846 replies to this topic

[timmy850]

I went with a Peak Ignition distributor from Melbourne. Lindsay knows his stuff with these. to be honest I couldn’t believe the difference. The distributor puts out not only a bigger spark, but the duration is increased. He builds them to suit your engine so you have to give him all your specs. But for around $550, you get new distributor, leads and coil. Engine runs smoother, more power and less fuss. Best bang for buck yet.

 

I’ll have to do the brakes on the weekend 

Thanks Clip, I've sent you a message. 

 

You may not have as many of them as we do over here, but you certainly have some great looking Minis over there. Also the drive looks stunning.

I think we still have a reasonable amount remaining considering they only made around 200,000 cars here  . We have been really lucky with the weather recently!

[timmy850]

When the car was getting checked over last month by the mechanic he noticed that it was leaking a bit of coolant. This was a bit strange as I hadn't noticed this before, and the level in the coolant tank had been consistent over the last few months and not needed to be topped up. The next time I drove it I noticed a little puddle forming on the ground under the front side of the engine when the engine was hot and the car was off. After a bit of looking around I was able to see a consistent drip going onto the timing cover from the water pump/bypass hose area. Once I got back home it was making another puddle, but the leak stops once the engine cools down, so I'm guessing it's a pressure related leak from the water pump seal. I ordered up a new water pump this week and it's ready to be installed

 

While I have the radiator out it will give me a chance to install my new speedo drive gears. My speedo was reading perfectly prior to me changing the engine and diff ratio, so we started with the following matching combination:
The stock 850 speedo is 1408TPM (turns per mile)
My kph 850 speedo is 880TPK (turns per km) which is just 1408 divided by 1.6
Diff ratio was 3.76
Speedo gears were the standard 6/17 combination
At 100kph on the speedo the road speed would be 100kph - all good

 

Since I changed to a longer 3.44 ratio (exactly 10% longer) and had kept the standard 6/17 gears it has been reading low by 10%
At 100kph on the speedo the road speed would be 110kph - not good!

The BMC method of adjusting for this was to change the speedo, so going from a 3.76 diff to a 3.44 the speedo would go from 1408TPM to 1280 (or 880TPK to 800). This wouldn't work in my case as I wanted to keep the silver 140kph speedo I have already. This meant I would have to get a reduction gearbox for the speedo or try and find some alternate speedo drive gears for the gearbox end.

 

There is a handy calculator here which can calculate what parts you need to make the speedo read correctly: http://www.guess-wor.../Tech/ratio.htm . I put all my numbers in and it suggested I would need an unusual combination of 7/18 gears.

 

These took a couple of months to get into stock and get shipped, but they are finally here. I haven't been able to find anyone else who has changed them with the engine still in the car, but once the radiator and engine mount are out I'm hoping there should be clear access.

[sonscar]

I changed them with the engine in and it was a challenge,remembering dimly rad out engine mount off rad mount off lots of jacking etc.Pretty standard Mini fare then.Have fun,Steve..

[timmy850]

I changed them with the engine in and it was a challenge,remembering dimly rad out engine mount off rad mount off lots of jacking etc.Pretty standard Mini fare then.Have fun,Steve..

Thanks Steve, it ended up being pretty easy with the radiator out!

 

I decided to give it all a go last night after work. Starting on the inside of the car, the gear lever needed to come out so that the engine would lift up high enough to get the radiator out. The carpet, starter button, accelerator pedal all needed to come out too

 

Next up the lower 2 engine steadies and the top one near the master cylinders (plus the breather on the top of the flywheel housing)

 

I managed to drain the entire radiator without spilling a drop - the funnel right here did the trick. Of course I spilled an awful lot of coolant later when I pulled the pump off

 

I followed Matt Read's easy-out radiator method, jacked up the engine and just undid the 2 bolts at the bottom and it came right out.

 

Next up the engine mount bracket came out and also the alloy block

 

I was able to have a look under the water pump, and yes it was definitely leaking!

 

The speedo gears live under these covers, so these were taken out too

 

Old vs new parts here

 

New pump in with a new bit of hose

 

New speedo gears in too

 

The day nearly ended in disaster at this point, when I dropped a washer into the breather on top of the flywheel! Luckily I was able to get it out with a magnet

 

 

A couple of things left to put on, hopefully all done tomorrow

[sonscar]

Pump impellor looks larger maybe try spinning it.Steve..

[timmy850]

Pump impellor looks larger maybe try spinning it.Steve..

Thanks Steve, the only one the local shop had in stock was the GWP134EVO pump with the large plastic impeller. I read up on the instructions on the Minispares site and made sure to check for clearance without the gasket first, and it fit fine and still spun around.

Minispares instructions:
“This water pump will fit all 1275cc blocks and all small bore blocks, with the exception of early 850/997cc units. These early blocks will need an amount of modification, relieving corrosion and slight material from the liner wall and impeller if required should enable clearance, try spinning pump loosely fitted without gasket for clearance.”

[sonscar]

Knew you would have it covered,Steve..

[timmy850]

So next up to finish the job was to put the alternator on and also bolt up the lower engine steadies. I'd had a bad thought in the back of my head that I hadn't put the fan belt on properly, and it turned out to be correct

 

I had to lift the engine up again and move the radiator over a bit to get the belt on - the clearance from the crank balancer to the lower radiator bracket is to small to get the belt through otherwise

 

The interior all assembled again

 

Engine all assembled, coolant added and an oil & filter change

 

I went for a test drive to the petrol station and now the speedo reads accurately again!

 

We had a MITG convoy down to Berry for the National Motoring Heritage Day today. The weather was nice and clear and there were plenty of cars to look at

[timmy850]

I've not had much time to work on the car recently, but I have bought/ordered a few things. First up was a 25D distributor, I bought an electronic ignition module and sent it away to be recurved to the engine. I'm really looking forward to getting this fitted as it should improve the engine significantly over the current temporary distributor

 

I bought another Moto Lita, this one being a 14" Mk4, and a very good price considering the condition it's in

It's got the funky font stamped on the bottom spoke

 

Next up was another pair of H4 carbs. The ones I had already were missing a few parts, like a fuel bowl lid, choke linkage parts and the brass damper caps. These ones seem to be more or less complete and only cost $75 (40 GBP) so seemed too good to pass up. I should now have sufficient parts to get a pair put together.

 

A pair of rebuild kits turned up this week, theres an awful lot of parts!

 

 

We had a nice quiet drive on Sunday with the MITG guys. The poor weather forecast put a few people off, but we had a nice drive around 

[KTS]

that steering wheel looks very nice; the leather looks to be in really good condition !

 

not seen the funky font before - was that a 60/70's thing or later do you know ?

[Vinay-RS]

Poor weather? Looks like a perfect day for a drive! 

[timmy850]

that steering wheel looks very nice; the leather looks to be in really good condition !
 
not seen the funky font before - was that a 60/70's thing or later do you know ?

It’s in the best condition of all the Moto Lita wheels I’ve bought so far (which I think is 3). With a quick clean and polish it should be pretty nice. I’d still like to get a flat (non-dished) Moto Lita one day, and also a wood one

The story I’ve heard is that these were made in France by Lecarra under licence to Moto Lita. They then went on to make steering wheels under their own name, but using the same bolt pattern as Moto Lita.

Poor weather? Looks like a perfect day for a drive!

There were a few rainy moments, but we were all back home before the rain really set in. The forecast was for 2-10mm of rain, which is enough to scare off most mini owners

[timmy850]

Remember the Moto Lita from the previous post?

It was missing the trim ring and appropriate bolts but I had a spare set, although they were heavily corroded.

I had a Dremel polishing kit and tried out the rubber polishing wheel followed by the mop & some metal polish and it came up pretty nice, along with the bolt heads

It cleaned up quite nicely!

And fitted

 

I've now got the distributor installed and it's definitely made a difference, it's right on the advised spec of 8 degrees at idle and 32 at 4000rpm. I've bought some new temp plugs to try out some colder plugs & there are a few things left to tweak. I've only managed one drive around the block in the last month to try out the new dissy

[70K1100]

Timmy, is that an oil catch can next to the wiper motor?

[colinf1]

Very nice attention to detail on the screw slots circular alignment! Looks great!