403 replies to this topic

[Asphalt]

Bugger!



Main shaft has had it... The rest of it is still perfect. What a waste...
Gears & dogteeth are all in usable condition. Not like new, but OK. Looks like most of the debris was trapped inside the 1st motion shaft.

Together with the remains of what was once a bearing



1st motion shaft doesn't have any scores - I'm not sure if I want to use it anyway. Probably not.

I have another A+ mainshaft in OK-ish condition from the other gearbox. But now I have no 1st motion shaft left... Bugger!

[Asphalt]

Yikes!

I just won the best part for my twin carbs. I actually was hoping to get over-bid, but oh well... It was a part of a Weber-Kit that was sold (or still is) by the german tuner 'DBilas'. Consisting of a short alloy manifold, a Weber 40, a air hose and cylindrical K&N filter. It also included a engineering certificate for TÜV approval, which deemed a RC40 & LCB mandatory for a valid registration to the papers (that was and still is the ONLY certificate to make RC40 & LCB legal in germany, appart from a (expensive) special approval (like a IVA, but for the part only). And it included this very sexy airbox:



The Weber-Kit is still being sold by one german parts dealer, for a mere 1000€



And since I use a Weber(-ish) manifold for my HS4 carbs, it should be a straight fit AND I sources some fresh gears - going to collect them with the engine next week. Wahoo! I guess that is as close as you can get to the JanSpeed air box without having the JanSpeed airbox

I hope it fits... If not, I make copys of it and sell them to get rich

Cheers,
Jan

[mighty mini jack]

That really does look lovely, can't wait to see it fitted Jan.

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

nice air box i like it

[Asphalt]

Few thoughts about cooling systems...

I made a very interesting discovery today... The engine got only hand-warm - now that it is so cold.

I replaced the thermostate today. And tested the old one, 88° opening temp., with some hot water.
Opened at 82°, which isn't bad for a 3 year old, cheap thermostate I guess.
The new one is a 88° thermostate too. Fitted, testdrive - engine gets warm like ever.

But: the old thermostate was drilled with three 4mm holes! I allready run a bypass from the head to the bottom rad hose (Cooper RSP).
This bypass works very efficiently. Together with the bypassed thermostate is must have been so good & efficient,
that the thermostate was almost completely bypassed and the engine didn't get warm anymore. Too much flow through the rad?

The RSP's bypass doesn't work realy, when the thermostate is closed. Water is just circulating without the cooler.
This prevents pump cavitation and probably arranges for a very short heating up cycle.
Once the thermostate is open - the bypass is as far away from the pump as possible and aids cooling of the 4th cylinder.

http://www.mini-mayf...aten/kuehl1.jpg

This got me thinking: is it realy advisable to remove the bypass and drill the thermostate instead of?

The awnser for me(!!) is: no. I will always recommend the RSP's flowing sheme to everyone.
And for realy hot runing engines it might be a good idea to run that bypass from the head directly to the top rad tank.

And now that the engine get's warm again (I didn't believe it was the thermostate, as I tested it in summer and it was @ 86-87°),
I'll continue to plum in the oil/water heat exchanger. I think I'm on the way to a realy good & sophisticated temperature controlle

And I got a lifetime supply of carb gaskets today:
http://img442.images.../dichtungen.jpg

Also parts of the rebuild-kit and some linkages to play with. Will keep me busy over the weekend.

Cheers,
Jan

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

hahah ur worse than me ive got 8 garb gaskets in the workshop
wont even with he hiff 44 but im happy theyre there

[Asphalt]

So much for the dBilas airbox (bit I was actually expecting that so it's no surprise)







Well - I have some good ideas for a custom tailored airbox...

And I found a wood turning lathe in the workshop. It's a very primitive drill powered one, but should be OK to work with POM and Teflon. If I'm very lucky maybe even soft alloy (but I doubt it very much). Anyway; this will be helpfull whn it come to making stubstacks - if it works.

I'll order some POM next year and try it... And if it does only wood - well - I can always use wood as a blank and cast stubstacks with resin or maybe even alloy (a simple stubstack shouldn't be that hard to make ). Got some ideas...

Cheers,
Jan

[Lund]

PS: Oh, and I just finished reading this book (that's why I didn't do anything to the Mini )... Wow! Just... Wow!



Can you see a future project comming? Google for 'Terrapin single seater'

Hi there Jan,

Just noticed your project thread and have been skimming through. My girlfriends dad is Robert Macknay whom produced the 40th Year Anniversary of this book.

Nice one,

Tom

[Asphalt]

Hi there Jan,

Just noticed your project thread and have been skimming through. My girlfriends dad is Robert Macknay whom produced the 40th Year Anniversary of this book.

Nice one,

Tom

Hi Tom!

I'm always amazed how smal our world is
If you see him, could you say a big "thank you!" to him?

Regards,
Jan

[Asphalt]

So. Couple of days ago I found a realy primitive wood turning lathe. Basicly just a bracket to hold a drill and a support for a hand held moving vane.

Was pretty cool to clean valves, since you can see easily the bottom of the valve whilst cleaning. Better than a pillar drill. And attack the hard deposits on the exhaust valves with a file. Pretty handy and fast. Took me no 15 minutes to clean & polish all valves.



And since that worked so well - I had an idea.

I'm converting my carbs to take fixed needles. Now - all that's different is the piston (or you buy adaptor for 6€/each). And the jet holder is different to allow it being pushed off center so the fixed nedle doesn't bind and jam the piston. I figured aout that all that's different is the diameter of the top part of the jet holder.

Left: fixed needle, right: preloaded needle




The difference is about 1mm total. Not much... Apart from that they are 100% identical (apart from the odd tolerances )

So instead of searching someone with a lathe I put the bearing holders in the pod, span it and took a file to turn it down. Worked realy great!



Apart from that... Not much has happend. Still waiting for good wheater (=no ice, no snow & not much salt) to collect the 998 engine. So treated myself to a very slow working speed

To kill some time I bought this book...



Quite a good read - but most of it is covered in Vizards 'Tuning the A-Series engine'. It gives some very detailed advice how to profile needles - and that again makes it good.

The Mini rests in the carport. I didn't drive it for over a week now - mainly due to either salt on the roads or snow. And with summer tyres that's an absolute no-go. The A008s have NO grip - driving them on snow would be just plain stupid... (and illegal, by the way.)




Feels like an eternity

Cheers,
Jan

[Saxo-Fiesta-Mini]

lookin good

[Asphalt]

Soooo - long time since the last update.

I'vefinaly been able to collect my 998, since it FINALY stopped snowing. Was a nice 200 miles trip - and I actually got a bit more than I planed.



A complete 998 engine with MG cam, a 998 spare block (a Innocenti), a remote gearbox, 2 diffs (3,11 & 3,76:1), a box full of carbs, loads of good used oilpumps, verto clutch assembly and some A+ gearbox stuff, some minor carb stuff. Still no 2nd gear though... But it all fitted nicely in the Mini. A bit like tetris getting everything in, but eventuelly it fitted Lol:

Three weeks ago we reconditioned a huge load of radious arms - so I have like-new radius arms on the shelf now too.

So the plan is: 998, 1275 head, Fish carb, remote gearbox with A+ gearset, 3,76 diff and MG cam.

And the Mini needed some minor body work. The seam for the fromt bumper desintegrated. So I dug out a wing from my trusty Micra (sold last year, by the way.), and cut out some pieces, recreated the seam and got it welded on.




And then - refitted the bumpers that belong to the car. Round matt black bumpers.




They have some scratches, some smal dents etc. - making them look like they have always been there. Actually they are from 1984, just like my car. And - just like my car - showing it's age. And I love it! Actually, fresh and clean bumpers would look terribly out of place.

Cheers,
Jan

Edited by Asphalt, 19 March 2010 - 02:11 PM.

[AndrewJ530]

Brilliant, now we can see how this fish carb will fair up .

[Mini-Mad-Craig]

brilliant mate

[Asphalt]

Cheers!!

Aaaand finaly got rid of those TEX mirrors Drilled the doors, inserted some riv-nuts and installed my old Opel (Vauxhall) mirrors (70's era I guess) I had on the shelf for some years... Well, today was the day:




And the best part: the windows still work (so my screws ar not too long )

Cheers,
Jan