Most liked posts in thread: Mini Innocenti 1300 Export

Well, between health issues and other drama the poor Inno has been severely neglected....today I managed to get a few things sorted, the front T/S lenses installed and all the lights working correctly.

I had only put a couple of gallons of fuel in the left tank so today I hooked a spare battery to the fuel pump and pumped out the remains as it was over a year old gas and put a couple of fresh gallons in it.

Tonight I'm charging the battery up again and tomorrow I'll see if the engine will make some good noises.

I need to reinstall the rest of the dash and get it screwed in place, then we'll see where I'm at. Dan is coming up Friday to deliver a couple of engines and the 67 S to its new owner, and he'll take the Innocenti back to Tulsa and do some carb tuning.

Friday morning I'll need to pull the 1098 out of the engine stand as it's going with the 67 S to its new home in Bethany, Mo.

While it's gone I'll get the suspension parts ordered for the white Japanese spec car and get Willie B's motor put back together....assuming I'm able to anyway. It's been a rough summer and fall.....I'm afraid my July 1st adventure really took it out of me.

Then starting Jan 5th I'll be out of commission for 6 weeks or so after getting my knee replaced, and hopefully things will be back to normal come springtime.

 

Well, it took me long enough!

Red letter day! It's alive!!!!!!

Of course it's run in the engine stand in the past, but this is the first time I started it in the car. It was a bit of a challenge, the fuel was old so I pumped it out and put fresh gas in it. Then I hooked the fuel pump up wrong and it didn't pump (imagine that!) Once I got that sorted I decided to clean out the float bowls rather than start on that old gas.

Once that was done it just didn't want to start. After scratching my head a while I realized someone had reversed the #1 and #3 plug leads??? Once THAT was sorted....well, this is the result.



I still have some issues to sort, the throttle linkage sticks like crazy, don't know what's up with that, but man does this thing rev! This is the first time I've run it with the twin HS4's so I wasn't sure just how well it would run but it feels like it's gonna be a beast!

Still have a mountain of things to finish on it but at least now it runs at last!

 

Part of the reason I'm driving classic Minis these days is that's it's so hard for me to get in and out of my E-Type - almost impossible anymore due to my bad knee.

I like small cars, so I looked at Spitfires, MG Midgets, Bugeyes etc, can't get in and out of them either. TR4, TR6, Big Healey aren't bad as long as the top is down, but impossible with it up

 

No joy getting it to run this am....no fire, so I have to do some more sleuthing. Ran compression tho…...150, 150, 140 , 145 and that's without adjusting the valves, could be more there after I get it started and blow out the cobwebs. The old starter that I dug out of my old parts stash cranks it over pretty good.
More as it happens - or doesn't!

 

Dropped the BIG order at Mini Spares in England, including the new steering rack, 5 new tires, new exhaust, suspension bits and new seat belts plus loads of bitsas. Should be here by Thursday, as fast or faster than they come from California!

 

First load of parts came in....

 

Picked up the fuel tanks today - they said it took a week or more to get all the crap out of the tanks, now at least they don't stink and with the red coating inside will never rust or leak. I had my Jag tank coated back in the early 90's, still looks like new inside!

 

A few weeks ago I sent the fuel sender off to a specialist in New York who called me today to say he had it done, it reads correctly and even the low fuel warning light part works.... considering just how badly encrusted with rust and varnish it was I'll be excited to see how he did. It was $pendy but there are no correct fuel senders that I can find so you do what you have too I guess.

I've read that the Jaeger benzina gauge is not compatible with the Mini senders available, plus they don't have the low fuel warning light circuit - I think. At any rate, it's done. When I get it back I'll post a pic of it, before and after. I now have the fuel system all done, the pump survived and still works, the tanks are cleaned and coated, and with the sender I can put it all back together.

I also got the Monza gas caps to install. I know they didn't have them from new but like the Cromadora wheels and Abarth steering wheel, I consider it a period accessory.

The left tank is interesting, it's the large 9 gallon (7.5 Imperial) tank but it has the screwed on sender instead of the one with the twist in retaining ring. Since it also has the right side 5 gallon tank, I can do a LONG trip without refueling!

 

I've been in scrape and clean mode for a couple of days, I've got both sets of front end parts clean, although I'm going to need to clean them further with wire brush on the angle grinder so I can repaint everything. Either that or send them to the powder coater too. I also need to rebuild the calipers, tho I have new caliper kits and new pistons in stock if I need them.

Interesting that the inner u-joints don't seem to have any way to grease them, which means I'm going to have to take them apart to thoroughly clean and lube them - I was hoping to just pump some new grease in as they feel fine....no stckiness in movement or noise.

tomorrow I'll do the same with the rear assemblies, so I can take the various parts and the rear subframe up to the powder coater/blaster guy so he can work on them while I'm gone to Oregon for the next 2 weeks or so. I'm hopeful that when I get back it will all be done and I can start re-assembly.

The last pic is of the front cone and a new one - quite a difference!

 

More parts cleanup in preparation of reassembly, spent most of today putting the Moke rear subframe back together and cleaning up parts for the Inno. Still have a few things on the way yet to get here, but all should be here before Xmas.

 

Finished up the rear subframe for the Moke today, I had a tough time getting one of the radius arm brackets to line up, but the 3lb BFH took care of the issue and it all fit up fine once I was done. I needed to finish this so I can get on with the Innocenti. Here are a couple of pics of what I was doing.....

 

Some more cleanup work, the rear brake backing plates were well past it, so my partner sent some used ones up from his shop, I cleaned them all up, gave them a good coat of etch primer, then brushed on a coat of black Rustoleum. I think they turned out well......

 

I also built up some air cleaners…..the ones that were on the car were filthy, but I could not find replacements the same size, so we cooked up a good work around. I bought some inexpensive foam filters from Victoria British, my partner Dan found some K&N style filters online that fit a VW, and they fit the VB cans perfectly, Once I modified the stub stack slightly, it all bolted together and worked perfectly. Result! as Edd and Ant would say!

 

A few more....

 

And the grand finale....as long as they work as well as they look, I'm a happy camper.

 

I'm happy to have a shop at all, I know a lot of guys don't....plus mine has both heat and A/C, although when it's 16* out like today it's just tooo cold to work. My shop isn't THAT small, but it's full of immovable objects right now, with the Jag needing to get recommissioned and the Inno on the rack without any suspension at the moment. I've got almost 500 sq ft when it's empty - it just never is. It's just a 2 car garage with one side extended - I've considered adding a section straight onto the back with a roll up garage door to separate them....I'd have to remove that back wall where the door is to do it, but I could gain at least another 400 sq ft that way.

These pics were taken right after I did a complete reorganization and clean up of the shop, built in some tool cabinets, took down all the shelving and painted everything. since then I've added a lot of storage racking and it's pretty full again.

 

The more you do the more you have to do!

You start off just doing a refresh of the suspension and brakes and before you know it you're powdercoating subframes, re-bushing suspension arms and then you find it difficult to find a stopping point. it's always tough trying to figure out when to say "when"!

The latest example on the Inno…..the rear brake proportioning valve - I'd already cleaned or replaced all the brake lines and emergency brake cables, this is pretty much the last part on the rear subframe I'll need to do.

You can't buy a rebuild kit for this valve, and new ones are $75 so I took it apart....the rubbers appear to be in good shape so I just cleaned everything, put some rubber grease on the rubber parts, put it together and give it a coat of primer and silver paint. I would have done shiny black but I'm out of it. It's hard to paint anything when it's 20* out and snow on the ground - I just open the back door, shoot it real quick and bring it back into the shop, then hang it in front of the heater to cure. This works fine on small parts like this, it doesn't stink the shop up (or more importantly - the house!) too badly.

Before and after.

 

Another case in point - I built up the front uprights and hubs yesterday. First a thorough cleaning, then off to the powder coaters for sandblasting and coating, then when they come back you have to clean all the grit out of every place imaginable, and a few unexpected ones! I left the bearing races in when I sent it to the blasters so they wouldn't damage or raise the area where the race fits - and I knew I would be replacing the bearings and races anyway.

So once cleaned, then install the races, pack the bearings and install them and the seals, then on to the fiddly and very time consuming job of installing and shimming the ball joints. Probably 8 hours of clean and assembly time in these two hubs!

I haven't decided what to about the Hardy Spicer u-joints, these feel fine, and look almost new they're so clean but there is no way to grease them unlike most u-joints, so I'm concerned about getting the whole car built and having one fail 1000 miles from now or on a long drive (like to Aspen this summer).

 

Today I got some more Innocenti work done, I built up the rear subframe, but decided to install it without the radius arms attached as my space is so limited and I can't get a floor jack under it to support it. I had to use blocks of wood to shore it up into place till I could get it bolted in, then went ahead and added the radius arms, rubber springs and Hi-Los. Once the rear wheel bearings and other bits and bobs get in I can finish it up. Still have to paint the shocks tho and it's simply been too cold to do that, but we might get to the 50's by next weekend, maybe I can paint them then.

 

I've gone thru and organized my Mini parts so that I can find them easily ….Ha!

I needed these two clear flat straps for the u-bolts for the steering rack and I knew I had a set left over from Buzz, but as well as I thought I had organized my parts it took me over an hour to find the damn things! Instead of in wheels and suspension bits, they were in a box marked "body"....one I hadn't opened in a while. I guess in retrospect that makes sense, since I don't have one marked "steering".....still.........

I know most people don't bother with them and truth be told I don't really know why they're there - to make it easier to adjust the rack? To prevent galvanic corrosion between the steel u-bolts and aluminum rack housing? Dunno, but the factory uses them so, so am I!