329 replies to this topic

[johny:)]

Hi Kieran sorry only now seen your reply if your around this area give me a mail if your close enough i can come meet you as i said 

[KieranB]

Well this isn't the update i was hoping to do but here goes......

 

First of all don't worry the mini isn't for sale but it has recently failed it's MOT. It was booked in on Thursday so got everything fitted and ready which included hunting a scrap yard for a few bits on the Wednesday/Thursday morning. Took it over Thursday afternoon however the boss of the garage I get on with wasn't about, no matter I thought, we will see how it does. I helped the mechanic with the MOT such as controlling the steering, turning lights on/off etc and it failed on two tyres, a bit of rust on a sill and emissions. So went home Thursday night and did a 6 hour shift to get everything fixed/checked and hope that the emissions would dull down with a bit of a drive in the car. 

 

However when I got back to the garage on the Friday the owner came up to me and said the emissions had clogged the testing machine. So spoke to the Graham Smith at GST Fabrication (the guy who did the exhaust) and we decided to put the mini's old catalytic converter onto the custom exhaust. Excellent I thought, this will sort the emissions out and everything else is sorted so i can take the car to Scotland. Well it still didn't pass emissions and to add insult to injury it ran out of fuel after just 50 miles. My home made loom is clearly causing a few issues with over fueling.

 

So i come to you live from Scotland with no road legal mini and in a strange situation. Either I battle to try and get the mini MOT'd or I give up, strip it down and get it resprayed over the winter. I need to weigh up my options and see what is the best idea. I also took a mate out in the car to see what he thought of it and we both agreed it certainly isn't producing 160+ bhp. It is fast, very fast indeed but it just isn't as much of a handful as we thought it would be. There are issues going on that i need to sort out.

 

Anyways here is a few photos of the car as it stands, I would like to see it MOT'd and road legal this year, that way I can concentrate on getting it mechanically perfect over the winter but at the same time the shell could be doing with some attention. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I will keep you up to date on how things pan out, it was certainly a shock how much fun driving the mini is, getting back into the pug was like stepping from a go-kart to a bus. Everything is spot on with the car in terms of driving, the clutch is a bit high, the throttle is a bit sticky and everything rattles but my god it's fun!

 

Kieran

[stocky]

Sounds like you do have a over fuelling problem, have you looked at the plugs? (they will confirm if its running rich by being black) Also to answer your other question, the MOT will cost you money (as you have already payed for it) even if you decide to respray it, so it depends on how much you want it on the road. It all boils down to how much it'll cost you to sort it and if you have enough time to carry it out

 

Good going on the build by the way have been watching with interest

[KieranB]

Sounds like you do have a over fuelling problem, have you looked at the plugs? (they will confirm if its running rich by being black) Also to answer your other question, the MOT will cost you money (as you have already payed for it) even if you decide to respray it, so it depends on how much you want it on the road. It all boils down to how much it'll cost you to sort it and if you have enough time to carry it out

 

Good going on the build by the way have been watching with interest

Hello Stocky,

 

Ye overfueling is definitely the issue, the plugs have been black before when i took them out and it sometimes used to misfire on one cylinder, all of this i thought would sort itself out after a decent run. I have done a bit of research tonight and think the lack of a MAP sensor might be a big contributing factor. The loom plugs don't have the wires for the MAP sensor but i'm gonna wire it directly into the ecu when I get back to the house. A week away from the car is exactly what i need.

 

In terms of getting it on the road i would like to do it now and then tinker/improve it over the winter, even if it doesn't get used much it will still benefit from being tinkered with. Plus i've got to build a new home for it over the winter, i'd like to have some money for that as well as get the car resprayed. So many plans, so little money

 

If anyone can think of any things i should check to resolve the high emissions then please say

 

Kieran 

[thelegg]

thats abit of a bummer we all had are fingers crossed for you as well, id love to throw some ideas at you for the over fueling issue but its abit beyond my knowledge, i hope someone else can shed some light on it for you so keep that chin up :)

[Kam]

These things happen Kieran, yours just happen to happen at the MOT, things can be sorted

 

First up, whats with your map (ecu map) is it a base or a tuned one? Thinking now have you actually has this tuned pre MOT?

[KieranB]

Cheers thelegg, I plan on sorting it. Many people wanted to see the car in scotland.....my mother NOT being one of these people though

Hi kam, nope it is a totally standard ecu and base map. I was wondering about a map pre mot but I doubt much could be done to change it because the loom only has wires going to the engine. A mate said I should get a variable fuel pressure regulator in and map it with that. I have a list of things to check that might sort it out

1 check my timing
2 sort the map sensor
3 maybe put a pressure regulator in

Kieran

[Kam]

I don't know how many base maps could pass a MOT, I thought a base was just that a base to get it fired up and go from there, certainly not one to rely on being the map for good or long runs

 

Aslong as everything is hooked up ok your end it ideally needs a tuner to play with it, if it needs further work you'll know

[KieranB]

I don't know how many base maps could pass a MOT, I thought a base was just that a base to get it fired up and go from there, certainly not one to rely on being the map for good or long runs
 
Aslong as everything is hooked up ok your end it ideally needs a tuner to play with it, if it needs further work you'll know

Oh I see what you mean now kam, the ecu is off the car that the engine came from and it had done 100k miles. Ideally I want to run a dta system that can be fully tuned but that is the last resort.

Cheers kam, i'll let you know how I get on in a week or so. I'm good mates with the garage owner so I will get free tests for the emissions without having to pay for a full mot

Kieran

[Kam]

I think you can get an emissions tester from a local motor factors (I know halfords do one) but they aint cheap, not worth investing in one especially for rare exhaust work

 

If your mate can get it tested to keep you updated then alls good but I think it might need a tune - after your basic checklist above is checked

 

Good luck

[stocky]

I'm going to assume here that you are using a TPS if you don't have a MAP sensor. If I'm right here, then that will only change the advance on the timing and not change your fuelling (not familiar with honda so not 100% on that) I'm also assuming that you are using a Lamda sensor in the exhaust. I would check that's working, If it has an air flow meter I would check that too. I've also heard of dirty air filters increasing fuel consumption

 

It may also be worth seeing if the ECU has any fault codes on it, code readers are fairly cheap on ebay

 

Hopefully I've helped out with my 'advice' lol

[filski]

Hey Kieran sorry to see the bad news! I hope that it all works out! Especially with all the hard work you put in!

You sure your mother didn't tinker with it prior to the mot?

May be worth to take a step back from the mini over the winter and then get back to it! That's what I did when I was doing body work on mine as I was loosing interest...

I really hope too see it on the road and more of the useful updates!!!!

[johny:)]

well done kieran you have done good to get this far so dont give up now you will feel much better geting it motd now rather than geting it painted. With your engine i can say map sensor is going to be the problem it was with mine when i first got mine running i had no map sensor and the engine ran like **** it always seemed to be hot and the amount of fuel it was burning was unbelivable i litraly used £10 worth of fuel running it in the garage in less than 15 minits so yours would have chewed the fuel driving it around also do you have a lamba sensor conected this could also cause running problems 

 

another thing is do you have an engine managment light wired in i now how to get the ecu to flash code your engine faults this could help you out big time 

[KieranB]

 

Best card/meme ever I'd say

[thelegg]

ha ha cool bet that put a nice big smile on your face :)