Most liked posts in thread: Mini Innocenti 1300 Export

Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy....

I spent all morning making some special thick washers to go under the bolts that hold the stub axles onto the output shafts of the differential. I found some just the right thickness at the hardware store, but I had to grind the outside edge slightly so they would fit into the recess in the stub axle, then I had to bore the inside diameter to fit the shoulder on the bolt. I had found two really large lockwashers in the nuts and bolts for the Inno that fit the shoulders of the bolts, but when I looked up the parts on Somerford, they only showed two plain washers., that's why I decided to get the thick ones and make some. Boring the inside diameter was a pain, the first couple of steps on the step drill worked perfectly, but that last step wouldn't go. So, I thought I'd run down to HF and buy a new set - they didn't work either so I wound up grinding them out by hand. They came out perfectly. The next step was to insert the collets that set the stubs in the right place...…

I looked for them for three hours!

Finally in desperation I brought out my secret weapon - my wife - and set her to looking for them. It took her about 5 minutes to find them neatly put away in a bag I had marked 'Hardy Spicers parts", along with the new axle seals, the new special nuts and of course the flat washers that go under the heads of the bolts!

Ay carumba!

The good news is I have everything, I just need to find them.

The bolt on the left has the new washers I spent all morning making, the one on the right has the original lock washer/flat washer combo. One set of collets is installed in the stub axle on the right...

 

I dropped a special washer the other day, looked high and low for it, got down on my knees with a flashlight - could NOT find it. So I get Rose, she comes down the stairs and points right at it!

 

Dual Webers is way to much carburetion for one of these engines, even the race cars run split webers (only one throat in each carb is used - the other is blocked off) Actually the twin HS4's like I'm using are a little much for most 1275's unless built up like this one. The best power and performance actually comes from a single 1 3/4" SU, according to Mini guru David Vizard but people like the twin carb look, and think it makes mor powa. The problem comes from the nature of the head design, with the intake ports shared - as one intake valve is open the other closes which causes a pulse wave that affects cylinder charging, it's worse with dual carbs - again, depending on cam, intake and head design..

 

I don't think it was the shop that sold them that is the problem, I think it was DHL that did it.....when the little guy was carrying the (admittedly heavy) box up the drive he dropped one end and some parts came out thru a large taped up hole. He said he couldn't wait for me to inventory the parts and just to file a claim if anything was missing.

 

Hard to believe it's been almost a year. My back issues really set me back a few months.

 

No substitute for digital instantaneous information! My buddy Dan did this for his car and it was a long difficult process to get the mixture balanced in all running conditions with his particular setup - it would go lean at higher rpms because the head and carbs were so optimized for flow, and then be pig rich down low, without the wideband letting him know exactly where and when he was rich or lean it would have taken much longer to get it dialed in, and it's possible to burn a valve in the process if you don't have a very sensitive butt dyno - or instruments.

 

Good news, the fuel line is fine, it was just some cobwebs wrapped around the line and the camera caught it funny.