mjrstar

My mini is pretty well modified (1330cc, with kent 296 cam and stage 4 head etc.....) but it is epically slow compared to the other cars in my garage.. Still a bit of fun though. It's up against my 230 wheel kilowatt evo 4 and my 245 wheel KW bugeye starlet. In reality if you want to go fast don't bother trying to do it in a mini...

Fuel piping: Mine is about 4 inches above the subframe which seems fine.

nice work, You will need at least a short bit of flexible hose for the fuel line, otherwise the constant rocking/vibration from the engine will work harden/crack the solid fuel line.

Yeah italian tuneup = take it for some high load runs to build up a decent bit of heat... the closest hill would be up the motorway towards albany but could be a bit failburger if the car doesn't want to play the game, there is that sweet straight past the panelbeater that goes around the back of the airfield towards riverhead which would be ok..

option A: buy an expandable CV boot which does not require the removal of the ends? option B: the likelyhood is that there will be a circular retaining ring and if you set the axle up in a vise pointing downwards a good square-on hit (not that easy) SHOULD pop then end away from the axle. option c: try and split the ends (is there a jacking bolt hole) if not drill one.

give the plugs a good clean, and take it for an italian tune up.

You can get the engine bay reasonably tidy for bugger all time / money. I didn't bother taking the subframe out of mine, there isn't much chance of rust etc around the front end. Now is a good time to do a few of the simple things whilst the motor is out, replace the nasty bypass coolant hose, timing cover gasket, crank seals etc.. clutch hose check the flexible portion of the fuel supply and have a look at the rubber in the engine mounts..

my 1st attempt at you-tubing... not too exciting but it gives a bit of an idea of what the transmission sounds like..

Well i took the car out for a hoon and a bit of road tuning and it became apparent I was going to have to do something about the lack of clutch pedal, so off came the slave for a stern talking to, and thankfully it's playing the game now. (fingers crossed). so the thing now has more haul-arse than it's ever had before, but sadly it's a long way off keeping up with the other machines in my garage. But the box is pretty sweet, and the motor is pulling stronger to higher RPM than it wanted to do before, i have done some minor sanding to the carb needle, but i think it would benefit from some work on the ignition curve. I'm semi tempted to lock the dizzy at 25-28 ish degrees and see how it performs, also think it'd pay to try and figure out exactly how much advance it's running. Any way enough typing nonsense.. So it's far from show spec but as it'll see some real road use there is no point on going silly... No plans to do too much more to it, probably try and track down a better air filter for it as the foam is about stuffed after 10 years of neglect, and also have a bit of a tinker with the ignition timing as mentioned above. (your thoughts please)

well the electrical side of things seem OK.. but the the engine seems to be after a bit more fuel in the top end so I'd say some re-profiling of the needle is in order.. Any suggestions on where to find some decent measurements / starting point on how much meat to take off the needle?? Currently running a BBC needle on the HIF44. I will probably rob a few ideas of this chap. http://www.terryhunt.co.uk/mini/pics/te ... b/pics.htm

A couple of handy links I came across for tweaking the HIF carby. Depending on how well the needle is set-up. http://www.terryhunt.co.uk/mini/pics/te ... b/pics.htm and also http://www.mintylamb.co.uk/suneedle/ and for stripping / rebuilding / testing etc... http://www.v8register.net/FilesV8WN/SUb ... vicing.pdf

the thing has EPIC legs in 1st and reverse now... it's out of tune (static guess timing) but it seems like it's asking for a bit more fuel now.. Also i re-sealed the clutch slave cylinder and put a new hose on that, but it appears there is still some air in the lines as the clutch sucks, but happily the box doesn't really require much clutch for up-changes. throttle and clutch pedal both feel too light so I will have to do some work on them..

Well the cam timing/ignition timing must not have been too bad, it fired up after some diagnosis ( I was lacking in ability to distinguish between red and blue for the distributor wiring). Still has a sweet choppy idle but seems to want to pick up revs a bit quicker (in neutral). No road test yet, I need to grab a couple of hose clips for the coolant piping. Also the carb may have a sticky float needle as it seems to be overly rich unless I unplug the fuel pump (hopefully some engine vibration sort that out) I ended up replacing one of the ball-joints since the nuts were different, man what a F%^&%$ing bastard to undo out of the hub.. think vise grips and long piece of galv pipe.. I just about lifted the car off the axle stands.. Will take a couple of snaps, but in the mean time imagine the engine above back in the car

^^ Thank you Sir, I had assumed that this was the case but it pays to double check.

this thing would be superb with an old accord motor, my mate had one back in the late 90s and it was a very simple swap.

So when I pulled the motor out of the mini it was apparent that I had one CV inner cup /race the opposite way to the other, so the question: Is the cup below the correct way around? (fat end facing the diff) or should it be like the other one with the skinny end facing the diff? cheers Matt

I have used the place next to croydons just off central park in Hendo. It was $160 for all 4 wheels (I had blasted them myself). I have also had intercooler pipes and rocker covers etc done by them..

how about leaving the wheels as a distressed aluminium look, then coat with something clear and non-shiny? I would fully rock that as is, it's way cooler than the old bronze P1's I had.

Hey thanks I may have to take you up on that offer if the electrics decide not to play the game.

Airbags would be a mission there is stuff all room inside the subframe area and a small diameter bag would need to run massive pressure, you would also lose the go-cart spec handling. I reckon a nicely set up ride height, and enough flare to take some deep dish 13x8's. Plus a tidy dark colour rather than something too outrageous. Something like this would be pretty much win in my opinion, something both enthusiasts and modifiers would both appreaciate. Good luck with the build.

I will be VERY impressed if you manage to squeeze those Brembo 4 pots under a 16'' rim.

^ 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.

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..

I decided to take the opportunity to tweak the extractors as there was the issue of them being eaten by the right hand CV joint. It should be a while before the CV chops through the exhaust now.. I also re-read the diff shimming instructions which resulted in a minor adjustment to what I had done before but not a major.. the insertion of the gasket for the idler gear shimming was also tops (around .004'' and it no-longer jams up solid. My weight watchers clutch parts.. Orange diaphragm, metro turbo plate (I think) and Swiss cheese flywheel. I had to order in new nuts for the upper balljoints, apparently they are 1/2'' Whitworth fine thread ??

I would be tempted to find a heavier spring for the dash pot to see if you have a rich bogging issue?