dodgypete
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Everything posted by dodgypete
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My flatmate picked one up from bunnings here in chch. They had them in stock.Edit: just realised the one he got was mains powered.
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I did have everything taped and cable tied. There must have been a bit of tension on those wires. I put a small cable tie inside the distributor to stop them pulling through. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll get some convoluted tubing or something similar and tidy it up.
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So...I finally got to the bottom of my misfire. While poking around in the distributor I noticed the black wire from the electronic module was sitting against the shaft, and the insulation had rubbed through. Basically the negative wire switching the coil was intermittently getting grounded. When I first got the car I noticed the same thing had happened to the red wire (but somehow hadn't caused any issues), so I sleeved it with some heat shrink. At the time I thought I had positioned the wires so they couldn't get pulled against the shaft. The misfire is gone, so I took it for a spin and adjusted the carb - I put the mixture and idle back to what they were before the problems.
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It doesn't seem to make any difference if it's hot or cold. I had a good look at the plugs yesterday and I didn't see any cracks. I cleaned them with brake cleaner too. I'll clean the inside of the dizzy and fire it up in the dark.
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....forgot to add - I also re earthed the engine and checked and redid few electrical connections.
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A few weeks back it started running really rough - almost undriveable. Initially I thought it was the carb because I had previously had a few problems (Carb had been sweet for a couple of months though). I had driven the mini my sisters place, then it ran like crap on the way home the following night. I parked it up and checked a few things (carb related) the next weekend I took it for a spin and it seemed to run OK for a while, then really rough. I checked for vacuum leaks, checked it was getting fuel, richened up the mixture - nothing helped. A friend reckoned it sounded more like an ignition problem causing a misfire. It has a Lucas 45D4 distributor with a Dizzytek 774 electronic module. When I rebuilt the engine it got new plugs, leads, dis cap and rotor. The misfire seems to be at any revs and with or without load. Yesterday I replaced the coil and swapped leads and cap for old ones but no joy. Checked the plugs and they look OK. I also did a compression test and all cylinders were good - 195-200 psi. I can't see any tracking in the cap or on the rotor. The only thing I can see is it looks a bit odd around the rotor contact. This wouldn't be a problem with the spare cap anyway. Any suggestions? I'm a noob so I might have missed something obvious. Discussion: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53286-dodgypetes-1980-mini-1275gt-discussion/?hl=mini
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The next problem I had was the cheap Auto Gauge temp gauge not reading correctly. I probably spent waaaay too much time trying to get this right. I did a lot of testing in a pot of water with a thermometer at different temperatures. The sender was definitely a bit dodgy (wasn't changing linearly with temp) so I replaced it and then used a few resistors to calibrate everything. This photo was when I started and the gauge was reading approx 10 degrees lower than it should.
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After I got the engine running I realised that the twin carbs weren't very happy. I tried tuning and balancing them but it wasn't happening, so I took them apart to discover they had different needles. The throttle shafts and bushes were also badly worn and leaking. I decided to rebuild a HIF44 I picked up for $5. Picked up a rebuild kit, alloy manifold and K&N filter and got to work. I tried boiling all the crap off in simple green but it didn't really help. I eventually got it off with a lot of scrubbing Finally got it back together with new seals etc and a needle I guesstimated from similar spec engines Ended up having to reshape the alloy spacer block between the carb and manifold because the float bowl was hitting the firewall. Initially it ran like crap but I eventually got it running really well with a bit of tinkering. There was still a hesitation on acceleration so I played around with different grade oils in the dashpot. I replaced the damper with a different type which ultimately fixed the problem.
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Late last year I finally got the engine back in the hole. I installed new engine mounts which made it pretty tight. It took a lot of levering and someone sitting on the engine to finally get the bolts in. Cranked it over to get oil pressure, reconnected the plugs and it fired straight up. A low quality sideways video as proof: http://vid1116.photobucket.com/albums/k569/dodgy-pete/Mini2.mp4
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Sweet, thanks for the tips
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I tried to find some rubber plugs/corks/bungs/whatever they're called, but couldn't. Most of the holes were easy to cover but I didn't want degreaser and water running into the sump through the distributor and dip stick holes.
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Last winter I finally got the engine back together. I chucked a heater in the garage and got started prepping and painting the engine. The gearbox was worst because the paint was flaking off and it took ages to remove it. Did the whole lot with spray cans but it turned out pretty good. Plugging all the holes with silicone seemed like a good idea at the time, but was a nightmare to remove. What do you guys use to plug the holes? //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53286-dodgypetes-1980-mini-1275gt-discussion/ Finally found a use for the old seatbelts. .....and ready to go back in the hole!
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The exhaust was already 1 3/4" with a single RC40 muffler. I changed the extractors from 3-1 to LCB. Chucked in a light weight steel flywheel, heavy duty clutch plate and spring.
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The cylinder head needed new valve seats, guides, etc, so I decided to put it on the shelf and buy a ported big valve head. The rockers were pretty worn, so I also picked up some 1.5:1 roller tip rockers. The head sat around for about a year and a half before I fitted it. I had been grinding near the head (came wrapped in plastic) but it turned out the bag had a hole it, so the head ended up full of metal filings. When I finally noticed, I stripped it apart and gave it a good clean.
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Yep, they still flip forward. You can also get them with a headrest but they won't flip forward properly. I guess the headrests are for safety but let's be honest, you don't want to have any kind of crash in a mini. They only problem I had is the plastic inserts on the adjustable feet at the back of the frames fell apart. I made some metal one to replace them. I'll post some photos and it'll make more sense.
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Pulled back the carpet to check the floor for rust. Tidied it up a bit then sprayed on some rust convertor. My original plan with the front seats was to try and mounted them properly. I bought some seat frames designed for cobra seats, but they just weren't suitable for the mazda seats. At that point I decided to continue shoveling money into a hole and bought some cobra seats. The frames sat really high so I cut the brackets at the front down and the legs at the back. I also modified the brackets that bolt to the cross member. Discussion: //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/53286-dodgypetes-1980-mini-1275gt-discussion/
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The drivers door card was stuffed so I made 2 new ones. I cut off the pocket and carpet thingy with a razor blade then sprayed them black with vinyl paint. I was pretty keen to get rid of all the tan coloured vinyl, so I sprayed the rear cards as well, then ended up painting the rear seat - so the was one less shade of black.
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I made a new parcel tray - partly to cover the huge holes that had been hacked through the metal. Made a cardboard template and after a bit of trial and error I got the shape right. Also picked up a black(ish) vinyl rear seat and some new seat belts.
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Then I removed the shitty seats. The front seats had some pretty dodgy frames under them.....
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I took ages building the engine and getting it back in the car. In the meantime I did some work on the interior. I removed the shitty centre console with gauges you had to lie down to see: I removed the shitty tread plate parcel tray. Why do people do this??!?? I couldn't even give it away in the end.
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Yep, it was all crack tested. Well, except the crank. Helen Keller could see the crack in that.
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The corrosion was quite bad. I wondered if it had been left with water in the bore for a while after blowing a head gasket.
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Being a complete noob I made a couple of mistakes, but got there in the end. I wondered if the corrosion mark in the bore was because it had blown a head gasket at some point, and been left with water sitting in it? It is now 1310cc (had to go up a size to get rid of the corrosion) It ended up needing a replacement crank - had a huge crack in it. I got the cam reground to a Kent MD266 profile. This is what happens when you try to flip the gearbox over by yourself to bolt it onto the block, and drop it on your arm: I fitted a lightened double row timing chain and checked the cam timing. It was retarded by 7 degrees! Ended up fitting an offset woodruff to get it right:
