Jakes mini, the chronicles of descent into BMC barrydom

[jakesae101]

Feel free to discuss my latest source of converting cash into oil leaks on my garage floor! 

[igor]

Welcome to the wonderful world of BMC ownership.

Serial and multiple BMC owner since 1983 here. You are definitely making the right decision to reengine your Mini. My first car was a Mk2 Mini 850 with the magic wand gear change. I had a lot of fun with it but nowhere near as much fun as the 1098 powered Clubman that replaced it two years later.

[locost_bryan]

Nice!

I had a 998 Mini, but it was an Aussie one with their Cooper style remote extension.  Gave a great gearchange whenever it was reinstalled, but would eventually become a big sloppy - wasn't until years later I discovered there were some nuts in the linkage that would have benefited from Loctite. lol

I acquired a ported and polished big valve Cooper head, ran that with a Coby extractor and muffler, and a mate's twin carbs, was dynoed at 58bhp at the wheels.  I then replaced the twin carbs with a single 1 1/2" SU on a cutdown 1300 manifold, had it dynoed again, got the same power but had better midrange and much better economy (which was important during the 2nd oil shock in 1979!).

iirc all the Mk3 floors had holes for both gearchanges, and BL fitted a rubber cover over the unused hole.

Of course, being a '72, it's technically a BL not BMC. 

[igor]

Not BLMC locost_barry?

[jakesae101]

4 minutes ago, locost_bryan said:

Nice!

I had a 998 Mini, but it was an Aussie one with their Cooper style remote extension.  Gave a great gearchange whenever it was reinstalled, but would eventually become a big sloppy - wasn't until years later I discovered there were some nuts in the linkage that would have benefited from Loctite. lol

I acquired a ported and polished big valve Cooper head, ran that with a Coby extractor and muffler, and a mate's twin carbs, was dynoed at 58bhp at the wheels.  I then replaced the twin carbs with a single 1 1/2" SU on a cutdown 1300 manifold, had it dynoed again, got the same power but had better midrange and much better economy (which was important during the 2nd oil shock in 1979!).

iirc all the Mk3 floors had holes for both gearchanges, and BL fitted a rubber cover over the unused hole.

Of course, being a '72, it's technically a BL not BMC. 

Yes definitely has both cutouts but to run the rod change box they make an adapter mount for the round style tunnel so ive ordered that and an additional engine/ gearbox brace to help things.

[locost_bryan]

1 hour ago, igor said:

Not BLMC locost_barry?

Well, NZMC took over BLMC NZ on May 1 1972, and BLMC changed its name to British Leyland U.K. Ltd from October 1 1972, so it would depend on the Mini's build date.

The old newspapers have some interesting stories, press releases, etc about BMC and BL.

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19720922.2.65

Like this from Sept 1972 in the Christchurch Press :-
British Leyland Marinas are now the second bestselling light car in Australia, and in recent months have outsold both the Holden Torana and the Datsun 1600, Leyland Australia has said. The corporation had a 7.1 per cent share of the Australian market in the three months to the end of July, compared with a 6.1 per cent share in the early part of the year.

[jakesae101]

It was first Reg in July 1972 so sneaks in...

[locost_bryan]

My Marina was registered in November 1972, but was assembled here from an Aussie CKD kit that included an English bodyshell and gearbox, so it's a little bit of all of them. lol

[tortron]

My morrie predates BMC altogether,  so I'm in the clear

[Lord Gruntfuttock]

^
My Mini build brings all the Barrys to the yard,
and they're like, worse sharns than yours.
Damn right, they're worse than yours.
I can teach you, but I have to charge...

[jakesae101]

On 23/09/2024 at 10:32, locost_bryan said:

Nice!

I had a 998 Mini, but it was an Aussie one with their Cooper style remote extension.  Gave a great gearchange whenever it was reinstalled, but would eventually become a big sloppy - wasn't until years later I discovered there were some nuts in the linkage that would have benefited from Loctite. lol

I acquired a ported and polished big valve Cooper head, ran that with a Coby extractor and muffler, and a mate's twin carbs, was dynoed at 58bhp at the wheels.  I then replaced the twin carbs with a single 1 1/2" SU on a cutdown 1300 manifold, had it dynoed again, got the same power but had better midrange and much better economy (which was important during the 2nd oil shock in 1979!).

iirc all the Mk3 floors had holes for both gearchanges, and BL fitted a rubber cover over the unused hole.

Of course, being a '72, it's technically a BL not BMC. 

So its currently making its way to wellington, but it turns out its a remote box but its been converted to use pot joints so not all bad but was a bit late by the time i found out as id only seen photos / videos in the car.

Running a single HS4 on what looks like a cut down manifold and has LCB extractors but ether the collector was welded or they couldn't split them at the split joint due to rust and have cut them in a bit of a shitty place so hopefully my current 3 into one clears the remote.

 

[tortron]

I have some lcb extractors that I would trade for your cut ones. I was gona cut them up anyway

A shame I didn't see yesterday as I was taking some stuff out of storage and could have brought them down

[jakesae101]

2 hours ago, tortron said:

I have some lcb extractors that I would trade for your cut ones. I was gona cut them up anyway

A shame I didn't see yesterday as I was taking some stuff out of storage and could have brought them down

Sounds like a match! The slip joints have Infact been welded