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Following seeing a video of minis blasting through the alps and mine being stuck in the shed, I have decided to make some major changes to my "stuff collection", thin out some of my junk and sort the mini out. I'm going to stop mucking about and throw some money at it and just do it.

I have a pretty highly strung 1430 which has had about 40 mins use. It has a 320 full race cam, a weber 45 with a 6" manifold, a pretty serious head with sleeved pushrods and is 37/30. It runs a remote box with an ST ratios 4 syncro SC gearset, 1:1 drops and a 3.6 FD (the highest I can get with the salisbury). (CR is about 11:1 - I'm a chemist and brew my own additives)

I've been having a serious think about what the mini is about and it's probably a wiser thing that it's detuned slightly so I can take it further afield without the avgas/chemicals and have something a bit more driveable.

The last incarnation of the mini was a 1340 with a 286 and that was pokey but with an A+ box and a 3.44, first wasn't really as useful as it could have been.

I like pokey, I like bad manners in order to get the ultimate hard drive. I don't mind it noisy, smelly and no-holds-barred. I've set it up to pretty much work as a hillclimber.

I'm not one of those people who says "Oooh, I wouldn't like that, it would be terrible in traffic". I have a boring oil burner for transport and the whole point of the mini is it's a mad go-kart.

I'd like it to still be pretty racy, but not something which is going to need a rebuild every 300 miles. I probably have about £1500 for a cam swap, possible carb swap and setting up.

Things I'm going to keep.

SC Box
37/30 head
3.6FD/Salisbury
1430 short engine.
Cooper S rockers


Not sure about

45 weber.

Probably going to lose

320 cam.

Ideally, I'd like it to remain quite spikey and bad mannered, but not to the point that it loses too much reliability. This is not even a weekend car. It's the rarely used blast machine.

What do you think?

I'd keep the weber, perhaps drop down to a 286 if you really want to change the cam and add full electronic distributorless ignition like Omex.

Properly mapped it should idle sweetly and be reliable.

Is the head ok for lead free fuels or not?

I had a similar spec mini on the road accept I had 48dcoe . 3 into manifold . Had 595 super sprint cam but I changed that to a 649 . Found the cam a lot better . I to had a Salisbury . Found the diff hard work . Your spec should go well . I took it to a rolling road and they couldn't improve on how I set the mini up . All I did was use a gunsons colourtune . I set the cam timing up as spec for the cam . Ignition timing was done by holding the revs at 4000 rpm then tuning the dizzy to the revs increased .

With that should be able to run a 649, with a good ignition system, they're perfectly tractable on the road from personal experience. I'd either keep the 45 or switch to a pair of HS6 carbs

Cheers Chaps. I'm going to put it together as is and see how it goes and make the judgement then. I have a feeling it will be a bit cammy, but that's half the fun.

what about the swifty SW23 cam, with the long stroke crank this could be fun to drive and just in the middle of the 286 and 320 cam you have

Personally, using the bits that are given I's use an SW23 & twin 1 1/2" not the weber, would make an awesome machine.

M

mk1 wrote:Personally, using the bits that are given I's use an SW23 & twin 1 1/2" not the weber, would make an awesome machine.

M

I agree

my 1430 is a hoot on the road with its 649 and twin 1 1/2"s (well it was until it went off like some sort of engine bay IED!)

Where does the SW23 compare with "known" cams?

Considering it's still "long", does the shorter tract of 2x1.5"SU limit things, or is it a "high lift" cam, rather than a long one....forgive me without googling!

In the shed wrote:Where does the SW23 compare with "known" cams?

Considering it's still "long", does the shorter tract of 2x1.5"SU limit things, or is it a "high lift" cam, rather than a long one....forgive me without googling!

It's a modern 649/STR930

Thanks.

As Vegard says, the SW23 is simply a reliably ground 649. So many other offerings are all over the place.

M

Change the head, stick a re13t cam stick a supercharger on the top with a low psi 8-10 will give to a great engine.

Got rid of my supercharger.

Personally, I would not use any sort of forced induction on a block that has been so radically overbored. A bit of pre ignition & the whole lot goes in a cloud of white smoke.

M

The idea of forced induction is all about controlling the det...

the stroke of the crank, the bore, and a decent cam, you wont need to cheat and use forced induction lol

Giggle gas is cheating, FI is just bending the rules

The idea of forced induction is all about controlling the det...

I thought it was about chucking as much fuel & air in as possible using a pump or fan & keeping your fingers crossed

M

Forced induction is the thin end of another expensive wedge. At the moment, I am at the fat end of the N/A wedge.

I have no real interest in getting involved in 8 ports, or trying to wring even more out of my engine. It is enough and if I want it to be more exciting, I'll fit 145s.