mk1-forum.net

hi timmy
are you still with the mini i had that model a long time ago it had jelly bean wheels and i put the front seats from a honda zot they worked well
i wondered if you have a mobile phone that i could send pics of my v8 clubman to you so you could put them on my forum site if possible as getting my son to do it is like drawing teeth from a rocking horse
cheers roger

hi timmy
my mobile no is 0408069717 when you ring i will be able to send pics then i will ring and explain them
cheers roger

I've had a few days of busted knuckles and I've made some progress..

I decided to review and adjust the timing using the programmable Blackbox. As always it takes longer to figure out how to connect it than to do the actual tuning...


I needed to lower the RPM limiter as I was running into valve bounce before the limiter was kicking in. Previously it was set at 5200RPM and I've lowered it now to 5000RPM. I've also added some timing across the board, with a max now of 30 degrees. The RPM limiter has been checked and confirmed it's working too!


The old battery had been a bit weak in starting recently, so I had it checked out at the local battery shop. It was down to 220 CCA (Cold cranking amps) from the original 260CCA. It had gone flat a few times and is on the small side. I decided to buy a nice big one that'll fill up the battery box. The new one is 560CCA, so more than double the power of the old one.

I also bought an extra ground cable and installed a battery disconnect switch to easily isolate the battery when it's parked.

I made up a new boot board from some 12mm plywood. I made a cutout in the corner for the battery switch and stuck on some foam tape to stop rattles and protect the fuel tanks.

It fits in perfectly!


I've also been working on the under bonnet heater. It needed to be connected through the firewall, to get hot air to the passengers and to the windscreen. This turned out to be a really big job:
The oil pressure and temp gauges had to be disconnected
Drain the coolant
Replace the thermostat
Remove the dash panels
Modify the vents
Remove distributor
Relocate the horn
Etc

These are late plastic Clubman dash vents. They didn't end up fitting in the factory orientation as on a Clubman they point inwards and go through holes in the centre of the dash. On my car they need to go through holes on the outside of the dash

I cut the RHS vent short and swapped them from side to side.

RHS vent is now installed

It's all hidden behind the stock dash which I'm really happy with.

The LHS duct is all hidden too

The fresh air intake hose is installed in the engine bay. I made up some ducting inside to send the air to the demise vents or the floor. I think it'll need a fan, as it works great at speed but there is no air flow at stop or slow speed.


We've also had a couple of MITG runs recently up through the National Park for a coffee and then lunch

I’ve got a coat of paint on the head now and it’s all ready to assemble






I've fallen into the hobby of collecting steering wheels, and I found this one on eBay for really cheap (under $100) with one small grainy photo. The seller had bought it and never used so it has a couple of small marks that aren’t really noticeable.


It looked pretty nice when it turned up! It’s 14” diameter and uses a Nardi bolt pattern. I’ve always liked this style of wheel, but the Nardi ones are always outside my budget


I had to get a new boss kit to suit the wheel. This is a nice looking tulip style boss which suits the Mk1 steering column and is double drilled for MOMO (70mm) and Nardi (73.6mm) bolt patterns.


On the car now!




I found a cheap horn button on ebay to finish it off and now I'm just waiting on the retaining ring to hold the button in the centre.

That's an good looking steering wheel but in my
opinion far to "modern" for your Classic Mk1 Mini.

Kees.

UHR850 wrote: That's an good looking steering wheel but in my
opinion far to "modern" for your Classic Mk1 Mini.

Kees.

One of the great things about a steering wheel is that you can change them whenever you like! I've always liked this style and I'm glad I've finally got one

The Nardi Ferrari wheels were a very similar style in the late 1950's - same black stripe, same split spokes, obviously a larger diameter and different horn and wood grain but similar style
http://www.fantasyjunction.com/cars/164 ... 2-Cylinder
https://www.dupontregistry.com/autos/li ... gt/1568195

hi timmy
thats a great looking steering wheel the heater in my clubman fits under the dash with built in fan it fits in the middle is compact so takes up only a little room
would be easy to fit in yours and gives more room under the bonnet just a thought
cheers roger mcnab

We did the Rylstone Classic again this year. I've now been 4 years and had shared the car with a different person every time. I drove my friend James in his car for a couple of reasons, but mostly because his car has over double the power! We cruised up to the Gosford car museum on Friday and had a look through the cars
















Saturday morning we met up with the group. This year it was a 364km route (assuming no wrong turns)






We had a really smooth run out with no real issues all. There was a bit of scrubbing at the rear due to the extra weight of the luggage but that was it. We also seemed to use a lot of fuel, but that might have been due to the fact we were going full throttle the majority of the way there


We made really good time this year, with still some sunlight left. We managed a couple of cold beers out in the beer garden before we headed inside for dinner and a catch up near one of the many fireplaces!














Here is a video driving the main street on Sunday morning
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmprC_IB7T2 ... hare_sheet

Over the three days we did about 800km. James' car has a tuned 1275 with a Dellorto 40 DHLA and Maniflow RCM exhaust. His car sounds absolutely awesome and we made a couple of noisy starts using the RPM launch limiter. I learned a couple of things on the trip:
Dellorto/Webers sound freaking awesome, but at the same time perfectly liveable on a long trip. I need some more of this in my life!
I need a louder exhaust for my car for the same reason
For a car that gets driven around once a week I've decided my car needs to be a bit louder and more enjoyable to drive... I already have a quiet and reliable daily driver, and sometimes you just have to do the things you really want to and make some irrational decisions.

So, step one towards a more involving drive, I've borrowed a KN cone filter for the HS4. It's obviously got a lot more induction noise which is a step in the right direction! It's about the same noise as the standard metal airbox when cruising at a constant speed but there is more noise accelerating. The next stage might be a bit more drastic, so might be a couple of weeks yet. I've also been messing around with the engine breathers again, at the moment I've got an Aussie pressed baffled rocker cover going into the port on the carb which is how the later cars were


We also had a MITG drive a two weekends ago, and the weather was perfect!

There was a stop for morning tea and then out to a pub for lunch

It was a nice sunny day yesterday and I had a day off so I washed and cleaned the car (which I think is the first time since the show in January) and thought it was a good chance to take some photos of the car at the moment.  

 

 

 

 

 
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What make is that battery disconnect? Seems like its well built and easy to use.

monkey wrote:What make is that battery disconnect? Seems like its well built and easy to use.

It's a Narva 61082. They are an Australian brand so I'm not sure if there is a distributor in the UK or they are sold under another brand. It was super easy to install, I just bought the shortest battery earth cable and earth strap they had.
https://automotivesuperstore.com.au/narva-61082bl
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Narva-Batter ... SwmrpbmMVk

Thanks for the info, lovely mini too!

This weekend was pretty productive on the mini!

In the morning on Saturday we had organised a mini drive, a couple of us went for a drive around and had some nice coffee. It was actually nice and sunny despite the recent rain we've had.

The afternoon was planned to install my friend's old exhaust onto my car as we knew it sounded great on his (he is putting a bigger exhaust on to suit a supercharger now). We pulled the car up on the ramps and put the rear on jack stands and left it to cool for a little bit during lunch. This is a really nice height to work on the car too, I don't know why I don't use the ramps more often!


Removing the old RC40 exhaust only took 10 minutes. My old one is the RC40 twin box on top. The one going on the car is the Maniflow RCM/Lukey muffler on the bottom. If I'd had an extra day with the exhaust I would have cleaned it up and painted it, but it will have to do for now. His old pipe that connects the LCB to the centre pipe had a boss for the O2 sensor, but unfortunately it was too short to fit with my freeflow manifold.


Here is a photo of the exhaust all done. It looks pretty similar from the outside but it has a nicer note now and is louder too! This was probably only 30 minutes of work all up


With the day progressing so well and a couple of hours remaining in the day we thought we'd start on the next stage... So, out comes the trusty old SU HS4


In it's place went a Dellorto DHLA 40 on a Warneford intake manifold. I also had to change the rocker cover as it was interfering with the throttle cable.


I had swapped out the old 36mm chokes with some smaller 32mm chokes. We went through the stash of Dellorto jets and put in the smallest/leanest ones we had.


We did a couple of laps around and the spark plugs looked perfect. After checking over everything we did a longer drive and there was no surging or backfiring or anything so we called the day a success! In the next week or so we can get the O2 sensor on the car and check what the mixture is like.


I was able to get my insulation blanket back on the firewall too


For now:
Exhaust sounds much louder and has a really nice note
Car still starts as easily as before
The Dellorto makes all kinds of awesome noises
The car may or may not be faster, but it definitely feels and sounds faster!

I love what you are doing with the car!
Just keep making what you have go a little quicker, more to your taste, sportier, having a lot of fun doing it and, most importantly, keeping it on the road! This last bit I find is the hardest to achieve.

Have fun.

mario abreu wrote:

I love what you are doing with the car!
Just keep making what you have go a little quicker, more to your taste, sportier, having a lot of fun doing it and, most importantly, keeping it on the road! This last bit I find is the hardest to achieve.

Have fun.

Thanks Mario. While it may not be to everyone’s taste I’ve been able to change things on the car to suit how I want it to be. I spent about an hour in the car on Saturday evening and you couldn’t get the smile off my face

Your 997 Cooper is really special and it’s great to see how you’re preserving the history of such a lovely car!

I found this in a 1968 "Racing Car News" magazine. They are the company that made the inlet manifold I am using now


The brake booster port was no longer required and luckily they are the same plug as the SU manifold, so now it matches and looks a bit tidier.

Here are a couple of videos of the Dellorto and exhaust:
Carb https://youtu.be/hXsNp-UNkqw
Exhaust https://youtu.be/CpDX6I2br3Q

I've had a problem with the clutch:

1: Checked the slave cylinder and it looked like it was leaking a bit, so I removed it. All the seals looked good though


2: Next up checked the master cylinder. It also looked like it was leaking a bit, and the seals looked OK


3: The master was super easy to remove because the giant R-clip had fallen out, and so had the clevis pin!


4: Rebuilt the slave



5: Rebuilt the master cylinder



6: Replaced the rubber hose


7: All back in the car and bled. Pedal felt a bit spongy and still was crunching going into second gear, the rest were fine


8: Bleed slave again, checked the slave piston was working properly. I pulled out the clutch arm and replaced the bottom clevis pin which removed a lot of slop from the clutch arm. Pedal feels really good now!


9: Clutch still crunches changing down to 2nd

I had a nice morning in the sun at the local wreckers. I spent an hour or so crawling around on the gravel and broken glass, looking in BMC cars for a speedo 90 degree adapter. Some cars have them on the gearbox end and others have them at the speedo end. This Rover still had the gauges (and V8) inside...


On the back of the speedo was the 90 degree adapter. I had taken a mini speedo to check the thread was OK and it was all good. The part number is BH 2410/10. I managed to buy the adapter for $15


The test fit proved very successful!


And there is even room for the ramflo filter as well. I need to order a new foam pad for it


It looks reasonably neat and follows the path of the fuel line. Let's hope the 2nd hand adapter is all good!


Is there a better way to spend a sunny Sunday?

 
First stop was for morning tea 

 

 
Then on to a pub for lunch

 

 
The speedo adapter worked really well, no issues with it which is great!

I made it to the annual Minis In the Gong show in late January for the 6th year. I even cleaned inside the engine bay and opened the bonnet which is a first for me! I was parked next to graham in aus, it was good to meet you in person and chat minis.



 


The 4 synchro magic wand gearbox is nearing competition too

Likewise Tim, really good to meet you and have a chat! The time flies by when you're talking minis! Your car is great, I really like the way you've continuously improved it whilst enjoying driving it too!

Gearbox looks good, glad to see you've found another lay shaft that's not bent from new!

Cheers!

Graham