I might agree with that thought if I hadn't changed the final drive ratio - now even at 75 mph, I'm only turning 3500 rpm - used to be 4000 was 65 mph. For now I'm just going to keep driving it, we only have about 3-4 weeks of really hot weather left, then the temps will start to drop......in the meantime I can get some break-in mileage on it. I don't let it overheat, the highest I've let it get is 200 or so.....hotter than I like but not dangerous. I'm going to get the adjustable control arms and such for the front and back, then I can get the alignment dialed in exactly where I want it - it's not bad now since I aligned it at school last week, but I'd like to fine tune it, and the back is definitely out on the left side - I'm glad they make a kit now to get the back in line as well as the front. I'm debating on whether to pull the rear subframe before I get the alignment parts or leave it for a winter project.
i know my water pump used to cavitate until i changed the pulley to slow down the pump and cause it to cavitate less...i think it was a larger diameter pulley
This has been an extremely interesting thread to follow and I was wondering if'n you had found anything on your cooling problem or had started work on the rear suspension ??
I just ordered the suspension parts, they should be here in a few more days.... I have a show to take Buzz to at the end of the month, but after that I'll be dropping the rear subframe and fuel tank, and going thru both. I have an event to drive to in northern Arkansas in mid November so I'll need to get it done by then. I've been driving it pretty regularly, if it's not above 80* it stays cool enough - so I haven't gone any deeper into the cooling sytem yet. Over the winter I'll get into it further. More pics once I start work on it again.
Suspension bits came in today so I got to work installing them.....adjustable lower control arms and tie rods for the front, brackets to set the toe and camber for the rear. Got the front ones done today... I bought the parts from Mini Sport and I'm very satisfied with the quality of the parts - good stuff! I also installed an electronic ignition and new coil, people complained about my scratched, dented nasty looking coil so I bought a nice new shiny one (matched to the new ign system). It uses a hall effect generator to replace the points... New coil
Nice, that coil look spiffy. Keep up the updates, did you get the heating problem fixed, missed it if you did? Don
Don, the problem sort of took care of itself, the weather cooled off substantially! The short answer is no, I've been concentrating on getting it reliable and sorting out the driveability issues......with the idea that once the brakes, suspension and so on are sorted and I'm confident in it's reliability, then I can see about the temp thing. There have been times when it seems to run just fine, and others when it would spike up, but the common denominator when it does is high ambient temps. I have another Classic Mini Fun Run planned for early November, we're going to run northwest Arkansas roads this time and by then the weather should be plenty cool - enough so that I'll probably put in my winter thermostat. I'm also waiting for a new heater valve, mine leaks so I blocked it off and I don't want to open the cooling system again till I have everything I need parts wise. I have Buzz entered in an All British show the end of this month and it promises to be a hot weekend and a bit of a drive up there, so that will be a good test to see if it's still doing the hot thing - mind it's never overheated, it just runs hotter than I think it should..... and of course now I have an actual temperature gauge with numbers on it so I can see what it's really doing. I will get it sorted. I will say this, I'm pretty happy with the engine and transmission work in general - the engine is so much stronger and more drivable now, and the taller transmission gears make for much more pleasant highway running and don't seem to be an issue around town - it easily pulls 4th gear @ 35 mph, even up a mild grade. A supercharger would be nice, but I can live with it........ @Dave O, thanks!
Well, I've been fussing with that damn electronic ignition all week and could not get it to make a spark, so today I went up to British Victoria's Secret and bought another set of Lucas points and condenser, put them in and Buzz fired off immediately! I don't understand why the other set of points failed so early - they only had a few hundred miles on them - but then that's why I bought the damn electronic ignition in the first place - to eliminate the nuisance of points. The system I have on the E-Type has been in service for 20+ years now and still works perfectly, although it uses an interrupted laser light beam rather than a hall effect generator! I have an all British car show on Sunday and I thought I might not make it, now all I need to do is get the rear suspension adjustable brackets installed and take it up to school for another alignment. Two of the four bolts on both sides that hold those brackets on are rusted and won't come out, so I may have to fire up the old acetylene torch and get em' nice and cherry red, then they'll come out! Since Friday night is "date night" with the bride, I won't get to do anything more till tomorrow. I've emailed notes off to the place I bought the E system from but they keep coming back undeliverable - I hate it when a company doesn't list a phone number and their email is off the hook too! I've followed their FAQ and trouble shooting but I can't find anything wrong - the system checks perfectly. Hope I find a way to reach them or I'll be resorting to snail mail.....the company is in Austin, TX so it's not like I'm trying to deal with someone in China..... :mad5:
Well, "we" decided it was important that she get out of the kitchen at least once a week - since she's in there cooking for us at least three other days a week.....:ihih: (My wife works nights ) Nah, we like our Friday date night, it's fun......
Today I got the adjustable rear suspension brackets installed on Buzz. I had a heck of a time getting the old bolts out - I'd back them off a bit till they bound up, squirt a little Kroil on them, then run them back in again and let it soak, lather rinse repeat till they all came out clean, then I ran them on the wire brush and ran a die down the threads too. You can see the adjustment hole is larger in the new bracket, and it has a matching serrated outer washer to hold the adjustment. And this is where they go, at the front outer end of the trailing arm.... This allows you to move the trailing arm vertically for camber adjustment, and horizontally for toe . Now I need to run up to school and put it on the alignment machine and get it dialed in. Winter project is to drop the rear subframe and fuel tank, get them cleaned and painted like I did the front, replace bushings, brake lines and other worn parts, then just drive it and have fun with it
Tanks.....after that pic was taken I went up to Ace and got some new grade 8 bolts and replaced all of them. So I took it up to school and while I couldn't quite get the back end perfect, I got it pretty close, I'm going to have to take a little off the edge of the serrated washer to allow it to move far enough to get into spec - but it's a whole lot closer than it was! But, it's always sumthin will these little squirts...... On the way home from school it ran fine, but kept dying at a stop, it always restarted tho...........till I got about 10 blocks from home when it died. Period. I'll get it towed home later, but it's pretty clear I won't make the All Brit show tomorrow unless I find something real dumb that I missed before.
So, here's what I found today.....by process of elimination..... I had Rose crank while I checked for spark - plenty. Check I had her crank while I checked compression - plenty. Check I looked at the plugs, black and sooty around the perimeter, and two are wet. Engine will not start hot or cold. Idle was very rough and low when it did run coming home from school, and dies often, although it always restarted till the last time, when it didn't. I have a carb problem. This summer in Milwaukee one of my classic Mini buddies had the same problem - he drove from KC to Milwaukee and when he pulled into the hotel parking lot it died and would not restart. Repair consisted of a new o-ring for the choke mechanism..... apparently when that o-ring fails it dumps the float chamber's contents down the carb and floods it, with an electric fuel pump running it will just keep pumping gas into the carb. Maybe that's how my crankcase got overfilled back when I was first getting it running? At any rate, I have a complete carb kit in stock so I'll tear it down and see what I see...the carb is the only part I didn't touch when I rebuilt everything else - naturally! I have a new set of firing pins I can put in when I put it all back together too.
So I pulled the carb off and took it apart.....when my friend Seth had a similar problem in Milwaukee this summer the o-ring in his choke had broken, dumping fuel into the carb. When I pulled mine apart I expected to see something similar but mine looked fine other than a few cracks in the shaft seal on the outside end - not usually a problem other than it can let dirt in. You can see several splits in the outer seal, and the tan o-ring at the other end which is still pliable and looks OK. So I went ahead and took it all apart, the only other thing I found was a slightly worn oval main jet - which is pretty normal - and some more torn shaft seals on the main shaft. I cleaned it all up to re-install this afternoon, hoping that somehow it will now run, after it died on me the other night and hasn't started since..... So, I turned the key and learned a few things.... 1) I now need to pull the choke to start a cold engine - never had to before 2) The engine now idles below 1K, wouldn't do that before either. 3) The engine idles much more smoothly - I thought the lumpy idle was due to the HP cam I installed. 4) The mixture came into tune perfectly - would not do that before either - you had to lean it out so far it almost wouldn't run before you could see any difference. 5) Then there's this..... [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cJXn1i1Nu4"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cJXn1i1Nu4[/ame] I've never seen one do that before! Anyway, the engine seems to run well now, although it's raining so I didn't get to drive it tonight after I was done, I'll do that tomorrow. Right now I'm happy that it runs again!
Good news hope the test drive goes well. I may not have as much experience with SU carbs as you, but I've never seen on that did not require the choke to be pulled for a cold start. One other thing, a friend of mine had his car burn down due to a cracked plastic fuel filter. Might want to change that one out for a metal bodied one.