1965 Mk1 road/rally Bitsa, (now supercharged 8 port)

[Ronnie]

dyno session
https://youtu.be/Do9u4h9oGI4

quality rocker cover!!

!!!!!

Well it looks nice

What do you use to retain the collar, Jonathon (dyno man) said try something called bearing fit?

thoughts on best road or rally cam for the 8 port,? I think this cam is too top heavy for a 1293 road car, it certainly feels that way.

LOCTITE >> http://www.loctite.co.uk/retaining-9171.htm also you could either Wire or change design of your T bar retaining nuts it is resonance that is loosening them not pressure.

[Richspec]

LOCTITE >> http://www.loctite.co.uk/retaining-9171.htm also you could either Wire or change design of your T bar retaining nuts it is resonance that is loosening them not pressure.

Thanks Ronnie, thats perfect and yes resonance is the correct term not vibration which is what i think i referred to it as They didn't come loose on the 130 mile tour across some rough old roads the day after, other things did, but not those!

[Richspec]

Mid term update, well it feels like halfway through the year, an event every weekend in May and two weekends into June before I get a rest!

Yesterday was the Thistle Run, a touring event in aid of various charities with around 200 minis taking part, touring from Newtongrange just south of Edinburgh to Eyemouth harbour.

I felt on the last run out down the motorway that the fuelling was off, its too rich at my cruising revs (approx 4000 / 60 mph) and so on Saturday i went out and ran up and down the main road to fine tune the settings in that particular area, in the evening i worked through the fuelling map making the changes, we're only talking a max of 4% i think. Why the ECU isnt bringing the fuelling into line as it should automatically is something to look at soon.
In other news.. bringing it out of the garage it dropped onto 3 cylinders and using the thermal image camera on my phone i could quickly see exhaust 2 was colder than the others, i popped out the plug to find it was soaking wet, quite oily and had a load of shit on it, like carbon.
ummmm. anyways cleaned up and back in all was good and i was able to go and do the mapping.

Sunday, a boring ass noisy drive up the M74 to Moffat and then a glorious thrash up the A701 past Devils Beef Tub and on to the start venue, despite going really well i though there was a slight misfire at times and immediate thoughts turned to that oily plug.
The run itself went fine but i was feeling that misfire more and more but my passenger never even noticed it! So after a late lunch and another clean of the windscreen i swapped out the fancy platinum plugs for some more standard cr8's and yep. Oily Plug.
The run home was down to Coldstream and then Kelso, Hawick and A7 south, again another blast and the car pulling well but missing on load, and getting worse to me (imagination??)

Today started with pulling the plugs, yep number 2 a little bit oily but not soo bad..compression check, even across all four cylinders, off with the rocker cover to see if anything was amiss and...

33775304_10216632428754158_4452559915357044736_o_Fotor.jpg

so right off priorities are, drain the oil, find the bits!
On the end of the sumplug (fancy high strength MS one) what looks like a tiny circlip??
Sitting on top of No3 rocker post - the roller
down No6? pushrod hole, the remains of the pin.

33836544_10216633090890711_6167029530419527680_o_Fotor.jpg

Now how to fix?? well none of the rockers here are getting reused, they're old, battered and are goin in the bin! None of the 5 port sets would fit (without more rockers being required due to the 'handness' required to fit this 90's 8 Port.) Luckily I've just bought another head and rockers off Rich (to replace this head and rockers which I'd borrowed) so had a look at fitting those, the rockers are identical to what was on, the difference in the rocker post and what rockers are needed. The newer 2012 castings need 6 RH and 2 LH, when viewed from the front, this head looked to need 8 RH. Even luckier i have ANOTHER set of the 2012 rockers on the fancy 70's 8 port using a mix of 5 and 8 port spacer kits to make it work, so i could rob rockers off there as well.
So I've ended up using the new rocker shaft, the older rocker posts, 7 RH rockers and 1 LH and all the rollers sit bang on the valve stems after a bit of trial error with shims
The other difference is that the old rockers used the extended adjusting screw and standard pushrods, the new one ares are shorter and you use longer pushrods. I had a set of the MED steel rods ready to go so I'm using those. So back together by this evening, head tightened down and just doing up the last rocker post nut when the stud snapped of clean at the top. Time for more alcohol and back on it tomorrow night.

33753368_10216635489590677_1170031224090001408_o_Fotor.jpg

[Richspec]

Well its a long time since I updated and I just wanted to a) let people know what I'm up to and b) vent a bit.

I've covered quite a few miles on the car and attended a lot of events but its become the obvious the cam I have is just far too racy for the road, its just not nice to drive at slow and sensible speeds plus I've had continuing issues with oiling on cylinder 2, caused I think by the mixture still being a bit rich (even though I've spent forever tweaking it) and that cylinder not sealing as well as the others, this is all covered on my youtube channel
https://youtu.be/l4zIHsMCzgU Part 19 is where the rockers broke.

For this year I decided to bite the bullet and start afresh and spent ages pricing up a fancy crank, rods and every combination under the sun, but I was always fighting the CR and getting it down to sensible levels, all due to the small CC in the head.
Then I had one of those 'fuck it' moments and committed to do something I've discussed with my brother for the past ten years - ie boost an 8 port, and document it all for my channel - 'Project X'

I then spent ages working out what to buy, what i needed etc etc and the past few months have seen ALOT of parcels arriving, I was keeping all this quiet until the big reveal which was delayed and delayed and delayed.

Why delayed?

Quite simply I was waiting for the important parts to come from my supplier, down in the South East, those parts namely being the majority of the Rotrex supercharger kit that they sell for the 5 ports.

Parts were paid for on the 28th Feb, and came yesterday...
The rotrex had been out of stock when i ordered and I only found out on sending the 'where's my stuff??' email..

Can you imagine how pissed I was to find half the items I'd paid handsomely for are missing
They've had a month to get all the parts together and wait for the supercharger to come in..and totally dropped the ball, screwed the pooch, fucked up royally.

The measure of any company (IMHO) is customer service and how well they resolve issues when they arise as they do in any organisation, lets see how quickly things are resolved after this mornings email. ( I'm so pissed I don't think I could be civil over the phone)

Rich

[Richspec]

Quickest response ever in my dealings so far..

Hello Richard,
I am very sorry about that. The package was sent with all parts that we had on the shelf. The remaining parts were caught up in the move of premises and will be sent to you end of this week/very early next week.
We thought we would send these parts so that you can be getting the engine built.
There was a delivery note explaining this that should have been attached but it would appear it wasnt.
Please accept our apologies and we will get the remaining parts sent out asap.


Lets see what happens!

[mk1]

Glad you have made some progress.

I paid a hefty deposit & ordered a new motor from the same supplier last August, it was supposed to be dyno'd & ready to fit by the end of Jan. I am still waiting & have no idea when / if I will ever get anything.

[Richspec]

Lots been happening in the background, lots of parts ordering, re ordering, waiting etc etc but progress has been made. I've built up the dummy setup to test fit everything and get my belts and pulleys all sorted.

belting.jpg

The bottom end has been finished a while, it needed new pistons, so not such a good buy, lucky it did as i found a broken ring when i was swapping the new pistons in.

block.jpg

and the plenum is all sorted bar the throttle body mounting plate being welded on and some tapping for pressure take offs. The most important bit is it clears the slam panel. The underbonnet ribs have needed more trimming to clear the fuel rail though.

plenum.jpg

Current state of play is the old engine and box are out and dismantled and i fitted the new block to the box last night and found the ends of the arp conrod bolts foul the gearbox casing...
sigh...its never ending..

[Fanfaniracing]

Looking good Rich!

[Richspec]

why i wasnt at Blyton

built up.jpg

Still need the dry decking on the arden done and shopping for an even longer drivebuilt in the morning, then it can go back in the car.

[Richspec]

massive high followed by a crushing low, story of my mini life at the moment..

Faffed on trying to work out why no fuel was getting to the injectors, can you work out the issue by looking the fuel rail pics?

IMG_20190524_205518.jpg

IMG_20190524_205535.jpg

then try to get it to start, no joy so had a good look through the ecu map and found one setting wrong..

Sooo.
this morning, uploaded the new map, turned the key and it started!! No rotrex connected to the inlet but it was mega rich.
Switched it off, let the garage clear of fumes then tried again, couple of spins, fired up, gave it some revs then BANG! bits flying out of the engine bay and out of the open garage door..

looked underneath.

IMG_20190525_102740.jpg

and at the fan.

IMG_20190525_102835.jpg

joy...

[Richspec]

things are on the up, at last..!

New Image.jpg

[Richspec]

250 miles done.

drained the coolant tonight...

Snapshot(7)x.jpg

Head will be off tomorrow night.

[mini_surfari]

Not having much luck here!

[Richspec]

It goes well, even with a blown gasket!

[Richspec]

Soooooo,

the head gasket was kerfcuked,but why?
So obviously the head had to come off and to my disappointment I found the valves had been kissing the pistons, specifically the exhausts, not the inlets as they have more lift, not the other way round as I thought. Touching, but only just, and 'enough' is enough to lift the head and make the gasket fail

there's a video here to see the extent.

https://youtu.be/-a4oi6Dcuc8

So I set too resolving this with the only parts I had to hand, namely a brand new 8 port head. (I'll get the other reconditioned ready to go again). And after a lot of debating I went back to non dry deck and a conventional head gasket that is the preferred one for boosted applications.

The video for that goes live on Friday. where you can see the differences.

Then last friday it was off to the pre booked dyno session so that the car would be good to use to attend forthcoming events like this weekend.

I ran into some limitations, namely i maxed out the injectors before I got to the (low) rev limit. But its more than enough for now and at the end of the day its all Pub Bullshit because unless its for competition use you dont drive at 100% throttle, its more to do with the low down torque and general driveability.

scan0002 - Copy (2).jpg

[DB1380]

Rich, ive just read through all 26 pages....what a great read it was too.

Talk about ups n downs....jeez, i dont know where you get your patience from.
Hope all goes well from now on.

Dicky.

[Richspec]

Cheers Dicky,

it did 392 miles this weekend to Impney and back with very little issue, I just want to nail down the final percentage of the cruise fueling to smooth out the Air Fuel Ratios and i'll be happy.
It did ok fuel wise though, 32 mpg on the way down and 33 on the way back up at circa 4000rpm/60 mph.

Rich

[Richspec]

Did someone say ups and downs....
I've not had a lot of time to work on it recently, as I've been working non stop through the covid mess. But finally got round to pulling the engine and box as I have a new rod change box to fit with taller CWP and the Minispares wide gearset, plus all the usual, quaife, SC roller drops, conversion outputs to the hardy Spicers, I'm also changing to the tamest 8 port cam, so new followers and fitting a charge cooling system AND also toying with going electric water pump.
Imagine my surprise then when i whipped off the head. and found this on cylinder 2, same both sides and mangled piston..

Snapshot(13).jpg

[roger mcnab]

well that was a nasty surprise was it smoking at all a long time ago i had a old hillman that had no ring lands left on the piston and no rings anywhere in cylinder that was when oil rings were one piece
well nothing that a rebore can not sort
cheers roger mcnab

[Richspec]

Thats the odd thing Roger, I only took the head off to make my life easier for retiming the new cam and its a cheap gasket so no harm in a quick look.!
Its damaged the piston around the pin and deformed it enough to break the middle ring and deform/pinch the lower ring.

The letterboxes left in either side of the cylinder are deep, I think liners are the only thing that will save the block.