Most liked posts in thread: Mini Innocenti 1300 Export

First to arrive at the party....my Innocenti is the red car in the shop, my green car is parked outside......Inno body is painted, still need to do the roof, boot lid, bonnet and doors, plus the tanks.

Green car in the corner of the shop will be coming to me sometime in the next month or two for some electrical work to finish it up.

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Ha, that does make 4 now!

First thing I'm going to do is drop the engine and front subframe out and swap it back to left hand drive - as that's the way all Inno's were built, this one was imported into England in 1980 and I assume that's when/where it was swapped over. Then I'll go thru the motor and suspension make sure it's all sound, then bolt it back in and make some noise!

It will also need tires as there are undoubtedly well past their prime, then back to my partner Dan's shop where he will get the body and interior all shined up and pretty. Then...who knows? Maybe I can finally win a car show or two?

 

Today I needed to remove the fuel tans, they were both full of nasty rust and varnish from sitting for the last 10+ years, but before I could do that I needed to remove the locking gascaps,I have the keys but both caps are frozen tight, and since we won't be using these anyway I had to go all medieval on their asses to get them off! First I used a Dremel to carefully remove the chrome covers, the I pried off the center cap (where the key goes in). On the right side I was able to turn the lock with a screwdriver and the cap came right off - the left side was not having it tho, so I got out my big drill and drilled out the center, once that was done the cap came off.

Next I pulled both tanks and stripped them down to take to the radiator shop where they will clean them and redcoat the insides. My shop smells so much better now that those tanks are out of it!

Lastly I pulled the sending unit, it's stuck tight just like the carbs were - I'm going to try and save it as it's unique to the Innocenti and I seriously doubt I can find a new one....but I'm not very hopeful of success on that.

 

Motor is out of the subframe and into the engine stand, tomorrow I'll see if it will run! Hardy Spicer joints are a PITA to get undone.

 

Fast work, extra holes for the antenna and wipers welded up, almost ready for primer. The body is in very good shape, no rust at all, but the single stage paint was badly faded (
when compared to areas that were hidden under the arches and inside) and flaky in a few spots.

all he works on are classic Minis, so he knows where all the hidden bad spots can be....

 

The Inno didn't need much, just some small bits - and of course it was faded. Should look really shiny and pretty when done!

 

The gangs all here!

 

More electrical success, the horn now works from the steering wheel (with a jumper, we haven't found a horn button yet - well, we have but he wants stupid money for it, still looking for one with a reasonable price) all of the headlights work correctly from the switch on the column, the parking lights work correctly, both in the headlights and in the T/S assy's, the turn signals work, dash lights work including the low fuel light and I found the wire in the loom for the reverse lights and once powered up they work too. As this has a switch on the transmission instead of the shifter, I'll have to run the loom out to the gearbox, but that's an easy chore. All of the gauges work so far, I still have to test the oil press, speedo and water temp and the tach will have to wait till the engine's in.

I left the extra power wire off the ignition switch in the car so if we want a lighter socket adaptor for Garmin, dash cam or phone charger power it's there, but I'm not going to add one of those sockets just yet (originality and all that) the car does have a working cig lighter so we can always power them from that with an adaptor.

The only thing I discovered that doesn't work is the dome light, and I found the wire for the door switches broken, so that's an easy repair too and I'll have that done today.

I was at the upholsterer's on Friday and the seats are almost done and do look terrific. Rear is all done, bottoms of both fronts were done and he was working on the backrests, so I'll go ahead now and start installing the interior fittings. with the seatbelts done so I can go ahead with carpet pad and carpets. Slowly coming together.....

 

Picked up the rear seat from the upholsterer's today, had a devil of a time getting it installed as unlike regular Mini backrests (or maybe the same, I'm not sure) there are a couple of long studs that go thru the rear parcel shelf cover and I had a heck of a time getting them down thru the holes. Once in I cinched them down (5mm studs, not 10-32! I find little things like this all over the car.) then it went into place and tied down the parcel shelf cover. Then I tried to get the seat cushion into place but gave up after a while....foam is too thick or something.

Anyway, then I broke out the carpet kit to see what's involved in putting it in and just laid the pieces out for a quick trial fit. I think it will look really nice once in - need to find some floor mats tho, I think this light color will show dirt pretty quickly.

 

Gearbox progress.....

Shift rods and forks in, detents in, main cluster in, both main shaft bearings in and locked in place. Diff side bearing shimmed correctly.

Next it's get the reverse gear in, then the central oil pickup, then the lay gear. Once those are done It's time to add the diff and shim those bearings, then it's just a matter of putting all the remining covers and bits on till I can join it with the engine.

 

I think I'll start it in the engine stand using the single HIF44 I have, I know it will run on that carb cause it did before. Then once I have the timing set, the head retorqued and the valves adjusted, then maybe I'll swap in the twins and see if I can get a baseline tune, good enough to start driving and putting some miles on it.

Once the motor is done, I still have to install the wiring harness, button up the dash again, then it's just a matter of putting all the pieces back in the jigsaw puzzle till it's a car again!

After we get some miles on it Dan and I are planning to get it on Jesse's dyno and see where it's at. He also wants to see if all the changes he's made to his carbs on his Blue car have given him a couple more ponies too.

Fun times ahead, I hope!

 

Fussing around with the Inno in the shop today, cleaning tools and painting the odd bracket and such.

Whilst fiddling about (thank you Tommy) I tried on the Inno grill - method to my madness, I was looking at how and where to locate the oil cooler and its brackets and hoses.



I also bent up my first brake pipes and installed the new brake servo.

And I fit the headers so I could see how and where to run the speedo cable so it wouldn't get melted and would go thru the grommet in the new bulkhead cover plate.



Finally I fit the starter and solenoid, and made a new cable as I found out why the original starter didn't seem to work so well when I found the cable worn thru and shorting whenever the starter was operated.




I pulled the carbs off so I could install the headers and bend up and install the brake pipes from the masters to their various fittings, but due to my back being out again I didn't get those done.

Tomorrow is the big All British show so I'll be there all day with the green Mini. Way back when, I had planned to be able to take the Inno but I got put back a couple of months with my last back go around.

 

So, more Innocenti craziness......I went to install the heater - they are attached with two sheet metal screws at the front and two nuts at the back where the studs are held in two brackets - and those two studs are NOT 1/4-20 or 1/4-28, but M6X1....

So I run up to Ace hardware and they have M6X1.5 and M6X.75, but no M6X1, and they want $1.04 each nut!

I drive about 5 miles to the Home Depot and they have M6X1 stainless for $1.50 for 5.....

Oh well, it's a nice day to be out buzzing around town in the Racing Green Mini, it's already in the high 80's tho and will be in the mid 90's later this afternoon......

 

A few more pics, the car has been picked up from the seller and is headed to my shop on Monday, can't wait to see it. It was given a quick hose off this morning, based on the lic plate it's been in the garage for over 10 years....it looks to be in even better shape than I hoped. The interior is dirty but he cleaned up one of the seats and it looks like new again! Cromodora wheels with the factory wheel locks - and we even have the key! Can't find a key for the locking gas caps tho….might have to get a locksmith to take them off for me.

 

The quote from the sending unit guy was $75 to 175 plus parts and shipping! That's what happens when you're working on an oddball and want to keep it original. We get spoiled by the price and availability of Mini parts - a sending unit for an English version is about $20 brand new.

Today I started removing components so I can drop the motor and subframe....a few interesting things to note....we figured out that the carbs are probably from an MGB, when I pulled the manifold I can see that there is no way to accurately index it to the head - normally there are rings inside the manifold (you can see where they go in the pic of the man and carbs) but this head has been port matched, so those receiving grooves are not there any more. The carb shafts are seized too but I was planning to rebuild them anyway. You can also see from the gasket remains on the manifold how it wasn't quite lined up right - sorta makes all the effort to port the head not worth it if it doesn't line up!

 

Got some more (slow) progress done today.....got the carb and exhaust installed - had to rethread all the holes and the studs. I also had to convert back to the standard oil pressure pipe as there was no place to mount the oil cooler in the engine stand. The Innocenti starter was toast but I dug around in my old parts and found another old starter that at least runs on the bench, I hope it will crank over OK. I also had to mount up my spare alternator as the Inno is wired differently. All that's left is to wire it up, add fuel and see if it will go...I also want to run compression before I fire it up.....

 

Spent today tearing down the front subframe and it's components so I can send them all off to the powder coaters on Tuesday. I can't work too long in the shop due to the cold (15* last night, 30 today) without having to go back in and warm up. The upper control arm bearings and shafts look fairly new, everything else is completely knackered, all the rubber bushings are soft and squishy from oil leaks and the inner sleeves welded to the shafts with rust. The front cones are half their normal size! Subframe looks like new, with no damage or rust, just a ton of grease and grime.

When it all comes back it will look brandy new and I'll have all new parts to reassemble it with.

 

Running in place? With my bad knee? running is not even possible! Would a tasty pic of the front subframe back from the coaters do?

 

Today I cleaned and repainted the windshield wiper motor and linkages. To paint in this cold weather (11*) I warm the parts up in front of a heater, and warm the paint up in a bucket of hot water. When I'm ready to shoot I step out the back door, do a quick spray, then right back inside and hang the part in front of the heater. The paint flashes off quickly so the fumes are reduced and then I hang it from a rafter to cure at least overnight, sometimes for several days. I always give it a coat of self etch primer before the topcoat so it will adhere well.....that self etch really sticks!

The plate on top the wiper motor is dated 12/73 continuing the confirmation of the production date of the car.

 

Engine parts are all ordered, block and head will be done by Friday. Found the block has been bored to 1380 - the max you can go with this block! glad it was still in good shape with less than a half thousandth wear from top to bottom - a light hone to deglaze and it will go right back together. I will take everything down to the crank guy to have it balanced once the new (lightened) flywheel gets here.
Then a whole lot of cleaning and careful assembly to put it back together, then into the engine stand to run it in a bit and get the baseline setup on the carbs.

By the time that's all done the car will be back from the painter's and I can start the long process of reassembly. I also have a new set of seat covers and door cards on the way from Newton Commercial.....the interiors on the Innocenti's is different from the regular Minis, so I decided to splurge and order the correct covers and foams.