'64 Aussie Morris 850

[timmy201]

hi tim
wellthe engine bay looks great with the new paint job amazing what a little paint and a lot of effort can do to appearances i am making progress with the conversion from cable change to rod change for the 1800 gearbox a few simple mods to the old change and a few new bits and some fabrication and it should work well all i need is the manual floor change out of a laser or some thing simular but most wreckers just no parts but should find one some where
cheers roger
i got the laser passed for rego the other week just needed a fuse for the number plate light not bad for a 1985 car with 775,890 ks
cheers roger

Thanks Roger, hope the new gear shift works out for you!

Can I ask how you have mounted your coil, been scratching my head over the weekend on this very subject and this position looks like a potential solution
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I’m using an Aussie alternator bracket and DSN billet coil bracket. Normally the coil sits vertically and there is a little lug on the coil bracket that locates on the alternator bracket. There is a captive nut for the bolt. The coil could probably move an inch lower which would look better

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[Exminiman]

Thanks, never seen an alternator bracket like that before, you could hang the whole car off it.....is it a standard fitment ?

[timmy201]

Thanks, never seen an alternator bracket like that before, you could hang the whole car off it.....is it a standard fitment ?

It was standard fitment for a while, my guess is from when they introduced the alternator during Mk2 production (around 1969)

Mk2 brochure:
https://www.ausmini.com/forums/viewtopi ... 51&t=94542

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[roger mcnab]

hi tim
what is that other thing for dont tell me that its a what you may call it or a thing ma bob
cheers roger

[timmy201]

hi tim
what is that other thing for dont tell me that its a what you may call it or a thing ma bob
cheers roger

The spring with the black machined ends is a dipstick retaining spring. I have a mix match of parts on the engine and the dipstick doesn't seal particularly well, so this helps a little

[timmy201]

The first test drive went ok, but one thing to fix was to rebleed the clutch. Once that was done it shifted smoothly again.

Last week I took it for a rego check and it passed with no problems for another year. I did a couple of hours driving that afternoon and it was nice and smooth on the highway, the steering wheel had very minimal vibration compared to before and it seemed to have less free play in the centre too. Overall it was a success!

[timmy201]

A little update for May - I managed to get to a car show (and didn't take any photos). While driving there and back the engine had been running decently, but it had been getting more noticeable that the carbs weren't in optimum condition. I'd previously bought a rebuild kit to refurb the pair, but I was supplied some defective spindles so I ended up assembling them with the old worn spindles. When driving now it's a decent mixture, but when coming back to idle it's super lean at 16-17:1 on the gauge. If I stop and let it idle it'll just keep getting richer and richer, which indicates one or both of the float bowls aren't maintaining the right fuel level. They had also still been a bit tricky to start, as only one carb has a choke and it was a regular occurrence to foul a plug on the choke side. Ideally if I keep the dual HS2 carbs they'll need a proper rebuild and another kit..


The following Wednesday I thought it'd be a good day to drive the mini to work. I made it a few blocks from home before I noticed the indicators weren't working. Knowing that the wipers (and brake lights) also came from the same fuse I checked the wipers and they also didn't work. I pulled over to check the fuse and it was certainly blown! I had a spare fuse in the boot, but when trying to replace it I was met with sparks - so I drove home with my tail between my legs.


I asked for some ideas and one suggestion was the clevis pin on the clutch arm may have contacted the brake light switch. This turned out to be the cause, and the clevis was touching the 12v feed to the switch. With the clevis pin bent to prevent it happening again I put in a new fuse and all good.



I had a few days at home and soon enough I needed a mini project to keep me going, so I stripped down and reassembled the HIF44 with a new seal set. It had arrived in June 2023 and it was in very good condition, and super clean inside too so I didn't expect it would need much work.



I found a nice spot in the sun and got stuck into it


The spindle seals appeared to be the wrong size as they didn't match the inner diameter of the carb body. The original throttle spindle was super solid and had absolutely no wiggle or play, so I decided to keep the factory spindle and throttle blade.


Choke seals were a bit old and cracked


Assembled & cleaned and ready to be fitted


Kev made me these stepped washers to make up the difference between the Maniflow exhaust manifold and the Metro intake manifold


They were a perfect fit and held everything in place tightly


It only took a few hours to remove the HS2 carbs and install the HIF. It was an easy bolt on swap and it started right up and idled smoothly. I managed a few laps around the block, once I get the AFR gauge re-installed I can dial it in a bit more as there is a bit of a dead spot off idle. I'm very happy so far with how easily it starts and how smooth it is at idle and under load. It's also nice to know there's only one carb and I don't need to worry about syncing multiple carbs or barrels on the Dellorto

[roger mcnab]

hi tim
i notice that you have no heater in the cay now or have you put it inside you have a nice outlook from your yard
cheers roger

[timmy201]

hi tim
i notice that you have no heater in the cay now or have you put it inside you have a nice outlook from your yard
cheers roger

Hi Roger, I took the heater out when I dropped the engine and subframe. It's a bit of pain to get in and out so I left it out till I knew everything was working fine. It'll go in again soon

[timmy201]

In June I actually made it out to a Minis in the Gong drive in my own mini. I think this was the first (and only so far) of the year.


It was a nice drive through the National Park to Maianbar for lunch. It ended up pretty rainy and my wiper motor started having a weird grinding noise and the wiper arms stopped moving. On the way home after lunch they started working fine, so something I need to investigate. We ended up going straight back home as Audley weir was underwater


In July I started to do some checks over the engine in anticipation of going to Rylstone this year. I found the throttle cable was a bit loose and not allowing full throttle at the carb, so that was adjusted properly.


Next up I wanted to check the timing was correct and while checking my timing marks I noticed the crank pulley had a little wobble back and forth so I stripped the engine bay down to get access to that.


In the end after removing the radiator, engine mount, pulley, timing cover and timing gears I found the woodruff key had some wear and it was allowing the timing gears and pulley to rock on the nose of the crank. I had a similar issue with this in the last year due to the poor quality lock washers so this was probably where the initial wear started. The nose of the crank didn't have any wear, and the timing sprocket and pulley were a nice firm fit


This time I didn't use the lock washer, and used some loctite instead on the crank pulley bolt and the camshaft nut. The woodruff key had about 0.08mm of wear compared to the new key



While this was all apart it seemed like a good idea to replace the radiator hoses, the heater hoses and reinstall the fresh air heater. It's always nice to have some heat on the Rylstone trip, and the additional cooling is a bonus too.


When I added the new heater lines I also decided to plumb in the manifold heating port. It was a bit tricky, as the manifold takes a 5/8" hose and the rest of the stem is 1/2" so I got some adapters and added all the hoses in. I thought this would make the lines look a bit tidier, but it ended up having 8 hose clamps and 4 pieces of rubber hose in place of 2 clamps and one piece of hose

In early August we had the Minis in the Gong annual show, and there was a good turnout, new minis I hadn't seen before and a beautiful sunny day.




However I also noticed that I now had a coolant leak from every single connection I'd just put a new hose on. I only did about 30 minutes of driving but I needed to add about 500mL of water to get me back home!



At this point there was a week to go until Rylstone and not enough free time to strip the radiator out and check all the hoses again, so Phill went with me in my Mazda. It was a smooth uneventful trip and good to see so many minis and see lots of old and new faces










I had the Monday off after Rylstone so I decided to get stuck into sorting out the cooling system. Out came the radiator for the second time in a month to try and sort the leaks. It was leaking from both ends of the bottom hose, even though the hose was new and I'd cleaned the radiator


Another job I'd planned was to lower the compression ratio. While the radiator was out it was a good time to remove the head as the coolant was already drained.



I had asked a few experienced mini engine builders for some ideas and the simplest option to see what effect lowering the compression would have was to add two head gaskets. I'd done some calculations and this would lower the CR from 11.5:1 to 10.5:1


I cleaned up the head and block gasket faces and bolted it all together with the double gaskets. The only thing that was any different was the rocker arm adjustment needed to be a bit further in than before.



All the radiator connection points and hoses were checked, cleaned and reassembled. I replaced the adapter on the heater hose with a new alloy one, and went back to a one piece hose to the heater.



So far it's all working well, it starts up and idles nicely. I'm yet to drive it and see if the tune has changed much, but the timing curve will likely need to be updated. I must have bent the fan during one of the radiator removals or when it was off the engine as now the fan has a few off centre blades and it's hitting the shroud somewhere and making a ticking noise. I thought perhaps it wasn't seated on the water pump flange squarely as it's a tight fit but I didn't have any luck tightening the bolts again

[Peter Laidler]

Hi Tim, I noticed your jubilee clip problems. I've been using those spring steel 360 degree C clips on my heater hoses. They are really strong buggers over 360 degrees and need a pair of pliers across the tabs to open them. They take up a lot less room and so far have not lost a drop. Mind you, I am using waterless so no pressure build-up to take into account
Pete the Pom

[timmy201]

Hi Tim, I noticed your jubilee clip problems. I've been using those spring steel 360 degree C clips on my heater hoses. They are really strong buggers over 360 degrees and need a pair of pliers across the tabs to open them. They take up a lot less room and so far have not lost a drop. Mind you, I am using waterless so no pressure build-up to take into account
Pete the Pom

The strangest part is the only part I changed was the hose. The radiator, water pump and clamps are all the same but I had leaks at every end of the new bottom hose. I don’t know if the 1275 “Kevlar” ones are just a bit long or too stiff to suit my setup. Unfortunately I haven’t come to a decent solution yet

[timmy201]

So an update on the double head gasket experiment:

For most of the time I've been struggling to get the timing under control I was having pinging at around 3000rpm. It was only at part throttle, the plugs were changed to cooler ones, the timing was reduced to 15 degrees, the fuel was on the rich side, I used 98 octane fuel and octane booster, removed the vacuum advance etc but it never cured the problem. I ended up with a strange inverted timing curve. (The base timing was set at 10 degrees, so all the advance numbers here have 10 extra on top)


Now I've got a proper shaped timing curve and the vacuum advance is hooked up too. At 3000rpm the advance is set to 25 degrees and it's been running really well. Idle is smoother than before, starting is good, no run-on, no pinging. In terms of performance it seems much the same, so possibly the extra timing has offset the lower compression


I've been out for a couple of drives to work and the carb tune is much the same as before. The needle still isn't perfect, the main issue is that it goes a bit rich under full throttle. It idles and cruises at a good mixture


I had moments where I thought I'd cured the coolant leak


However it's still leaking from the bottom hose! I've tried tightening the clamp when hot and that didn't help either


Overall the double head gasket has been a huge success, it's not a long term solution but it's given me an idea of how to get it running better in the future. I will need to investigate the best way forward:
Dish the pistons and/or open up the head to lower compression
Go to a longer duration camshaft to reduce effective compression
Change to a different head like a 12G295 which has bigger chambers
Drop back to a 998 crank

[roger mcnab]

hi tim
to lower the comp ratio you need to enlarge the head chambers check the chamber volume and the cylinder volume and work out the ratio remember to add the chamber volume before working out the ratio then divide the total into the chamber
and that will give the result with dished pistons the volume of the dish is included with the head chamber it has been a long time since i have done this and i could have it wrong way around
my souped up falcon v8 used to ping like mad on all sorts of plugs if i did not use champions it always ran better on champion plugs than anything else and i always use them even today in my laser and the present ones have been in for more than 400k not been checked and it starts straight away with first turn of the key
camshafts will not alter the comp ratio it is all to do with what i first said an 850 head on a 1275 will make for a high ratio reverse and it should be lower
with the rover engine i am using there 2 head gaskets 1 paper thin steel and the other a composite one about 4 times as thick that lowers the ratio
the young guys years ago used to shave heaps of the holden heads to up the ratio for more performance check the heads that you have in your collection and put the one with the largest chamber and your ratio will be lower
hope this helps cheers roger

[timmy201]

Hi Roger,

Enlarging the head or adding dish to the pistons will have the same effect on the compression ratio

I've got a couple of compression ratio calculation sheets and I need approximately 4cc more volume to get me to a suitable compression ratio

If you have a longer duration camshaft it means the dynamic compression will be lower. As the cam lobe closes the intake valve later the amount of effective compression is lower

[roger mcnab]

hi tim
well the camshaft that i had in the v8 falcon had huge overlap i e duration which held the valve open longer so it could fill the cylinder at high rpm with the valve opening and shutting at 6k rpm the valve is virtually open all the time
if you look down the inlet port of a piston port 2 stroke the port appears to be open as you can not see the piston openning and shutting the port note no cam shaft effect here that is why the reed valve was incorporated to stop the blow back at high revs my tz yamaha had reeds and the oil mix that collected on the rear wheel cover was minimal but the ta yamaha with no reeds the blow back was a real mess
we are talking about static comp ratios the dwell on the cam only allows the engine to breath so the revs will increase
with my t100 triumph engine the chamber is like half a tennis ball the pistons stick up about 15 mm into the chamber to lower the ratio i would put pistons that stick up 10 mm also doing that i would need to change the cams as the ones for the high pistons would not allow it to do its best
paul gulson who raced minis among others gave me a high performance cam from one of his race collection said put this in and it will fly so i did that and it was a dog the comp ratio was not what it needed so he then said to put such a model head and it will work so after getting the appropiate head bingo it really flew the ratio was correct and it fairly screamed
just think how long that valve is open at 6k rpm the inlet opens 3k times per minute that means that the valve is open for 0.02 of a second that is why the longer dwell is needed sorry to be so long winded but to get that 4 cc might need more than an extra gasket a thin plate or a head with a bigger chamber
cheers roger

[roger mcnab]

hi tim
its me again the static c r is the important one the dynamic is secondary as to control it needs a tuned length exhaust which helps with smoother running and power as it pushes the wasted mixture back into the engine same as expansion chamber exhausts on 2 strokes the rover iv8 i am using has 10 :1 pistons with the tin head gasket it is that ratio if i use the composite head gasket it drops to about 9.5:1 any lower i have to use dished pistons
which size engine are you running and does it have the correct head and has it been shaved that will alter the cr if all is good and correct then something else is causing the problem can you get a color tune plug it allows you to see what is happening in the engine or get a dyno tune i think those plugs are still made i think they are ozzie made

happy tuning
cheers roger

[roger mcnab]

hi tim
a tuned system is a bit hard on the mini as you need 4 exhayst ports so 1and 3 are linked and 2 and 4 are linked then joined together just after the join to make the system hard to do with 3 ex ports
cheers roger

[timmy201]

One thing I did when the head was off was I swapped the LH tappet cover. It used to have one with a breather canister on it, but when working on that side of the engine (getting the exhaust manifold on or off, getting to the radiator hose, getting to the fuel hose etc) it was a bit inconvenient to work around and a pain to line up and get the bolt in. Now it's got a plain one like the other side


Now it just has a single breather port on the flywheel housing & it's connected to the port on the carb. It has a decent suction from the carb which means all the crankcase vapours are burnt and stops the smell. I've also done an oil change and checked the tappet clearances and after a few more drives it appears the coolant leak has subsided for now. One slightly annoying thing was the clutch master cylinder extension sleeve started leaking from the O-ring and it's ruined the paint on the bulkhead already. I've now drained all the extra fluid with a syringe and removed the extension sleeve so I'll need to clean up and sort out the paint. The brake fluid also soaked up into the bulkhead insulation blanket and held it against the paint, so that needs a good clean out before I can use it again


On the weekend we had a small turnout for the MITG run to Thirlmere. We did about 200km and the new slightly lower compression hasn't harmed the performance at all, in fact I think the extra timing at lower RPM has improved it


My uncle let me know one of their neighbours was getting rid of some imperial sized tools, so I scooped these all up before they went to the tip.

[MiNiKiN]

What a find. I love Gedore tools. My dad bought me a 1/2" Gedore/Rahsol ratchet set, when I was 16. It still good as gold and has survived almost 40 years of (ab-)use yet. Though mine is metric and hex.