
I had thought about a 4efte (gt starlet motor) but decided I like the sound of the Highly strung A series with a big cam and not too much in the exhaust department. 1/2 the fun is not knowing what you'll have to fix to get to your destination. the only time i have been properly straneded was the day it dropped a valve.

On all other occasions i've found something on the pre-flight inspection, or whilst tinkering with something else.

One amusing incident involved the wiper wiring loom catching fire and melting through my plastic oil pressure gauge hose. That took a bit of fiddling to get home without calling for backup.

or the time when it decided it needed to jam itself in 3rd gear, not ideal trying to pull out in to traffic with a grumpy engine, jumpy clutch and only 1 gear. then driving at 6500rpm in 3rd to keep up with the flow of traffic.

It's that sort of stuff that makes old cars more fun.

[TORUKU]

Did you use the 286 cam when it was 1293cc with the race head? How did you find it?
I've got a standard metro engine and was thinking if the 286 would be a bit excessive?

[mjrstar]

Nah i don't know what cam it had in it when it was first built.

I'd suggest the 286 is probably a bit wild for a road car, unless you don't mind having to dial up around 2500 rpm to get the car moving. (the big wheels don't help)

My mate had a 1293 with 731 cam and a pair if 1 1/4 carbs, it had a really nice torquey feel to it. Pretty sure it made around 50kw atw.

The 286 really needs 7000+ rpm to be making the most of it. I'm hoping the 296 will pull nicely to around 8k but time will tell.

[Bullitt]

My mate had a 1293 with 731 cam and a pair if 1 1/4 carbs, it had a really nice torquey feel to it. Pretty sure it made around 50kw atw.

Thats what I had on mine too and I'd recommend it. Standard 1275GT 12" wheels slowed it down more than a lack of power after that.

[lowrota]

Hey mate, Kevin from eagle autos, always been good to me he not dodgy just honest!

[k-trips]

Gidday mate nice car you know that the timing marks are on the flywheel on minis?

You need a mirror and obviously a timing light - there is an access port on the clutch housing you remove then using the mirror look into the hole and there is a pointer there.. the degrees are labeled on the flywheel..

Will try find a pic..

By the way - tidy car too..

[k-trips]

timing marks look like this on the flywheel - but not painted..

[mjrstar]

yeah cheers man I'm pretty well versed on the minge engine, I rebuilt it myself a few years back.

The flywheel has been Fxxxed with (even the ring gear is no-longer full thickness) and all that remains in the way of markings on it are a few pin punch marks for the balancing. It had undergone a fair bit of surgery to shed some weight before I got hold of it.

I had thought of putting my own marks on the flywheel, but have since decided that rigging something up on the front pulley might be easier/quicker.

Sadly the car doesn't look as good as it did 10 years ago when the paint was 1st done, it had a 4 year stint of sitting outside in a car port which has not done it too many favours.

[Beaker]

Nice Mini.. im so eager to get mine on the road this summer, been a 18 month $15,000 build process ;(

They aint cheap to restore are they

[mjrstar]

^^ the costs soon escalate, i was on pretty low wages in the airforce as an 18-19 year old and is sure soaked up most of my spare cash...
Yeah it's not quite as mint as it was 10 years ago when the rebuild was first done, as it spent a 3-4 years ungaraged.
On paper it has a fair few goodies to make decent power but the reground cam has really let it down, sure it sounds cool but is not the 8000rpm screamer it was designed to be.

At least now it has a decent dry home.

[cute wee gem]

^^ new home looks awesome!

I did the same thing when assembling my Mini engine, still worked with the dizzy in the wrong way, just changed the lead position

[Toucan]

Man the garage looks so sweeet with the workbench and whatnot in it now, must be fairly easy to find motivation to go out and work on the cars. Good stuff!

[Stu]

Concrete it too white. Needs black shading...

[mjrstar]

Man the garage looks so sweeet with the workbench and whatnot in it now, must be fairly easy to find motivation to go out and work on the cars. Good stuff!

It sure helps to have somewhere warm, dry with plenty of room to get stuff done.. I even attempted to tidy up some of the wiring in the engine bay this afternoon

The electrical side of things has never been my strong point.. So I didn't get too carried away..

[tortron]

1/2 inch whitworth sounds about right

pretty sure i have spares if you get caught out

[mjrstar]

^ turns out whitworth is no-go, the fastener shop had some (incorrect)nuts made up out of some hex bar and couriered to me.
Useless c**t did not seem keen to whip out a thread pitch gauge (or didn't know what one was)

I have ordered 2 new early metro balljoints from pomgolia as they are only 8 pounds each, so even if the nuts are incorrect I should just be able to chuck the whole balljoint on.. I remember now why i just wacked the nut on last time with a locking tab and a pile of thread locking compound...

Also still waiting for my pilot bearing for the gearbox... So I did a bit of fiddling around on the evo instead.