1843 replies to this topic

[timmy850]

Saying "as good as new" is an insult for this car, it has much better attention to detail and finish than when they were new 

[Steve220]

Excellent work, Pete! Dead chuffed for you ?

[guywilko]

It's a triumph and an amazing monument to your skills.

The thread has been a valuable source of technical information.

Interior looks fantastic in the sunlight

[cp2708]

Looks beautiful.

[Petrol]

Thanks for the kind words guys.
I've done 500 miles in it and I have a few problems which has kinda taken the wind out of my sails.

Second gear is a bit crunchy, so the gearbox willl have to be stripped. It's possibly a cracked baulk ring

Had a problem with the fuel filter inside of the HIF38 carb restricting the flow. I've since removed it and fitted an external in line filter

Oil leak from the engine - Gutted!

Both inboard pot joints are leaking and have thrown the grease all over the floor pan and engine bay. They came from you know where.

Oil filler cap had a massive hole for the vent and probably little gauze in it, that also threw oil everywhere. I've replaced it but not sure it's 100% sorted. I might have to get an alloy rocker cover which is a pity as I like the pressed steel one.

It's not easy to run in with a race cam, limited use of second gear and not set up properly. I've tried various needles but they are either too rich at the bottom end and too lean at the top, or visa versa.

I set the right height to what I thought was very slightly lower than stock. It's a road car after all but it's too low. I keep scraping the exhaust on speed bumps. It's also settled a bit which doesn't help.

The accelaretor pedal is quite big on MPi's. As a result I couldn't heel and toe so I've fitted a MK3 pedal which has sorted that one out.

 

On the plus side

 

It doesn't rain in

The seam sealer hasn't cracked between the scuttle and the wing. Welding them up worked a treat
The brakes are epic, the pedal feel is spot on and the bias valve works a treat. No complaints there!

I haven't had it aligned or set the shocker stiffness yet, but I can feel it's potential. Proper Go Kart stuff and there is zero bump steer or tramlining with the 5.5 X10 wheels and 165 tyres combo.

 

 

Other than a few mechanical problems it's pretty much what I expected. I've struggled to find a rolling road up north who can modify SU needles to get the fuelling right but think I have finally found someone.

The plan is to get 1000 miles on it and get it on the rollers to get it set up properly
Get the suspension aligned - again who can you trust especially when the castor needs setting but I'm going to see someone next week. Not everyone has gear that can cater for 10" wheels

Then over winter pull the engine and box out and sort out all the niggles.

 

 

Some pics

 

 

 

 

Short vid...... LOL at bumpy, it's a bit low at the back.
You can hear it bog down at the end of the vid. The mixture is too rich at low revs

 

https://youtu.be/zlLoSLVhfbQ

 

Sorry I don't know how to embed the vid

 

Pete

 

 

 

 

[Jase]

That's probably the best Mini that has ever been built. Amazing too follow the story and to pick up so many ideas along the way.

[Carvell]

Hi Pete,

I had a quantum kit car suspension set up a good few years back by;

 

http://www.centregra...co.uk/services/

 

The suspension on my kit car was fully adjustable and after a day with Chris the difference was amazing to be honest even better than amazing!

 

I plan to take my mini at some point, might be worth contacting him?

 

Thanks

Stuart

[1330RG]

Bloody awesome! Snags are snags, rare to be 100% perfect from first key turn. Love your work sir. Im sure you will resolve the issues soon enough.

[mini 4o]

Hats off to your attention too detail  ..keep your spanner box handy and enjoy.. 

[Tones61]

You can only recylcle the blast media a few times. After that it starts to become too fine. It's important to sieve it to get rid of any large particles that will jam the blasting gun.
 
 
HERE WE GO AGAIN
MINISPORT!!!!!!
 
I had the valve seats cut to suit the larger rimflow valves I bought. I started lapping them in (Minisport didn't lap any of them in despite paying for a full head rebuild)
 
These are ther inlets which look ok
 

 
As you can see the valve seat is a reasonable width
 
These are the exhaust valves
 

 
The seat is maybe half a millimeter which for an exhaust valve, even on a race car is not wide enough. On a high spec engine you can run about 40 thou valve seats on the inlets and 60 thou on the exhaust. The exhaust seats need to be wider because when the valve hits the seat it draws heat from the valve into the cylinder head. The inlet valve is passing cooler air mixed with fuel so it doesn't get as hot and as a result, narrower seat width can be used.
If I built it like this there is a good chance that the valve, and / or seat would overheat and crack.
 
The bottom line is I will have to buy larger exhaust valves and have the head re machined to suit. This won't be cheap and it's a result of Minisport's poor quality work.
I have replaced 99.9% of Minisport parts on this car. One day I will be rid of their poor workmanship and Chinese made cheesestring crap!!!!!
 
I sold the roller rockers (I bought from you know where) and built up these welded pressed steel rockers. These are bulletproof.
 

 
Clutch assembly built up. I binned the cluch arm from the worlds premier mini supplier and fitted an MED one
 

 
The stainess nuts for the cluch stop are also MED. Proper stuff
 
Pete

Hi Pete,excellent build,just to question,would there be a negative effect in using rimflows on the exhaust valves,

[Petrol]

As far as I know Rimflow valves are about as good as it gets for a road car Tones61. The problem I had was with the machining on the valve seats. I can't see any negative effect in using Rimflow exhaust valves. If your using an early cylinder head like I have, it's best to get hardened valve seats inserts fitted to the head. Unleaded fuel can burn out old cylinder heads due to the lack of lead in the fuel.
Hope that helps.

 

The car has done a 1000 miles so it's run in. I'm still sorting a few minor problems out but it's going on the rollers soon to get the fuelling / timing sorted. Once that's done I'll pull the engine / box out and sort out the syncho issue.
I've given it the beans a couple of times and when it gets to 4.5k revs it really starts to come on song. It dies off at about 6k though probably due to fuelling. It's been hard work to run in because the fuelling is all over the place. I've tried adjusting it but it's either too rich at the bottom or too weak at the top. It needs the needle sorting. That's down to the rolling road operator..... fingers crossed!   

[Petrol]

.

Edited by Petrol, 12 November 2019 - 11:03 PM.

[Tones61]

excellent pete,please keep us informed of power/tuning specs

[Mini Manannán]

As far as I know Rimflow valves are about as good as it gets for a road car Tones61. The problem I had was with the machining on the valve seats. I can't see any negative effect in using Rimflow exhaust valves. If your using an early cylinder head like I have, it's best to get hardened valve seats inserts fitted to the head. Unleaded fuel can burn out old cylinder heads due to the lack of lead in the fuel.
Hope that helps.

 

The car has done a 1000 miles so it's run in. I'm still sorting a few minor problems out but it's going on the rollers soon to get the fuelling / timing sorted. Once that's done I'll pull the engine / box out and sort out the syncho issue.
I've given it the beans a couple of times and when it gets to 4.5k revs it really starts to come on song. It dies off at about 6k though probably due to fuelling. It's been hard work to run in because the fuelling is all over the place. I've tried adjusting it but it's either too rich at the bottom or too weak at the top. It needs the needle sorting. That's down to the rolling road operator..... fingers crossed!   

 

Which RR will you be going to Pete?  You're in the NW like I (kinda) am.

[Petrol]

RE Performance centre in Bury. I guess this used to be Rally Equipe many years ago. I phoned them and told them that I wanted the carb needle profiling to get it to run right. They told me they could do it but I've had that many disappointments on this build, I'll have to see how it goes. If they can sort it out it will be an awesome engine. If they can't, I'll have to put a mild cam, a stock distributer and sort the fuelling out myself. There are not many people left who understand carbs, timing and fuelling on old skool cars. It's all laptops and diagnostics these days which I find kind of sad.